Rockford and CPE Week 7

Time is flying by, I have more verbatims done than I have left to write.  As tough as CPE has been these last 7 weeks, they have been some of the most healing weeks of my life.  I think this past week, I sweated out all the stress, with our AC unit doing exactly what it was supposed to do:  keep the apartment 20 degrees cooler than the outside temp...so when it's 110 degrees outside, the apartment is a refreshing 90. Uff Da!  Iga, Madelaine, and I took Lynn up on her offer to stay in her cold basement one unbearably hot night.  Thanks, Lynn!  Today has been better, thankfully.  I even put a sweat shirt on.

Iga and I were laughing this morning.  I said, "We have no life.  All we can come up with to do on a Saturday morning is watch 'The Wizard of Oz.'"  Iga pointed out that "Most people sleep 'till Noon on Saturday."  So, I spent the morning psychoanalyzing Dorothy, Tin Man, Lion, and Scarecrow...and the Wizard, of course!  Thanks, CPE.

Nothing much to write about this week.  I'm still struggling with the question of where I can do the most good...in the church or out.  Same general thoughts as last post.

This week, my best story comes from an 80-some year old lady, absolutely full of piss 'n vinegar.  I was visiting with her and her daughter and the patient was explaining to me in great detail her troubles with diarrhea that day.  Then she paused and said, "You know, a couple weeks ago, I wanted to wear my white pants but I was afraid that something might escape out my back end.  Then I had this idea.  I lined the inside of my pants with Press 'n Seal.  It worked really well, but it was hot!"  Her daughter responded, laughing, "As long as you put it in the right way.  Otherwise it will stick to your ass."  Learn something new every day!  Actually, I'd never heard of Press 'n Seal before so I had to look it up!

Quote for thought from "Pastoral Care Emergencies":
"We...know that we're imperfect Christians, sinners ourselves, saved by grace, this strange mixture of those who want to follow Jesus, to serve our Lord by serving all of God's creatures, knowing that God loves all persons just as much as God loves me--but not really.
"Totally apart from what we believe and feel about homosexual persons, drug users, and prostitutes, can we serve them in the name of Christ when they are in need?" (Switzer, 95)

Organizing the Tupperware...somebody's got to do it!

Pax.