compassion – 300 words a day

A small prayer in a big Monday.

I spend Sunday at the hospital, as I do most Sundays. I visit a room after a patient has died. She received remarkable care but her body was done working. During the time between her arrival, which I saw, and her death, our staff worked night and day to provide respect and care and answers. […]

by Jon Swanson

A rock and a hard place

Eddie worked at a hospital. He was a chaplain. He could have worked anywhere, he could have done anything, he could have been anyone that spends working hours caring for the hearts of others, walking with the burdens of others. Pastors, counselors, teachers, bus drivers. The parents who are up in the middle of the […]

by Jon Swanson

Three days later.

One day at the temple, during the celebration of Passover, Jesus disrupted the disruption. In the space of the temple where gentiles could visit and worship, people were selling animals and exchanging money. It was work that had a right to be done, but it was disrupting the purpose of that space. God had said, […]

by Jon Swanson

A small prayer in a big Monday.

I spend Sunday at the hospital, as I do most Sundays. I visit a room after a patient has died. She received remarkable care but her body was done working.During the time between her arrival, which I saw, and her death, our staff worked night and day to provide respect and care and answers. I […]

by Jon Swanson

Words create cultures and that matters.

My degrees are all in communication. More accurately, in rhetoric, which considers how persuasion works. That training, and that kind of reflection, can get me in trouble. For example, the college where I worked had a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building. After the ceremony, there was a meal. Nancy and I were standing in […]