Billy and Florence Nightingale

My encounter yesterday with Billy was one I'll not soon forget, especially because of the nurse I'll never know.  Let me explain...  I received a call in the afternoon from our Baptist Association office concerning a most unusual caller. A man traveling by bus back home to Tulsa from a funeral in Junction had suffered a seizure and was in Providence Hospital for treatment.  His name is Billy.  He said that he had accepted Christ in the hospital and wanted to speak with someone about how to get started right in his new Christian life.  The hospital gave him the Baptist Association office number.  I agreed to see him in the hospital, and in so doing learned about an inspiring sequence of events.  It seems that a hospital chaplain had left with him a small book written by Billy Graham concerning salvation.  Later that day a nurse came to his room, saw the book on his bedside table, and asked if Billy had read it.  Billy replied that he had but needed someone to explain it to him.  Astonishingly, the nurse arranged to take her break at that moment and proceeded to lead Billy in giving his life to Christ in prayer.  What an unmistakable exhibition of vocation by the unidentified nurse-living out one's calling to honor Christ through nursing.  I learned all this from Billy last night, and as I dropped him off at the bus station this morning, he told me that his life had changed forever as the result of one anonymous nurse.  God bless you Florence Nightingale, whoever you are.

Undercover Boss

I just watched a recorded episode of my favorite TV show, "Undercover Boss." I love witnessing weekly the inevitable personal and executive transformation that results from a chief executive officer going undercover to reconnect with his or her employees. This particular episode chronicled the impact upon Sheldon Yellen, CEO of Belfor, worldwide leader in disaster recovery and property restoration. There is something extremely moving about a high level executive awakening to the needs and struggles of his or her employees, and the climax always comes as the transformed leader gives back to those that fostered the undercover awakening. I can't help drawing a parallel with the incarnation, inadequate comparison as it is. The writer of Hebrews expresses it well: "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." I love that truth! Jesus Christ perfectly identifies with my agony in the trenches and reaches down to pull me up. The incarnation is so much more than orthodox dogma; it sustains each step and fills each breath with hope and meaning. If a corporate executive can become a caring employer who delights in giving back, I better understand how Christ joyfully extends to me full and abundant living in light of his own human journey.