What does Red Cross Disaster Spiritual Care Look like? It looks like changing a staff member’s life by teaching them how to fold a fitted sheet. Seriously and also humorously, it was an oddly meaningful moment. It fit into her bag and saved her space.

It looked like helping another staff member learn how to use a shortcut option for Word formatting that saved him from retyping huge chunks of pasted info.

It also looked like holding an elderly woman’s hands because she couldn’t get them warm and had lost her gloves in the storm.

Disaster Spiritual Care is the ultimate chameleon. It changes depending on the need of the human in front of us. Some need laughter, prayers, or tears. Others need information, a listening ear, or a hot drink for comfort.

This is why I love this work… It is ever changing and ever expanding. It keeps me guessing. More importantly, the expectation that we will meet the person in their own need and not place expectations or our own belief on them is freeing. For me, I believe it lets the Holy Spirit dance freely among us. It is holy work for me to let God do the talking and work while I just hold the space to hear a story. But the real blessing is in the remaining fair and impartial, because the person in front of me has been through disaster and holding space for them lets them begin to go from victim to survivor. What better gift is there after a disaster than the first steps to living again?