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Believing God

Al Weir, MD

July 2, 2019
Believing God Al Weir, MD July 2, 2019

“He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’” (Mark 4:40, NIV 1984).

I settled into a chair in the hotel lounge away from the crowd so that I might catch up on my email, with some real anxiety over the news that email was bringing me. Earlier in our mission I had prayed that each of us might be ready for God’s work of interruption. Just so, an Albanian medical student saw me sitting there alone and asked, “Are you busy?” As he sat down, he reflected on an earlier talk I had given and asked, “Which level of happiness are you experiencing?” As we talked, I asked him about his own faith experience. He described, “I am a Christian. My mother is a Christian who believes. My father is a Christian who does not believe. I am more like my father.”

Am I a Christian who believes or a Christian who does not believe? Am I more like this young man’s mother or his father? Which one would be sitting with anxiety, like me, over his email news? These are not such strange questions in Albania where religion is often based on culture rather than faith. Are they really strange questions for me?

As Beth Moore asks in her book Believing God, “Do we believe that God is who He says He is? Do we believe that God will do what He says He will do?” Am I a Christian who believes?

If so, why do I fear?

Dear Father,
Help me to truly “believe what I think.” 1
Amen

  1. From Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxes
Al Weir, MD

Al Weir, MD

After leaving academic medicine, Dr. Weir served in private practice at the West Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee from 1991-2005 before joining the CMDA staff as Vice President of Campus & Community Ministries where he served for three years from 2005-2008. He is presently Professor of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Program Director for the Hematology/Oncology fellowship program. He is also President of Albanian Health Fund, an educational ministry to Albania where he has been serving for 20 years. He is the author of two books: When Your Doctor Has Bad News and Practice by the Book. Dr. Weir’s work has also been published in many medical journals and other publications. Al and his wife Becky live in Memphis, Tennessee, and they have three children and three grandchildren. Dr. Weir is currently serving on CMDA's Board of Trustees.