As you know one of the reasons that we started this blog is to share the many and varied ways that our paths cross and our partnerships exist and we operate as the body of Christ in ways we may never know about unless somebody stumbles upon it.  The “6 Degrees of Separation” article about Ron Carnicom was an example.  Well here is another.

I was doing some presentations and other “stuff” at one of my favorite places in the world, Lutheran Island Camp at Battle Lake Minnesota.  It is great place and Ken Erlandson is a great servant leader and quiet model of the love of Christ.  He was getting ready along with Marvin Swyter to do something that I thought then and still think is crazy.  They had cut a huge rectangular chunk of ice out of the lake and were getting ready to have people go and jump into the water.  Polar Plunge I think it was called.  Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=284701108633.  While waiting for the insanity to ensue I met a quiet young looking guy sitting by the door by the name of Randy Maland.  In talking with him I felt that I had met a kindred spirit.  We shared the same philosophy of ministry, service, etc and it was refreshing to talk with him.  The fact that he had either done the Polar plunge or was going to do it then did not change my opinion that here was a smart and dedicated servant of Christ.

Since then I have done other presentations at the camp and have been made welcome and helped along by Rev. Maland’s fun and calm demeanor.  Now we jump ahead to Maryann, the yarn lady as I have come to call her.  She is woven throughout these blogs.  I had been contacted by President Fondow that Pastor Maland had been involved in a serious accident and was taken to Minneapolis.  Several Pastors from Minnesota North have already traveled down to see him, but imagine my surprise to get this email from Maryann –

I think you might know Pastor Maland from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Henning, Mn. Did you know that he was in an awful motorcycle accident this past week and is in a Twin Cities hospital. You can go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/randymaland/en for more information. He is the pastor at my “home congregation”. Please add him to your prayer list. Thanks. Mary Ann
 
 
 
Since the day of the accident I saw a report from Pastor Pr. Karl Weber.  He writes
 “On Monday evening I was at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) from about  11:00 PM – 12:30 am. I prayed with and stayed with Chris, Randy’s mom,  Alice, and many brothers and children of Randy and Chris. During my visit there I also met Pr. Tim Vaughn he arrived there earlier.” 
 
Later on another day he went to visit Pastor Maland but found he was undergoing surgery.  He writes “So, I left a bulletin with a note on it in Randy’s Surgical Intensive Care Room (SICU) where he will be for a period of time. When I placed my bulletin/ note in Randy’s waiting room I placed it alongside a note from Pr. Blake  Rickbeil and Rev. Ray Henderson who were there from approx. 1:00 am 3:00 am and they returned to Bertha / Sebeka.  Randy will make it, he will live, the brain, heart, lung are fine with  apparently no internal injures for which we thank Jesus”.
 
So I have written about this in the blog “Living in the Waiting Room”.  Pastor Weber whom I have also met is another quiet, dedicated servant of Christ.  He doesn’t talk about the anxious trip to Minneapolis and long trip home in the dark for him and Pastor’s Rickbeil and Henderson.  He doesn’t talk about the anxiety on the faces of family and friends and the desire to “fix it” that he and Pastor Vaughn felt because they follow compassion incarnate, Jesus the Christ, their Lord and Savior.  He leaves them unsaid, but for those servants who do these midnight visits over and over I will say it – it is draining and difficult.  It is also a great honor and joy.
 
So let’s do what Maryann said and let us pray for Pastor Maland, but also for all those ministers of Christ who will travel to visit him and show him the love of Christ over the weeks ahead.  As members of the Body of Christ we are all in this together.