A few days after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, I volunteered at the Uvalde Memorial Hospital to provide chaplain care to the staff. The shooting on May 24, 2022, left nineteen fourth graders and two teachers dead. Caring for the victims left the hospital staff shocked […]
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Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10). This is a familiar verse but it is so hard to do. Being still means to be tranquil, silent, quiet and motionless, all that seems impossible. Our days are full of caring for children or other loved ones, demanding work, […]
That’s right. Because I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I’m not letting go.I’m telling you, ‘Don’t panic. I’m right here to help you’ (Isaiah 41:13 MSG) Do you tend to think of God as impersonal or distant? Do you ever wonder if God can be in the middle of […]
That’s right. Because I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I’m not letting go.I’m telling you, ‘Don’t panic. I’m right here to help you.’ (Isaiah 41:13 MSG) Do you tend to think of God as impersonal or distant? Do you ever wonder if God can be in the middle of […]
Do you ever speculate what it would be like to experience heaven? A special lady offered me an unexpected peek. Let me unpack the hospital encounter with a patient, Ms. Marjorie. I entered her room and introduced myself as Chaplain Charleen. Ms. Marjorie’s pure white hair surrounded her her face and […]
Do you ever wish your grief would have an end? Grief, the sadness we feel with loss, will it ever go away? You did not chose grief; it choose you. If we view grief as a journey without a specific destination, we come to the conclusion that grief cannot be […]
Can God speak through a tattooed angel? Have you ever met someone very different from you and wondered how you could relate? As a chaplain, I experienced a stirring encounter with a man who differed from me as much as oil differs from water. Etched in my memory is the […]
Snow engulfed south Texas with a historic four-day storm that sustained sub-freezing temperatures this February. Multiple inches of snow blanketed the landscape, roads and roofs. Our city shut down because of dangerous travel conditions on icy roads along with power and water failures. The storm created an unparallel and unforeseen […]
Does God meet us when we have disappointments, lost dreams, disillusionments, disease and death? Those are questions that I ask myself and God, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus rattled us. We had assumptions that life would be normal and we had the illusion that we could control our […]