*****
Divine Signs
O. Kris Widmer
This journal entry is to
record a confirmation of my new call to Chaplain ministry. I want it written down and printed out…and
blogged and Face Booked too…so it will remind me in the doubts that may
eventually come my way.
I want to tell you of the
amazing heavenly “signs” of affirmation that happened over the weekend. There are times we have all asked for signs
and not received them. There are times
we have asked for a heaven sent sign and received them. This time, I didn’t ask for a sign…but got
two of them anyway. (God is like that,
you know. Gracious.)
After I had made the decision
to transition to chaplain and told my local Adventist conference leaders and
the church head elder…but before announcing it at the church board meeting…God
sent me these two heavenly affirmations.
Sign #1 - On
the Sabbath. Remember Jesus’ quote “My
Father is working and I am working.”
Well it was true on this past Sabbath day. God was working in the details of my life.
Saturday morning at 6:55 a.m.
the phone rings. It’s the Sheriff’s
office, asking me as a volunteer chaplain to go to a nearby town to visit a
woman. I dressed quickly and headed out
the door for the 25 min drive. (I’ll share the story from my written report,
changing the names to initials)
As I approached the
neighborhood, I saw an ambulance driving the opposite way with lights and
siren. I didn’t think anything of it,
for I was on my way to a fatality. As I
drove on, I passed 3 Sheriff vehicles driving in a convoy the opposite way. I assumed they had left this call, knowing a
chaplain was in route.
I arrived at the home and
checked in with the officer who briefed me about the situation. I learned that the ambulance I passed was
indeed transporting the victim to a local hospital. He had a very occasional pulse, but it was
very likely that he would not survive.
She mentioned that the family is very faithfully Catholic, as evidenced
by the art and photos in the residence.
She took me into the house
where I met FP, the wife of the victim.
FP had one other person in the home, G, a neighbor.
Both G and I tried to get FP
to sit down for a while…but she said she couldn’t sit. She was too agitated. Beside the floor needed to be mopped up from
her husband’s vomit. (She was mopping,
and wringing out the mop in the kitchen sink.)
All that was left was to move the refrigerator, and clean underneath it.
So I took off my coat and
took on the mopping chore. I found a
bucket and put a few drops of bleach in it as a mop solution, for no other
cleaning product could be located quickly.
I pulled out the refrigerator and continued to mop up the black (blood)
vomit of her husband. (Hey…it’s what this chaplain does.)
She was very appreciative of
my taking over this task but would not sit down.
As I mopped, FP talked. She said JP (husband) had had a cold and
cough for the past week, but it didn’t seem to be serious. But Friday night, he’d been up most of the
night, not feeling well. She found him
on the floor having vomited up black/white vomitus.
JP and FP had matching
plaques on the wall in recognition of their volunteer chaplain work at a local
hospital as Eucharist ministers. And I
learned that G, their neighbor was a retired minister and hospice
chaplain. So I remarked how God had
brought 3 chaplains into the house and two to minister to her at this moment of
need.
FP said that she and her
husband had 7 children (including one set of twins) and that God had brought a
double birth into their home because of the death of an infant son years
ago. As we didn’t know if JP would live
or die, at one point she said “JP is greeting his baby boy in heaven.” This was a comforting thought to her.
She also lamented that next
week their grandson and great-grandchildren are coming from Florida for a
visit. “And now they won’t be seeing
JP,” she said.
At 8:09 a.m., A, her daughter
from Berkley, arrived. Shortly after
that, her husband C arrived in a separate vehicle. Shortly after they arrived, G the neighbor
left.
As family was now present and
they were planning on heading over the hospital to check on JP; and as I had
church services to tend to starting at 9:00 a.m. myself I needed to leave. I had a prayer with them and left their home
at 8:25 a.m.
(I just checked the local
obituaries…and indeed JP did pass away that morning.)
I got to the church at 9:00,
still in my chaplain shirt and credential…and got started on the morning
meetings: Prayer, Sabbath School Class
done in my chaplain clothes. Church conducted in my new Punjabi suit. – our
photo report on India. Debbie and I went
home for lunch and rested, as we are still recovering from “jet lag.”
Sign #2 – I
know the Sabbath is over…but it’s still Saturday. I’m in bed, sleeping. At 10:55. the phone rings. It’s the Sheriff’s office, asking me again to
serve as a chaplain. I dressed quickly
and headed out the door for the 38 mile drive. (As before here is the
story…longer than the first…with the details, copied from my written report.)
I arrived on the scene (ER
Waiting Room) and identified myself to the officer. He introduced me to the 3 family members that
were present: AM, widow of the decedent,
SM, their daughter and H, their granddaughter, who is pregnant. I learn AM has two other children: A son, RM and a daughter RM. They have other grandchildren and one great
grand-daughter, age 1.
AM told me the story of how
she and her husband had attended a Police Charity Ball event that evening. They have been faithful in attendance at
this event since 1983. Mr. M had
expressed that he wasn’t feeling well, but they attended the gala event anyway. She said “On the way out to the car, he was
walking like he was drunk – but he had only had one glass of wine, with
dinner.”
He had unlocked the car with
his key-fob, and she got into the passenger seat. Now he didn’t join her in the car, as He had
collapsed beside a nearby car. She found
him on the ground, unresponsive, with a laceration over his right eye. She called for help from others in the
parking lot and 911 was called. She
said that 2 other men came and adjusted his neck for a clear airway and that
they did chest compressions, until EMT’s arrived.
He was transported to this
Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Mr. M was a diabetic, had
COPD (with oxygen being recently delivered to the house) and was being prepped
for dialysis therapy. An access fistula
had already been constructed in his arm.
While listening to AM tell
the story, 3 times she said “Well, at least his last evening was a happy
one. Good food. We were out on the town.”
I spoke to Officer H and
mentioned how the chaplain service worked through the Sheriff Department and
that one of the purposes was to free him to return to patrol. He said he was off-duty at 1:00 a.m.
At 12:20 a.m., 5 other family
member and 1 close friend arrived. So
now there were 9 family members in the waiting room.
At their arrival, Officer H
excused himself and the family and I said our good byes.
At 12:30 a.m., Nurse N came
out with Mr. M’s personal items in a bag and gave us two pieces of information.
(1) The coroner’s office had released his body (2) The Neptune Society (here
after abbreviated as NS) (the family’s pre-need choice of mortuary services)
had been called and would be coming in the next 2 hours to take his body into
their care.
I thought it would be a good
time for the family that arrived to see their father, for I believed the NS
provides no viewing options at a later date.
At 12:35 a.m., I escort Mrs.
M back to her husband’s body for her to have a private moment with her husband,
while Nurse N retrieves two additional personal items: a gold neck chain and a
ring from his Right hand. Then we came
out to the waiting room and brought the rest of the family back to have their
moments with the body of their father/grandfather. A granddaughter was particularly tearful as
she said “He won’t be able to attend my graduation (from college) this year.”
Everyone was out of the room by 12:50 a.m., and we were back in the waiting
room.
The family said TO ME they
wanted to wait for the NS and be present when his body left the hospital, to
“walk him out to the van.” So we waited,
while I watched my wrist watch.
During this time I listened
and learned:
· Mr. M was an immigrant from Holland. During WWII, he had been in Europe as a young
man. During his childhood, his aptitude test recommended he become a doctor or
a lawyer…but there was no schooling opportunity. So, he made a career in real estate. He had tried to retire twice, but was still
working; assisted by one of his daughters.
· Mr. M was a world traveler. He had been to every continent of the world,
stepping foot on Antarctica just last year.
Mr. and Mrs. M had also taken an around the world cruise together,
and were marooned by a storm for day and a night on the Falkland Islands while
the cruise ship left port for the safety of calmer waters elsewhere. He had been to Russia, China, Mongolia and Egypt
– and he had even told stories of his adventures while at the dinner table that
night.
· Mr. M had recently told his wife he has lost 20 pounds
in weight.
· Mr. and Mrs. M had just had their 58th
wedding anniversary February 28.
· Mrs. M asked if DL was the coroner. I explained that he was the elected Sheriff
official, but there was a large crew of deputies underneath his leadership.
· Mr. M had a “conceal and carry permit” for a gun. But Mrs. M had disclosed this to the officer
and he had secured the firearm, and they had a phone number to arrange for
retrieving it later.
· The family discussed who would drive “Mom” home and
who would pick up the car from the parking lot of the banquet.
·
Critical Moment at End of Visit
So still we waited.
I assumed the NS Personnel
would enter through the ER entrance, so there was no possible way we’d miss
them. I had spoken to ER Reception Staff
and they knew we were waiting for them.
We expected them to be there by 2:30 a.m. at the latest. (Their initial
ETA) At about 2:05 I spoke to ER Reception and they said they
had called the NS staff and they were “minutes away” “Good,” I told the family, “they will be here
shortly.”
In truth, I had thought to
leave at this point. But a daughter and
then a son at different times expressed appreciation for me sitting with them
while they waited. So I stayed.
And we waited. Another 35 minutes.
At 2:45 a.m. I went up to ER
reception again. “Can you check on the
NS again?” They called. I got the number from a NS card that Mrs. M
had in her purse. After being on the
phone for 20 minutes, I learned from one NS office that their records showed he
had already been picked up! It is now
about 3:15 a.m.
I asked to come behind the ER
security door and speak to reception. I
told them what I learned. They were
clueless. So I walked back to the room
where Mr. M’s body had been at 12:30…and indeed he was GONE. ER staff said that the NS staff had come in
the ambulance entry and the nurse there had thought the family had left. NO ONE CAME OUT TO THE WAITING ROOM TO CHECK
ON US! The NS had arrived about the same
time as a new critical case…and the ER staff had scrambled to his aid.
In reality…they had “been
there shortly”…and had come and gone – without the waiting family knowing it or
being told they had come through another door.
They had come in and out…and
hospital records had the body removal at 2:15 a.m., while we were all in the
waiting room…waiting.
I told the ER staff that they
owed the family an apology and that their internal communication left something
GREATLY to be desired. (Where was the
hospital chaplain anyway! I never saw
one! Perhaps the Hospital doesn’t employ
one at that that facility. I have
questions without answers.)
The female nurse and the ER
supervisor came out and apologized to the family…and that was a new small loss
in the face of the large loss of the death of Mr. M. His son was the most upset.
Apology made, I gathered the
family for a few more moments and explained as best I could what happened.
I gathered them together and
they were agreeable to a prayer, so we had a prayer circle, then hugs all
around…and then the family departed.
I went back to the ER
reception and had a few more choice words for them. I explained to them that I felt they had let
this family down in their service of their emotional needs. They were the ones who knew the family was
waiting. They had been looking at us for
2.5 hours, while other patients came and registered and were taken in for
treatment.
Learning Lesson: When waiting for body removal to a mortuary
or the NS particularly – have someone
remain with the body until they get there.
This would have prevented this sour end to an otherwise positive few
hours of initial grief following this death in their family.
So…if you’re still with me at
this point…thanks for reading to the end.
God’s sign was simply
this. In the previous 4-5 years I’ve
only had 2-3 callouts for the sheriff department. And on this Sabbath….3/18/17…a day in the
middle of my announcements of my transition from pastoral ministry to chaplain
ministry…God arranged for me to have 2 the same day.
It was as if God was saying
to me “CHAPLAIN WIDMER…you have made the
right choice and the right time. I will
bless you and make you a blessing. I
have used you in pastoral work…and now I am sending you into a new line of
work.” Like the remaining of Abram and
Sarai and Jacob…it was as if God was saying
“You shall no longer be called Pastor…now from hence forth, you shall be
called Chaplain. I am the Lord your
God!”
At least that is how I viewed
the events of the weekend. So there you
have it. Divine Signs.
O. Kris Widmer
3/23/17
