Theology and Fire

I have a few minutes so I figured I would post again.

I am a chaplain on call until 5:00 it is 20 after 4. I am hoping that nothing happens between now and then, the thing is we never know. A chaplain gets called at every death in the methodist hospitals, we arrive and say, "hello I am the chaplain and I am here to help you in anyway I can." I have only been on one actual death call but have been called to three. The other two were during the day when another chaplain took the call (I know it is confusing but just trust me). The one I did go to I wasn't actually on call, just riding along for the experience, it was the hardest thing I have ever done.

I think alot on what it means to be a hospital chaplain but more who I am as a hospital chaplain. I have been here three weeks and talked to over 150 people. Some of them are in great moods, some of them pretend to be in great moods, and some are in horrible moods. I remember standing in a tragety once thinking, "there is nothing to say right now, there is no word I can give to give meaning to this occurance." I wonder at those times if the seminary training was all bullshit. Currently I don't think so. The seminary training gave me an underlying theology to consider life through, now my theology, ever changing is being tested in fire. Now that I think about it, it doesn't shock me that people who just lost a daughter, sister, grandaughter, niece, cousin, or friend care nothing about the exegesis of Romans 8:28. More than that they may be weeping and wailing to God, "Why, God oh why," but they really aren't looking for an answer, at least not in this case. Fire... hmm...