Feelings are a funny thing. And, for writers we have a lot of them. Chaplains, even more. My heart wants to live heavenward, but my feelings often seem more earth-bound.

Many in “home town USA,” know me as a chaplain at our local hospital. Mostly, a great feeling comes through seeing, first hand, that people respond well to knowing they are cared about. Sometimes I hear confessions, although totally surprised when this happens. Maybe it is the name tag a chaplain wears . . . which one man called “The God Tag.” Hardly. Just being a loving, listening presence is the best I can muster.

The caricature, here, was done by an artist after someone at a party shared a few words about my work as a chaplain. He approached me and asked only a mere question or two, then put his pen to paper. Upon seeing his caricature, truth hit: I knew that as much as I wanted to be classy and polished, this stranger truly “got the picture.” I’m just a little person, needing training wheels, but also loved–thank God–accepted by many and tolerated by some.

After twenty years of doing chaplaincy at hospitals, hospice and Mohave County Jail, my heart is full of memories. I’ve grown to know myself better, and to accept the good as well as that which is not so good. The primary battle in life seems to be: 1) not to judge others, 2) to let go prejudice, 3) to forgive what hurts, and 4) grow in the ability to love . . . to the point of praying for our enemies.

For sure, it is an ongoing pain to see people hurt one another, innocent or not. This is rugged mountainous territory emotionally–hard places to traverse. Perhaps this children’s book opens a window of reality for adults, as well as for children. It shows how to overcome what hurts and scares the “bejeebers” out of us.  As much as I wish to be finished, I can see this in my very own human nature, fallible and unfinished. Surely, this is common for us humans–and lies beneath much of the anxiety in daily life.

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