12 Apr When You’re In the Right Place At the Right Time ….
There’s something about being in the right place at the right time, isn’t there? Everything falls into place. It almost seems surreal. You wonder one minute if you’re dreaming and the next minute it’s completely clear that you’re not.
On Monday this week, I departed for Center for Spiritual Renewal in Christiansburg, VA, a place of respite for weary pastors who might need a study break, sabbatical or some crisis counseling. I come here 3-4 times a year to work alongside a mentor of mine who does this work on behalf of pastors and their families.It’s located on the campus of CrossPointe Conference Center.
With the permission of pastors and their families, he invites me to sit in, learn, express my gifts in this area and serve some of the caseload. It’s my first time to come back this year, a little later than usual following a short pause to make sure that Jonathan’s transition home from Utah goes smoothly enough before I ventured away.
On Wednesday, I was deeply moved at my first ever visit to the April 16 Memorial at Virginia Tech. Ironically, though I didn’t plan it this way, this coming Tuesday is April 16, the 7th anniversary of the Virginia Tech Shooting.
After this morning’s counseling sessions, I was meeting with a pastor from the area when we received news that an active shooter was at the New River Valley Mall in downtown Christiansburg. Four female students from Ignite Academy (also housed on the CrossPointe campus) were in a store nearby the mall on lockdown, but soon headed back to campus.
Being a Police Chaplain with our Simi Valley Police Department the last 13 years, I’ve had training in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). It’s a field of work that gives people tools to cope with the exposure to anything that might be labeled a critical incident, whether a man-made or natural disaster or occurrence.
Since I “happened” to be here this week, the Director of the Ignite Academy asked if I would spend some time helping the students deal with what they had just faced. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! It’s always an honor to me when God opens doors of the hearts of any individual or group in ways like this.
Always in awe…..
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