This a story of a nurse going from the care giver to the patient. Six weeks in hospital six months of recovery and subsequently being able to Ride a bike on the Erie Canal 68 miles along with my surgeon and raise over ten thousand dollars for the Childrens hospital. When my doctor said I was to old to ride a bike I challenged him on the local TV station Never to old to attempt something new.

For the first time in my life, I had to fight for it. COVID attacked me, my family, and the world. Being a trauma nurse in the emergency department, I often find myself (as do all of my coworkers) meeting people on the worst day of their lives. Now for the first time, I started meeting people during the worst time of mine. This book is written to illustrate how we should be able to fight the devastating effects of this virus together. There is an army that is available to everyone, and every single person can become part of the army that everyone needs in their life. We can focus this army to support one another, or to tear us apart because someone thinks differently than we do. This is an age-old problem that continues to face us today, something I call self-righteous indignation. It continues to tear apart our friends, families, and even countries. We need each other’s strengths, not each other’s opinions. There is a person in that medical bed—someone with family, friends, and a health care team. They need us. They need support. But so do those who are on the outside looking in. I hope this book offers a glimpse into what it was like to be a caregiver who found himself changing from bedside care to needing care from the other side of the bed and to see how that need extended into my family and friends.

Use centering prayer to deal with the demands of hospital ministry The Christ Chaplain: The Way to a Deeper, More Effective Hospital Ministry is an instructive guidebook for health care chaplains who struggle with the high levels of stress that have become commonplace in modern medicine as they work longer hours for lower wages yet get to spend less time with patients. The final book from Father M. Basil (Robert) Pennington, who passed away in 2005, cuts to the real heart of the matter—job burnout—by emphasizing not what a chaplain does, but what a chaplain is. This unique book teaches chaplains how to achieve better spiritual health by practicing spiritual self-care through centering prayer. The Christ Chaplain was written for hospital chaplains who find themselves at the limits of what they can do and what they can endure in living out their calling. Father Pennington ministers to the ministers, helping them to deepen their spiritual lives so they can better provide comfort to the sick and the dying. The book guides hospital chaplains through the Christian mystical tradition via lectio and centering prayer, a method of contemplative prayer rooted in silence that encourages a person to pay attention to God dwelling in the center of his or her being. Topics discussed in The Christ Chaplain include: the sacred text lectio divina the third step life as a school of love the ministry of presence the power of sacrament sharing the word resting in the presence and much more The Christ Chaplain also includes appendixes that offer sacred reading, a prayer for the hospital, and suggested readings. This powerful book is an invaluable, how-to guide to better spiritual health for hospital chaplains and other religious personnel, including those working in pastoral care departments of seminaries.