Emergencies

Last week at camp, one of my jobs was to serve as camp nurse.  This was the second year I had done this job.  Last year's responsibilities were to dispense medications, take care of minor cuts and scraps, and deal with the occasional headache.  This year, within the first two hours of camp, I was faced with more serious issues and a trip to the emergency room.

The first emergency was a knee injury.  A young man was playing basketball, but simply ran straight across the court and felt a pain like being hit in the knee with a 2 x 4.  He was in obvious pain and his knee cap had floated up above where it was supposed to be.  We loaded up the camper and took him to him to the nearest emergency room.  His diagnosis was a definite problem - a torn patellar ligament and tibial bone fracture.  His parents were notified and after an appointment with a surgeon yesterday, he will be having surgery on his knee tomorrow. It was a real, serious emergency!

A few days later I had a second emergency.  One of the counselors came running out to tell me that one of the girls was having trouble.  I quickly went to find her laying on the sidewalk.  Because I know this girl personally, it appeared like she had been playing her favorite sport - basketball - and had the wind knocked out of her.  It looked just like I've actually seen it look during games.  But she hadn't been playing basketball.  She had been running quickly back and forth to the cabins during a competitive scavenger hunt game.

The young girl had blacked out, but come to.  She was dizzy, confused, and disoriented.  It was really scary!  Her vision was affected and she was off balance.  After several moments, she was still the same way.  It seemed like a concussion, though she hadn't hit her head.  I called her dad and we determined she should go to the emergency room.  Another counselor and mutual friend and I loaded her up and met her dad and grandmother at the emergency room.  By the time we got there, the young lady had actually gotten some better.  It was a relief to see her coming around and acting more like herself.

The doctor evaluated the young girl and felt like she probably just overheated.  It still seems like the symptoms were more of a concussion-type, but we'll really never know.  Thankfully by the next day the young girl was totally back to normal - just a little tired.  A very scary emergency!

During the whole week of camp as my "job" focused on major and minor physical emergencies, on the spiritual side of what camp was all about, the focus was on the spiritual emergencies in the lives of the campers.  Sadly, for young people and older people, we don't always get as alarmed about our spiritual lives as we do our physical lives.  We don't always pay attention to the warning signs that our spiritual lives are in trouble.   But why?  Aren't our spiritual bodies much more important that our spiritual bodies?  Yes, God's Word teaches that they are much more important.  The condition of our spiritual bodies determines how we will spend our eternity.  The condition of our spiritual bodies is of vital importance!  When our spiritual bodies are sick, it is a most serious emergency!

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Philippians 3:15-21

As this verse says, when we find ourselves "living as enemies of the cross of Christ", we have a serious spiritual emergency.  So, what do we do about it?  Verse 16 says to "live up to what we have already attained".  That means to live up to what God has given us as children of God - salvation, forgiveness, eternal life!  To "live up to it" would be live according to His will for us.  Not that any of us can be perfect, but that we are striving to live a holy life - a life modeled by the example of Jesus, our Savior.  Yes, we'll fail.  Yes, we'll still have struggles.  But "living up to it" also means having the confidence in the fact that the blood of Jesus will cleanse us when we struggle and fail.  We don't have to worry about it.  We don't have to get down about it.  We can live boldly and confidently knowing that God is there to help our spiritual bodies with any emergency that comes along.


On this Gratituesday, I am very, very grateful that God is the healer of my spiritual emergencies.  In fact, He can help me with any emergency I have.  

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