New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
Alternative column for third week of Aug 2017


Column:

Editors, If you prefer an alternative to the political commentary I sent yesterday, you may use the piece below adapted from my book No Small Miracles.

UNEXPECTED DEATH BRINGS LESSONS FOR LIVING

As my wife and I travel Europe in the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks, friends and family are asking if we are fearful for our safety.

I assure them that we take reasonable safety precautions as we try to be aware of our surroundings. We walk with an effort to stay behind the barriers that line the sidewalks and we maintain vigilance when in crowded place.

They are reassured knowing that I've always played the role of "safety officer" for our family. My children were raised wearing sunscreen, bug spray, hats, helmets and seatbelts.

Their mother sometimes complained about such efforts, but she knew that my experience as a healthcare chaplain told me that death can come in the most unexpected ways at unimaginable speed.

I experienced that lesson in a profound way one afternoon in 1995 while working at Houston Northwest Medial center. That was the day I watched a mother follow her 3-year-old son's gurney the the automatic doors of our emergency room.

The two of them had arrived by ambulance from a metropolitan subdivision where they'd spent the morning inside the community's beautifully swept tennis court. They must have felt very safe and secure playing in a gated court was staffed by background-checked employees.

However, as the morning wore on, the boy asked his mother if he could take off his shoes.

The mother scanned the court for hazards like broken glass and broken pavement. Nothing. It was as clean and safe as you'd expect in their well-to-do subdivision.

"Sure," she replied. She wanted him safe, but she would not be overly restricted.

The boy explored his environment as little boys often will do. He splashed the puddles of the recent rain and kicked at the fence, testing the security of its boundaries.

This is fun, he must have thought. I'm in a giant playpen with Mommy. I feel safe.

Mom felt safe too. There was no way for her son to get out and no way for the bad guys to come in. If trouble came, Mommy was close enough.

Close enough was not fast enough. Her son was standing barefoot on a court dampened by morning rain when he kicked the fence near an improperly grounded outlet. He died before his mother even realized there was a problem.

Some might note with resignation that the Christian scripture teaches that, "It is appointed unto a man once to die." My concern with that verse is that some folks use it to cynically look for death everywhere and not to live their life to the fullest.

The takeaway of the verse isn't that we are all going to die someday. The good news is that we are encouraged us to live our lives with daily fullness, and to love each person in our lives with the certainty that this could be our last day.

Today, life takes us across the Belgium boarder into Germany. We will board a hop-on hope-off ferry and explore the banks of the Rhine river as it skirts Cologne. As with all my trips, I begin with some trepidation, but we go with this understanding -- The possibility of death is always close, but people of faith are called to hold life even closer.

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This column was adapted from a story in my book, No Small Miracles. Read past columns at www.thechaplain.net. Email: comment@thechaplain.net. Voicemail: (843) 608-9715. Twitter @chaplain.

 

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