Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

Doctor Shortage

I spent an hour and half sitting in a tire shop today. One of the tires on our Escort was damaged beyond repair, so I had the joy of purchasing a new tire. That's right. One and a half hours to buy a grand total of ONE tire. Yee Haw.

The majority of my wait was an utter waste of time. The TV in the waiting area was tuned in to The View. Oh joy. I spent most of my time flipping through magazines that I couldn't care less about. That is until I found one that had an article about The Battle of Gettysburg. I'm into Civil War history, so I began to read. And I learned something fascinating. I already knew that it was an incredibly bloody battle, but I didn't know that there was a great shortage of medical personnel on hand.

Neither the North nor the South had ample field doctors in that theater because they didn't expect this battle. They expected a big battle to happen elsewhere, so the vast majority of their medical personnel was moved out of Gettysburg. Many soldiers lost their lives because of this mistake.

The church can never forget it's role. We are a hospital for people who have been bloodied in life's battles. We are a M.A.S.H. unit on the front line, ready to accept those who have been wounded by the attacks of the Enemy. The problem is that we often forget this mission. We become complacent, not really remembering that there is a battle raging. And so we move our resources somewhere else. We spend our energy on things that make us comfortable. We focus on ways to please ourselves. Meanwhile there are people who are dying all around us. Our role is not that of a maintenance man, whose job is to maintain the status quo and make sure everyone is happy. Our role is that of a hospital staff, ready to assist the Great Physician when another wounded person comes our way.

When you walk through the doors of your church building this weekend, look around. Is there someone there who is wounded or hurting? If you said "no," then you didn't look long enough. Every weekend our churches are filled with hurting people. The question is will there be enough medical personnel on hand to do the job?