{"id":2162,"date":"2010-03-04T10:00:49","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue\/2010\/03\/god-is-down-here-and-up-there.html"},"modified":"2010-03-04T10:00:49","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T10:00:49","slug":"god-is-down-here-and-up-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2010\/03\/god-is-down-here-and-up-there.html","title":{"rendered":"God Is Down Here (and Up There)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a small snapshot of how my faith buttresses me on a daily basis. <\/p>\n

After two weeks of a blizzard, where nothing got done because the kids were home, and one week of vacation, I sat down to go through about 3,000 emails and practically hyperventilated. Despite my new sorting system, I still have 80,141 messages in my inbox and 2767 unread.<\/p>\n

How am I ever going to catch up?<\/i> I asked myself. Why am I always playing catch up? When will I be able to keep peace and serenity for more than 23 seconds?<\/i><\/p>\n

On the way to the kitchen (because dark chocolate solves most problems), I picked up the mail and opened a letter that Guideposts magazine had forwarded to me by a reader regarding my January story about the large statue of Jesus<\/a> in the administration building of Johns Hopkins University. Here’s what it said:<\/p>\n

\"jesus<\/span>
\nDear Mrs. Borchard,<\/em><\/p>\n


<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n

I was pleased to read “The Healer” in the January 2010 issue of Guideposts. I am delighted that you were able to get some help at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. For thirty years (before retirement) I was the Senior Chaplain there and they were both the most demanding and the most rewarding years of my fifty years of ministry.<\/p>\n

There are so many stories that occur around the statue. I thought that you might like to hear one with a touch of humor…<\/p>\n

I was waiting for the elevator that is near the statue when I saw a mother and her young son (I would guess he was about 6 or 7 years old) who was being discharged from the hospital. His one arm was in a cast. As they stood looking at the statue I heard the mother say to her son, “Do you know what that is?” To which the child said, “Yea … that’s God.” He stood looking at the statue for a few minutes – then he backed up about four or five steps, put his good hand on his hip and said (with disgust in his voice), “Well, what are you doing down here?”<\/p>\n

Isn’t it good to know that God is “down here” as well as being “up there”?<\/p>\n

I pray that you are well and that you will continue to get even better in the days to come.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Cordially,<\/p>\n

Clyde Shallenberger, D.D., D.H.L
\nChaplain Emeritus,
\nThe Johns Hopkins Hospital<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

* Click here to subscribe to Beyond Blue<\/b><\/a> and click here to follow Therese on Twitter<\/b><\/a> and click here to join Group Beyond Blue<\/b><\/a>, a depression support group. Now stop clicking.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a small snapshot of how my faith buttresses me on a daily basis. After two weeks of a blizzard, where nothing got done because the kids were home, and one week of vacation, I sat down to go through about 3,000 emails and practically hyperventilated. 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