“May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other — each with the attitude of Christ toward the other.” –Romans 15:5
One of my favorite TV shows to watch during the summers I spent in New York while still a resident of my island home, Jamaica, was Mission Impossible. In recent years, the show migrated from the small screen to large screen, and we have watched Tom Cruise and company do things that defy imagination.
When I reflect on the appeal of the show, it strikes me that it has to do with the complex tasks and the skilled team assembled to complete the assignment. Despite the odds, challenges and setbacks, the team remained committed to completing the mission.
Our team at Loma Linda University Health — 865 faculty physicians, 15,400 employees, 4,444 students who come from seventy-eight different countries have also accepted a mission.
We face complicated assignments, work with individuals who have many strengths and encounter obstacles that at times seem impossible to overcome. There are some days when it appears that our tasks are impossible to complete.
We face staffing challenges and delays in reports, deliveries or payments. At other times, we lose staff members to death, illness or retirement. Sometimes we disagree on the way to complete a task or encounter unhappy clients, patients, students or family members.
There is no director yelling “Cut!” so that we can redo a scene.
How have we been able to do it? How can we continue to do it? It is by embracing our mission and following our Leader.
The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Roman church, pronounces this blessing over them:
May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other — each with the attitude of Christ toward the other.
It is God who has called each of us within Loma Linda University Health to participate in His mission to the Inland Empire and the world. It is only through our connection to God and one another that we can successfully fulfill our roles.
Our mission is to continue the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ, our motto “To make man whole.” We have each chosen to support it. It is my hope and prayer that when those hard days come, when it feels like meeting our mission is impossible, that we remember to pray for God’s presence, power and peace to enable us.
—Dilys Brooks, MDiv, is associate campus chaplain of Loma Linda University.