The Paramedic PastorSample

There will always be work for paramedics, as we live in a broken world of disease and illness, and accidents do happen! Our job as Critical Care Paramedics was responding to people in emergency situations, and this also had to be via any mode of transport possible, including at times walking city streets and back-alleys where a more traditional road vehicle could not reach, or being winched into a helicopter during high winds. All of this comes with inherent risks. Yet, our job as Critical Care Paramedics was to acknowledge the risk and respond in an appropriate manner.

And so one precaution I also took was to pray a very simple prayer: “Lord, protect me both physically and protect my mind in what I may be called to see and experience”; a prayer that I would engage with before every shift.

I have also thought about this as it relates to daily life and temptations, to which no one is exempt, and how we can willingly enter into situations that are unwise and we know will test our character, and then blame God for not protecting us.

The writer of Proverbs 22:3 NLT says, “A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

Ambulance work has inherent risk and unpredictability, much like life. We can learn much from the writers of Proverbs and by asking the Holy Spirit to guide us each and every day.

Reflection

Have you considered a simple prayer or scripture that you can speak to God each and every day; a prayer of protection, or a scripture of thankfulness, or whatever it may be? By doing so, you are seeking a covering, understanding that each day brings with it unexpected things.