Episode #477 - Hiatus

Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer, a songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is where I discuss music, movies, books, pop culture, theology, and more with friends, colleagues, and sometimes just by myself. Now make sure to let me know what you think of today's episode by leaving me a review on iTunes or by tweeting at me @RickLeeJames on Twitter. And please join my mailing list at RickLeeJames.com where you can receive an email every time a new episode is released. By the way, in case you're interested in a daily dose of kindness and encouragement beyond this podcast, I also run the Twitter account @MrRogersSay where I post daily quotes from Fred Rogers, one of the voices in my head. Well, I guess that's it for the intro, so sit back, relax, and listen to the latest episode of Voices in My Head.

Hey friends, welcome back to Voices in My Head. As always, I am your host Rick Lee James, and I'm so glad that you are here with me today. No conversation today. It's just me in my car doing some driving because I am in the middle of a CPE program at Kettering Hospital for this entire summer. It's an intensive thing. I'm spending more than 40 hours a week, and it is— I've just completed the first week at the time you're hearing this. When it actually comes out, I'll be about halfway through the 10-week program, I believe, because I I have been kind of recording a backlog of podcasts to be able to share with you. I was hoping that this week was going to be Derwin Gray because I had an episode scheduled with him, and he has a really powerful new book about healing our racial divides, and wanted to do that. And Derwin had a family emergency that came up and messaged me and said couldn't do it right now. So we're gonna try to work that out in the future, hopefully sometime in August, but I'm not gonna be able to do any more live I shouldn't say live. I won't be able to do any more interview podcasts, I should say. Or really, I'm not planning on releasing any more podcasts after today until I'm done with my CPE program, just because it's a very intense program and I need to focus on that. And honestly, I don't have time. They're actually every week. I'm getting very little time even with my family this summer. And so in between CPE, trying to keep up with my work at church, and doing this internship as a chaplain at Kettering Hospitals this summer. I just don't have time. So here's what I would like to do. First of all, I wanted to acknowledge that the last 3 episodes of Voices in My Head I know are probably new material for some of you that came to it. And I know that they were kind of maybe difficult topics to wade into, and especially if you haven't thought through some of the matters that we talked about with the guests that we had, both Peter and Leslie. And so I I wanted to take time first just to acknowledge I know that that's difficult territory and that lots of people are gonna have lots of varying opinions on that. So, and that's fine. And we want, we welcome everybody to this podcast. I try to make that a point every week when I'm on the show that we want to hopefully stretch minds, but also acknowledge that some people need a minute to be able to process some things. So that might be a good thing that the podcast is going on hiatus for the rest of the summer anyway. I don't have time to do the podcast, and frankly, we may need to have a little time just to process some of the good information that we were able to receive and hear together from the good guests that we've been having over the last few weeks. So let me say this quickly before I dive into what I want to talk about on the podcast today here on my drive. The fact that I'm recording this while I'm driving is an indication of how busy I already am. And week 1 of this CPE program has been intense, and there'll be 9 more weeks to go, and the real work starts next week for me at the time of recording this anyway. So if you could do me a favor, and for me, for my fellow interns in the Kettering Hospital System who are being chaplains this summer, for the residents who are there for a longer term. For those doctors and nurses and the chaplains who are overseeing us and all the people that we work with, say a prayer for us if you don't mind. Actually, say lots of prayers if you could. We need them for sure. We're having a chance to minister all summer long. The hours are long, the class sessions are a lot of work, but I think we're doing some really good ministry even just in the first week. I sense that. I'm with some wonderful people from several places around the world. It's an international program, it turns out, and I didn't realize how fortunate I was to be even accepted into the program this summer and how sought-after it is, so I just feel gratitude to even be a part of this. And so in the midst of my exhaustion, I'm even more grateful than I am exhausted, and I— so please please pray for us. Pray for me specifically, that I will be able to, I guess, go with my mind, my spirit, and my body into the places that this Clinical Pastoral Education program is taking me, because I want to follow the Lord in all these matters, and I want to be nothing more than just simply a reminder of the presence of God when I walk into those hospital rooms where I visit people, when I'm with the staff at the hospital, when I'm with first responders who have come in, and when I'm with parents who have maybe lost a child, when I'm with a number— you can just imagine the things that we will encounter this summer working at a hospital. As one of the nurses told me, I'd never thought of this before, but she said, It's trauma season right now, and it's true. In the summer months, people tend to be more active, doing more things, and so there are more traumas that begin to happen. So yeah, thank you for your prayers. We covered those. I also want to remind you, those of you who are listening today, of how all-overwhelming I believe the presence of God is in our world. And sometimes I need to be reminded of that. I was reminded this week, not from the CPE class, but just because I was talking about a theologian that I learned about last semester at Loyola with a friend, a new friend that I made in CPE who is a Catholic studying to be a priest. And we were talking about the theology of Karl Rahner. And one of the things that Karl Rahner stated, or said something like this, was he was trying to help remind us that God is present everywhere. Maybe if you use Thomas Merton's language, the door to the kingdom of heaven is everywhere. But Merton stated it even— or Rahner, I'm sorry, not Merton. Rahner said it even better, I think. Rick Lee James, when he talked about God is so present that if we are fish, it's like God is the water, the life-sustaining force that is around, the thing that fish are taking in to get their breaths as they breathe under the water. And if we look at it as people, God is like the oxygen that's in the air. He's that breath of life that is coming into us, going out from us, and is always everywhere, ever-present at every time. There's not a place that we go to where God has not already arrived before we have. There's not a hospital room that I'll walk into this summer, not a situation that I won't get to, where God is not already there and already present. And so our presence in the world as Christians, it's what we kind of talk about in chaplaincy a little bit, but It really extends to all of us as believers. We are to walk the world as though we are the presence of God. Not that we are God, but as though we are the reminders of the presence of God wherever we go. That we are there to be listening ears. That we are there to be arms that are stretched out to the leper, to the lost, to the abandoned, to the lonely. We are there as people who are fellow travelers on the journey who also face every tragedy that every human will face. There's no exception to us, and we too walk through all these things in life— the joys, the sorrows, the triumphs, the victories, the defeats— all of them in the full presence of our God who is always there. The breath we breathe in, the life we breathe out. And just as it talks about in Genesis when God breathed breath, ruach, into creation, and He breathed the breath of life into humankind. At the end of our life, when that final breath leaves, we return back to the One who made us through the breath that He provides. So at every moment of life, we are with God. And I think we need that reminder today. And I believe in the Lordship of Christ, and I believe that Christ has wonderful things in store for us. I hope you'll be able to listen this summer in these busy months. I know things get busy even when some kids are on vacation from school. Sometimes that makes things more busy. Be reminded that God is near. That the Lord is present with us. That Christ is Lord. And that we can rest ourselves in the loving arms of the divine. And so I will conclude this podcast on that note, asking for you to be people who shine the light in the darkness. I want to remind you that you are not the light, but you are the one who can hold the light and shine it out. You are not the light, you are a conduit for the light. So we pray that way. So with that in mind, I'm gonna close with a song I wrote and recorded and released last summer right about this time called Shine a Light in the Darkness. I'll see you at the end of summer, rather I'll talk to you at the end of summer through the Voices in My Head podcast and hopefully we'll get some guests back in order again. But in the meantime, thank you for your prayers, thank you for all your love, and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you all for letting me be one of the voices in your head each week. Now go shine a light in the darkness.

After the lies you said were true, the compromise you waved on through, I know you're wishing for something new, but the ancient roads are calling you. Yeah, the same old love is crying out to you, say it. Where there is hatred, let us love. Where there is doubt, let us trust. Where there is turmoil, let us peace. Let us bless, let us bravely walk through the shadow of death. Shine a light in the darkness. You burned bridges and destroyed the roads. There's no one left— for you to go. You've held grudges and they're dragging you down. If you don't let it go, then you're sure to drown. But it's not too late to turn it all around. Where there is hatred, let us love. Where there is doubt, let us trust. Where there's cursing, let us bless. Let us bravely walk through the shadow of death. Shine a light Light in the darkness. It's time to let all the fighting cease. Take up your cross and follow me. Come out and see what love can bring. The lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the mute to speak. The mourners cheer, the lepers clean, the prisoners set free. Shine a light in the darkness. Shine a light in the darkness. Shine a light.

Thank you for joining me here this week on Voices in My Head. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com where you can find out more about me, get my music on vinyl and CD, follow my blog, and even schedule me for a concert or a speaking engagement. Better yet, even a book signing in your neighborhood. You can find all that and more at rickleejames.com. Also, it would mean a great deal to me if you could write a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast will be online. And now for the benediction: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. God bless you, and thank you for listening to Voices in My Head.