Mission In My Words
God’s Hospital
In more than 30 years of news reporting, I’m often stunned by the unusually wise analysis and insight of children. It’s evident in the questions they ask, the lenses they look through and the conclusions they draw.
I had the honor and pleasure of developing an awareness video for the Nashville Rescue Mission this year, along with my talented crew at Genuine Human Productions. We pride ourselves on telling true stories about real people. You might say it was right up our alley…these stories of the street.
The career paramedic who ended up living in the woods, addicted to crack cocaine. A talented missionary and musician who simply stopped working, the bottle was his addiction. There was a soft-spoken new father who had seen his son only once, yet the child’s first word was “daddy.”
But the story that seemed to resonate with all of us was that of a young, physically-fit father, whose back injury led to a crippling reliance on prescription pain medication. A “normal guy” you’d talk to over the backyard fence.
How did he end up at the Mission?
He was working hard to mend his relationships. Through prayer and study, running and lifting weights, he was regaining his body, mind and soul. He told us his youngest daughter coped with his long absence by thinking of the Mission as “God’s Hospital”—a place where daddy was getting good medicine, and needed just a little bit more. God’s Hospital. When he said that phrase, everyone in the room dropped their jaw. The image, distilled by a child, was perfect.
If indeed the Nashville Rescue Mission is God’s Hospital, then we can think of ourselves as the staff—doctors, nurses, orderlies, counselors and through street outreach—the MASH unit. We might not be wearing scrubs (okay, maybe the occasional hairnet) but we are all helping do the healing work. Our cure rate may not be 100 percent, but it’s getting better every day.
I’ve wondered many times how our friend is doing since his “discharge.” Has he thrown the football with the boys, rekindled romance with his dedicated wife? And does he continue to allow his little princess to paint his fingernails? I’ll bet he does.
May God bless his family in this holiday season. He’s home—and healed. Thanks to God’s Hospital.
Demetria Kalodimos is an Emmy Award-winning anchor and reporter for WSMV-TV. She is the longest continuously serving evening news anchor at WSMV. In 2000, Demetria established Genuine Human Productions—writing, directing, shooting and editing true stories about real people…genuine humans.