An Ox in the Well
“Then he asked them, ‘If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?’” (Luke 14:5, NIV).
A Moment on Rounds
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel…” (Romans 1:16, NIV).
Redemptive Treatment of Healing Professionals
Some systems have treated healthcare professionals with clinical skill loss in an almost punitive manner. Aside from careless incompetence, abandonment of patients or grossly unprofessional behavior, this is inappropriate, damaging to the professionals and harmful to society.
Be Careful
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer…” (1 Peter 3:12, NIV).
Working in Light of Eternity
Throughout dental school, I have been actively seeking a rhythm of work and rest that honors the Lord, serves my patients and allows me to truly rest. This became of paramount importance to me because, if I’m honest, I knew this was something I had failed at for a large portion of my life. During college, I watched one of my roommates and best friends observe the Sabbath every Sunday. Blake would be running out the door with a picnic blanket and a football in her hand as I was cramming in last-minute studies for the week ahead. It was not that I never took breaks, but I could never bring myself to take off an entire day every week. Since elementary school, I had always strived for perfection in my work, so it was no big change for me in college to stay up late, wake up before the sun, incessantly check off to-do lists and barely enjoy the feeling of finishing one test before moving on to study for the next one. Looking back now, I realize how much of that striving was actually rooted in fear—fear that my future rested entirely in my own hands, fear that this is what was required for my life to be of value and, ultimately, fear that my ability to serve in the future was based entirely on my performance now.
On the Side: August 2021
“I’ll just sleep while it’s red,” I reasoned. At the time, this made perfect sense to my sleep-deprived brain. Happily, I woke up a few seconds later with my foot still on the brake and the traffic light now a lovely shade of green. I thought I was the only intern this had ever happened to, but I soon learned my husband had once had a similar experience. After a different long night on call at the hospital, he had been awakened at a green traffic light by the horn of the driver behind him!
On Faith and Love
My recent contributions to this blog have explored some of the issues I have wrestled with throughout the turmoil of the last year and a half—namely, how faith has impacted the church’s response to issues, and where we have strayed from biblical truths in our responses. I have wrestled with faith and politics, faith and freedom and faith and fear. But the overarching issue, I think, in Christians’ response to recent—and, in fact, any—world events is love. There are only two things that Scripture tells us explicitly identify the Christ-follower: their fruit and their love. Jesus Himself said that all men would know we are His followers if we have love for one another (John 13:35). In fact, He repeatedly commanded that we love one another (John 13:34, John 15:12, John 15:17). And the rest of the New Testament tells us more than 20 times to love one another.
Still Fixin’ Things
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV).
Escaping Death
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12, ESV).
Failure Matters
“But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you’” (Mark 16:7, NIV).
One Person at a Time
I have a soft spot for public health. True, I’ve been a family physician for 32 years, and have touched many people’s lives, but decisions made by public health practitioners have an outsized impact on health.
Be Open to God’s Surprising Will
If you had asked me my third year of dental school where I would be in five years, I would not have told you Memphis, Tennessee. I’m from Texas, and I’m one of those Texans who felt like they would always be in Texas because, as the catchy song goes, “God Blessed Texas.” At the same time, I felt God called me to do dentistry for a specific purpose. When looking at my options in Texas, everything felt like it would just be something to do but not what God was calling me to. I’m still not proficient at seeking God’s will, but I was even less proficient then. The Lord had to drop an opportunity right in my lap for me to think outside of what I thought was possible. He had me open an email from CMDA that I almost ignored, and I read a description of the CMDA Dental Residency [+] program that pulled on all the heart strings of what God used to lead me to dentistry. It described working in urban community clinics in Memphis, Tennessee to serve patients with the spiritual love of Christ and physical healthcare through dentistry. It also offered discipleship and a call to expand this vision beyond Memphis to other underserved settings in the U.S. and abroad.
Flipping the Ruler
“But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (Matthew 19:30, NIV).
New Documentary Released on the Rush to Reassign Gender
In keeping with their history of producing eye-opening documentaries taking highly controversial societal trends head on, The Center for Bioethics and Culture (CBC) recently released a film on gender affirming therapy titled Trans Mission: What’s the Rush to Reassign Gender? Running just under 52 minutes, the feature presents activists, healthcare professionals, educators, parents and the patients themselves—among others—regarding “the medical and surgical transitioning of children.” The guests exhibit varied points of view, and they include members of both CMDA and the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds).
Rocks in Shoes
“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’” (Luke 9:23, ESV).
On the Side: July 2021
I love genealogies. Thanks to my beloved Grandpa Sam, I have a detailed genealogy going back to 1690 on my father’s side. It traces our family’s journey from the Isle of Mull in Scotland to the East Coast of the U.S., and eventually to Colorado. Looking at its 300-plus years of history, I wonder who these ancestors were and what they were like. If each one could tell their story, what would it include? I do know one fought in the Revolutionary War, and one had 18 children!!! I also know that none of them had any clue that their great-great-great…granddaughter would be writing this from a laptop computer in Palm Desert, California.
Real Regulation of Human Embryo Experiments
As we expected, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) issued its revised guidelines on stem cells and embryo experiments at the end of May 2021, and as expected, the ISSCR recommendations are rife with proposed experiments on young human beings. The new guidelines discard the 14-day limit on human embryo experiments in favor of no limits whatsoever, and they allow virtually unrestricted manufacture of human-animal chimeras of any type, as well as creation of genetically altered human embryos and lab constructed human embryo “models.” Very little is left in the category of “currently not permitted.”
What a Difference a Huddle Makes
In the process of becoming dental professionals, we have amassed a collection of academic and professional achievements under our belt. Along the way, we’ve probably been told how capable and talented we are and praised for our varied accomplishments.
The Uncounted
“He [Paul] was accompanied by Sopater, son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia” (Acts 20:4, NIV).
Human-Animal Chimeras and Scientists Deluded by a God Complex
The battle in Congress over human-animal chimera experiments highlights the gulf between communists and Democrats and Republicans on the distinctions and boundaries between humans, animals and God.
Slate
“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:16, NIV).
SOCE Reduces Suicidality in a New Study
What if another study came to print asserting that sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) constituted harmful stressors to sexual minorities? What if a published letter to the editor in the same journal exposed gaping holes in the assessment? What if a reanalysis of the original study “in the strongest representative sample to date of sexual minority persons” revealed polar opposite findings: SOCE “strongly reduces suicidality” and that restrictions on SOCE may “deprive sexual minorities of an important resource for reducing suicidality, putting them at substantially increased suicide risk.” Now that would be something! And these things happened!
Trapped
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (Psalm 139:7-8, NIV).
Knowing the Will of God
How do you ascertain God’s will for your life?
This is one of the greatest existential questions asked by followers of Christ, the young in particular. It is also one of the most profoundly misunderstood.
We may be taught that there is a divine roadmap for our lives, known to God yet unknown to us. We desire to know it for two reasons. First, we seek to please God and be good stewards. Second, we believe following his divine plan will maximize our earthly joy and blessing, but He offers no objective way of knowing it. What then, does that say about God? He created a divine master plan for us to follow, but we have to pry it out of Him? What sort of God would do that, and why? What if we make the wrong decision?
Over-blessed
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48b, NIV).
True Humility in Jesus
In the process of becoming dental professionals, we have amassed a collection of academic and professional achievements under our belt. Along the way, we’ve probably been told how capable and talented we are and praised for our varied accomplishments.
Identifying Healthcare Professionals Who May No Longer Be Able to Care for Patients
As Christian healthcare professionals, God has granted us the high privilege and responsibility of serving others through healthcare. Part of this responsibility is that of maintaining clinical knowledge and skill in order to provide high quality care to our patients. If we lose some of our skills due to trauma, physical or mental illness, or due to normal aging, this may not always be optimally possible.
Evidence
I sat on his bed, my arm around him. I had once been his doctor, but he called me to come as friend. He is a deeply devoted follower of Christ who was going through a rough time in his illness, thinking that he soon might be leaving this world. “I have been so blessed by such a wonderful wife and children. Knowing that my children love the Lord is such a blessing.” Though he probably has some time left on this side of glory, I attempted these words to comfort him: “You surely have been blessed in this life, but the blessing does not stop here. All of us are going to be together for all times with the Lord and with those we love, once this little speck of time we know as life has passed.” “I hope so,” he said. “I surely hope so.” I added, “The evidence is overwhelming. Besides that, the Lord Himself is here to assure us.”
On the Side: June 2021
The snowstorm out my window made a rainbow of white as we towed our 23-foot travel trailer down the mountain pass. We hoped all would stay in order: truck first, trailer second. Ironically, in those white-knuckle moments, I was telling my medical man what the Lord had been teaching me recently—to hold loosely.
Trust in Public Health
WND recently published my op-ed designed to highlight the benefits of trusted doctors and faith-based organizations communicating on public health issues. I also noted what I considered to be several significant failures of government public health messaging.
A Word About…Choices
I spend more than a little time in my role as a professional coach talking to Christian healthcare professionals. I talk to some of them over coffee in the town where I live; I talk to others on the phone or perhaps on a Zoom call. As a pastor and coach who sort of specializes in coaching Christian healthcare professionals, I have the privilege of spending quality time with some of the brightest people on the planet. I’m always humbled by that opportunity, and I take my responsibility as a coach very seriously.
The Scarlet Thread
“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come…” (Mark 13:35, NIV).
The World in Need
When John Donne wrote “No Man Is an Island,” he was lying on his sickbed, thinking, perhaps, it would be his deathbed. When he heard the church bells tolling for a person recently deceased, it got him thinking. His life—everyone’s life—was diminished by the death of that unknown person. We are all connected.
On Faith and Fear
During a recent urgent care shift, a young welder presented with a metal foreign body in his eye. If you work in emergency medicine, urgent care or ophthalmology, or if you weld yourself, you are already aware of this occupational hazard. I was not aware of it prior to starting work in urgent care, but I must admit that it makes any dreams I may have had of learning to weld, thereby empowering myself to do more of my own home repairs, much less attractive. Tiny hot flecks of metal landing on the human cornea quickly embed themselves and become difficult to remove. Left there for a few days, they begin to rust, leaving a small rust ring on the cornea after the metal itself is removed—a rust ring which then has to be removed with a tiny drill called an eye burr.
169 Pounds
“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in them and they in God” (1 John 4:15, NIV).
Learning from Others
What has your experience with mentorship been like? I have had the privilege of being both mentor and mentee with the CMDA Dental Residency [+] program. It has been a wonderful experience learning the different ways mentorship can happen. Before going through the program, my idea of mentorship was very unimaginative. All I really heard about was people finding a good match for an associateship so you could have someone teach you all their wisdom and experience as you grew into who you were as a dentist. While that is a great way to be mentored, I have realized mentorship comes in many forms.
No Time for Complacency, Speak Up for Ethical Science
Well, that didn’t take long. As predicted, the parade of challenges to human dignity and human life discussed not long ago has already started to come to pass.
The Gate Opens Inward
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20, NIV).
String Theory
His name was Hermon Miller, and he owned the grocery store on the street where I grew up. When it was hot and muggy on many summer afternoons, my mom would ask me to “Go down to Millers Store and get some pork chops for supper,” or perhaps, “Go down to Millers and get some bread for sandwiches, so I can make your lunch. Better get a pound of bologna, too.” I’d hop on my bike and ride down to the end of our street to get what my mom had said I should buy.
Hard Seasons and Future Grace
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24b, NIV).
Intentionally Aware
Many years before, when he was shot down in Vietnam, he was rescued, but he thought he was going to die from his injuries. A chaplain from a different faith tradition was there praying for the wounded. He asked that chaplain to pray for him. That chaplain asked him what denomination he was affiliated with.
Vaccine Resistance and Public Health Messaging
“I’m still a zero’: Vaccine-resistant Republicans warn that their skepticism is worsening”) that examined the vaccine hesitancy of conservatives.
On the Side: May 2021
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” – Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)
Peace seems scarce these days. In fact, we seem to be living on a peace spectrum that runs anywhere from shaky armistice to literal dumpster fire. Even as I write these words, which you may read later, I am sure that if there isn’t something disastrous going on today, there will be tomorrow.
The Blessing
“Then he blessed Joseph and said, ‘May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all of my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth’” (Genesis 48:15-16, NIV).
This is Advocacy: Our Work Begins and Ends with God
Some would say it started earlier this year in January when the 2021 legislative session began in most states. Some would say it started with our increasingly more “live and let live” culture. However, the iniquity started before any of us were born.
God’s Smile
“And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3, KJV).
Beware of the Root
Imago dei: the idea that each human being is made in the image and likeness of God. Now, more than ever, I believe we as dental professionals should be embodying this idea in our everyday lives—not only remembering who we are in the Father’s eyes, but also remembering that each of our patients was intentionally, uniquely and wonderfully made by a loving Father.
New Study Addresses Sexual Minorities Who Reject LGB Identity
A new study authored by a socio-politically diverse team of psychologists evaluated a religiously diverse population sample of varied sexual identification and found that sexual minority people who reject LGB identification have positive outcomes that contradict the expectations of both minority stress and sexual identity development theories.
Plodding through Discouragement
…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1, NIV).
The Peace…of Paper
I have a friend, Rich, whose quiet, reflective, manner makes him a wonderful person to talk to. When I’m around him, the impression I get is that he actually thinks before he speaks—a rare thing in humans—and then, when he does speak, his words are distilled, salient and worth listening to. I like to hear him talk. He challenges me to grow. Several months ago, I asked him when we could get together for lunch.
The Return of the God Hypothesis
In last Saturday’s New York Times, Christian columnist Ross Douthat asks, “Can the Meritocracy Find God?”
“The secularization of America probably won’t reverse unless the intelligentsia gets religion,” writes Douthat. Nor is he sanguine for the prospects of that occurring. Douthat postulates two primary obstacles. First, “a moral vision that regards emancipated, self-directed choice as essential to human freedom and the good life.” Second, an entrenched anti-supernaturalism: “The average Ivy League professor, management consultant or Google engineer is not necessarily a strict materialist, but they have all been trained in a kind of scientism, which regards strong religious belief as fundamentally anti-rational, miracles as superstition, the idea of a personal God as so much wishful thinking.”
Light and Momentary
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV).
Imago Dei
Imago dei: the idea that each human being is made in the image and likeness of God. Now, more than ever, I believe we as dental professionals should be embodying this idea in our everyday lives—not only remembering who we are in the Father’s eyes, but also remembering that each of our patients was intentionally, uniquely and wonderfully made by a loving Father.
On the Side: April 2021
The call came maybe five months after we moved into the house I had dreamed of my whole life. Big front porch. Two porch swings. Rockers. And the icing on the cake—azalea bushes circling the big huge trees in my new front yard. I was anticipating the first of many, many years of Easter photo sessions in front of those bushes. But for that phone call.
The Incredible Impact of a Humble Man of Faith
In a previous blog, I recommended John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center, and BreakPoint, his daily blog. The Colson Center has several formats for outreach including the Colson Fellow program, weekly podcasts, daily email briefings and Wilberforce Weekend. The Colson Center takes on many of the most pressing issues of the day and thoughtfully discusses ways in which we as Christians can engage our culture. As I said in that earlier blog, if you stop reading this right now and explore the Colson Center options, I will have succeeded in pointing you to a good path for improving your Christian walk.
Seeking That Which Strikes You
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge; and to your knowledge, self-control; and to your self-control, perseverance; and to your perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7, NIV).
The Equality Act Targets the Faith and Medical Communities for Ideology-Based Prosecution
The Washington Examiner recently published my op-ed on the radical Equality Act. This ideologically coercive and discriminatory bill, which has already passed the House and now is on the Senate calendar, will radically impact your professional career and your ability to live out your faith.
The commentary is below, followed by excerpts of a CMDA letter to U.S. Senators and of written testimony submitted by several CMDA members.
Bananas
“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…” (1 Timothy 6:12, ESV).
I’m a Slow Reader (Here’s Why), and Living on Borrowed Time
I’ve read novels ever since my youth, and I’ve had an enduring fascination with the side character of the rich elderly female relative who “took to bed” decades earlier. Even before I was a doctor I wondered, “What illness caused her to ‘take to bed’?” There are seldom enough clues to unlock the mystery of which exact medical diagnosis she had that kept her in her bedroom. Writers of novels one to two centuries ago didn’t focus on those clues. She was, after all, a side character.
Another House Call
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18, NIV).
On Faith and Freedom
Freedom. It’s an important word to us in the United States—arguably the most important word to the founding of our country.
Journeying Toward a Life of Significance
“You want to be a dentist?! Ohhkayyy Doc, you’re going to be so successful!” I heard some variation of this comment countless times while pursuing my studies of becoming a dentist. Today when I introduce myself in a non-medical setting, I casually say I work in dentistry. If the conversation progresses further, the individual may learn I am a dentist. Then they are wowed by the fact that I am so young to be a doctor, they assume I am successful and often comment on how proud my family must be given my success. Of course, the inevitable question of, “When are you going to open your practice?” comes along, as if to suggest there is yet another layer of success to be attained.
A Friend Who Prays
“Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16, NIV).
A Word About Persistence
I have discovered one of the great joys in life, I think: the joy of watching my grandkids grow up. My wife and I have six, four girls and two boys. Seems like I never get tired of hearing about their latest accomplishments or adventures. And this week, as one of them started high school, I remembered a scene I hadn’t thought of in a long time.
Human Bioengineering: Made in the Image of Whom?
While COVID-19 has consumed the attention and energies of the world for the last year, other bioethical and scientific challenges have not gone away and are set to burst back to the forefront this year. Significant advances were made in 2020 to move away from the antiquated science using human fetal tissue from abortion and toward development of modern techniques and biological models that do not use fetal tissue. However, a resurgence of research using trafficked aborted fetal body parts is likely with the new White House Administration. Calls have already been made to gut the current ethical regulations on federal funding of fetal tissue research. The drumbeat for taxpayer dollars to pay for experiments using fetal organs and tissues from abortion continues, trying to make use of the crisis to justify unethical research, e.g., making humanized “lung-only mice” to investigate COVID-19. In the meantime, adult stem cells have made “mini-lungs” in the lab that faithfully model normal lungs, and they are already being used to study COVID-19 infections and therapies.
Tell Him to Come!
My three-and-half-year-old grandson in Alabama was just released from the hospital after four days of misery. Forgive the picture, but he was so constipated that he was throwing up.
Serious Concerns Regarding Our Medications in the United States
When mission teams were going to China, it was always important for us to understand the cultural, political and power structures in the countries we were serving.
Three Questions to Help You W.I.N. in Life
How’s it going? How did you “do” today at navigating the, no doubt, dozens of things you had to do? Those generic, innocent questions we use in everyday life as we interact with others rarely invite deeper reflection in those we might be asking. “Fine,” is probably the most common response we get when we ask someone else how they’re doing.
Seeing the Purpose Behind the Virus featuring Drs. Greg and Ali Tsai
CMDA members Drs. Greg and Ali Tsai live and practice medicine in Manhattan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis when the pandemic initially broke out in the United States. Greg is an ENT physician, while Ali is an OB/Gyn who works part-time with a homeless shelter.
The “Equality Act” will erase your religious freedom and medical judgment
The U.S. Congress has taken one step closer to ending religious protections—and medical judgment for health professionals—on gender issues, by passing the Equality Act by a largely partisan vote in the House of 224 – 206.
On the Side: March 2021
The season of Lent has begun. Raised in the Baptist church, Lent wasn’t something that we celebrated, but I have always thought it was a beautiful way to prepare for Good Friday and Easter.
Our Greatest Adventure
“…for death is the destiny of everyone…” (Ecclesiastes 7:2, NIV).
Therapy Bans, APA Talking Points and Counseling Choice
A multitude of states, counties and cities have banned “conversion therapy,” usually for minors only, with efforts underway to issue a national ban for all through the so-called “Equality Act” (HR 5). Yet, “conversion therapy” is a misrepresentative, maligning and summarily ill-defined term employed as a jamming tactic to capitalize on an allusion to implicitly forced religious conversion while stigmatizing and intimidating any therapist who would engage in change-allowing therapy. It implies coercion and suffering, neither of which are true of modern change-allowing therapy (aka SOCE for sexual orientation change efforts). Modern SOCE therapists uniformly view old aversive techniques (think shaming, electric shocks, etc.) as unethical and ineffective. Tellingly, no state or municipality enacting a therapy prohibition has yet to ban aversive practices, only counseling that allows clients to explore their potential for change of SOGI (sexual orientation, gender identity). Why not ban aversive measures too, if abuse is really the issue?
Better Tomorrow than Today
“Preach the gospel at all times, using words when necessary.” We’ve probably heard this adage before. As Christian healthcare professionals, we may wonder and self-reflect how we’re sharing the Good News in this way. If our actions speak more loudly than our words, how are our day-to-day actions preaching the gospel to those around us?
When Will I Learn?
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge; and to your knowledge, self-control; and to your self-control, perseverance; and to your perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7, NIV).
Christians and Conspiracy Theories
“You can’t handle the truth!”
That classic line from A Few Good Men from Colonel Jessup in the witness stand became a waving flag for many. It is enticing to think we own the truth, and that those who can’t “handle” it are naïve, weak or cowardly. Delivered to perfection by Jack Nicholson, Jessup hammered a wedge between truth and fantasy, and of course we all know which side we’re on, don’t we?
COVID-19 Fact or Fiction?
A growing proliferation of blog posts, podcasts and online videos presenting confusing information regarding COVID-19 has increased over recent months. Many of these controversies are propagated by physicians speaking to large church audiences. In this blog post, I will address the most common disputes.
God Jobs
“No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds” (1 Timothy 5:9-10, NIV).
He was recovering from an unexpected severe toxicity from a new cancer treatment. Just beginning to make urine and platelets again. We talked about his illness and then talked about his life. “I’ve got this neighbor,” he told me, “who cuts my yard. My yard is twice as big as his, but he cuts it. And he doesn’t just cut it, he manicures it and mows it twice a week—for a year now. He began back when I first got real sick. When I got better, I told him I could take over, but he wouldn’t let me. ‘God told me to do this, so it’s mine,’ he said. Before I got sick, we hardly knew each other.”
Let Us Be Healers
n the process of these elections—national, state, county, city—people who used to treat others civilly have forgotten how to do so. Politics has torn families apart, severed relationships and caused some people to say and do things that can never be unsaid or undone. In their efforts to obtain elected office, politicians and their support teams in both parties perpetrated rumors, lies and innuendo regarding opposition candidates. Some of these actions have destroyed reputations. Social media has helped to perpetrate the spread of misinformation.
You Could Help Reverse an Abortion!
Like me, you probably entered the medical field because you wanted to help people who were in significant need, facing challenges, and for whom you could have a substantial positive impact. You may have gone in with the goal to save lives. In healthcare, we have the privilege of helping people at some of their most vulnerable points, while also being a light shining into their darkness. For many women, that moment arrives for them after they have taken mifepristone (RU-486) with the intention of ending their pregnancy.
Earning the Right to Be Heard
“Preach the gospel at all times, using words when necessary.” We’ve probably heard this adage before. As Christian healthcare professionals, we may wonder and self-reflect how we’re sharing the Good News in this way. If our actions speak more loudly than our words, how are our day-to-day actions preaching the gospel to those around us?
A Buddhist Funeral
“And whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:26a, NIV).
I had never been to a Buddhist funeral. The deceased was the father of one of my new fellows. When I arrived, my fellow greeted me and asked if I wanted to light some incense for her father. I said I would, out of respect for him and love for her. I placed the first incense before a picture of young Buddha. I did not bow to him as those before me but placed a burning stick into the small gravel bowl in respect for a great philosopher. The second incense I placed before a picture of the deceased and bowed my head asking God for blessings on his family.
Federal Court Strikes Down Transgender Mandate, Protects Medical Judgment and Conscience
A federal court has provided protections for physicians committed to following medical evidence and conscience convictions regarding the transgender and gender-questioning patients for whom they care.
“The Race Marked Out for Us…”
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1, NIV 1984).
On the Side: February 2021
As I have said in the past, “As wives of doctors, we are the people, who take care of the people, who take care of everyone else.” Since 2020 has now mercifully drawn to a close, I think it’s okay for us to take a moment to look back and take stock of how we are doing and think about what we need to do going forward to help take care of ourselves.
The Purpose in Pain
When my husband and I worked at a mission hospital in Kenya for six weeks in 2013, we ate dinner every evening with another volunteer doctor, an orthopedic surgeon. We often discussed the use of opioids, or rather, the seldom-use of opioids in Kenya. After a U.S. surgery, he said his patients would receive opioids round the clock in the hospital, and they’d go home with a prescription for 30 to 60 pills. Yet here, patients’ pain was managed with non-opioid pain medications, and nobody was prescribed opioids after discharge.
Sunday Shopping
But we all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NASB).
A Word About…Remembering
A few years ago now, our youngest son Simeon left home to attend Seattle Pacific University (SPU). Like countless parents who watch their kids step into the world and out from under wings of mom and dad, we had some not-too-uncommon concerns, I suppose.
Policy Versus Politics: A Retrospect and Prognosis
A physician member of CMDA recently asked me for a perspective on the tragic temporary takeover of the U.S. Capitol and the role of politicians before and after that tumultuous event. The physician’s email began, “I’m so saddened by this incident and so appalled….”
I’ve been asked to share the response to that physician more widely, so my edited response is below, followed by some thoughts on public policy ministry, the last four years and the next four years.
Upside-Down-and-Backwards: Reflection and Challenge on Inauguration Day
My grandfather was a deeply gracious man. A Southern gentleman to the core and pastor of a large church, he was loving and compassionate toward everyone he met, and he was also uniquely talented at making each and every person with whom he interacted feel loved and heard. He truly cared, and he had an amazing ability to communicate the depth of that concern. In the 40 years I knew him, I never heard him raise his voice or speak a harsh word, with one dramatic exception. So it’s no surprise that the story of Granddaddy, hospitalized and delirious after major surgery, raising his voice at Gran has gone down in family lore. His agitation at her that day was so great, and so perplexing. He was intensely frustrated with her driving, despite the fact that he been in the hospital and nowhere near a car for days. He finally burst out, in his resonant Southern voice, “You insist on driving upside down and backwards just to irritate me!” Needless to say, it did not ease his distress when the entire family burst into laughter. But some things are just so funny you can’t control yourself.
Convicted of Apathy
Have you been frustrated or angry with anything in the last year? Maybe a better question would be, “How many times have you been frustrated or angry in the last year,” because it was a doozy. Over the course of 2020, God helped me wrestle through a lot of those frustrating things. I thought I’d grown past the point of letting the continued craziness get to me. I recently realized, however, that though I have grown spiritually this year through handling difficulties in my life and the world around me, I have also become apathetic at times as well. I realized my decreased response to bad news wasn’t necessarily maturity but born apathy of being tired of it all. God convicted me of this reality when someone was giving me a news update last week. I just nodded and tuned them out, because in my mind it was just more bad news, and I didn’t want to know more because I didn’t want to have to think about it.
It’s Not the Same
“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8, NIV).
On the Side: January 2021
The May Day pictures from my daughter’s fourth grade moving up ceremony are some of my favorites. The girls are dressed in matching white dresses with ribbons around their waists and flower crowns in their hair. Those flower crowns alone made them appear angelic. But the fact that those little friends had skin tone ranging in every color made the photos seem like a little slice of what heaven will be. In hindsight, I was feeling pride about that. I thought we had found the way to move race relations forward in this next generation. I thought we had reached a better place—these girls cared far more about what they had in common than the skin tone that might otherwise separate them. Oh, what I was feeling was definitely pride bordering on smugness in the ease with which this could be “fixed.”
Poblano Pepper Pork
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV).
Yesterday was unusual for me in a good way. It was Saturday, a day I usually catch up with charts, or complete work for board meetings, or visit friends who need companionship. But yesterday, after my morning run, I spent the entire day at home with my wife. She wore me out digging up bush stumps in the backyard. And then we decided to cook together. I found a recipe for Poblano pepper pork chops, and she found a recipe for a mushroom antipasto. I asked her to show me how to do it right. We shopped together, prepared and cooked, and then we eventually invited her older sister to join us for the experimental meal. When I lay down to sleep last night, my body was tired. I had worked hard that day, but my spirit was rested and refreshed.
Eternal Eyes
“…Fear God and keep his commandments…” (Ecclesiastes 12:13, NIV).
Navigating Vaccine Ethics
CMDA Senior Vice President for Bioethics and Public Policy Dr. Jeff Barrows and I recently wrote a piece for The Public Discourse, “Is Receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Ethical?” that suggested principles to consider as we navigate ethical issues related to COVID-19 vaccines. I’ve included brief highlights below; more from the original article and also new observations will be published in an upcoming edition of CMDA Today (previously known as Today’s Christian Doctor).
Already Won
“If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one…” (Hebrews 11:15-16, NIV 1984).
Our Duty to COVID-19 Patients
You see a 68-year-old male with diabetes and hypertension in the office for coughing, body aches and recent loss of taste and smell, whose symptoms started about three days ago. His pulse oximetry is 95 percent, and the lungs are clear. A COVID-19 test is run and comes back positive. He asks what can be done to decrease his risk for going to the hospital or even death. Unfortunately, you tell him, there are no easily accessible outpatient treatments for COVID-19, and you recommend he use over-the-counter treatments to help his symptoms and to let you know if he is getting significantly short of breath. There are times like this when we in the primary care realm can feel helpless or like there’s not much we have to offer for patients. But is this truly the case for COVID-19?
“Even If He Does Not…”
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your Gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18, NIV 1984).
As program director for an oncology fellowship, this week I welcomed five new fellows into their three-year training program. Two weeks before they started, one of the new fellows was Facetiming his 36-year-old brother in India. While they were speaking, his brother suffered a heart attack and died. This Friday I received word from another starting fellow. Her previously healthy father had suffered a brain hemorrhage and would be hemiplegic and aphasic forever, if he lived. (He did not.) And, as a backdrop to these tragedies, the 19-year-old son of a local pastor dove into a shallow pool last week and is now paralyzed.
CMDA Statement on Capitol Violence
The Christian Medical & Dental Associations was shocked and appalled on January 6th by the rioters who attacked and invaded our nation’s Capitol while Congress was in session. We strongly condemn these acts of violence and lawlessness, specifically under the pretense of any righteous endeavor or the banner of Christ’s cross.