Fish Out of Water

When you take a fish out of water it flops around until you put it back in the water. The fish needs the oxygen in the water to live. When it is out of the water, it feels like is it suffocating due to lack of oxygen.

For a few weeks, I have felt like a fish out of water as I left the pastorate and began working as a hospice chaplain. Adjusting new a new work schedule, not being able to drop off or pick up Devon from school, changing from a Christian work environment to a secular, corporate work environment, and a few others I cannot mention due to confidentiality reasons have led me to metaphorically flop on the dock like a fish out of water.

That is until one day this week when I was released back into the water and saw the impact of my new job on a family who lost their loved one. On one particular day this week, my schedule was set in stone for the day (or so I thought) and through a series of events, my schedule got juggled. As a result, I made a trip earlier than planned to a patient and their family. Upon arriving I spent 20 or so minutes visiting with the family and then gathered around the patient holding hands with the family and prayed. During my prayer, the patient went to be with the Lord.

God knew where I needed to be on that particular day at that exact time and it was to be with that family at the point where their loved one left this earth to be with Jesus. Like a fish being thrown back into the water, I am swimming in the water filled the rich grace and knowledge of God knowing that this is where He has brought me and will use me for His glory.

Swimming in His grace is where I want to be. Swimming in the center of His will for my life is where I want to be. Swimming under the spillway of his love is where I want to be. Do you want to go swimming with me?