This Week

 Good morning.

 This week has been rather long and sometimes rather intense.  We’ve had to curtail our non-member benevolence for awhile because of so many who have needed help, and we just don’t have the funds in the budget for now, so I’ve had to explain to many over the past couple of weeks that we could not provide them with help with an electric bill or put gas into their vehicle.  Sometimes the conversations were relatively short, but sometimes the person wanted to talk, knowing we couldn’t help them.  They wanted to tell their story to someone who would listen.  And so we put aside what we were working on and just listened, asking pertinent questions at times to help fill in the gaps.

Additionally, we’re working with a couple of women, one of whom is a member and one who knows several in the congregation from past encounters.  Each of these women has sustained deep trauma.  Each has endured extreme emotional and mental pain…and sometimes physical pain.  Yet the ways we can help are very limited because we are not mental health professionals.  We are not counselors.  We don’t operate safe houses or provide long term child care.

I’ve told you before, but will say it again, “We can’t do everything, but we can do something.”  We do what we can with the resources we’ve been given.  One of the resources that we have lots of is time.  We can listen.  We can pray.  We can validate their humanness, treating them with dignity and respect.  And we’ve done all of that with these women…multiple times over.

Trauma doesn’t disappear overnight.  It’s a long, slow, bumpy, and sometimes scary road to take.  Yet these women and countless others we have no knowledge of are traveling that road in some way, shape or form.  Their courage and strength are incredible.  We’re just here to do what we can to keep them on the road and try to encourage them to move ahead.  They are the ones having to do the heavy lifting.

Some do it better than others.  Some fall off the road and have to find their way back.  Some stop in the middle of the road, frozen in fear or doubt.  Others are the encouragers, encouraging themselves even as they continue to encourage others on the road to recovery.  Most of them by far are women.  I have no doubt that men have much the same issues; however, they seem to be more reluctant to both admit it and seek the help they need.  And I think…my opinion, now…it is at least some of these men…men who refuse to get the help they need, who then traumatize, or further traumatize a woman already suffering trauma, by abusing, neglecting, or physically harming that woman.

On a more positive note, tomorrow is Friday.  I normally don’t work at the office on Fridays and tomorrow is no exception.  I plan to go to central Kansas with son Michael and grand Sterling to see the Big Boy Union Pacific steam engine as it makes its way across Kansas.  It will stop in Wilson for about 30 minutes, giving us and everyone else who shows up the opportunity to get a close-up view of the behemoth.

Steam engines are notoriously inefficient and consume lots of fuel, water, and man-hours of maintenance and care.  It is easy to see why diesel engines replaced the steam engines.  However, there is a certain nostalgia and wonder when it comes to those machines.  Their sheer size, noise, and power are a sight to behold and experience.  Especially for those of us who remember steam engines on daily runs pulling trains of cars, it’s a time of remembering and appreciating the day.

The Big Boy is the largest steam engine in the world, I believe, that is operational.  Union Pacific is passionate about its steam program and has another operational engine, the 844 “Living Legend.”  Considered the fastest steam locomotive in the world, it was delivered to the UP in 1944 and has never been retired from service.  The railroad sends these engines along with a car makeup regularly along its lines as roving ambassadors for the railroad.  It seems quite a success as there is a lot of time, energy, and money devoted to these trips.

So, we’ll be doing that tomorrow, the Lord willing.  I know it is forecast to be hot, but with the Big Boy around, it will be even hotter close up to the engine.  And it should be a good day.

Thank you for staying with me these years as I continue this video thought on most Thursdays.  I know I may sound like a broken record sometimes, but that is because I talk about life and living from my perspective…from my world view.  Everyone has a different way to see things, and I’m just giving you mine.  I respect yours, but have my own just as you do.  That’s what makes the world an interesting (to say the least) place.

Thanks again for listening.

 Blessings