The Name Above All Names

She was confused, pacing in the clinic’s waiting area. She had been in and out of this jail. Her addiction to alcohol was so severe that her liver started deteriorating and same with her cognitive functions. She was known to be “homeless”. I glanced at her chart before assessing her and taking her vital signs. Her name was “Penny Cash”.

When I was just a new nurse years ago, I used to pass medications to inmates housed in different housing. With careful preparations to place the prescribed medications inside a tiny envelope with the inmate’s name on a printed label in front of this envelope, medication nurses would go and give those one by one, as the inmates walked up with a cup of water and their ID’s. This man was housed alone and with the deputy opening just the tiny door in his cell’s door, he would often just stick out his right arm and with a cupped palm, I would pour the medications on it. Giving him meds for a while, I had learned about his story. He stabbed a female companion to death. Spared from death penalty, he was given a life sentence because of that horrifying act. I looked at the name printed on that envelope: “Lawless” was his last name.

Doing the charge nurse role one night, I had told my co-workers to take a break altogether so at least they could enjoy their break and it was a quiet shift at that time anyway. If I needed help, I could easily just call them over the radio. I got a call from one of the units and requested for me to evaluate this distressed man.

When this young male came, I started probing, “The unit told me that you seem restless. Are you hearing voices, Sir or do you have any history of mental health problem?”

“Yes. I’m hearing voices. The devil is telling me to kill myself,” as his voice seemed to have come from under the grave and his intimidating look met mine.

“Do you believe in God?” I calmly asked.

“No! There is no God!” as he smiled sheepishly.

“What’s your name?”

“Christian” [I placed him on suicide watch to be treated appropriately].

When morning approaches, it’s a busy time for the LVN’s as they do their accuchecks and administer insulin to those who are on it. One time, I was helping them by calling the inmates’ names so the LVN’s could monitor retrieving back the needles from every inmate and would not be distracted by others.

“Mr. Freeman! You’re next!” I hollered.

“Oh, I’ll be here for a while, Ma’am, I still need to go to my court dates” was the response of this smiling middle-aged male.

I’m not making fun of these names I had mentioned. Everything was true! And I started paying attention because I was thinking to myself that their names made it more interesting with whatever situation they were in.

We, as individuals, are known by our names. People kill others sometimes, to protect their treasured family names. Some try to protect their reputation because of their names. Some are famous because of that, too. Sometimes, it can be very unpleasant when we call other people “names”. Names can influence. Names can hurt.



But there is a Name that stands out among all the names. It is the Name of “Jesus”. For those who are saved, “Jesus” is the most meaningful name we have ever known.

Philippians 2:8-11 –“And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

You have the power to choose now whether you want to commit your life to Jesus as Lord or will you rather be forced to acknowledge Him as Lord when He returns?

And Christ can return any moment. Are you prepared?

Decisions

The smell of alcohol reeked all over the four corners of our tiny Nurse’s clinic in this particular unit. The rotating wall fan helped a little bit to scatter the intoxicating and repugnant smell as I started assessing one inmate sitting on the chair. The deputy was right next to me, listening intently to the outcome of my observation.

“I didn’t have anything, Ma’am. And I’m not on any medications either,” stated the man with a slight slurred speech.

He was obviously drunk and I just made sure that his vital signs were stable and that there were no problems over-all with his neurologic status. My notes would be for record-keeping.

“Next!” I yelled to the other inmate [the first man’s cell mate] as I motioned for the first inmate to leave the room and wait for the deputy outside this clinic.

The second inmate’s eyes were blood-shot, his steps wobbly as he tried to come in and make his way through the door. He denied taking anything intoxicating, too. I noted my observation, too on him. He was just plain drunk like the other man.

The deputy finally told me what really happened. He was making his usual logs - of checking every cell every hour and on that particular time, he noticed these inmates flushed something down the toilet. He observed that they were acting funny and trying to be silly. And he smelled the alcohol whiffed past his nostrils as he stood by their particular cell.

In the meantime that the deputy was conversing with me, these inmates were still having a good time laughing outside the Nurse’s clinic. They didn’t think that anything would happen to them. Little did they know, they would be in a lot of trouble when they sobered up. They were definitely caught intoxicated with “pruno”. And because they did it, there would be an additional time with their sentence when their latest violation of the jail’s rules would be added to their other charge or charges. They were laughing then, but I was wondering if they would still be laughing once they became more aware of what they were caught for.

In our lives, we make decisions, too that we don’t think of any possible consequences after doing so. Even with little, but wrong decisions, the truth is: it still leads to mistakes. Making the right decisions every day start with even the little choice we have to make. Then, we can be more prepared when the need to make bigger decisions come.

The wisdom or ability to make the right choices, either in small or big matters, is a gift from God. Understanding this makes us more willing to include God with our decision-making.
If we include God in all of our decisions, what can go wrong?

Have you asked God to help you with today’s decisions?

The Holy Spirit in Christians

My co-worker and I found this inmate sitting on that chair next to the Nurse’s station in their unit. He was obviously trying to grasp for some air. With every inhalation, it was a struggle as his neck veins became distended and straining to try to get some air. He couldn’t talk. The wheezing was very audible and I didn’t need to listen to his lungs with my stethoscope.

Reviewing his chart prior to responding to the unit’s call over the radio, I read he had a history of asthma. He was already given an inhaler for his own use. Anticipating it was a severe kind of asthma attack, I grabbed the nebulizer and the gadgets that belonged to him that could be attached. I ran to our pharmacy stock and got a dose of liquid Albuterol encased in a plastic sort of vial. The nebulizer will turn the liquid medication into a fine mist that the inmate can inhale. It would quickly relax the tightness of the airways of the lungs, thus, would help him to breathe.

“Don’t talk,” as I calmly tried to reassure him.

“Just get the most of this medication and try to relax,” as the nebulizer got turned on and a fine smoke at the other end of the blue tube started coming out. The other end, which the inmate put into his mouth as he started breathing the fine mist that formed.

The other nurse started taking his vital signs while I continued to monitor and talked to him gently.

“We have a problem now, Sir,” I added as his eyes just grew bigger, trying to determine what the problem was. I heard my co-worker stopped and listened intently on what I was about to say next.

Keeping his silence as he continued to inhale the smoke coming from the nebulizer, I continued, “You see Sir, we have a policy here of no smoking. The problem is: I’m encouraging you to do it now. So I think I violated that.”

His big eyes wrinkled as he managed to laugh a little, until he was laughing harder. I could tell his breathing was starting to ease a bit now and he seemed to be more relaxed. My co-worker started laughing, too.

The inmate opened his mouth, “Ma’am, thank you for making me laugh. I really appreciate you guys coming here so fast and giving me my nebulizer treatment here. I feel more relaxed now and my breathing is a lot better.”

“I could tell and that’s what we want to accomplish. So, what happened?”

“My fault, Ma’am. I am sensitive to milk. It seems to make me have an asthma attack. This morning, prior to breakfast, I had eaten a chocolate bar. It must be the milk or the chocolate, I’m not sure if that triggered my asthma. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s okay, Sir. You didn’t know. But now you do, so I hope you won’t hurt yourself with another chocolate bar. I figured your inhaler must not be working by then so I thought of bringing the nebulizer here.”

“Thank you so much Ma’am. Oh, what a relief that I can breathe now. Thank you! Thank you!” he exclaimed to me and my co-worker.

“You’re welcome, Sir. We’re just doing our job and I’m glad to see you breathing a lot better. Take care of yourself now,” I motioned for him to go back to his cell as I started cleaning up the nebulizer.

Happily, he walked back toward the metal door that would lead him back to his cell. His gait was steady, he was smiling and he was not struggling for breaths anymore.

A Christian is anyone who has the Spirit of God living in him or her. If you have sincerely placed your trust in Jesus for your salvation and acknowledged Him as Lord, then the Holy Spirit lives within you.

You can be assured that you have the Holy Spirit because Jesus promised that He would send Him. He grants us eternal life through Him [“And the ones who win this battle against this world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”-1 John 5:5].

He finds help in our daily problems and in our praying [“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groaning that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” –Romans 8:26, 27].

We are empowered to serve God and do His will [“God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well”-Romans 12:6].

And we become part of God’s plan to build up His church [“Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ; until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.” – Ephesians 4:12,13].

Are you choking from all this life’s troubles? Grasping for air that nothing in this world can satisfy your feeling of emptiness? Are you tired trying to stay afloat in this ocean of woes?
We all need the “Air” to breathe, to live, not just exist. Go to Jesus and open your heart and believe.

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?”