Chaplain Robert A. Crutchfield

My home department is technically what's know as a combination department. In our case we have a day crew made up of full-time paid firefighters, and volunteers that handle nights and weekends. Since I am not part of our department's paid staff I usually end up spending most of my time with the volunteers. The chief has been encouraging me to spend more time with the day crew for months now. Today I did. It was a slow day, there were no calls while I was at "the house."

The highlight of my day… Continue

For a week or so now I have been thinking and praying about what I wanted to say to you for Christmas. As this process unfolded I came upon an interesting question. Was Christ the original first responder ? I think he just might be.

Let's take a look at it,

Jesus was born to save the world. Responders are born to save people from a variety of perils.

Responders deal with people from all different backgrounds, even those most others would ignore. Christ ministered to lepers, and Samaritans and… Continue

Tomorrow is the day we in this country traditionally give thanks to God for the year's blessings. To be sure God gives us things to be thankful for every day, and we should make a practice of thanking him every day ! However setting aside one day a year to focus on expressing gratitude to the Almighty is not a bad practice. Unfortunately my secular job being in retail I will be working tomorrow. But I will be taking time throughout the day to remind myself of the many many things I have to be th… Continue

Recently I experienced two events in back to back days that reminded me how active God is in empowering our ministries. The other day I was in the E.R. at our local hospital. Not being on department business I didn't have my chaplain's uniform on. However as is my practice when in the hospital I did have my Texas Medical Center clergy I.D. badge on. I went to get my wife a soda from the nearby machine. There I met a man and his miserably ill little son about 2 years old. The poor child was feeli… Continue

As many of you know years ago I was a military policeman in the Texas State Guard. Back then I used to tell the guys in my squad " I don't care what command tells you about how safe this mission is. The fact always is there are people in this world that will shoot you dead just for the uniform you have on." This is just a very small fragment for what it is like for those who serve in our military even in peace time. Of course as I write this our nation is at war, and not at peace. Things are evn… Continue