late night musings

So. I have a job, to be starting on November 1st. The place at which this will be makes me pause, sit up and take notice on several levels. One of those levels is that, although I will not be working with the same program, I will be working on the grounds of the Hansen's Disease Center in Carville, Louisiana - where Dr. Paul Brand once worked, where he continued his work and experiences that led to some really powerful books (Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, The Gift of Pain, In His Image) where he connected his faith (having grown up as a missionary kid) and medicine. There's "incarnational tradition" in religion, and then there's incarnational faith that is felt in gut and bone and sinew. The latter would definitely be Paul Brand's.

I've been hand-stitching a shorter hem into a new pair of dress pants - nice active way of preparing myself for this new job :) - but having finished one leg, took a break and browsed around online a little about Dr. Brand ... found this gem in the Hansen's Disease Center newsletter, The STAR, in his 2003 obituary.

"Dr. Paul Brand was a servant of God, called to serve the less fortunate, the sick and the disenfranchised, which he faithfully did with all his heart, mind and spirit."

We can but hope to be given the grace to do likewise. The heart of a servant and the mind of a healer, taken together, are strong medicine indeed.

The work I will be doing is with the Youth Challenge Program - so I am not called upon to heal the body, as Dr. Brand did ... but who knows what pain, what vulnerability, the young people attending this program may carry with them. And they are there but a few months. No do-overs, just that "dangerous opportunity" of Chinese character fame.

You may call me an idealist ... I'm just out to meet the grace of this new experience with authenticity, and with a grace that I cannot conjure.