"Falling Apart"
Reading: Proverbs 24:10
"If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn't much to you
in the first place." - Proverbs 24:10 The Message
A whole lot of the art of pastoring involves learning how to triage. You remember triage. It's what BJ and Hawkeye, Charles Emerson Winchester, and Colonel Potter did on M.A.S.H. People would be choppered in from the battlefield or hauled in by an Army green school bus fitted with cots. They would be wounded and even dying, and the job of the MASH unit was to do what they could first to keep them alive, and then perform surgery to initially repair what was threatening them with death. That MASH unit always seemed a little bit like medical chaos instead of thoughtful, precise medicine.
In a fallen world, people are a lot more in crisis than they let on. They often put off getting help until the bleeding has become critical. Then they call out for help, usually in a panic. Then they call their pastor. In my experience, they also often call all at once. No orderly consultations with their pastor with the luxury of helping settle one person's problem before the next one presents themselves. When the flood starts the waiting room is filled, and you just have to do what you have to do.
This is when a pastor, or any person committed to serious people-helping learns what they are made of. In crisis, you learn whether or not you can handle crisis. And how you handle crisis determines how the person having the crisis handles it ... and whether or not they will survive.
A pastor, or any people helper, prepares for those days by choosing to build their life upon Christ. To live all their days guided by Him and empowered by Him--whether in times of crisis or just quiet ordinary times. And you learn whether Christ is really in them when you see how they work in crisis.
Crisis times WILL come. Are you living in the power of Christ?
This devotional is published on behalf of the Church of God of Landisville and its friends. (C) 2009 by Stephen Dunn. All rights reserved. Reprint rights can be secured by contacting Steve at sdunnpastor@coglandisville.org
You can subscribe by contacting coglandisville@coglandisville.org or by registering as a FOLLOWER on this blog.
In a fallen world, people are a lot more in crisis than they let on. They often put off getting help until the bleeding has become critical. Then they call out for help, usually in a panic. Then they call their pastor. In my experience, they also often call all at once. No orderly consultations with their pastor with the luxury of helping settle one person's problem before the next one presents themselves. When the flood starts the waiting room is filled, and you just have to do what you have to do.
This is when a pastor, or any person committed to serious people-helping learns what they are made of. In crisis, you learn whether or not you can handle crisis. And how you handle crisis determines how the person having the crisis handles it ... and whether or not they will survive.
A pastor, or any people helper, prepares for those days by choosing to build their life upon Christ. To live all their days guided by Him and empowered by Him--whether in times of crisis or just quiet ordinary times. And you learn whether Christ is really in them when you see how they work in crisis.
Crisis times WILL come. Are you living in the power of Christ?
This devotional is published on behalf of the Church of God of Landisville and its friends. (C) 2009 by Stephen Dunn. All rights reserved. Reprint rights can be secured by contacting Steve at sdunnpastor@coglandisville.org
You can subscribe by contacting coglandisville@coglandisville.org or by registering as a FOLLOWER on this blog.
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