Triple Header Part 1--Pastor Collin

Last night I was on call.  Saturdays are the busiest day for call.  Yesterday it was complicated by the graduation of Nazarene College of Nursing (NCON), in which I and Jim and Bill played our trumpets.  But thanks to one of the hardest-working and nicest volunteers on record (Jennifer Jung, for the record) I was able to get through the morning and early afternoon fairly painlessly.  Then it was just a few relatively brief trips into the ER.

Pastor Collin with his wife and 2 daughters

One of these ended up providing a special blessing for me.  The patient was the father of one of our nurses, now on the faculty of NCON, Sister Dare Collin.  Pastor Collin is a retired pastor in the EBC (Evangelical Brotherhood Church, as Swiss denomination).  He hasn't needed to seek health care for many years, so he didn't know that his blood pressure was very high.  I'm sure that his 102 kg (221 pounds) isn't helping any.

At about 3 am Saturday morning, Pastor Collin woke from sleep with a song on his heart.  His wife reports that he was singing in the darkness.  Then, since he couldn't go back to sleep, he prayed for the rest of the night.  After he got up, the day seemed ordinary.  But then, about 6 pm, he fainted briefly.  When he woke up, he found that he couldn't move his left arm and leg normally.  When he tried to walk, he stumbled, twisting his right ankle.  His family noticed that his face looked a little crooked, and that his speech was slightly slurred.

My dad, Allen Bennett

The stroke isn't a severe one.  He can still move his limbs.  He walked into the ER with the assistance of a couple of his children.  We will give him aspirin and treat his blood pressure to try to prevent future strokes.

Thinking about this godly man and his years of minstry made me think of my own, dad.  Pastor Collin is 72 years old (and it's pretty unusual for older people in PNG to know their age).  My dad, also a retired pastor is 94, and he also suffered a stroke a couple of years ago.  It was a privilege to me to be able to care for Pastor Collin, and to pray with him and his family before sending him off to the ward.

While I was checking on Pastor Collin and writing up his admission, the power kept going off, but that's another story.  Stay tuned for Part 2.

AB