{"id":6466,"date":"2017-11-20T14:35:06","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T22:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/?p=6466"},"modified":"2017-12-12T14:48:52","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T22:48:52","slug":"word-grace-november-20-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-november-20-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"A Word of Grace – November 20, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Dear Friends,<\/p>\n

At 7:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, I head out for a 10:00 appointment in Los Angeles sixty-four miles away. Yes indeed, that is two and one-half hours to travel what should take about an hour most places. Welcome to Southern California.<\/p>\n

My friend, Garrett, our Public Affairs Officer, picks me up at 8:00 a.m. in a hotel parking lot where I leave my car. I ride with him as he maneuvers down the I-10 Freeway in rush hour traffic.<\/p>\n

We are headed to consult an entertainment law attorney about a contract proposed to Loma Linda University Health from a television production company. We get there fifteen minutes late, even with the benefit of the car-pool lane.<\/p>\n

The attorney graciously brushes away my apology. “You are on-time, given our traffic,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

We transact our business quickly and head back to Loma Linda.<\/p>\n

Our return only takes one and one-half hours. I pull into an office parking lot at 12:30 and walk into a conference room where a Thanksgiving feast is taking place.<\/p>\n

The members of the Corporate Compliance Department hold an annual luncheon of Thanksgiving. They invite my attorney colleague Chris and me because the Office of General Counsel and Corporate Compliance work closely together.<\/p>\n

The Corporate Compliance folks monitor and support the efforts of our organization to comply with the extensive and complex federal and state regulations that govern healthcare licensure, delivery and privacy in the 21st Century.<\/p>\n

Compliance is difficult work because it involves endless, unpopular training of our workforce, tedious audits of electronic health records and the necessity of telling busy, proud healthcare providers that they are out of compliance with the law. Yet, the Department and its employees have an excellent reputation because of their competence, professionalism and solution-orientation.<\/p>\n

I serve myself from the delicious potluck buffet and sit down. Tonya, the Executive Director, has held the program until my arrival.<\/p>\n

This year’s theme for the Feast is “Overwhelming Grace” In the middle of this rushed, over-booked, arid desert of a day, I have somehow stumbled into a spiritual oasis, and in the Compliance Department of all places.<\/p>\n

Tonya invites an employee to begin. One by one each of the fourteen employees present and one on the phone gives a personal testimony of God\u2019s overwhelming grace. God has seen them through stress, relationship problems, illnesses, cancer suffered by spouses, and grandchildren with challenging special needs. They have received wonderful love and mercy from their God, from their families and from their co-workers. All of them are positive and gracious about their experiences. All of them are believing, committed followers of Christ.<\/p>\n

My attorney colleague Chris adds his testimony as does Dr. Linda Mason, the world-class pediatric anesthesiologist who is our Corporate Compliance Officer and soon-to-be president of the American Society of Anesthesiology. When the wave of grace makes it around the table to me, I find it hard to speak.<\/p>\n

After a few seconds and with a husky voice I \u201cblame\u201d on a respiratory virus I am getting over, I say what is on my heart. \u201cI am overwhelmed by grace right here,\u201d I begin<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are about 130 academic health sciences centers in the United States. They provide the bulk of training for healthcare professionals and health research. But only one has a compliance department, attorneys, and renowned anesthesiologist sitting down on a Tuesday to thank God and talk about his grace. Here we are!<\/p>\n

\u201cI am overwhelmed and humbled to be in the presence of such a blessing. You all do a great job, but the love and grace you acknowledge receiving from God, and that you share with each other makes the difference of heaven on earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of you have described grace as \u201cGod\u2019s unmerited favor.\u201d That is true. We know we mess up and don\u2019t deserve what we receive in kindness from God. But that is not the way God thinks of us. He doesn\u2019t hover around and say, \u201cYou are screw-ups and rotten and don\u2019t deserve my love and help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, he is gracious. He helps us because he loves us and wants us to be whole and happy. He cares about what concerns us and he shows us love without laying a bunch of guilt on us and chiding us. The Apostle John says, \u201cWe love because he first loves us\u201d (1 John 4:19).<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have shown me love today and I am overwhelmed by the grace of it. Thank you.\u201d\u201c<\/p>\n

The rest of the lunch is devoted to funny stories of Thanksgiving misadventures. The Director of Privacy Compliance, Paulo Pereira, is honored for his professional and spiritual leadership. Tonya ends with a short, poignant message about the gift of grace. I leave for more meetings, buoyed by gratitude with a rejoicing heart.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been involved with Christian organizations my whole life, counting church, schools, aid organizations, hospitals, and clinics. Too many of them have been about the brand and the packaging, not about the substance of love and service.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cmission\u201d can be used as a screen to keep the faithful from looking to closely at what is going on. The word \u201cChristian\u201d or a stylized cross or fish can be raised on banners and on web sites trading on the name of Christ to lure customers and patients. The discerning see these things and hear the thunder from Sinai saying, \u201cYou shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name\u201d (Ex 20:7).<\/p>\n

Pious labels never determine the spiritual nature of actions. It is origin in the Spirit and instruction of God that determines whether a plan, an act, or a program is authentically spiritual (See, John 14:10).<\/p>\n

Loma Linda University Health employs 16,000 people, operates nine professional schools, with multiple accreditations. It has a student body of 4400 students, six hospitals, and numerous clinics with more than 1,000,000 patient visits a year. There is a common misperception that the bigger an organization grows and increases its public interactions, the more secular it will become. That misperception does not take into account the consciences, personal convictions and choices of the employees.<\/p>\n

This is an organization where the whole Compliance Department gathers in a conference room at noon on a Tuesday for an agape feast and testimonies of grace. Christ is there with us. This isn\u2019t mandated by policy or compelled by rule. It is the joyous expression of grateful souls who know they belong to a good God and want to give Him the glory.<\/p>\n

I witness that expression, having been invited to come apart and share in the community of the beloved and the loving. And I know, in a way I have never experienced elsewhere in thirty-eight years of working life, that I am home.<\/p>\n

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps. 34:8).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Under the mercy of Christ,<\/p>\n

Kent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

\"KentKent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.<\/p>\n

Finding God\u2019s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent\u2019s passions. He has written two books,\u00a0Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places<\/em>\u00a0published by Review & Herald in 2002 and\u00a0Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God\u2019s Love Through Prayer<\/em>, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God\u2019s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, \u201cA Word of Grace for Your Monday\u201d that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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