Editor’s note: As Loma Linda University Health begins a massive construction project to build the new adult and children’s hospital towers, the chaplains invite members of the campus to pray and fast each Tuesday, asking for God’s guidance and wisdom as we continue to grow. Below is a devotional from a series in News of the Week based on the biblical book of Nehemiah, in which Nehemiah faced a massive building project of his own.
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“So on October 2 the wall was finally finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”
--Nehemiah 6:15,16
As life goes by, some of our memories fade away while others are as vivid and vibrant as this very moment. I was just a little boy trying to earn money for the purchase of some long-forgotten treasure that I just had to have to make life complete. I approached my father and asked if there was any job I could do for him. He just so happened to have one — one I hated. I could weed the front and back yard. It was the middle of summer and the sun beat down on me with hammer blows. I was tired and sweaty. The weeds had roots like iron chains. What started out as a meticulous weeding, soon deteriorated to a sloppy, haphazard plucking. Dad came home and I ran to him to claim my wages. “Not so fast, young man. Let’s see your work.” The look on Dad’s face reflected how poorly I’d done. I didn’t receive any money that day, but I did receive something far more priceless — words to live by. He said, “Son, a good name takes a lifetime to build and a moment to destroy. Let your word and work speak for who you are.”
We live and work in an environment where it seems, more times than we care to admit, as if we have more tasks than time in which to accomplish them. Burgeoning piles of paperwork, maxed out email inboxes and no time for wholeness. So why not skimp a little? Why take the time to go the extra mile? Why not cut corners or treat others brusquely?
While completing the building project Nehemiah could have said and done those very same things. Who would have blamed him? He was given a crazy, seemingly impossible task. Challenging assignment, little time and adversaries all around. Yet he didn’t do those things. Nehemiah knew what my Dad did and what my Dad was trying to teach me — How we do what we do says who we are. The way Nehemiah worked and lived testified to nations that he knew God, obeyed God and trusted God.
Each of us who currently work for Loma Linda University Health are continuing the mission of those who have served in the organization over 100 years ago. As you walk the floors, sit at your desk, enter the classroom, interact with patients or students or customers, you are also engaged in living out this mission. Let us commit to relying on God as our constant help and example. Let us take advantage of the help and presence of our loving Father to meet the demands of our days. Perhaps it will be said of us, as it was of Nehemiah, that everything we accomplish is done with the help of our God.
Terry SwensonChaplainCampus MinistriesLoma Linda University Health