Sometimes people ask for a hospital chaplain. At our place, it’s called a “request for spiritual consult.” We’re never sure exactly what to expect. Sometimes a person is sad and wants a visit. Sometimes a person needs a prayer or to have us contact someone for them. Sometimes a person wants a Bible or a […]

NDW. It stands for “Not Doing Well”. It’s not a technical term. I’m not sure that anyone outside our hospital even knows what it means. It’s a message our chaplains write next to a name on a list that lets other chaplains know that this particular situation is one to be aware of. It reflects […]

“Excuse me,” I said as I walked into the room. “I’m looking for Jesus. I heard that he might be here.” The woman shook her head. “Jesus hasn’t been here for years. Who’s asking?” I smiled. “I’m Jon. I’m one of the chaplains here. Someone said that Jesus might be in this room.” She looked […]

I was talking with my friend Cheryl the other day. We were talking about life and habits and fitness. She said, “What would it take you to get started running again?” “I need a nudge of accountability,” I said. Not to look over my shoulder and judge. Not to cheer mindlessly. But to remind me […]

I read a lot about more. More readers. More emails. More sales. More pages. I sometimes try little things to get more readers, more emails, more sales. It’s a thing called scaling. We want to scale up production, impact, significance, outreach. We want to have all of whatever that we can possibly have. And sometimes […]