The Very Best Question

Photography has many things about it that are important.  Light, subject, and composition all can make an image work, but focus is something very simple that if not present can make a good photo worthless.  Occasionally, the issue is that nothing is in focus.  More often though, the problem is that the focus is on the wrong thing.

Imagine a photo of a bride and groom standing in front of some pretty average trees.  The only problem is that couple is fuzzy and the landscaping is sharp as a tack.  You can even see a situation where the buttons on a man's shirt are nicely focused, but his face is kind of soft.

In life, it is even more important what is in focus.  We just can't focus on everything.  Dark clouds versus silver linings is the most obvious situation that comes to mind.  To focus on the darkness leaves me melancholic of spirit, while there generally is something good in every situation, if I just look hard enough.

Even more important is to focus on what God wants me to learn from a given situation.  This is difficulty.  Last summer, we vacationed in Chattanooga.  We were getting ready to leave the cottage where we were staying to go see the Tennessee Aquarium when I gunned the engine (not realizing I was in reverse) and backed up into the cottage, really messing up the back end of our mini van.

For the next several hours, I couldn't see anything except how I had messed up our vacation.  Darkness and distress just pounded my heart and mind.

Because, it was just a stupid thing on my part -- an accident.  I spent the next little while calling to find a body shop to repair the van and praying -- trying to discern what God wanted me to learn from this accident.

Maybe all I needed to learn from this situation was to pay attention better -- particularly to whether or not I am in drive or, reverse.  Or, maybe God wanted me to trust Him more, or listen to my wife better, or yield my fears to Him.  Or, maybe it is all of those things.

If I am honest, I can grow in all of these things -- a lot.  Just because I finished medical school eighteen years ago doesn't mean it is time for me to stop learning.

God is a teacher and He plans the lessons that I need.  So much better if I learn what He desires from them the first time.

This is the most important question to ask in every situation.  Not, "What Would Jesus Do?"  Although that is a fine question, but "What would God have me to learn?"  For, if I don't learn that lesson, I am bound to repeat it.  I can't move on, until I have completed this lesson.

This would be my focus, even in the darkest moments of life.  To learn the things God has for me to learn, even when the lessons are hard.  In this way and this way alone I can truly grow to be like Christ.

Measles

Measles is in the news right now.  An outbreak has hit California and dozens of people have gotten sick with it -- some sick enough to require hospitalization.

Into this fray have ridden pro and anti-vaccine advocates, explaining why vaccines would or wouldn't have helped prevent this outbreak.  I read a recent blog post by a Christian doctor detailing a story of a child under his care who died of measles and I have read other stories of children who have suffered terribly after vaccines.  I believe that all of these people are being honest, but there are other things to remember.

Temporality does not equal causality.

This is the sort of thing that leads to superstition.  A black cat walks across my path and then later in the day I have a bad accident.  Did it have anything to do with the cat?  Just because one event comes before another doesn't mean it caused the later event.

In the medical world it seems to be tougher to analyze the situation.  If I started coughing two days after I got a flu shot it is easy for me to believe that the flu shot gave me a cold.  But, maybe someone at Walmart coughed on me or, maybe I shook hands with someone who had a cold.  Most of the time when I get sick, I never know who was the generous soul who shared with me -- maybe a patient, maybe someone at church.  Identifying the cause is not as easy as remembering what happened right before I got sick.

Anecdotes are both the weakest and the strongest type of evidence.

People tell stories -- hopefully true stories -- about vaccines and plenty of other things in their life.  In many ways, these stories influence us the most because they hit home.  We can picture in our minds the sick child dying of measles or, the paralyzed nonverbal child, suffering because of an unneeded vaccine and our hearts melt in sympathy or, shake in anger.  And yet, these stories tell me nothing about the overall risks of a vaccine or the illness it is intended to fight.

Much more useful are statistics.  If I know that twenty-five percent of those who caught measles in the Disneyland measles out break have required hospitalization or, that the rate of serious complications with the MMR vaccine is 4 per 10,000 children vaccinated (mostly fever fits), although ten percent of children get fevers and joint aches after the shot, then I can compare risks and benefits of the vaccine and the illness.

Everything has risks and benefits.

If your doctor diagnoses you as having carotid artery blockages (narrowing in the arteries in your neck), he will send you to a surgeon who will then tell you that the risk of no surgery is a 20 percent chance of stroke over the next two years, while your risk of having surgery done is 2.5 percent chance of stroke or, infection.  I think in this setting, most people would elect to proceed with surgery, even understanding that there is a significant risk to the surgery.

In the same way, everything we do (or don't do) has a risk.  Taking any vitamin, supplement or, antibiotic contains within it a possibility of reaction to some ingredient in it.

The problem is that for the most part the risks of the activities we do every day are unknown.

With vaccines, they are clear and are published in numerous scientific papers for those who choose to know.

Choose wisely who you believe.

Everyone thinks they are an expert.  Unfortunately, in the internet age, everyone's voice is the same volume (usually shouting).  It is more important to have good data backing up opinions than to be an "expert" in the field.

The tendency is to look for views that mirror our own and to collect those, rather than investigating all possibilities.

Vaccination protects others.

There are plenty of people who cannot get vaccinated.  They have cancer and are receiving chemotherapy, or are immunosuppressed, or have a history of a serious reaction to a vaccine, or an allergy to the vaccine.  The way to protect them is to be certain that they don't get exposed to these illnesses. 

I believe the loving thing to protect these unvaccinated children and adults is to do my best to make sure that neither my children or me will be the vehicle by which they get exposed to a preventable illness.  There may be some risk to my children, but it is worth it.  My children have decent immune systems, they would probably do OK with many of these illnesses, but there are plenty of folks around who wouldn't.

Vaccines protect the "least of these" even more than they protect the strong in our society.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

The fact that most of us in the United States have never seen any of these once common illnesses makes us think that they were no big deal.  Yet, every one of these illnesses has a rate of serious complications.  Unfortunately, for viral infections like Measles, German Measles, and Mumps, there are no treatments, only supportive care.  A certain number of the cases, even in a developed country like the United States, will lead to long term problems like neurologic symptoms or, sterility.

Honestly, it isn't just the risk of serious illness that leads me to vaccinate my children, although those risks are real for unvaccinated children.  Even if my children didn't get seriously ill, the idea that they would have multiple week long illnesses throughout their childhood, during which they were miserable and I could do little to help them is something I would rather not experience.

In the end, I am sure I can do nothing to change the minds of those who are convinced that some vaccine company has paid me under the table, or brain washed me into mindless belief in vaccines.  I have looked at the statistics and they aren't even close.  The risks of vaccines (which are real) are far out weighed by the morbidity of these diseases.

That's why I recommend vaccinations.

That's why I vaccinate my children.

Making Supper

"Mom, I want to make supper tomorrow night!"  Anna announced. 

That was how it began.

After poring over cookbooks for a little while, with her mother helping her, Anna decided she would make a dish called Chicken Etti (at least that's what I think it is called), with Lima Beans on the side and followed by chocolate pudding.  A feast fit for a doctor and his wife, if I may say so.

Tuesday evening she was really excited as she put the pieces of chicken and the rice in a nine by sixteen pan, covered it with aluminum foil and put it in the oven.  Then she carefully beat up the chocolate pudding.

Then, she set the table, carefully choosing the right cups and plates for each person.

An hour and a half later, Elaine opened the oven door and took the pan out.  Anna was almost dancing with delight as Elaine lifted the covering from the top of the dish.

"Oh dear," Elaine said.  "It isn't done."

The chicken was still raw.  It turned out that the bottom coil on our oven had burned out.  The top was still working, but not giving out enough heat to cook the chicken -- at least not in an hour and a half.

"It's all spoiled!"  Anna wailed with tears in her eyes.

It is awfully easy to get discouraged when you work hard to try to do something good and then it just doesn't work out.  Galatians 6:9 says "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we don't give up."

So many times we spend time and give effort, only to have our actions flop, or be misinterpreted, or just not work out.  It is easy to think that it just isn't worth it to try to do good things in this world.

But it is.

Someday, we will reap the seed we have sown.  Far better that that seed should be full of good things than that it is the result of a self-centered life that does little good for anyone else.

Coconut Black Walnut Pound Cake

Elaine made a Coconut Black Walnut Pound Cake yesterday.  It was really good.  Maybe not so good if you don't like black walnuts, or coconut, but I thought it was phenomenal.

As I ate my first piece, I thought of all the time put into it.  Elaine spent quite a bit of time preparing and baking it, but before that, I had spent many minutes picking up black walnuts, peeling the hulls of them, and then cracking them.  I can't imagine that there is less than two hours of my time invested in this cake, making it (I suppose) one of the most expensive cakes I've ever eaten.

I don't really know why I spent so much time working with these bitter, meaty nuts -- maybe just because they were there.  Maybe because they were a challenge for me.  What a strange ingredient black walnuts are.  They aren't sweet, in fact, I think they taste kind of bitter and yet they taste really good in sweet things like fudge or, brownies or, pound cake. 

It is tempting to think that a life that is all sweet things would be perfect, but the reality is far from that.  It is difficult times, times filled with deep emotion, and moments of sorrow that draw us closer to God and help us to grow.  And God knows this and so His recipe for our lives includes not just sugar and spice and everything nice, but also sour and bitter things like black walnuts and rhubarb and coffee.

That is just what we need.

A recipe that is all sugar would be awful to eat and while a Coconut Pound Cake would be good, a Coconut Black Walnut Pound Cake is far better.

The Wrong Road!

"Dad, I don't see anything in front of us!"  Elliot said in a very concerned voice.

I looked over my shoulder to where my 3 year old son was residing in his car seat.  "It's a good thing there isn't anything in front of us, or we'd run into it," I said.

There was silence for a little while, maybe ten seconds, then Elliot piped up again:  "Dad, I don't think this is the right way to go.  Actually...  I think this is the wrong road!"

We were driving on country roads in Virginia, going to visit Elaine's uncle David.  "Elliot," I said.  "You don't even remember going to Virginia before.  You've never been to Uncle David's house.  How would you know?"

"I don't want to be on the wrong road!"  He wailed.

Hard to believe that a three year old could get worked up, particularly about directions, but he sure could.  Furthermore, Elliot was no GPS.  The roads he thought were the wrong roads were inevitably the right way to go.

As I look at this coming year, it is fresh and untravelled.  The paths within it are unknown to me.

I don't know what the future holds or, everything the next year holds, but I would rely on my God to choose the right paths for me to take.  For, He is trustworthy and far better than a GPS unit at getting me where I need to be -- at the right times, in the right way.

Gifts

Christmas is a time of year when people give gifts.  I remember as a boy going shopping to buy my parents something for Christmas.

It was hard, because I usually only had five or six dollars to spend for everyone on my list.  Often I ended up getting tiny candles, or pencils with scripture quotes because it was all I could afford.

When Christmas rolled around my parents always acted very pleased with the little trinkets I gave them.  As a dad, I understand.  I don't need any of the things that my children can buy me, but the gifts demonstrate hearts full of love.

In the same way, I believe that God likes us to give Him things, not because He needs anything from us, but because it demonstrates our love for Him.

God doesn't need our stuff, but He wants our love.

Even as we give to others, we are giving to Him.  "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."

It has been said that we should give until it hurts, but I believe that we should give till it stops hurting.  Only then will we demonstrate the love that is inside.

The Darkest Day of the Year

The darkest day of the year is coming up.  The shortest day.  The longest night.  Whatever you want to call it, December 21st is the winter solstice and in Paoli, Indiana, that means that we will have just nine hours and twenty-eight minutes of day light.  This isn't nearly enough and I would petition the state legislature for more, if I thought it would accomplish something.  With all of the gray days we've been dealing with it, it seems like a long time since I've seen that ball of fire in the sky we call the sun.

I know that there are many who deal with greater darkness than that which is brought on by the coming of winter.  Her, in this dreary time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, they feel loss.  A face they will not see again, a voice they long to hear this holiday season and will not.

Reading the news and even just the postings of others on Facebook, I see a darkness in the world around that cannot be penetrated by the brightest of flashlights.

It was into just such a time of darkness that Jesus was born, over two thousand years ago.  He came to a people full of want, a country ravaged by war, and oppressed by a harsh Roman government.

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone." (Isaiah 9:2).

There are many types of night within this world, but I have found that into each situation Jesus brings His light.  And where He is, darkness cannot remain.

"This Child Will Change Your Life!"

"Your life just won't be the same."

I remember clearly the older lady who told me this, nine years ago, when my wife and I were expecting our first child.  I'm not sure exactly what she meant.

Perhaps she meant that we would have messy diapers and baby food in our futures.  Perhaps she knew that we could no longer sit at a table set for two, or that we would have plenty of evenings where we rubbed the sleep from our eyes to clean up the after effects of a stomach virus or, console a child dealing with bad dreams.

Perhaps she knew that I would become less selfish -- focusing on the needs of this little girl who was coming to live with us, rather than on what made me happy.

I don't know exactly what she meant, but she sure was right.

I can imagine some older lady saying the same thing to Joseph and Mary, some two thousand years ago. 

"This child will change your life!"

Probably the same things were true for baby Jesus.  He was a normal baby.  He did everything a normal baby and child would do.  His parents did the normal things parents do to take care of a growing infant and child.  He grew and they were changed in the process.

Yet, He came to earth to do more than just change His parent's lives.  He came to change the world.

This Christmas, I pray that all of you would meet Him, know Him, and love Him.

This child will change your life.

If you let Him.

Gratitude

The world is full of terrible illnesses.  Ebola, Malaria, Entero viruses, and the list goes on.  There are plenty of infections that have no test and no cure, yet still cause devastation.  Yet, my family and I are healthy.

I realize that this health does not come from vitamins, or healthy eating, or good genetics.  It does not come because we are special, or more valuable than people who are suffering in West Africa.  It is simply that we are blessed.

The world is full of poverty.  There are many who struggle to find food for their children and who make their homes in little, stolen spaces on the edge of dumps or, in wastelands.  Yet, my family and I have more than enough and my children have never known hunger.

I realize that this plenty does not come because of hard work, or intelligence, or amazing skill.  It does not come to me because I am special or work more than the many who struggle to find nourishment.  It is simply that I am blessed.

There are so many other ways in which I am blessed.  I cannot count them all.  It is awfully easy for me to fall into the mind set where I believe that I deserve the very things which are gifts from God, to believe that God has blessed me because I am special.

I have read elsewhere that Christians should not say that they are blessed when they are referring to material blessings.  But God blesses in many ways, some of them material and some intangible, but the most important thing is never to forget that all of these things are undeserved gifts.

When a gift becomes an expectation, gratitude leaves.

God has given me much and for it, I am grateful.  Perhaps the best way to show my gratitude is to share my blessings with others.

Thanksgiving

A week ago, we got a sudden snowfall of three inches of snow.  Vince's school was cancelled completely, although Anna's was on time.

The children were pretty thrilled by the snow.  That evening, both Anna and Vince prayed:  "Thank you, thank you, thank you for the snow!"

Of course, we live in Indiana and three days later temperatures were up to fifty degrees and all of the snow was melting.  Then, both Anna and Vince prayed:  "Thank you, thank you, thank you that the snow is melting!"

As it says in Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

I am not totally certain why so many people fixate on the weather.  We can't change it, most of us don't depend on it for our livelihood, and yet, it is something that we talk about an awful lot.

Certainly, we can see God's faithfulness in the changing of the seasons, just as we see it in the rising of the sun and the rotations of the planets.  And this is what I am grateful for -- not a little fall of snow, or its melting -- but a great God who loves and cares for the smallest details of this Universe and who is faithful in its administration.

This Thanksgiving I am grateful for many things, but most of all, I am thankful that Jesus loves me.

Pessimistic

Margaret was a born pessimist.  Not that I knew here when she was born.  She was probably about 78 years of age, when I first met her.

One day she came in to see me with a slightly happier look on her perpetually gloomy countenance.  "Dr. Waldron," she said.  "Something good almost happened to me last week."

"What was that?"  I asked her.

"Well, my son, Charlie, took me down to the pharmacy to get my prescriptions filled the other day and while we were down there, I didn't know it, but he put my name in a drawing to win a free scooter."

"Oh," I said.

"Yes," said Margaret.  "You can probably guess already.  I was pretty shocked when the man from the pharmacy called to say that I'd won that scooter.  I thought they must have called the wrong Margaret, but he assured me that no, they had the right person.  Well, I was pretty pleased for a little while -- till they got it out to my place and saw how big it was."

"Dr. Waldron, I just don't know what I'm going to do with it.  It's just way too big for me!"

Margaret was just one of those blessed folks who believes there can't be a silver lining without a dark cloud somewhere near.  That where there is smoke, there's sure to be a fire -- and likely a burning house with children in it.

Such an attitude is depressing to be around and it can be contagious.

Of course, the difference is all in perspective.  There wasn't any real down side to her scooter -- it was free.  She could use it a little or a lot, it didn't matter.

I am afraid that I can have a pretty similar view of the world, depending on the day.  It seems unreasonable to turn from pessimism to optimism, for optimists are often wrong.  Bad things do happen and even the most optimistic person can get beaten down in this world.  Instead of optimism, I need joy.

For, joy bubbles forth from a heart that knows that God is good and that everything happens in accordance with His plan. In that joy and gratefulness even the darkest parts of life can be appreciated and the good things are enjoyed far more.

I would live in joy today.

Red Delicious?

Red Delicious.  By all accounts, based on the name, these should be the best or, almost the best apples.  They just aren't the best, by any means.

The first Red Delicious apple tree was grown on a farm near Peru, Iowa in 1880.  People liked it immediately and recognized it as a good eating apple.  It has been grown ever since.

I don't mind Red Delicious apples, in fact, I quite like them.  Except for one thing.  Many of them are hypocrites.

On the outside, they appear firm and beautifully red in color, but when you bite into them, you find a soft apple that lost its flavor awhile ago.  Beauty may be only skin deep, but with apples, it is the flavor and the texture that are important, not the color of the peeling.

There are far too many people who claim to be Christians who do not have the "taste" of Christians to others.  Everyone knows what a Christian is supposed to be, what he is supposed to do, and how he should act.  They are pretty quick to notice and point out inconsistencies.

There is little worse, to one who does not know Christ, then to see someone who claims to be a Christian act in a way that is not Christ-like.  I have heard so many people say things like:  "I would never be a Christian.  My brother claims to be one and he's the biggest hypocrite you ever saw!"

It is my responsibility to live as a true disciple of Christ.  It must not, cannot be just a surface change.  It will only be real if my heart is changed.

Red Delicious apples are all too often Mealie Masqueraders.  I would be like a Fuji or, a Gala apple, where what is on the surface goes to the core.  Love, kindness -- the sweetness of Christ permeating my life and leading others to Him.

Is Spelling Important?

"Beatle starts with 'B!'"  Elliot said emphatically.  He is learning some of his letters and beginning sounds.

"What does Vince start with?"  I asked him.

"Bince starts with 'B!'"  Elliot said.

Elliot reminds me of Spanish speakers in Central America.  For them, the letters B and V are the same sound.  Why a word like "bienvenidos" is spelled with a B and V rather than two Bs is a mystery to them.

Spelling in English is really tough.  You have weird rules like "i before e," that have a multitude of exceptions.  There are strange silent letters like p in "pneumonia" and k in "knight."  There are words that are spelled differently, but pronounced the same, like faux and foe.  There are even words that are spelled the same and pronounced differently like Polish and polish. 

I have found that it is easier to spell words correctly, if you can say them correctly. At least sometimes.

I know that many people believe that spelling is unimportant and that with the advent of computers and spell checkers and weird abbreviations like ROFL, you can get by quite in this world without learning how to spell.

Maybe they are right.  Maybe I am a throwback to the twentieth century, but I must confess that I believe a certain knowledge of spelling is important.  There are many things that separate most of us from the animals, beyond the ability to grunt "yes" in reply to the question "Do you want pancakes for breakfast?"  One of the most important of these is that we can pick up a pen, place it to paper and communicate -- without a spell checker and without electricity -- and that is a very cool thing, indeed.