The Gate

The school year is nearing its end again. How many times have I dropped off and picked up my son from his school? I try to go early so I can always try to find a good parking spot near the gate where he usually comes out. Doing so, I have a good observation of people coming by and those other parents starting to fill up the parking spots, too before the school bell rings, signifying the dismissal of their classes.

The gates are always closed once the classes start the sessions in the morning and the school aide opens them at 3:00 p.m. before the students come out. I have observed many times, how some students would try to sneak in through the gates before the 3 pm school bell rings. Some had managed to get as far as the first gate, but sometimes they get caught, too before they are able to go in by the 2^nd gate.

I saw one young man climbed over it one time. But he was caught, too and got in trouble as I saw the school aide took him towards the school’s main office.

Oftentimes, I wonder how these students manage to sneak out of their classes as parents are notified if their children were not present in a particular class. Just makes me wonder…

Jesus compared Himself, too as the Shepherd Who watches His flock. Usually, at night, the sheep were gathered together so they can be protected from thieves, weather or wild animals. It is the shepherd who functions as the gate, letting the sheep in and protecting them.

“I assure you, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber. For a shepherd enters through the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they recognize his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t recognize his voice.” – John 10:1-5.

“I assure you, I am the gate for the sheep. All others who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. Wherever they go, they will find green pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. –John 10:6-10.

Jesus is the gate to God’s salvation for us!

He is our Protector. He offers access to safety and security.

“How do you want to approach the gate?”

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Browsing at her first booking photo, her face was so clear. She looked healthy, with long, silky hair. This time, her face was thin, worn out, covered with acne and wrinkles etched on her forehead. Her hair brittle and disheveled and had a dull shine. Some of the teeth receded to the gum line. All these features caused by her cyclic use of illegal drugs within a 2-year span of time.

“Ma’am, I told you. I haven’t used street drugs for over a year now,” confessed this same young female inmate, as I wrapped the blood pressure cuff around her thin left arm, trying to get her over-all vital signs.

Her speech was rapid [I couldn’t even cut her off]. She had good eye contact but with an intimidating look as if to summon me to give her the medicines she was requesting earlier. Her behavior was very unpredictable - restless... Had not the deputy been there, she could turn into a violent monster. Though I mentioned before, by God’s grace, no one could terrify me!

Every night, she was down at our clinic, coming up with any physical symptoms she could think of and kept on requesting for some medicines for pain. She had abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, foot pain, and all pains you could think of, because she was hoping she would be given a higher dose of pain medication or even narcotics. She was given Motrin 600 mg. just the day before by the jail doctor. She swore, they didn’t give her any relief. [And I believed that knowing she had increased her need for higher doses of illegal substances in her system].

Her requests for sick call didn’t end at nights. She even would beg to be seen when morning came or P.M. shift came, hoping that with every new nurse, she would find someone who could perhaps, sympathize with her and would give in to her demands.

But as medical professionals, we knew what to look for. Unfortunately, her “talk” of being drug-free for over a year did not seem to match her “actions”. We all knew that she was withdrawing from a long time, habitual use of such illegal substances and her body was craving for them.

Deprived of its use, once incarcerated, physical symptoms started to manifest: chest pain, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting; not including the emotional problems that went with it – anxiety, fear and the intense longing to get that “high” she used to get while outside.

As Christians, how many times have we heard that phrase: “we should walk the talk?” I admit, I, too, forget this at times and I need to learn a lot in this area. I am a big work at this time and I pray the Lord will continue to mold me.

We must look up to Jesus. He is the only One Who truly “walked His talk”. He said in Matthew 3:8 –“Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God.”

In other words, we should examine our behavior. God looks beyond our “talks”. He looks into the intentions of our hearts and through our conducts.

Galatians 6:5 –“We are each responsible for our own conduct.”

Micah 6:8 –“No, O people, the Lord has already told you what is good and this is what He requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

John 12:35 –“”If you walk in the darkness, you cannot see where you are going.”

Revelations 3:4 –“Yet even in Sardis there are some who have not soiled their garments with evil deeds. They will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”

Thank you For Saving Me

There was this particular cell right next to the Medical Clinic that housed a maximum of 20 inmates. Most of them had difficulty walking because of their history of heart problems, back problems, or perhaps, they were just being treated with dressing changes for their wounds sustained from either injuries or fights.

Being a small number, I got to really know each of them. I had noticed that "Mr. Brown" with a heart problem might be out of his medications. So, I went over and handed him a few tablets after verifying that he was truly out of those important medications. I told him that I put his chart for the doctor to review it so the doctor could reorder the expired prescriptions. A thunder-like voice thanked me, as I was looking up to see his face through those metal bars; his tall stature obviously towered my short height.

Nothing out of the ordinary that morning as I tried to pass their medications, a daily routine before they would eat their breakfasts. If someone heard me, he would yell “Meds!” to wake up the rest on medications so they could form into a line while they came to me with a cup of water and their ID’s for verification.

The bunk closer to the metal bars had a new body I didn’t recognize that morning. A young man who must have gotten hurt or sick while I was on my day off. Being close, he was the first one to hear my footsteps and even before I announced “meds!”, he yelled at the top of his young lungs, with chest lifted up like how Tarzan would roar in the jungle: “Drugs!!! The drug pusher is here!!!” as he smiled sheepishly.

He knew the block deputy was out of sight, busy monitoring the inmates who were passing the breakfast trays to other housed inmates. He knew he could get away with his arrogant behavior of being disrespectful to me and trying to be funny with the other inmates in his cell. He knew I looked like a helpless nurse, being small in stature.

I confronted him with a gentle but authoritative voice, “Sir, it’s not funny!”
“If you’re trying to be funny, I encourage you to stop now because I can let the deputy know and have you be put on discipline because you are being disrespectful to me,” I added.

“Ha…ha…ha…Uh-huh. It is funny, too! You bring drugs!” he replied.

Standing solo in front of me, he continued this mocking act. No one else was laughing. Until a huge shadow crept up behind him. A thunder-like voice cut in with his non-stop yakking, “Are you making fun of this nurse? I know her…You don’t... She works very hard here. Why are you calling her drug pusher when she’s just doing her job?” I saw the tall inmate’s hands curled into big fists as he took a stance to balance himself steadily, as if waiting for some punches to be thrown at him.

“What?!” the mocking inmate replied in an annoyed tone of voice as he pivoted to see who tried to interrupt his fun. His face turned white when he saw how huge and towering the other inmate was. His endless chattering stopped immediately as his jaw seemed to have dropped into the ground.

Cowering like a mouse in front of a big cat, he mumbled softly, “No. I wasn’t making fun of her.” He started taking little steps toward his bunk.

“You can’t go yet!” commanded the huge voice. “You haven’t apologized to her.”

The mocking face earlier was now replaced with a fear-stricken, pale face, “I’m sorry, nurse. I won’t do that again.”

“Thank you, Mr. Brown. Thank you for saving me…” I uttered sincerely to this man who had heart problem but without any second thought had stepped in to rescue me.

Instead of accepting my sincere gratitude, he told me he was the one who owed me one. Because he would be forever grateful that I was there monitoring his health or his medical needs.

“That’s the least I can do for you, Ma’am,” as he bowed his head as if he was in front of a person with sovereign power.

There’s Someone Who monitors my health, too. He is interested with my healing. He sees me when I fall, only to reach out to me so He can lift me up. He wipes my tears and comforts me with His loving promises and instills joy in me, despite my sorrowful times. He provides so many things with all of my needs.

He healed my broken heart and when I accepted His love, He promised me an eternal life. His love is unconditional.

He wants to do that for all of us. If you are listening to Satan’s mockery of Jesus: “DON’T!” It’s not funny. It’s not a joke that Jesus gave His own life and died on that wooden cross. It was His way of paying for all of our sins.

“Meds!!! Wake up and get your Meds!!! Go to Jesus!” Bring your cup [life] that will be filled with the Living Water. Show Him your ID and He will verify that you are His child when you go to Him. Open up your heart…Believe…Stop mocking Him…

“Lord, thank You for saving me…”

Be Watchful

“Hey!”, I yelled to the inmate whose right hand was stretched out so hard to get a few more packets of sweeteners. He was one of the diabetics waiting for the LVN’s to come to the window so their sugar level for that morning would be checked one by one. Thinking that there was no one around and not able to see where I was, his right hand just stretched and went for that opportunity to steal some packets of that artificial sugar.

“What’s up Sir? You know the rules here,” as I approached the glass partition window.

“I am so sorry Ma’am,” as his face who would have been bragging to those other ones sitting around if he wasn’t caught, was now red and very embarrassed.

[I knew him. He was an elderly man, always polite. He would be the last person I would think to be able to do that; first, because he was frail and secondly, he would always just patiently wait for his turn without any complaints].

“It’s you?. You could have just asked for some extra ones from the other nurses when you check your sugar level.”

“I don’t know what to say but I’m so sorry,” he replied.

“That’s okay. But we’ve been telling all of you how limited our supply with sweeteners are sometimes. And to be fair, if one gets 2 packets, then the rest gets 2 packets.”

“It won’t happen again, I can promise you that. I’m sorry, Ma’am.”

“I will let you go but you know that if you do it again, you can be punished for stealing. Next time, just ask, okay?”

“Okay, Ma’am. Thank you,” as he walked away from the window and went back to sit down among the rest of the inmates waiting for their accuchecks to be done.

To keep watch over something means guarding it against intruders. This also applies to our hearts or houses. Just as we don’t want a thief to break into our homes when we are away or just sleeping, we will not want the world to end when we are spiritually asleep.

Jesus said, “Watch out! Don’t let Me find you living in careless ease and drunkenness, and filled with the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, as in a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep a constant watch. And pray, that if possible, you may escape these horrors and stand before the Son of Man.” [Luke 21: 34-36].

Even if the end of the world doesn’t happen in our lifetime, it will still end when we die. Many believe that even after we die, we still have the chance to get things right with God. But the Bible is very clear about the next step after death: “It is destined that each person dies only once and after that, comes judgment.” –Hebrews 9:27.