It seems I have a new job

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

I have already told you that I belong to a spa.

The process is quite simple. I start in a sauna that runs between 180 and 200 degrees. Then, once I have been properly cooked, I exit the sauna and step into a cold plunge. Now, there are a variety of cold plunges that run from 50-degree water down to 32-degree water that is circulated (Obviously a good way to keep fresh water from freezing).

Then it is rinse and repeat for around two hours. At the end, I go sit in a mineral bath for 15 minutes. After that, I am done.

It is a great way to end the evening. I am relaxed, tired, and can settle my mind so I can sleep.

There are usually other people in the sauna with me, sometimes as many as 6-8, but usually only 2 or 3, and conversations naturally occur.

I have found that most of the people using the Spa are from the medical field. I believe there are two main reasons for this.

1. They understand the health benefits of this
2. Their jobs are stressful and it is a good way to relax.

Most are nurses. Some are Doctors. Others are from the support groups that make up the administration of a hospital or clinic.

When they find out I'm a chaplain, and these people definitely know what a chaplain is, they start to share their stuff.

It's like being at a function or Christmas party and somebody finds out that Bob is a Lawyer. The next thing you know, they are asking Bob for free legal advice. Or, they find out Jill is a doctor, and they point at a spot on their body and say, "It hurts when I touch this. What do you think it is?"

I'm sitting in a sauna and they just started talking about what is bugging them.

They talk about their anxiety.

They talk about depression.

They talk about losing a patient.

They complain about health insurance.

They talk about their home life.

They wonder where God is in all of this.

There is an old adage in the chaplaincy world. No matter what somebody tells you, never let them see you sweat. This gets very difficult in a sauna, just sayin.

Laurie and I go to the Spa almost every night. Just about every time we go, there are people there who need to talk to someone who won't judge, interrupt their thoughts, or give quick, thoughtless advice. They need a listening ear.

The world is not an easy place to live in. Left to itself, the world tends to destroy people. Without people in the world that will listen with the intent to listen and not the intent to respond. Little things can become huge issues as we ponder them in the echo chamber of our minds.

When I started at the Spa, I had no idea I would end up being used by God in such a fashion.

As you move from one place to another, a new job, or simply go on a vacation, do you ever wonder how God is going to use you to help someone?

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger

God uses cracked pots and damaged goods too

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

What a journey it has been. I have come to the conclusion that retirement is not for the faint of heart. It is much easier to continue to do what you have always done than to stop after such a long time and enter into a new adventure, but isn't that how life is? To continue doing the old habits, the old routine, even if it is killing you.

Since I have retired, I have collected a few things, mostly counselors and psychologists.

Here is a list of what I have collected:

1. Behavioral Psychologist
   1. To help me understand why I do what I do and to be more intentional about all my behaviors.
2. Clinical Psychologist
   1. To help me understand my tapes.
3. Trauma Counselor
   1. To help me with all the trauma that I have collected from the military and being a chaplain.
4. Marriage Counselor
   1. To improve my relationship with my wife, I need to address the issues that the first three things on my list have caused in our marriage.
5. A membership to a gym.
   1. To help me work on the physical needs of my body (Move or die is my mantra).
6. A membership to a Sauna/Cold Plunge spa
1. I call this my AA, it is a great community, and to be perfectly honest, it helps me to not self-medicate at night.

Needless to say (Which I always find funny to say, because I am going to say it anyway), I have been working hard on myself. I realized that after 20 years of being the guy who gets called when your world goes dark, it has taken its toll on me, and quite frankly, I didn't like who I had become.

I have been with the behavioral psychologist and the clinical psychologist for a number of years now and have picked up the Trauma Counselor and the Marriage counselor when I retired.

I am getting better; it is a journey, and it will continue, but I am getting better. I am healing.

I did pick up a new hobby, though. I seem to cry all the way through every church service now. My connection with God is renewed, and I feel Him so closely that it is overwhelming, and I weep through the service.

We have been going to a new church, and the pastor has seen me weep. 

He has called alter calls.

He talks about how it is better to come to Christ later in life than not at all.

He looks at me when he preaches.

He is sure he has a new fish on the line.

One of these days, he will talk to me and find out who I am, but for now, I am happy to let him reel me in.

Even though I have a lifetime membership to the "Y," I belong to another gym. I wanted to create a bit of distance; I needed that to help me heal. I love to lift weights and swim. I hate to do scissor lifts though, but for some reason, I can do them while swimming for over an hour without noticing at all.

Yes, I am a strange duck.

Yesterday, I couldn't use the pool at the other gym, so I went to the Y to swim. 

It was awesome to see so many of my friends and family. I do miss them a lot. I know I will always be their chaplain.

While I was there, one of my favorite Y family members and I were talking. During our conversation, it became apparent to me that this person was having a true dark night of the soul. The words they used and the tears they shed made it very clear they were having a difficult time.

I have already told you that I have done a lot of work on myself, and it became readily apparent to me as I sat with this broken, hurting person. It was like I was back 10-12 years ago as my mind worked through the things being said.

As this person and I walked through their blinding emotional pain, where they could no longer see God.

When they talked of their loneliness and their hurt, I was reminded of the burn ward. 

When the doctors and nurses would do skin grafts and remove the old skin from the burned area of the patient's body, replacing the old with the new skin, the pain was so intense that it was blinding. The patient couldn't focus on anything but their pain. 

Everything else went dark.

The Dark Night of the Soul is much the same. 

When one experiences a Dark Night, they can't see or find God, no matter how hard they look or cry out. 

They think He isn't there. But in fact, He is right there with them; they are in just too much pain to see or feel Him.

A Dark Night is a scary thing.

As I sat with my friend, not shying away from the tears, the anger, the hurt, the pain. I reminded them of the superpower. 

The superpower is the ability to talk things through. To have that trusted friend who refuses to judge and only loves. 

How the enemy wants us to isolate so that he can continue to tell us all the bad things we are.

They said that they should just go away and be a hermit. The enemy would love that.

But God refuses to leave us.

Boy howdy, Roger, you sure seem to be confident in the fact that God refuses to leave us or forsake us, even in our Dark Nights.

You are right, I am confident about God. I have had more than my share of Dark Nights, I guess that is why I collect psychologists and counselors. Sometimes God showed up all by Himself; other times, He sent someone to help.

As I sat with this person, I reminded them that God was here.

How do you know? They said.

I replied, He sent me.

I wasn't supposed to be here today, but circumstances brought me here.

It was a God thing.

As we closed our time together, I reminded them that God loves them, that I love them. That I will always be available to talk things through, to use our superpower.

The Dark Night will pass, and I hope that this beautiful soul, which God made, will allow Him to use this Dark Night to help others.

I know that when they come out the other side, they will have a new, deeper revelation about God and their relationship with Him.

God does not shame, Satan does.

While God will show you that you have strayed from His purpose, He does it out of love, not by punishing you to the point of paralysis. 

That is something Satan loves to do.

And sometimes God brings people into your life when you get stuck in the mud.

People who have been there, people who can help pull you free.

And sometimes that person may be a cracked pot, a person who has been damaged and full of scars.

Something to think about.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger