From: Rev. Dean Kavouras (by way of Rev. Eric J. Stefanski, ) Sent: Sunday, July 07, 2002 10:15 PM To: Confessional Lutherans in Missionary Boldness Subject: CLIMB: Chaplain's field report Cleveland 2002-07-06 Chaplain's Field Report Cleveland, Ohio July 6, 2002 Dear Friends, It's been some time since I've communicated with you in connection with my chaplain work. The responses I've received from many let me know that you appreciate these reports as much as I enjoy supplying them. Their great power of course is not Chaplain Kavouras but rather the workings of the Word of God as it combats sin, death and the devil in the lives of the Heavenly Father's dear children. You and I are those children, and so is Dennis W. I met Dennis yesterday afternoon on the Lorain Carnegie Bridge as he stood on the wrong side of the rail, with a rope knotted around his neck, which he had securely tied off to one of the bridge's lampposts. When the message came across my alpha pager that said: male attempting to hang himself from L/C Bridge, I couldn't understand what it meant. People don't hang themselves from that bridge, they jump from it. Just 400 feet between pain and peace. But the moment I arrived all became painfully clear. I remember being amazed at how long and clean and white and thick that rope looked around his brown neck. My "tunnel vision" lasted only seconds however, and for this I was grateful - for there was important work to be done. I parked my car on the other side of the roadway and back a bit and calmly neared 45 year old Dennis's location. He was extremely agitated and was carrying on a vigorous conversation with several police and fire officers who were trying to reason with him, as well as with my friend and fellow chaplain Rabbi Sruly Wolf. As I neared his perch Dennis caught view of me and held up his arms signaling me not to come any closer. At that time Rabbi Wolf informed him that I was Rev. Kavouras, a Lutheran pastor and that I would do him no harm. Dennis seemed to like that and told us that he had recently been released from the Lutheran Hospital's psychiatric unit, but then he abruptly became unhappy again because Lutheran couldn't help him get the apartment they were hoping to obtain for him upon his release. Instead he was told to go to St. Herman's homeless shelter to which he had been before, and clearly did not want to return. Rabbi Wolf and I were able to get a rapport with the man and he told us of his woes, his children and grand-children, his education, intelligence, job experiences and long term unemployment. He informed us that he had been on the bridge before and that people promised him things which they did not deliver, including promises to visit him in the hospital. There wasn't much I could do for Dennis at that moment but pray and talk, so at that point I said to him in a loud and deliberate voice: Dennis, Dennis.look here. Look at this face. Pointing to my face I said: Dennis, remember this face. Don't forget this face. Because if you come over the railing I will visit you in the hospital. I knew it wasn't much but you try what you can in a situation like that. All I knew was that I didn't want him to jump. For I too had been on that bridge before with other jumpers. And just a few months earlier I had the sad duty of going under the bridge where I joined fire and police officers as they tended to the body of a 48 year old woman who didn't want to talk about it. She stopped her car that cold, rainy morning within feet of where I now stood, and without a moment's hesitation, jumped. About that time a Cleveland Police negotiating team came on scene and took over the discussion. Though Dennis began another tirade, within twenty minutes the negotiators succeeded in talking him back over the railing and transporting him to Lutheran Hospital in an unmarked police car. But now, the rest of the story. Though safety chaplains are principally called to attend the members of the Departments we serve, we do at times get involved with the public. We do this both as men of God and as representatives of the City we serve. The benefits such ministry confers cannot be over estimated. For while people expect their government to perform their duties with competence, they don't expect the tender loving care which a chaplain's attention always provides. Lutheran Hospital was less than five minutes away from that narrow and deadly outcropping where Dennis lately stood. I followed the other cars there and spent a few minutes with him at that time. I learned there that he had been a heavy user of drugs. I then suspected that he might have just come off a "binge" or that he was "tweaking". "Binging" and "tweaking" are the third and the fourth stages of methamphetamine abuse, the fourth being most dangerous. At this stage nothing the abuser does can take away the emptiness the binge has created and he experiences exceedingly strong feelings of uncontrollable frustration! A "tweaker's" world is one of vivid hallucinations and they don't need any provocation to act violently. Several hours later I returned to Lutheran Hospital ER where Dennis was still being kept. On the bridge he appeared to be like the demon-possessed man from the Gadarenes in Mark 5:1-17 who lived in graveyards and spent his life crying out in misery and cutting himself. I couldn't help but think that as no chains could hold that man, no program instituted by man could chain the demons of Dennis's addiction. As only Jesus saw the real problem and expelled the legion of devils from him, this same eternal Son of God would now have to exert His power for Dennis. As the Gadarene man, after meeting Jesus sat there "dressed and in his right mind" - so Dennis was now calm and serene, dressed in a hospital gown, one hand cuffed to the railing of his bed and happy to have a visitor. He didn't remember my face but he did recognize the clerical collar I now wore, but was not wearing on the bridge. When I re-introduced myself to him and reminded him of the promise I made to visit him he seemed to visibly relax. He apologized for yelling at us all and for putting everyone to so much trouble, and he thanked me (us) over and over again for not letting him jump. I repeated what I had told him on the bridge hours earlier. That his life was important! That he had a Heavenly Father who loved him! I told him further that he did not have to hang himself because Another had already been hanged for him on a cross, Christ Jesus the Son of God; and that by His death every wrong he, Dennis, had ever done was atoned for; and that we now have the promise of on-going and glorious life with God in heaven. I told him that he was powerless to help himself and that no program on earth could cure him of his addiction, but that God would be his stay in life and in death. He seemed to like that so I asked him if he had any church connection or if he knew the Scriptures. He said that he knew the 23rd Psalm and immediately began to quote it. I joined him and when we were done I told him that Jesus was the Good Shepherd of which the Psalm spoke. I then read to him from the tenth chapter of Saint John's Gospel closing with the promise, that no one could ever pluck him from his Lord's hand. He eagerly and warmly received all these words and we talked a little more in the same vein. I then opened my trusty Lutheran Prayer book (1951 edition) and prayed the following prayer for him (English slightly updated): Eternal Savior You have given Your life on the Cross to redeem us from sin and the fear of death, I seek Your divine forgiveness and the peace that passes all understanding. As the night closes in upon me bless me with your gracious benediction. Blot out all my sins through Your precious blood. Create in me a clean heart filled with Your Holy Spirit. Endow me with a deeper love for You and Your Gospel. Let not the cares of this day rob me of restful sleep nor let doubts and unbelief take from me the faith I have in You, You who have died that I might be Your own eternally. I entrust myself to Your safe keeping for the night confident that You are my ever-living and glorious Savior and King. Amen. (Prayer for a Friday Evening, page 49) After this very fitting prayer I began to pray the Lord's Prayer, and as I have found so often before he knew this glorious entreaty by heart and prayed it in what I took to be an earnest and hopeful voice. I then gave him the apostolic blessing, left him with some inspirational reading material, and asked if I could visit with him again. He gladly consented and told me that he was going back to the second floor (psych unit) and would be there for several days. Tomorrow I will visit him again and by God's grace continue to administer the medicine of God's love to his soul. I ask you to pray for Dennis and for the Safety Forces of our land who do this important, life-saving work each day. Remember them. Rev. Dean Kavouras, Chaplain Cleveland Safety Forces, FBI Cleveland Division The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 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