I think this is so, and this is how I explained it to the neurologist too, because I do still have fibromyalgia underlying all these other things and one of the major symptoms of fibromyalgia is fatigue. Besides, the back conditions, the various aches and pains (rheumatoid arthritis, neuritis in the feet, fibromyalgia, migraine, spinal stenosis - for which I just had the epdural a couple weeks ago, etc), and all these pain sources cause extra fatigue in themselves too.
Altogether, I think I do pretty well, considering everything I'm dealing with. But I'm really pushing my limits and lately I've been thinking I need to find a housecleaning to help me out some because even though I designed this place to make it easier to clean, I'm finding it difficult to keep up. Right now I'm doing my morning 45-minute stimulator session. I took my pre-breakfast medicines & supplements and then when I'm done with the stimulator I'll have breakfast and then start getting washed up for the day.
I have no appointments today, but the neurologist yesterday said to take it easy the next couple days and if I don't get better (for the dizziness) by the weekend to take the medrol dosepack script he gave me. And I have to go over my meds to see if I need to get any refills for tomorrow when I will portion them out for the week. And I really should make new portion bags because it's hard to read the ones I have now I've used them so much. They just need replacing. I need to look at my financial things too. And it's really important that I keep my stress down because that's the last thing I need with my fibromyalgia and migraine, so I'll have to pick the things to do today because realistically I won't be able to do all of these today, even if you might be able to, as a healthy person. I just can't zip-zip-zip through things. And then I have to take breaks from physically demanding things. And then my day is broken up by when I have to take my meds and I have to make myself sit down and drink full glasses of water at meals because my g.i. system is such a mess. I think taking the time also is a stress break too, though.
Anyway, I'm just saying, this is the kind of thing that I deal with day in and day out. I just can't up and go and do things really easily, and I tire easily and my body can go out of whack so easily it can set me back for days or weeks. I'm sort of a slave to my body, when you think about it.
***
The next article is:Gilbert, B. C. (1972). Value education. Military Chaplains' Review, 1(2), 49-51.
This article is from the very first year of this journal that so many of these articles have come from!
***
"Army chaplains have for years been involved in the work of value maintenance and formation. Character Guidance, Moral Heritage and Human Self-Development programs are nominal testimony to the fact that we have taken seriously this function which amplifies the spirit of the chaplain's role as advisor to commanders in matters of morality and morals. Some of us have justified this aspect of the ministry by calling it a kind of "tent making" which puts us in a position to go about our Father's real business. Others have considered it a duty in which we as citizens have a special talent and a special training. Still others have considered it an entrée with men and women who might not otherwise relate to us. In any event we have been the Army's primary specialists in moral education." (p. 49)So I guess individual chaplains develop or come into the work with metaphors or visions as to how they see themselves and their work. Let's, consider each perspective, one by one.
1. Tent-making.
I've said a lot about tentmaking already, and even posted my unpublished article (post 214) on it. There's a keyword "tentmaking" that you can check all the articles on it.
I'll just summarize to say that Paul worked (made tents) in order not to be a burden on the believers. It had absolutely nothing to do with his accessing or getting into various communities or whatever. He just didn't want to be a burden or there be the potential for people thinking he was taking advantage of them. This is where the idea of tentmaking comes from, but erroneously so, in my opinion.
2. Citizen's duty with special talent.
I have also already said that I consider my citizenship to be primarily in heaven, that I am a pilgrim here on earth and that I am an ambassador for Christ.
With this in mind, it is true that I may be born into an earthly citizenship and that the government might exact certain rights and responsibilities from me, the earthly authority must in all cases be subject to the heavenly authority.
But in this case the heavenly (chaplain) becomes subject to the earthly (military). How backwards is that?
3. Entrée/way to relate to Army members.
Is this sort of like becoming a drug addict helps one minister to drug addicts? Do you really absolutely have to become a soldier to minister to the soldiers? Is it possible to minister to them without becoming one? Have other people and groups successfully done so without becoming soldiers?
***
I thought there was another passage to comment on, but I don't have anything to say about it, so I'll pick another text.Fioramonti, Mary E. (1993, Spring). The Army chaplaincy and change. The Army Chaplaincy, 18-20.
This is, by the way, the first female author in this file.
***
This section of text falls within the contex of advising the chaplain as to how to gage the health and effectiveness of their ministry team. This text suggest one aspect of that process:"Every soldier goes through a formation stage. The challenges to face include belonging and acceptance, settling personal family concerns, and learning about leaders and other soldiers.In this particular situation we're talking about adjusting to working in a ministry team, but ministry teams could include somewhat diverse religious groupings in the military setting as the chaplaincy attempts to meet the needs of the various religious backgounds represented in the troup (or whatever size unit they're in). So, while the team member might not have to make an adjustment to a secular setting, he will have to make the adjustment to a somewhat religiously diverse one and also the ramifications of being located inside the army.
The next stage is development. A soldier learns to trust leaders and others, find close friends, decide who is in charge, accept the way things are done, adjust to feelings, and overcome family vs. unit conflict.
The final stage, sustainment, is where a soldier begins to assist and trust other team members, whare iteas and feelings freely, sustain trust and confidence, share mission and values, experience feelings of pride in the unit and cope with personal and family problems." (p. 20; bold in original)
In language learning, when we find words that are the same or very similar in different languages was call them "false friends" - they look the same, but they really mean something different. For example, if you look at the Russian transliterated word mashina you probably automatically think "machine," right? Wrong. The Russian word mashina means car, so it is a false friend, it is not what you think it means even though it looks a lot like a word we have in English. I think that life in the ministry team compared with life in a civilian church in a comparable position, say as a deacon or board member of some sort, would be a "false friend". Maybe the new recruits to the ministry team might think they know what to expect with a lot of church or other religious background but the differences could catch them by surprise unless they have a very good (realistic) idea before hand about what to expect.
But this blog isn't, ultimately, about the military, now is it? So what tripped me up in Vienna? Was it because I was my father's daughter and there wasn't a thing I could do about it, I was going to have problems no matter what happened? Or did I really come all that naively, not knowing anything about what was going on? Or did I know too much and stood my ground too ardently and rejected their tighthold too vigorously?
So let's use these stages on me as pertains to the Vienna mission.
For me the formation stage was a matter of getting to know people and the ropes and all. If formation meant being paranoid, however, I wasn't particularly interested. There's a fine line between paranoia and being careful and discerning, and the mission didn't know the difference. I'm selected in what I form to, and they made it difficult to really want to form to them.
As to development... I already discussed trust in some detail and how the mission didn't do anything to make me want to trust them. My values remained unchanged, but where values wheren't an issue I had no problem accepting the way certain things were done. Throughout all this I never really could adjust my feelings, which were basically a shipwreck and there was so much family and mission conflict I could have single-handedly started the third-world war, I think.
I never even came anywhere near sustainment, so I'm not even going to attempt that one.
This was a little different take on my experience with the mission, and each approach provides some more information, I think, to what happened.
