Be herd, shine the light
The old man sat across from Filly at the ER. But before that moment, she had gone back outside to get something from her truck, when the old man had come in and she had said “howdy”, noting his big, wide brimmed white felt cowboy hat. He had a surprised smile, probably initially thinking he would be ignored and was planning to walk by Filly with his head down and unnoticed, but instead, he looked up at her “howdy”, tipped his hat and held the door for her as she went out.
Filly got what she needed from the truck, forgetting to lock it (which did not actually matter in this small town friendly place) and then came back in to through the doors into the well lit room and sat in the corridor.
As Filly sat, waiting for the staff to help, she heard them tell the cowboy hat man to go sit down until the other ER patients had all been helped. She noticed his big soft eyes look teary, like he was about to cry.
She had been listening to things about medical devices. About things that did not seem to drain. Which was eventually to seem so ironic, because the hotel she stayed at later in the day mirrored that suggestion, as the sink in the kitchen seemed to not drain when she washed out the coolers from the truck, and the bathtub seemed to not drain when she took a shower.
But in that moment, as she listened, the man with the soft eyes and cowboy hat said “I know how he feels, I have been there myself” apparently demonstrating compassion towards the situation. Filly looked at him with an open heart, warm with appreciation for his notice and words of comfort to a complete stranger instead of silence and stone walling. Being heard was important for everyone.
When she smiled at him, He continued talking.
“I had a heart attack” he said, softly tapping his chest.
“Oh my” Filly responded, I am so sorry and I hope you will be ok. In her thinking, she began mentally rejected any health issue for that man, and that was what she called “prayer”. She tried to “hear” him, in that moment, and know that in God’s eyes he was perfect. Someone who was capable of caring about someone else, when they themselves were afraid or in pain, was indeed perfect, she thought to herself.
She was about to say more to the man, when she was interrupted by the nurse who came in and put a binder type clipboard in Filly’s hand with a form to fill out. Filly smiled again at the man and then started writing.
Soon afterwards, when they were called into the back, Filly stood up and looked once more at the old man who was still sitting across from her and watching her with his sad soft eyes. Filly told him she knew he would be OK and gave him the thumbs up sign. He smiled a grateful smile.
As they walked to the back, through the sterile hallways, Filly thought about Joel Olsteen’s talk about “the old man”. He had said in his sermon, that he used to get impatient a lot and he wanted to be more patient. The man he was, who always got impatient was what Joel called “the old man” that he USED to be and the man who was patient was “the new man”.
But how, she wondered, did he get from the old man to the new man? How did he get to that point where he was new and not old.
In the context of things that “needed draining”, maybe health issues that made an “old man” were caused by things that needed draining like impatience, anger, irritation, pride, and self-centeredness. If those things refused to “drain” from human behavior those unchristian qualities would eventually form a cesspool that needed draining. That was what made the old man, not age, not appearance.
If those things were “the old man”, maybe they were able to drain away, when, (like the man did for Filly), someone “heard”. Listening to someone with an open heart, allowing them to be heard, was in fact such a healing event, often miraculous.
Jesus had a flock. He always talked about being the shepherd. Filly liked to think of it as the “Jesus herd”moment, using a play on words. Because everyone who listened, was “herd”. Those lost sheep, who were out of range, and had not been ‘herd” needed the opportunity to talk to the Father, to help them be “herd”. Not talking, but listening. That is mostly what Jesus did, when he healed. Jesus herd.
He “herd” with confidence and faith. Knowing that on earth, he was a human extension of his heavenly father, helped Jesus know nothing was impossible. Including draining swamps. Including loving a stranger. Including patience with hurried ER staff. Jesus herd patience, meekness, humility, faith…like when the woman touched his hem, Jesus herd faith. When Peter walked on water, Jesus herd trust. Jesus looked for the good, expecting to find it.
When they walked out of the ER later, Filly saw three really tanned, and young looking dirty, construction or roadside workers, their hair windblown and streaked with dusty road and construction dirt, their clothes heavy like thick waterproof canvas, or oilcloth, their boots covered with mud. They all looked worried and Filly again said a mental prayer for the one they had brought in…rejecting any evil outcome for the person.
Then moments later, as they drove away down the road, she saw cones and people waving, and then flashing lights of an ambulance and a fire truck on the winding Colorado road and slowed down as she passed a crowd of people around another old man, sitting on the highway, seemingly dazed. Again, Filly asked God to bless this man and protect him. Filly, who wanted to be an extension of the “Jesus herd” , heard the unspoken words of faith coming from those who were sick or suffering or hurt or afraid.
That even included hearing the unspoken cries of unborn infants, who seemed to never have had a chance to be “herd” because they had not been allowed to be born. Jesus herd.
Filly was grateful that acknowledging God, allowed people to be “born again”. Everyone got a second chance, even babies that seemed to have no chance at all could be “herd”. Filly affirmed life mentally, in her thoughts “hearing” all the silent cries of unborn babies.
When they arrived at the end of the day at the hotel, for the night, Filly was grateful to have a place to put all the food from the cooler so it would stay cold. She was grateful for the shower even though it seemed not to drain. She was grateful for the sink that seemed not to drain. And later in that evening, everything DID drain, because Filly knew it would. Prayer rejected anything else. She had trusted God and she was part of “Jesus Herd”.
Maybe in Joel Olsteen’s talk, Filly thought, the old man was able to become the new man because he also had been “herd”. The community that allowed people to understand and be herd, was imperative for healing apparently. We can all choose to be part of Jesus herd.
Filly asked God what he thought and then she picked her randomly chosen bible verse… God said this…
1Wisdom has built her house;
she has carved out her seven pillars.
2She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3She has sent out her maidservants;
she calls out from the heights of the city.
4“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
she says to him who lacks judgment.
5“Come, eat my bread
and drink the wine I have mixed.
6Leave your folly behind, and you will live;
walk in the way of understanding.”