The wellbeing of our employees and residents is important to LHP. Now LHP is pleased to announce the start of a new Chaplaincy Program which is designed to provide emotional support and encouragement for individuals in times of crisis.
The LHP Chaplaincy Program is being led by Walter Ghosten, an ordained minister, who currently serves in a dual role as Chaplain and The 1100 Studio Apartments Resident Services Coordinator. Chaplain Ghosten will become fulltime Chaplain April 1.
Chaplain Ghosten’s services are available to all LHP employees now and initially to residents of four Knoxville communities: Pinnacle Park Apartments, Ridgebrook Apartments, The 1100 Studio Apartments, and Westview Towers. LHP is working to expand the program to cover all communities.
Look for and enjoy a new weekly post on The Scruff written by the Chaplain. The posts will run in Thursday’s blog and can also be found on Chaplain’s Corner, a new Scruff Feature you can see here.
My understanding about caring for others should never be eclipsed by mysteries, or replete with images that are hidden from my belief, that all human beings are created with a purpose in life.
Caring for a person is a belief as old as time. A tragic yet powerful example of this is the case of Zaevion Dobson. Zaevion was an exceptional football player at Fulton High School, here in Knoxville. On December 17, 2015, his young life was taken when he shielded three friends during a spontaneous shoot out by a local gang. This brings to mind the quote “there is no greater love than someone who lays down his life for a friend.”
All of humanity should commit to care for one another and willingly accept this responsibility. Another wonderful quote to help keep this in mind is “there is no doubt that relationships require work. But this means working on yourself, adjusting your attitude, and learning to accept others.”
Accepting others begins with caring about the welfare of your neighbors. As mentioned in my first article, my parents were instrumental in teaching this to me. I can remember as a young boy growing up in Oak Ridge, when I was told by my parents to play with a boy that was born with Down syndrome. This taught me a life-long lesson that we are all humans, who possess different needs. All of us need to be loved and cared for in many ways.
I passed this down when raising my children. I found out years later, by accident, from my daughter Nicole’s 5th grade teacher that every day she pushed a classmate, confined to a wheelchair, to the cafeteria for lunch. Nicole never told her mother or me that she showed this act of kindness to her classmate. She simply cared.
By Chaplain Ghosten
chaplain@lhp.net