Today, instead of sharing one of my stories, I thought I'd share a friend's story. He is getting his Master' degree and is celebrating his journey with Father God with him all along the way. Congratulations, Graham. Here is his story in his own words.

 

GRADUATION DAY!!!!!!!!
  The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand. -Psalm 37:23‭-‬24 NIV

 I remember when I was pressing really hard to finish my undergraduate degree, when, around the beginning, a mentor had called me into her office because she wanted to know what my plans were for the future. I remember thinking I didn't know what my plans were because there were so many things on my heart that I honestly wasn't thinking past anything other than surviving my undergraduate experience. So, I said (trying to be funny), "I don't know...live and not die?" Unamused, my mentor said, "You need to consider and pray about what next steps are available to you; it's going to be such a waste of your potential if you don't at least pursue a masters degree of some kind." .......Me? A master's degree? I began my initial transition back into college after completing the Foundry's Recovery Program thinking I was going to be a high school math teacher, but as later a job would open up for a men's counselor that I would eventually obtain, I finished my degree in Mathematics without the student teaching experience. That same mentor who challenged me in pursuit of "more" connected me with a faculty member from UAB's Counselor Education Program, in whose office I basically camped out to ask questions and to hold on to hope that I could actually get into UAB's Graduate School Counselor Education Program. Some had told me the odds were not good.
  But the Lord was with me.
 My undergraduate transcripts were a trainwreck from earlier on when I was foolish as a kid, although when I did finally make it to UAB (who was gracious enough to allow me to enroll after a lengthy appeals process where I basically had to spill my guts as to how I was different than when I was a kid) my grades were better. This faculty member coached me through the GRE Exam and I remember I was checking my email in a national conference in Florida where I received word that I had been accepted into the program; a door had been opened! I still have that email! Being enrolled into the program was around the time I was promoted to Director of Aftercare of the Foundry Ministries, a job whose creation was originally my idea but also a role that had never before been defined. It became quickly obvious that on top of Aftercare's program development, Foundry counseling, and leading the facility of CLCC, my graduate school experience was going to place a demand on my potential that I didn't know was possible. As usual, I dove in and began to search for ways to get further involved, which I did find through the honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Chi Sigma Iota. As I established a routine, a typical day, even on the weekends, was to rise by 5 am, often head to serve somewhere by 7:45 am, only to come home and crash by 8 or 9 pm. The next day always arrived too quickly.
  But the Lord was with me.
 This graduate program is more than just books and tests, although I've lost count of how many books I've had to read, exams I've had to take, papers I've had to write, and group projects I've had to complete along the way. Processing of case studies for ethical and legal lessons is intimidating in of itself. It calls you to explore parts of yourself that remain hidden and unattractive so that you can deeply understand by experience what it's like to undergo the depth of change the people you serve will know. Not to mention the raw and exposing process of tape reviews, the case conceptualizations and recapitulations, and the instructor behind me saying, "Again, Graham. Again." It's a program that also brings you to the level of clinical licensure, a process that is taken so seriously it's often discussed in the context of campfire horror stories. The intensity of the training is maddening, while consistently being reminded that a person who truly embraces this field will never fully arrive. And things really went nuclear when I had the honor of doing my 700 hours of clinical experience at UAB's Community Counseling Clinic. Exhaustion was close to the mark...but I don't think I have a word that can fully describe the experience. There were so many times where I questioned if it was all going to be worth it as I felt like my eyes were going to bleed as I continued to gaze into my laptop into yet another late night. But it was...every minute of it was worth it!
  And the Lord was with me.
 Every morning, I got up to meet the Lord in prayer and in the Word of God. I did my best to stay in intimate places of worship and I know in my heart that what has been accomplished is only true because of what God has promised in that I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. I have learned to trust God in a way that I would not have known without this process. There has been darkness and valleys. There has been heartbreak and sickness. But, there has been beauty a hundredfold for each ash burned. And to think, God even led me to my marriage to Jessica through this journey, my most blessed gift yet. Now, more than ever, not only am I convinced of the awesome power of God's Word and a relationship with Jesus Christ, but also the incredible strength of the human spirit and the amazing resilience of the human heart. I see it every day in the people I get the opportunity to serve. Nothing gives glory to God like a permanently transformed life.
  And the Lord will be with me even beyond this.
 I just want to again thank everyone who has been part of my journey and offered me support and encouragement, especially my wife, my family, my church, the Foundry, and the UAB Community. A special thanks to the program participants of the Foundry, as my life continues to be enriched by theirs; you guys are my tribe and I will never forget that! My office walls have now accumulated numerous things, but the thing you'll immediately notice upon entering is that my Foundry Graduate Certificate stands above all others. I love Y'all! Let's get this party started!!! Have a great day, everyone!

One Night in the OR

Yesterday, the cable technician came to check out our Internet signal which has been dropping out at times. This is the second time in two weeks that the same technician has come to work on it. He is a very personable, friendly young man and likes to talk and listen to stories. Since he knew that I had retired from Healthcare, he asked me what I thought about his girlfriend's desire to become a nurse and what it was like in Healthcare today. I shared a couple of my stories with him from my memories. He told me I should write my stories and share them so that it would help someone else especially a young person learn from them. First, I told him about how emotional it can be but also so rewarding too. One of my earliest memories in Healthcare was when I was in school and working part-time in the OR of a Level 1 Trauma Center. I generally worked the evening or night shift which is the time that most trauma comes into the hospital. Late one evening, we get a call from the ER that they had a gunshot wound to the head and the neurosurgeon was on his way in to take the patient to the OR. With that call, the team in the OR consisting of the Circulating Nurse, the Trauma Surgical Technician(me) and the Surgical Nursing Assistant, scrambled to 'open' for the neurosurgery case to do a craniotomy. We got everything ready and then waited for the call from the neurosurgeon that they were coming. Well, that call did not come so I called around to the ER to ask how much longer. The Charge Nurse then said, "I am sorry we didn't call but the young girl is 'brain-dead' and she didn't make it." With that, the OR team began 'breaking down the case' i. e. putting the instruments and material back up in its place for the next case. When we finished that job, I, still feeling the effects of the adrenaline from getting that initial call, decided to walk around to the ER to see if I could help them with anything. As I rounded the hallway into the rear of the ER, I saw that something was going on in one of the back rooms. They were 'bagging' someone on the stretcher so I stopped for a moment to watch from outside the room. About that time, the neurosurgeon came around the corner so I asked what was going on. He said, "No head case tonight. My job is done. See you in the morning." Then he stopped and said, "But... you still have a case. An organ procurement, if they can get permission. Good luck and have a great night."  He left me standing there in the hallway alone to ponder what he had just said. "An organ procurement?" I said to myself, trying to remember what that meant. I realized that meant that we were going to be obtaining organs for transplant. In my short time(about 3-4 years)  of working in the OR, I had never been involved in an organ procurement. I quickly found the Charge Nurse and she told me that the Trauma Surgeon was in the Family Room with the young girl's Grandparents. He was explaining and asking for permission from them for consent to remove her kidneys for transplant. I was kind of stunned as the Charge Nurse told me the story. I can remember this story and my experiences of that night almost like they just happened. They were burned into my memory. She told me that the young girl, who name was Brenda Brady, was 14 years old. She and her younger brother lived with the Grandparents because their parents had been tragically killed in a car accident. The Grandmother had told her that Brenda was very traumatized by losing their parents the way they did. She had had trouble with her "acting out at times". When Brenda came home that evening, she had asked if she could go out with friends to go skating. The Grandmother told her, No, but Brenda got upset and they had a fight over it. She ended up going to her room and locked herself in. Then they heard a gunshot and Brenda had shot herself in the head. What a tragic story! I know. All I could think of was, "Why? That is not the way to get back at your Grandmother even if she was still very upset over her parents' loss." Well, they got permission, by explaining how someone else would benefit from her kidneys and that possibly two lives would be saved from the tragic loss of Brenda. So, I rushed around to the OR and told the Circulating Nurse the story and that we needed to get 'set-up' quickly for a kidney procurement. Neither of us had any experience with this but we threw the "case' together and 'opened it up'. That night, we did our very first organ procurement thinking about how one tragic ending of a young life may save the lives of two others. I  always pray for my patients and the surgical team before going into the OR even Brenda that night. After that, I scrubbed on several organ procurement cases from kidneys, hearts, lungs, pancreases, eyes, and even bone. At one time, I even interviewed with the Alabama Organ Bank to become Procurement Coordinator of the new Bone Bank that they were setting up. I did not take the job. I decided that I could not continue seeing so much tragedy even though it could lead to helping others. I have carried that experience from that night with me through these almost 40 years. I have seen many patients helped through surgery and know I have in some small way been a part of that. That was just one night in the OR.

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Author 2.0 Blueprint by Joanna Penn. (used by permission)

Pascal’s Wager

Have you heard of Blaise Pascal? I remembered hearing his name before but I came across him in something I read yesterday. Blaise Pascal was French mathematician, physicist, scientist, and philosopher. He was born in 1623 and died in 1662. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, he is known for laying the foundation for the theory of probabilities and “constructed a counting device-the Pascaline”. Being a scientist, he studied and tested the theories of Galileo and others and studied atmospheric pressure using a barometer. His studies and experiments led to what is known in science as Pascal’s principle. 

So being a student through the years in science, I remember studying about him in school. However, this is not what I wanted to write about today. Blaise Pascal was also a Christian and noted for having a controversy with the church or at least with the Jesuits. Pascal finally decided to write his work of Christian apologetics Apologie de la religion chrétienne, as a collection of his thoughts on miracles and other proofs of Christianity. His work remained unfinished at his death until his notes were put together and published under the name Pensee’s(or Thought’s). He wrote about the skeptic of God, Christianity and how he would be overcome by “the wager”. It became known as “Pascal’s Wager”. Pascal said that if God does not exist, then the skeptic did not lose anything by believing in Him through the Person of Jesus, however, if God does not exist then he would lose nothing by believing. He went on to say that if he believed and God does exist and salvation through Jesus, then he would gain eternal life in heaven with God. If the skeptic did not believe and God did exist, then his “wager” would cost him eternal punishment in hell. So, he said that anyone who used reason would concur that it was better to believe in God than not, even as a scientist who believed in reason rather than faith.

I have known and still know people who say they are an atheist and don’t believe in God. They say that they believe in science and the proofs of the existence of things in life that science and reason give us. They tell me that it is not ‘reasonable’ or that science can’t ‘prove’ there is a God. So they choose not to believe in God because it requires faith. If we listen to Pascal, who was a scientist who believed in reason, logic, and science, then we would agree that it would be better for everyone including the skeptic/atheist to believe in God. As an applied scientist in my training and work before retirement, I can say that if I had not personally known God through a relationship with Him through Jesus, then I too might have been a skeptic. However, by knowing Him, science and the order in the laws of nature that govern our lives, just increased my faith in Him. So, in conclusion, I would like everyone who reads this to think about and seriously consider what I have said. If you seek Him, you will find Him.