Sturtz Stuff

Chaplains have been instrumental in helping companies navigate various changes and challenges by providing emotional, mental, and spiritual support to employees. Here are some examples: Crisis Management and Emotional Support: Chaplains provide critical support during crises, such as dealing with the aftermath of accidents or deaths. For instance, a chaplain was able to care for employees at a truck stop following a shooting incident, offering much-needed emotional support and maintaining contact with the affected manager. They also help employees cope with personal crises, such as marriage and parenting issues, financial challenges, and mental health concerns like stress and anxiety. This support allows employees to remain focused and productive at work. Improving Workplace Culture and Morale: Chaplains contribute to a positive workplace culture by showing that employee well-being is a priority. This can lead to lower turnover rates, increased job satisfaction, and higher productivit...

Some folks like to hug, and others would rather eat glass than get a hug. Okay, maybe not eat glass but they aren’t into hugs. You know who you are! Wherever you might be on the hug me or don’t hug me spectrum our human bodies were designed for human contact to thrive.1,2 Physical touch like a hug or holding a person’s hand can reduce pain, lower cortisol levels, boost immune responses, and foster empathy. Physical touch can also have a positive impact on our emotional health as well. It is a powerful moment when you feel down, outcast, and excluded and someone acknowledges your humanity with a handshake, hug, or hand placed on your shoulder. The point is there is power in human touch that goes beyond what our eyes can see. Frederick Buechner in his book  Whistling in the Dark talks about the power of human touch when he writes:  I hear your words. I see your face. I smell the rain in your hair, the coffee on your breath. I am inside me experiencing you as you are inside you ...

The medical staff quietly and somberly removed all the medical lines and devices from the 48-hour-old baby. The baby's mother and father wanted to hold their child for the first time. Removing all the medical devices meant that their child would live only a few moments. Holding your child for the first time should be a joyful occasion. Instead of this moment being a kind of introduction between parent and child it was a goodbye. The baby's body was simply not set up to survive and thrive.  After removing all the medical equipment the little one was wrapped in a blanket and gently handed into the arms of the mother. The room went silent as the mother softly repeated "Mommy and Daddy love you" while she wept. The baby's father wept and kissed his newborn on the forehead. Other family members in the room started to cry as well. Once the little one had passed the family gathered together to pray. After composing himself, one of the older men in the family offered a pr...

The brother kept yelling "I did this" as I opened the door to one of the hospital family consultation rooms. Maybe you have sat in a room like this and received some not-so-good news. Rooms such as these tend to be basic. A few not-so-comfy chairs, a drab paint job, and odd abstract artwork on the walls.  I had asked the family members, who had been seated in the ER waiting area, to follow me to the family room. I told them that the doctor wanted to give them an update on how their loved one was doing. The family gathered up their belongings and nervously began to follow me. The family consisted of two adults, a baby, and two girls. One of the girls was the daughter of the patient that the doctor needed to give an update on.  She was a cute little girl. Probably about four or five years old. She had messy wavy short blond hair and green eyes. She was wearing a pale pink shirt with little white flower prints and a matching pair of pants. She had a pair of Crocs-style pink shoe...

Here is a story of two men that we find standing in the holy ancient temple of Jerusalem. What each one did in the temple was different and also reflects our own attitudes. Which man best represents our actions, beliefs and attitudes? The two men were contemporaries. Both were famous, rich, and intelligent. Both were industrious and intimately involved with God’s people. We are talking about people not too terribly different from ourselves. In our time we might say of them that they were people who went to church, respected and read the Bible but their actions lead them down very different paths. The two men are Uzziah the King and Isaiah the prophet. Uzziah ruled in Jerusalem from 783 BCE to 742 BCE. He came to power when he was 16. His story is told in 2 Chronicles 26. Uzziah was one of the most energetic and most successful kings of the Southern Kingdom. If he would have been a US president he would have campaigned not just for 1,000 points of light but 10,000 (see President George ...

Who knows that the year 2024 will bring. Yet there are some issues that I see for 2024.  More of us are bowling alone Near the end of 2019 the word COVID became a household name. COVID wasn’t just a medical issue. COVID impacted all areas of our lives. The United States, from 2019 to 2020, saw the largest spike in mortality in 100 years.1   We lost a lot of people. Have we already forgotten the daily death toll counts each night on the news? There are a lot of folks who are now either a little more alone in life or totally alone in life due to the impact of COVID. In other words there are a lot more lonely people in our communities. Yet loneliness is not just due to high death rates.  COVID highlighted something that has been going on in our culture for many years. Loneliness. In 2023 the US Surgeon General published a major report on the epidemic of loneliness in our culture. The report calls attention to the fact that Americans are not just feeling more alone they...