The Paramedic PastorSample

I made a decision to follow Jesus at age 16, and I joined ambulance at age 23, and so my whole paramedic journey was underpinned by my faith journey; a journey, of varying consistency but nevertheless a journey drawn from the writers of Hebrews 11:1 ESV, who declared, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

As a paramedic arriving at a scene, you hope for the best but prepare for the worst. As a faith-filled paramedic arriving at a scene, you hope and pray for the best but reality and experience tell you that the outcome may not be great.

On arrival at a scene, bystanders and family and friends would always ask, “Will they be ok?”, and the greatest gift that I felt I could give someone was to speak truth and use my learnt skills and training to do the best I could. The reality is that faith and hope that a situation is going to be ok doesn’t always equate to the consequences of actions that may have caused the scene in the first place.

In the gospel of Mark, we read how Jesus is preaching in the synagogue and v2b NLT “and many who heard him were amazed.” Yet immediately we read v3 NLT, “Then they scoffed, 'He’s just a carpenter'… They were deeply offended.”

The scene of an accident can be confronting and the arrival of paramedics so often instilled a sense of hope within those present that everything was going to be ok. And yet the outcome was not always such, leading to disappointment and often anger in the crowd that had gathered.

My faith is built around a God who is good all the time, even when the circumstances seem more challenging.

Reflection

Faith can move mountains even when we can’t see those mountains being moved. What are your faith mountains today?