The Summer of 2009

Good gracious. Has it been almost 3 months since I last posted. Where did the summer go? Well, let me just tell ya. After Patrick got married, it seemed like the summer started rolling and gained speed as the days went on. We had youth camp which was a great time, then we had Bible School, then Carowinds and in the midst of all that I was finishing up my last unit of CPE. Now THAT was an experience.

What is it about ministering to the needs of patients, families and staff that awakens you to your own spiritual needs? I found that so many times I would hide from my own feelings and use the excuse that someone else needed me more than I needed to seek out the underlying emotions that were stirring in my own being.

I worked with some terrific folks this year. We were a true team. Not a week went by that one of us didn't need another one of us to either take the pager for a few hours or swap a day here and there. And for the most part, the changes were made without much thought. We respected each other and that made for a great year.

My co-chaplains have been engraved in my heart as friends forever.

Cecelia Beck (seated right) is a newly commissioned missionary by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and is beginning her work in Shelby, NC.

Barbara Evans (seated left) is a 35 year veteran of New Hanover Regional Medical Center and will continue her service there as an associate chaplain and a monitor tech as well as serve as a prison minister.

Laura Joost-Kuhn (standing left) has traveled back home to Oregon where she is awaiting God's call.

And Fernando Morales ( standing center) is in Orlando, Florida in search of a Chaplain position with a healthcare facility in that area.

Please remember these fine folks in prayer as they seek God's call on their lives.