The Arrow's Path

Talk about Fish n Chips ...

I had a rather rough on call Thursday night. The girl about 21 that came in about 5 AM, crushed face, leg was torn all to pieces. I've seen some nasty stuff and that really upset me more than the other traumas I had seen. I think maybe because it happened when she was less than a quarter mile from home that made me so sad. She just graduated college and I doubt she'll make it. Well, no, I take that back. I know exactly why it set me off. It reminded me of a good friend of mine who died the same way. That was years ago, I thought I'd gotten over that, but it all came back. This girl's parents came shortly thereafter and it was just one of those things where there was just nothing to say. I was tired from having been up most of the night, so I really could not think of anything to do other than just be there. I hope that was enough. I really just felt in a way almost angry because I was there and there was nothing I could do to fix the situation. There was nothing I could...

Sweet merciful Rock of Ages...I'm a Methodist. I think my heart is being strangely warmed because I was predestined to kick your butt, Paul Tillich. Puritans of the world...unite! You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan . You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Neo orthodox 82% Reformed Evangelical 75% Roman Catholic 57% Classical Liberal 46% Emergent/Postmodern 43% Modern Liberal 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 39% Fundamentalist 29% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

I was wondering before I left the Seabury Pen how long it would take me to get my Southern accent back when I came back to Tennessee. I was surprised how quickly it all came back. I think I used "ain't" no less than 4 times today and actually said "ya'll." I think the kicker was when I was called into the ER for a trauma yesterday and some good ole boy had been brought in after a 4-wheeling accident. He reeked of alcohol and the doctors in the ER were trying to figure out what it was as I watched in amusement. They bantered for like ten minutes until I finally busted out laughing and said, "Its moonshine, fellers." All those degrees and they couldn't figure that out. Maybe that's a good thing they didn't know. Maybe I'm back in the South. Maybe I need to end this particular blog before I completely morph back into a redneck.

Well, I survived my first on call as a CPE chaplain yesterday. At my hospital there is always a chaplain on call for a 24 hour period. Some interesting things I learned working in a Trauma 1 center as an on call chaplain: 1. It is indeed amazing how many different ways the human body can be mangled. 2. I'm never owning another motorcycle. 3. I have a greater understanding of the dark humor in M*A*S*H. 4. The hospital cafeteria closes at 1 AM not 2 AM. 4.A. Because you did not have time to get dinner, 80 cent bags of chips from the vending machine do not go far. 5. CPR does not always work, in fact most of the time when someone goes into cardiac arrest, they die, even with the crash cart shock thing. 6. You can never tell how people are going to react when they are told that their loved one has died. Some scream, some get silent, some pass out. 7. In the South, its better to pray like a Methodist and not read a canned BCP prayer. 8. It's not about finding the right words when yo...

Alright, apparently I have been "tagged" for yet another blogging fad. So, here goes: How many books do you own? I'm in the 1000+ category What was the last book you bought? I bought 2 books at the Evanston library book sale right before I left. One was called Pita the Great , which was a cookbook with some interesting recipes for Hummus I had never seen (which says a lot). The other was a book on Trout Fishing, which I thought I might put to use sometime this summer, probably after CPE. What was the Last book I read? The Land that Time forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs The Five books that mean a lot to you (I am assuming this is excluding the Bible) : Dune (and series) by Frank Herbert Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer A Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 1984 by George Orwell Honorable Mention: Anything else by WIlliam Faulkner, All Quiet on the Western Front, Frankenstein, Billy Budd, Holy Sonnets by John Donne I guess I ca...

Just to keep my blogging public informed as to the whereabouts of the Archer, I am safely back in Tennessee doing CPE. Things are going better than expected actually. After hearing horror stories from the upper classmen at Seabury, my anxiety meter was running a bit high. But I have found my group of CPE people and the chaplain staff to be super thus far. Let's just hope it stays that way. My group has myself, a Baptist, 2 catholics (unusual for East Tennessee) a Lutheran (very unusual), a Congregationalist who is married to a Muslim (very, very unusual) and a Unitarian (I really feel sorry for her trying to explain to mountain folk what that is). I am the chaplain for 11 East at the hospital, which is a general floor, a step above trauma. So, that seems to be going fairly well. Again, let's hope it continues that way.

Well, maybe not The End , but rather the end of the school year here at Seabury-Western Theological Penitentiary. Another batch will be paroled tomorrow at St. Luke's Episcopal Church , Evanston at 10:30. I heard from the rehearsal today they are already behaving like priests (and/or cats) in need of herding. Congratulations, folks...remember your friends on the inside. The fate of Christendom is in your hands. And as my great uncle used to say, "if that don't scare ya', ain't nothin' will." In other news, I will be doing Clinical Pastoral Education (cue the sinister theme music) this summer at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. So, if for some reason you end up in the hospital there, ask for me. (If you end up at the Baptist Hospital up the street, ask for my mother, she's a nurse there as well as Parish Nurse at Rutherford Memorial Methodist in Corryton, TN.) Since I am going to be spending a little time back in my old stompi...

For those of you who are interested, the Vatican-Anglican dialog and agreement on Mary the Mother of Jesus has finally been posted online if you want to read it, click here . Today is my last exam, so I have not had time to read it yet, but ruminations will no doubt follow.