If we attempt to write a list of the people we really trust and then try to work out why we trust them, it is clearly not explained by level of education, wealth, privilege or oppression.
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The passage of Scripture that cemented my love for the Lord, and certainly helped me understand His love for us, is found in Luke 4:18. Reading from a passage originally found in Isaiah, Jesus stands in the synagogue and declares, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (KJV). It also served as a roadmap for the rest of my life, and I believe it is a roadmap for us all.
Read MoreI was visiting a patient in the rehab center who had undergone a knee replacement. He was fine except for the slow pace of rehab. His wife was there, vivacious, energetic, appearing far younger than her stated age, which I will not share. I asked her how they had met.
“We actually met in church,” she shared. “You know, I am older than he. When we started dating, he wouldn’t tell me how old he was. I called the church office to find out, but they wouldn’t tell me either. By the time I found out he was five years younger, I was already in love, and the rest is history.”
What difference does age make anyway?
Quite a bit, actually…
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I met my best friends from high school this summer in North Carolina. It was our third annual trip together—we have been to a couple of beaches, but this year we chose the mountains.
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“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30, ESV).
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“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33, NIV).
Read MoreThe American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced on AAP News on August 4, 2023, “AAP reaffirms gender-affirming care policy, authorizes systematic review of evidence to guide update.”
Read MoreHe spent a month with me as a fourth-year medical student, an Alaskan who loved the Lord.
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Bristol, Tenn.—August 17, 2023—Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), which is the nation’s largest faith-based professional healthcare association, is celebrating a significant court victory to protect the health and safety of women and girls against chemical abortion drugs. In Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a unanimous panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must restore critical safeguards for chemical abortion drugs and disallow their shipment by mail.
Read MoreIncreasing levels of depression and other mental illnesses in Western societies have been well-described, but there are many theories as to why. In this installment, we argue that the decline of marriage is the most critical yet overlooked factor, and why the young liberal woman suffers the most.
Read MoreBefore we could even get to his chronic leukemia, he opened the conversation, “My father passed.”
Read MoreThere is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Read MoreWhen we are attempting to think rationally in appropriate syllogistic lines, for us to draw accurate conclusions from news items we see on television, in the news and on social media, the information we receive as the input to our process must be accurate, and to a great extent must be complete.
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As a physician, I was not shocked at my dear friend’s death, but I was surprised by the way I discovered it. It was clearly unexpected when I walked into his room.
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God knows everything He is planning to bring about in our future. He is the One who makes a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. We may look around us and see nothing of that promise, but He encourages us to look anyway and to see with the eyes of faith.
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Whatever the cause of the separation, God wants us back. He stands with open arms, running toward us, like the father of the prodigal. All it takes from us is surrender.
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Several years ago, there was a house down the street from us that had the most amazing landscaping! Ok, I’ll admit it, I experienced a little “flower envy” every time I walked by with the dogs. I may have even sneaked a pic or two to save for when spring came around again so I could plant similar flowers.
Read More“People without our Lord believe the world belongs to them or to some unnamed, unapproachable power out there. They live reactive lives, responding to the actions of fickle circumstance—making plans, and changing them as the world changes around them, hoping to steal something good and meaningful from an Olympian-like god of Fate who has never existed and never cared.””
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What defines our humanity and what it means to be a human being? Put another way, who counts? Every human life has value, no matter the age or stage of development, size, genetic or acquired characteristics or circumstances of the individual.
Read MoreHow and when did we become cynical and emotionally unengaged with our patients? And what can any of us do to fix it?
Read More“I greeted him in church, a father who had lost his daughter abruptly to cancer. I could not help but put my arms around him and tell him how sorry I was. Six pews down, I was surprised to see a friend who had missed church for months due to a prolonged illness that had stumped the specialists. She shared, “Two weeks ago, five of our Bible Study class came over, laid hands on me and prayed for me. I have been improving ever since.””
Read MoreI wish his statement was more true of me. One of our gospel’s major principles is that followers of Christ are called to give. It’s clear in the teachings of Jesus, “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42, NIV).
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Welcome Message from Gene Rudd, MD Welcome to CMDA Encore. You will see that our Mission and Vision Statements piggyback on the overall Mission and Vision of CMDA. Our unique goal is to motivate colleagues who are facing or experiencing retirement from healthcare careers to see our lives as just important to Kingdom service as in the days of our youth. We want to encourage…
Read More“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5, ESV).
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The mission of the CMDA Obstetrics and Gynecology Section is to educate, encourage and equip Christian Practitioners in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health demonstrating the love and compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ to patients, to families, to our colleagues, to our communities, and to the world.
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“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed” (Proverbs 31:8-9, NLT).
That scriptural challenge is a driving factor for the work we do in advocacy here at CMDA. As one of the core aspects of CMDA’s ministry efforts, we are dedicated to serving as a Christian healthcare voice in the public, to the media and to the government. And we do that through our grassroots advocacy efforts on both state and federal levels as we stand together to bring the hope and healing of Christ to the world through advocacy.
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At the 2023 CMDA National Convention my wife Evelyn and I were honored, blessed and quite humbled to receive the 2023 Educator of the Year Award. This all happened under the watchful eye of Princeton’s Professor Robert George, whom I have admired for years (and no, I did not go full fan boy and embarrass CMDA, but we did talk privately a while). I was given a few minutes to share some thoughts which I am now offering you, my colleagues.
Read MoreThe cultural phenomenon known as “wokeness” is grounded in human pride, and it is expressed through moral absolutism, moral grandstanding and the will to control.
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My wife had put up with me for many years before I took her to Spain recently on our 50th wedding anniversary. Seville is an amazing town founded by the Phoenicians, developed by the Carthaginians and conquered by the Romans as a sea port in southern Spain before the river connecting it to the ocean silted out.
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What a wonderful miracle marriage is! God brings two different people – with unique personalities, experiences and opinions – and binds them together in a beautiful, holy union.
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“How much should I leave to ministries close to my heart?” It’s a practical question asked by those who are working out the details of their wills or trusts.
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A spiritual love letter may be one of the most meaningful gifts you can leave to your family and friends.
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“Do I need a will, or should I have a trust?” Many people ask this question when planning for the future.
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My wife had put up with me for many years before I took her to Spain recently on our 50th wedding anniversary. Seville is an amazing town founded by the Phoenicians, developed by the Carthaginians and conquered by the Romans as a sea port in southern Spain before the river connecting it to the ocean silted out.
Read MoreA webinar series hosted by Christian Medical & Dental Associations and The Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary. Through The Convergence, CMDA joins together with The Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary to discuss topics important to today’s leaders in healthcare and in the church. Each webinar includes a panel of experts to discuss topics such as the beginning of life, pregnancy after Roe v….
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When I sit among the women of our local Side By Side chapter, I sit among power. Wives of physicians, some physicians themselves, some experts in other fields, some nursing stay-at-home moms. A group diverse in age and background and current employment, but always powerful.
Read MoreAs an OB/Gyn, I would like to understand why the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) came out against the ruling in Texas by Judge Matthew Kaczmarek regarding Mifepristone in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine vs. FDA. ACOG says it is safe and effective in all their talking points, and it says that it is healthcare. According to Webster’s Dictionary, healthcare is “the maintaining and restoration of health by the treatment and prevention of disease especially by trained and licensed professions.”
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These last few months have squeezed our family like a grape. We have six kids aged eight and under—including infant twins, Ford and Eleanor, who joined our family in summer 2022. We are also about to move the whole Morris clan to Papua New Guinea in 2023 to serve as healthcare missionaries. I am sure you can imagine that our lives are as calm as a clam.
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Christianity is a team sport. As team players, we need to get on the same page of the playbook so we can work in a coordinated effort to accomplish the goal of winning the lost and glorifying God in our lives and in our organization.
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In the summer 2024 edition of CMDA Today, read how lasting friendships can be made through CMDA. Plus, discover how to navigate retirement with grace and wisdom, a celebration of WPDC’s 30 years of ministry, brand new curriculum to equip those in training, and more.
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The first time I ever heard of a lobotomy was in the early 1980s. I was a medical student, but I didn’t learn about it in class. Instead, I was in a darkened room with a bunch of other family members, watching a family home movie filmed 30 years earlier.
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We have no real power to change others. We can point them toward truth, we can pray for them and we can show them rational and emotional reasons to change; ultimately, any growth on their part must be motivated by their own desire and decision to change.
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I know God does not plan such a union of love for everyone. He has different and important plans for others with the freedom of singleness (1 Corinthians 7:7-8).
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I’m not grieving—I welcome growing older. Age has its advantages: Fewer emotional roller coasters, for one. For another, I’m better able to articulate my thoughts. And my body hasn’t betrayed me (yet).
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I know some of it is realizing that the child we love has a new connection with the God who may someday become the Lord of his or her life.
Read MoreIn a recent sermon, I learned about a fascinating organization called the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura. A children’s orchestra outside of Asuncion, Paraguay, the Recycled Orchestra plays on garbage.
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How does God’s goodness make us “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37) when we suffer, whether we ask for the suffering or not?
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Our faith should certainly impact our politics, but I’m not sure our politics should ever impact our faith. Certainly, politics impact faith for those who are persecuted around the world because of their faith, but that is not how it should be.
Read MoreUntil there were ventilators, and until organ transplantation became a therapeutic reality, the designation of death was based solely on cardio-respiratory criteria.
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Moving has the effect of making you take stock of what you’re carrying with you. It is important to know what baggage to keep and what to get rid of.
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One of the young doctors I train is an amazingly good doctor and a person of faith. She had a discussion today with a patient who refused the medicine we offered, wanting to wait instead for God’s miracle.
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A few weeks ago, he had come to me discouraged that his physical debilitation had taken away his ability to serve the Lord. Today was different. He began to share as I was transcribing his prescriptions.
Read MoreIn the final installment of the series, we critique the argument that deviations from normative heterosexuality are a part of God’s design and hence morally neutral.
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Viewpoint Project with Dennis Quaid is created solely for viewing on Public Television stations across the US with the goal to provide innovative and unique content featuring the world’s most influential organizations and individuals. Unique educational content designed to inspire and illuminate. Portions of the project air on a myriad of networks such as CNN, Fox News and CNBC.
Read MoreEver since the American Medical Association’s (AMA) meetings in both the summer and fall of 2022, I have felt a huge tug on my heart by the Holy Spirit. And that tug is persistently asking me to address the issue of unrestricted abortions as a woman’s right to authority over her body, including the unrestricted right to abortion.
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“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b, NIV).
“I’m ready for you to let me go, Doc,” he said.
“You mean to heaven?” I asked.
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Bristol, Tenn.—April 10, 2023—Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), which is the nation’s largest faith-based professional healthcare association, is praising the order issued last Friday by a federal district court in Texas that will halt the approval of dangerous chemical abortion drugs and protects the health, safety and welfare of women and girls.
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“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b, NIV).
“I’m ready for you to let me go, Doc,” he said.
“You mean to heaven?” I asked.
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Bristol, Tenn.—April 10, 2023—Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), which is the nation’s largest faith-based professional healthcare association, is praising the order issued last Friday by a federal district court in Texas that will halt the approval of dangerous chemical abortion drugs and protects the health, safety and welfare of women and girls.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a March 31, 2023 press release titled, “New HHS Report Released on Transgender Day of Visibility Offers Updated, Evidence-Based Roadmap for Supporting and Affirming LGBTQI+ Youth.”
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“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b, NIV).
“I’m ready for you to let me go, Doc,” he said.
“You mean to heaven?” I asked.
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Some days when the deadline for writing my On the Side devotional is looming—or loomed last week and is now bearing down on me like a bullet train—and the words are stuck in my head, I scroll through old issues to see what topics we have covered as a team.
Read MoreWe covet your prayers for our ministry as we seek to change hearts in healthcare. Will you join with us by praying for the ministries of CMDA on a daily basis? How can we pray for you? Please fill out the form below to share your prayer requests with us and we will share your requests with our staff members who will lift up your requests during our regularly scheduled chapel services.
Read MoreWe are all dying. Every day we are alive moves us closer in line to that day of transition from this life to eternity. There is no need to hurry death.
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“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b, NIV).
“I’m ready for you to let me go, Doc,” he said.
“You mean to heaven?” I asked.
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When we meet someone new, one of the first questions we often ask is, “What do you do?” What we do is often the thing that largely defines us in broad strokes or gives us our identity.
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Moral distress and moral injury are relatively new terms, but the problems they reflect are ancient. They address the need to face moral challenges with the integrity of an undivided heart.
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In 2021 the CMDA Board of Trustees assigned nine strategic initiatives to the staff of CMDA for completion over a three-year period. One of the two initiatives placed under the advocacy was to align its advocacy with policies where Jesus has the greatest concern.
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On November 24, 2022, the National Post reported that one in six women in Canada have had an abortion, and most of them think they made the right choice and therefore do not need to repent. A mere 10 percent regret their abortion. If Christianity is true, then everyone needs the gift of repentance.
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On my first day of service with CMDA in 2016, I attended the annual Healthcare Missions Leadership Summit. We were welcomed by Dr. Joshua Bogunjoko, the International Director of Sudan Interior Mission (SIM), who challenged attendees to carefully monitor their joy levels in ministry.
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Rebecca had eight months to go before finishing nursing school and was in an unhealthy relationship when she found out she was pregnant. She had no car and little income, and she certainly did not feel ready to have a baby.
Read MoreI am one of those parents who didn’t let her daughter (though she begged and begged) read the Harry Potter book series when she was 10…and 11…and 12. Even though her friends were reading them. Even though the whole world seemed crazy about them, and she was an avid reader.
Read MoreWho we are and what we do. The CMDA Center for Well-being helps Christian healthcare professionals align with God, optimize well-being and maximize influence.
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In the Spring 2023 Edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, David and Katie Musser in the CMDA Residency [+] program, Dr. Jeffrey Barrows on applying the commands of Jesus to Christian advocacy in the public square, Eric Hussar, MD. discusses Abortion Pill Reversal, Dr. John Patrick on the source for morality in a post Christian world, and much more.
Read MoreWho we are and what we do. The CMDA Center for Well-being helps Christian healthcare professionals align with God, optimize well-being and maximize influence.
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“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…” (Romans 4:18, NIV).
“I got my hug!”
I had not seen her in a while. Her husband had been one of my dear friends with medical problems that complicated COVID and took his life last year.
“I was so blessed,” she said. “I was dreaming about him, just like when he was healthy. In that dream he gave me this wonderful hug.”
Read MoreJust today in a text exchange about job hunting, a CMDA friend reminded several of us that God can lead us in a variety of ways. Many times, God calls us, or pulls us, into the roles He has for us. We feel clearly instructed, and we feel certain we are following His leading as we step into a new chapter, be it a job or school or church or a new family decision. As American Christians, we are used to thinking about decision-making this way, I think. We feel that we must not know the right thing to do if we don’t feel pulled to one of the options. We pray for clarity, and we seek advice because we want that sense of calling, of being pulled in the direction God would have us to go.
Read MoreWho we are and what we do. The CMDA Center for Well-being helps Christian healthcare professionals align with God, optimize well-being and maximize influence.
Read MoreWho we are and what we do. The CMDA Center for Well-being helps Christian healthcare professionals align with God, optimize well-being and maximize influence.
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CMDA Scholarship applicants who are planning a healthcare missions elective that provides credit through their school or training program and is at least four weeks in duration will also be eligible to receive the CMDA-MAP International Global Health Mission Scholar Award. This will provide up to $3,000 in addition to the CMDA Scholarship. CMDA scholarship applicants who also qualify for consideration for the MAP award will be notified after their application is reviewed.
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It has been said that all the world is a stage, and the people are mere players. If that is true, then sometimes I feel like a supporting character in my own life. My husband’s career has been center-stage for so long, I can’t remember a time when our life didn’t somehow revolve around it. It determined where we lived, and how long. It determined when dinner was, and when we could go on vacation. It was the reason we moved away from home, and the reason we moved again, and again, and again. And I have been the one making sure all the endless “little things” got done along the way. I am pushing the plot of our lives along—but standing outside the spotlight.
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“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel” (Philippians 1:12, NIV).
He was beaten down by loneliness and a cancer that brought him pain, but he loves Jesus the Christ. When I asked him how he was doing on this visit, he said, “Not so well.” I was surprised at his continued response, unrelated to the issues above: “The main reason I’m not doing well is that I want to serve the Lord again, and I just can’t.” He was too weak and too displaced by his circumstances to have a solid foundation from which he could serve, and his heart was deeply committed.
Read MoreWe have been privileged as American healthcare professionals to practice medicine according to our sincerely held beliefs, at least until the relatively recent past. However, as many of our members know from personal experience, those conscience freedoms are coming under increasing attacks from several quarters. In this post, we want to remind the reader of the conscience protections that exist at the federal level and explore why those protections are currently endangered.
Read MoreThe case for gender (transition) affirming therapy—which is more realistically termed gender imitating medical intervention—for gender dysphoria and incongruence is precipitously weakening.
Read MoreContinuing our series on the Top Ten Myths of the Sexual Revolution, we now come to the contentious issue of homosexuality, or, if you prefer, same-sex attraction. This is a highly sensitive subject, and for better or worse, LGBTQ issues have consumed most of the “oxygen” over the last 30 years.
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“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18, NIV).
I’ve worked with him for years, through his aggressive cancer, allogeneic transplant, now doing well except for lung damage from the graft versus host disease. He always brings me homemade beef jerky that I hand off to those who love it. Today he had a special request: “I need a letter to go to the Philippines.” He had met a young lady online and had been online dating for four months, now planning to marry her there and bring her home to the U.S.
Read MoreMuch is being made of the “moral injury” healthcare professionals suffer, which, rightly so, has been exposed and highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moral injury consists of an accumulation of a number of things, such as straining to care for the overwhelming number of incredibly sick patients, having to make wrenching decisions on prioritizing use of medical resources, etc. The focus on the subject is to address a practical need, like workforce supply in the face of increasing burnout among healthcare professionals, but it also addresses a personal human desire to ensure the personal well-being of another, which is the healthcare professional in this case.
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“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16, NIV).
He sat across from me and had time to chat while I was ordering some complex treatment for him, a part-time pastor with theology as good as a ThD professor. We were talking about how much the world needs Jesus.
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“The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever” (Psalm 19:9a, NIV).
She has issues with chronic anxiety and depression, which are reasonable in her case, with a history of three different cancers and a family that rejected her. She is healthy today and was sharing with me her dependence on Jesus. “I just bring Him along with me. Sometimes I get so worried, and He comes in and just makes me feel warm and comfortable in spite of things.” She added, “Sometimes, though, I get too close to Him, and it scares me. I have to pull back.”
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Kicking and screaming…most of the time. Protesting in the loudest and most ridiculous ways imaginable. Much like a disobedient child, who is being drug from a store by a parent; misbehaving just because they didn’t get what they wanted. That’s me. Why? How do you follow Jesus?
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“As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4, NIV).
Read MoreWhen I was a child—maybe six, maybe seven—I went through a phase of suspecting the entire world existed as a massive play with one star—me. That is, I was the main actor and the rest of humanity played supporting roles. That is, the universe revolved around me. That is, I was all ego.
Read MoreThis week, our kids’ Christian school published The Statement. They sent it out with The Letter. And they asked for The Signature. And once again, our family began the now-familiar dance of shame, grief, anger, prayer, isolation, indignation and so many other emotions that bubble in the toxic stew Christian organizations often throw onto families like us.
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“He said also to the man who had invited him, ‘When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you…’” (Luke 14:12-14, ESV).
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