Wednesday April 15, 2015 was an extraordinary day in the life of this chaplain. 4 aspects will remain with me, and I'll blog on each one. In this post I want to share with you a simple moment.
As usual for my workplace chaplaincy role, I visited with the employees of one of my companies at 6:15 AM to walk the line of field-technician trucks and meet the men and women with a one-on-one handshake and a friendly word. Today the company was meeting at a function hall to give everyone a breakfast buffet, some hoopla and to announce the first quarter results.
The company principals gave their presentations followed by each of the senior directors, finally the HR director. She had a couple of slides and the final bullet-point was my name with two exclamation marks after it. Ashley Chartier was so gracious to me, thanking me for my work over the year 'from the bottom of her heart'. Everyone applauded and then a few people stood up, then more, and soon all 80 people in the room were on their feet, applauding me. A standing ovation for a chaplain. For me. I was just crushed with humility, genuinely - which I was as unexpected to me as their applause. I motioned for them to sit down and they did. The principal echoed Ashley's thanks and the meeting moved on. I however was just so deeply moved.
I don't work for either praise or thanks, but I'll take them if they come. What moved me so very deeply was that my ministry was recognized and valued. It was a gracious gift of God to me. Not all the leaders of my last church shared their sentiment, a fact that has humbled me these last 3 years.
I may not know what the next few months may bring, but I want to stay with this group of people, just as I have stayed connected to the kind people from my previous church. Thank you God for a unique moment. You have humbled your servant, and in due time, have lifted him up (James 4:10). Thank you Lord for this encouragement.
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