07.09.07

Can you learn anything at a graduation ceremony?

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:33 am by Admin

Recently I was privileged to attend Annie’s graduation from her family practice internship at Camp Pendleton’s hospital. Suzanne Lewis is now officially “Dr. Annie” to all of us. During the ceremony an Admiral Jeffries spoke to the graduates, their family members and friends. The admiral, Richard Jeffries, is the Medical Officer of the Marine Corps. He’s in charge of medical care for the Corps. A large part of his speech was meant to remind the graduates of the importance of their job. To illustrate he told a story of a marine sergeant who on his third tour of duty in Iraq was severely wounded. An IED explosion took off his legs and damaged at least one hand or arm; I don’t remember all of the details. The hero of the story was a navy corpsman who immediately began to treat the wounds. The corpsman was frantically applying tourniquets and doing whatever it took to stop the bleeding. The admiral told how the corpsman kept encouraging the sergeant to hold on. “Don’t leave me. I’m taking care of you. You’re going to make it.” These and other expressions of commitment and care were just as important, or more so, than the efforts to stop the bleeding. The sergeant did survive the trip to a hospital unit. There US Navy surgeons were able to save his life and send him home where he can recuperate and can live life with his wife and kids. The story would be touching enough if it ended there but it doesn’t. Admiral Jeffries told us about the sergeant’s first trip away from Bethesda Hospital. It was a trip to the national cemetery in Arlington, VA. You see the corpsman who’d saved this sergeant’s life later died trying to save others’ lives. The sergeant felt compelled to attend the corpsman’s funeral. At the funeral the family of the dead corpsman introduced themselves to the sergeant and his family. The corpsman’s mother said something like “your kids are now part of our family too”. Saving lives, keeping families together, even at the sacrifice of their own lives, were understood to be the essential mission.

As I listened to Admiral Jeffries, and tried unsuccessfully not to cry like baby, I was struck by his clear sense of purpose. I felt like God was talking to me. In the middle of making a living, surviving the latest crisis, longing for some peace and quiet, I too frequently forget the real priorities. We are at war. There is an enemy of our souls who’d love nothing more than to kill us off. If he can’t accomplish that he wants to distract us from God’s purposes for our lives by keeping focused on ourselves. As followers of King Jesus we too have been given orders. In Jesus’ name and by the power of God the Holy Spirit we are to save lives, keep families together, even at sacrifice to ourselves. Jesus modeled for us kingdom living. When Jesus ascended to the Father the Holy Spirit was sent to guide and empower us to advance the Kingdom of God in the earth. We are not all called to be doctors or corpsman on a foreign battlefield. We are all called to share the good news of God’s love expressed in Jesus. We are all called to heal the sick, raise the dead and set the oppressed free. We are called to minister to the poor, the broken, and even our enemies. Join me in asking God to keep me, us, from distraction. Let’s give God permission to send us back out where pain is real but God is powerful.

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Craig’s Blog

07.09.07

Can you learn anything at a graduation ceremony?

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