Rev. Jim Short has always had a passion to serve others.
On July 4, one chapter of his service will come to a close. After 26 years with the Reserve Force in the Canadian Armed Forces, Chaplain's Branch, Short will retire.
"It's kind of an emotional and reflective time for me," Short said. "I love what I do. I love service, I love people, I love working in the church, I love working in the army, so it's a really big loss for me retiring from military service."
Short will reach the compulsory retirement age of 60 on July 4.
"I have to retire even if I maybe don't want too," Short said with a laugh.
Short has always had a vast interest in the military. One just has to take a look at his Ladner United Church office to see the vast array of military artifacts and literature for proof of that.
"My grandfather was a Royal Newfoundland Naval Volunteer Reserve sailor in the First World War and I was very close to him, but I didn't see myself going into the military as an infantry soldier, so I got ordained," Short recalled.
"At that time I met my wife Cathy [Bone] and she had been in the military as a student military chaplain. As I went through ministerial training, some said I would be a great chaplain and that's where it started."
He was commissioned into the Reserve Force in 1991.
His distinguished military reserve career has been spent mostly in B.C., but one of his most notable calls for service was a year-long deployment in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
During this deployment he initiated and dedicated himself, along with a team of volunteer Canadian soldiers and civilians on the home front, to support education for Afghani children and the needs of their teachers through a project of providing learning materials to a school in Kandahar, then an orphanage in Kabul.
"I have a very strong bond and connection to the people of Afghanistan, especially the children," he said. "I have immense respect for people who strive to be the best that they can be with so little all in the middle of a war zone."
Short said life as a minister in the military has been rewarding work.
"You work with a lot of young people where going to regular church is not a part of their life. It's a great opportunity to work with people in that setting. I threw myself in pretty passionately to that work. I had a lot of opportunities that many reservists don't get. To deploy, to go to the fires in Kelowna, I presided over the funeral for Smokey Smith. For 26 years I've really been on call as the senior chaplain."
When someone is deployed in the military such as Short, you really have to depend upon your employer for support.
Short said Ladner United Church and its congregation saw his military service as an extension of their work in the world that people in the military need support and guidance when they go off to places of war.
"I couldn't have done any of this without this congregation or this community. It's one thing when, say the Vancouver Police Department lets a few of their members go, but when you have your one paid employee go, like my case, that is a pretty significant sacrifice. This community has always stepped up to support. It is very generous."
Short also volunteers at the Delta Hospital Thrift Shop and is a member of the Delta Hospital Auxiliary. He is a member of the Ladner Business Association, co-founded the Delta Safe Haven group to sponsor three refugee families from Syria and in 2015 was named Citizen of the Year.
And while his military service is over, his years at Ladner United Church will continue.
"In a way I'm ready to take a break, to move on and do something else, but I do really miss it already," he said. "I really love this kind of work, so maybe a door will open at some point to do some chaplaincy type of work with another group. I'm one of these types of people who believes that the spirit moves in ways that I don't understand, so I think at some point an opportunity will present itself.
"In the meantime, I can be content having one full-time job here with the church and spend more time caring for our grandchildren."
