What We Miss

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:3-5 NIV)

BY CHAPLAIN JOSHUA HOLDER

When I worked for a fire department in Northern Illinois, I sometimes worked a shift after the Sunday evening service at the Assemblies of God Church where I served in youth ministry. After the service, I had little time to reach the station before my shift started.

Once, as I entered the firehouse, an alarm went off on the radio. Communications dispatched my ambulance crew to respond to a car accident at an intersection on the highway about six miles south of our town at the "T" intersection, notoriously known for accidents resulting in cars mangled in the cornfield. I did not have enough time to change out of my church clothes. I grabbed my gear, which included my fire coat and helmet.

We rapidly responded to the scene and arrived, seeing a minivan about fifty yards in a muddy cornfield. The van appeared to have rolled at least two times in the soft field, coming to rest on its roof. As I exited the ambulance, I saw several firefighters who had arrived first, wandering around in the field without their fire protective gear and not attending to any victims. Rushing into the cornfield, I quickly focused on the van and determined the highest priority tasks. I ignored the group of firefighters coming out of the field. I arrived at the damaged van and inquired about the victim. The firefighter who attended to the wrecked van informed me that the victim walked with the group of firefighters I passed earlier. I felt frustrated that I did not receive an update on the victim's condition when I saw the group earlier.

I left the field frustrated, my coat unbuttoned from the mid-summer heat. As I stomped through the cornfield, my foot caught on a protruding stalk of corn, and I tumbled to the ground, landing face-first in the muddy soil. My church clothes immediately soiled, and I could feel the eyes of the people around me curiously watching my embarrassing fall. As I picked myself up and began to walk away, a putrid smell hit my nose and I recoiled in disgust. It quickly dawned on me that I had landed in a freshly manured section of the cornfield, and the mud covering my body encapsulated a foul mixture of soil and manure.

After I cleaned up and took the ribbing I rightly earned, I saw a lesson in humanity and ministry. Sometimes, we become so hyper-focused on-scene, routinely completing tasks on a checklist that we become robotic, failing to notice the wounded souls around us. We miss the humanity in the people we have been charged to help. Whether it is the victim of a wreck or the victim of domestic abuse, if we get so robotic in how we handle our incidents and don’t look around, we will miss our shared humanity with those who are hurting or grieving. If we do it enough times, we could end up with mud on our faces and a reputation that stinks of being uncaring and uncompassionate responders.

REFLECTION:

When you become hyper-focused on a situation, what important things are you missing from the world around you?

Chaplain Joshua Holder is an Assemblies of God Missionary Chaplain to First Responders. Joshua has been married to his wife, Andrea, for 16 years. He is also a Chaplain for the New Orleans Fire Department, where he works with the department's Peer Support and Critical Incident Stress Management teams.

Joshua is passionate about preventing mental health crises and suicide in first responders. He has taught at the Serving Heroes National Conference for Peer Support at Chaplaincy and has been a guest for a Responder Health Webinar training on "How Your Purpose Coincides with Your Occupation."

Before Joshua's time in New Orleans, he served as a paramedic in Illinois on multiple fire departments for 16 years while simultaneously serving in law enforcement as a dispatcher for 14 years.

Joshua and Andrea have served in ministry roles for over 19 years.

*The views of this blog are Chaplain Joshua Holder's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the New Orleans Fire Department.