Chris' Christian Blog

April 12, 2021

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"Prompt:
Psalm 118:5
I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.

Write about a time that you called upon the Lord and he rescued you."

I've got a situation for you in which the Lord showed His extravagance. I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville, WV. I don't deserve to live here because I only served in the military for two months. I got hurt and was discharged so I did not see war like many of these guys. I live here because I served prior to the 1980 law that requires 18 months of active duty to live here. I was fortunate. However, God used it for good.

When I first got here there was no regular chaplain. There were several outside ministers who came in and provides services each week, but no regular chaplain. AAfter I arrived, I applied for the chaplaincy position and was accepted. I held a Bible study once per week and let the other ministers continue doing their programs. In April 2020 the whole facility locked down due to COVID-19. Nobody came in or went out. The four ministers who had been conducting services were not allowed in. Their programs were supposed to be suspended indefinitely. I took over their programs and with the exception of a few days when I was ill, their programs continued despite the pandemic. I also managed to improve on the chapel service. Prior to my arrival Chapel was typically just a Bible study with no worship service and no preaching. I use my computer to download piano soundtracks and dub them to PowerPoint presentations of the lyrics. I then use these PowerPoint slides to conduct a full worship service. I also preach each week as well as continue the Bible studies that happened previously. God knew the WVVH needed a chaplain when I was lonely and depressed, living alone in another city. He arranged it for me to qualify to live here and serve as Chaplain so worship would not cease during the pandemic.

Last night I was very sick with my stomach problems. I nearly cancelled chapel but felt led not to do so. I didn't know what God had in store, but I knew I had to hold Chapel. So I pulled myself together though feeling sick and went to Chapel. The projector would not show my PowerPoints at all. At one point it did present my wallpaper, but nothing else. The sound system also failed. I was certain that God was crazy for insisting that I hold Chapel. After all, I was sick and then we had a total system failure to boot. Still I held Chapel. Then time came for Chapel. Lo and behold three men came who had never been there before and one of the three rededicated His life to Christ!

Had I listened to my body and just held a prayer meeting so I did not have to leave my room, none of the three that came would have been there. Had I allowed the technical difficulties to cause me to toss in the towel, none of the three would have been there. As it was, I listened to the inner voice that encouraged me to go and Chapel had almost twice as many people as usual and one of the newcomers rededicated His life to Christ. God is good all the time. All the time God is good. He always has a plan if we are obedient.

"Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with The Flash and found this planet: Sum1
Read this item:

STATIC

Meeting Him  (E) Meeting a special old friend at the mall during the holiday rush #1682878 by Sum1

Write about this in your Blog entry today."

I just read this poem. I have read it before and I enjoyed it both times. It tells the story of a man who meets Santa Claus. Santa knows all about the man but the man is untrusting at first, wondering where this old man got all his information. When it turns out to be Santa Claus the man understands.

"Prompt: Write about whatever makes you happy."

You gave us an easy prompt today. What makes me happy is serving m God and my fellow man. I have the privilege of being Chaplain / floor leader and peer support specialist at the West Virginia Veterans Home where I live. As Chaplain I get to serve in many capacities. I find myself counseling people, preaching, setting up Chapel services, and serving in other ways. As a certified peer support specialist I conduct a class on Thursday afternoons called Vets Helping Vets. We study a variety of life-changing topics such as active listening, anger management, and time management. As floor leader I get to walk with the nurses as they make rounds in the morning. I take role. Then I am available to meet any other needs throughout the day. On weekends I take the trash out and keep the bathrooms stocked with toilet paper and paper towels. I love serving others. I get more out of it than they do.

"Prompt: Which kinds of writing prompts do you like to write for the most? Surprising ones, common everyday ideas, genre-directed or whatever you can think of?"

I usually don't write to prompts. Well, I take that back. I write to blog prompts but that's about it.