Called To Heal

Called To Heal

The Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus. But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them. Matthew 12:14-15

One night, our local emergency room received a report from a nearby city that there had been an incident in their ER, and we should be on alert.

Apparently, a man had come into the hospital seeking help for back pain. Specifically, he wanted a prescription for narcotics. When the physician who was working in the ER that night refused to write the prescription, the man pulled a gun and shot the doctor. The ER doctor died in the same trauma room where he had saved countless lives.

Because we’re in a small town, we typically feel safe from the kind of crime found in larger cities. Nevertheless, we took extra precaution, hiring a security guard and asking the local police to patrol more often on the graveyard shift.

Just when things seemed back to normal, thieves broke into a local pharmacy looking for the same strong narcotics that had cost the city doctor his life.

At that point, we had to change the way we did business. We posted a sign telling patients that certain kinds of medications would no longer be available in our hospital or written as a prescription. We hoped that would keep the drug lords away. But in the back of our minds, the potential threat still existed.

In those rare moments when I feel fear about a potential threat, I think about Jesus. Even though he had a bounty on his head, he didn’t let that stop him from healing the sick. Jesus often did the sensible thing—change locations—but he didn’t stop doing the work his Father had sent him to do. By removing narcotics and prescription-writing from the ER, we’ve tried to do the sensible thing. But God called me to heal the sick and minister to the hurting, and I want to be like Jesus. Despite the threats, I will continue to do what he’s called me to do.

TODAY’S RX

Fear not! Nothing can stop Jesus from healing the sick.

Father, give me the courage to face my fears today and to honor you with all I do and say. Do not let me back down, but trust wholeheartedly in you.