The Earth praising His name

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080416/sc_livescience/earthshumsoundsmoremysteriousthanever

A litte disappointed

So I had begun reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan back in the early 90's when my mother finally allowed me to read adult science fiction. The series was amazing, if a little bit long, and his last book came out in 07 and it was pretty good. Most of his books topped out around 600+ pages, with the exception of his prequels, and they would keep me entertained for a week or so which is saying a lot about a book and its author. Often he would release books every 2 years or so and when it is all said and done he wrote 11 books and 2 prequels to the whole series. As you can imagine this series has started to wore me out especially as it seemed he could have wrapped things up about two books ago. I have followed a bunch of authors who have written for a decade or more on a series but most of them, even Terry Goodkind, finished their series and moved on. Well finally in the 11th book he starts to brings things to a conclusion and so I was thinking today, "Hmm maybe he has already started to write the next book." And then I look at his official web page and remembered that he had quietly passed away last year. And I came to the realization that no one will probably pickup his series and finish it. Man...

The God particle: Man continunally trying to explain how the Universe was made without God

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080407/sc_nm/science_particle_dc

Interesting read.. The God particle is what gives mass to the universe and makes life possible.
Thoughts...?

What a waste

http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/22/gort-winemaker-nose-face-cx_vr_0319autofacescan02.html?partner=yahoobuzz

So one of my friends was talking about how much $ Elton John raised for Hillary Clinton's ad campaign and how wasteful it was as the $ could be put to better use. Well this reminded me of an article on Forbes that I had read of how a man insured his nose for $8M. For one thing I cannot believe an insurance company would insure something like that and two he gets the payout when his nose is no longer able to smell as well as it can now. How is that even possible? I mean it's like a quarterback insuring his arm against it wearing out/being injured or a track runner insuring against the day her legs just are not fast enough. Your body is going to wear out even if that man never does anything to injure his nose or does anything to decrease his smell it is going to happen anyway. The fact that he can get it insured no matter the amount of restrictions he is going to be put on in just inane and insane. What a waste..

Duke is out

So I am really disappointed but not surprised that Duke is out of the tourney. I mean how can you be surprised when for the past three weeks Duke has played like they want to loose. Or that the past three years their leading scorer does poorly and Coach K wont bench him. Or that it is clear that while coach K's strategy mainly works during the year, there are times where it just totally falls apart and he does little to nothing to adjust. And so when the Tourney comes around little teams like WVU beat them and a no name team Belmont takes them to the wire. Finally Duke has an well known history of being a three point team but the years they have won or done well in the Tourney, they have had a big man to help dominate the boards at both ends of the court. For the last three years we have not had one and right now it does not look like we will have one for next year so more than likely we will not make it past the 16 which is ridiculous! Teams like Duke should make it to the 8 every year....sigh

Random

So since Matt busted on my last story and challanged me to come up with something good here is my stream of conscious....
Studying for my ordination, Taking Tango lessons, having had a weird dream about multi-colored cats no doubt fueled by this article http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/13/514602.aspx and in conjunction with cats I ran across this the other day http://jeffdeboer.com/Galleries/NewWork/tabid/91/moduleid/455/viewkey/photo/photoid/256/Default.aspx I am getting to the point where I want my residency to be over and to start my real job, I am sick of working weekends and working nights, and I am currently working on my 7th/10 day in a row. I am very excited about the Duke/UNC game on Sat and I am considering skipping swing dancing to watch it. I have a very busy week a head of me and I am not sure when I will get studying done or if I am doing enough studying (meeting with Sam to figure that out). This week is all clinical with no class. I am planning to go see Bank job on Fri. and I am looking fwd to having two days off in a row. Ok that is all for now

Wonders of wonders

So I was looking up pain stuff on the Internet to help me better relate to my patients on my pain list...yes that is actually a list that patients fall under and does not mean that they are a pain to work with. Anyway I came across this awesome article that if true, would mean that millions of Americans would no longer fear the dentist. Sounds to good to be true? Is there something wrong here? Ill let you figure that out http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847597,00.html

The boy who could

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=3235203
So I ran across this article on ESPN.com the other day and I really liked it! Not only was a kid overcoming his disabilites and doing an extreme sport but he was inspiring thousands of kids all over the world to do the same.

Steve Fee

So I have been listening to a certain Christian group for the past few months. I first saw their CD in family book store while I was waiting for dinner time to come to go to our staff Christmas dinner. I am always on the lookout for good Christian music and so I saw this group I had never heard of "FEE". I thought it was a weird enough name and so picked it up and saw that Andy Stanley recommended it and infact used Fee's music in his services. For those who do not know Andy, he is the son of the famous preacher Charles Stanley and is a pretty well known pastor him self. He is the Sr. pastor of North point in Atlanta Georgia and I think is his preaching is very solid. So when he endorses a group I tend to think hmmm.. this group may be good. So I picked their CD and I love it!!! There are very few CD's that I have listened to that I have loved every song on the CD and this is one of them. Fee's lyrics are well crafted and the music just seems to flow with it. His music is contemporary and it has some rock in it but not much. My Favorite songs are number 5 and number 9...anyway check it out you won't regret it!

Friends in France... God rocks!!

So I have the privilege of knowing some missionaries in France that I pray for. I grew up with Nick until the age of 6 when his father was transferred to the Virgin Islands (hard times I know :) ). I got to visit him once with my family in 6Th grade but other than that I did not get to see him until his wedding day in Mich. to Annie. Since then they have both had missions in mind, they had three children, and are now in France. Recently they had asked prayer for a couple who just got divorced...and here is some wonderful news
Hi there,

Two nights ago, we heard a knock on our door around 10:00 PM. It was F... Her eyes were red, and it was clear she wanted to talk. So we did, for the next two and a half hours!... We had a wonderful conversation. She is very open to the Lord in the midst of this difficult time in her life. She said that she sees our family (along with another family she knows), as being somehow different. "You are with God" she said, not knowing how else to say it. Near the end of the conversation she looked at Nick and me and said, "I want to you bring me to God." Wow! We were blown away by her openness... Praise you, Father!!

I mentioned getting together to look at the Bible together, and said, "of course!" So please join us in praying for her, especially that the Lord would open up doors for us to get together again SOON so that I might share more clearly the beautiful message of the Gospel, that she might believe and be transformed. Pray that the Lord would protect her heart and preserve this openness to Him. Please pray for wisdom for me and Nick as we seek to point her to Jesus.

Also, keep praying for J.... He talked with another neighbor about Nick's idea of getting together to study the Bible, and this neighbor was very against the idea, stating that religion is a private matter and should definitely not be talked about with friends and neighbors (this is where the wars of religion came from). J.... told me that what she said makes sense to him, and for now doesn't seem interested any longer. Nick has not had a chance to talk with him again since that night they went out, so pray that the Lord would work out another time for this, and give Nick peace and discernment.

Thank you for your prayers. God hears and answers! F.... herself encouraged me in this truth this morning: she told me that the morning after she had come over and we had prayed for her and for Jacques, she had seen a surprising calmness in him, a difference in his attitude. So keep praying!!!!

For His glory,

Annie


PS. Nicks Ponderings are in his blog {WARNING VERY DEEP STUFF} and that is listed in my blog list.

My Belief paper

So for the ending of my first unit of CPE during my residency I had to write a belief paper that show how my beliefs impact my care of patients. The paper first starts out in general and than goes into specifics...
I believe everyone is made in God’s image, has had Christ die for them, and so is worth something. We are of more value than the rest of creation and so each of us deserve to be made to think they are worth something. I do this at Christiana through showing God’s love, by Christ’s example, to any patient/staff/family member that I meet. And while I may differ with their social/theological framework I pray through that and still try to show them God’s love.
I believe that we are supposed to do as Jesus did by first dealing with the problem(s) each person has before we should share the gospel by words. And so there may be times that all you get to do is be with the person and support them and never speak the gospel at all before that person is removed from you sphere of influence. As we are not allowed to share the gospel verbally, unless asked, I therefore share the gospel by just showing God’s love through my support of a patient. This is still sharing the gospel but in this case you are just planting the seed and not doing any more than that.
I believe that Christ commanded us to be with and support the sick, the needy, and the helpless. While I cannot support them financially with money, or give them goods, or do work for them, I can do something which most people never try to do; listen. God created us to be in community with each other and not just do things for people but to actively be and support them through their good and bad times. As we Americans move towards an increasingly individualistic society we have less and less time to just be with people and thus people are feeling more and more lonely, isolated, and unsupported. So the greatest thing I can do for people here as a chaplain is to listen to them as they describe their pains and joys and help them celebrate one and be with them through the other. This I do regardless of creed, race, sexuality, social status etc and thus show them the true love of God; just as Christ did.
Beliefs that inform my theology
That everyone is made in the image of God. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. "Thus everyone is special and needs support. So I am available to all patients and staff regardless of their religious back round. For example when I was called for a death of a patient at Wilmington and I found out that the PT and one of the family members were Muslim. The family member wanted me to pray but asked me to only say God and not Jesus or the Holy Spirit and while that made praying for them a little more difficult I still was able to do so and thus support the family. Also I had a family in pediatrics that was Jewish. They were accepting of my protestant faith They were very accepting of my prayer and did not mind if I did use Jesus in the prayer. Never-the-less, to be culturally sensitive, I still only used God in my prayers.
Christ died for us not creation. Although God loves all of his creation, he only put the human race as ruler over it and not any other species. Also because of the sin of the human race all creation is cursed (21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.) and thus will one day be done away with and a new creation will be formed. However God still wanted a relationship with us and so sent us His Son to die for us and thus to take away our sins. Jesus died for all mankind not just one particular race and thus I believe I should share His gospel of love to everyone I meet.
Sharing the gospel and when necessary use words (St. Francis of Assisi). I believe that Jesus has commanded all Christians to share His love to others, however as St. Francis has put it, “Preach the gospel always, If necessary use words”. How I interpret this, is that we should always be preaching the gospel in our lives, deeds, and words. However this does not always mean that I have to convey it by words and here in the hospital I am not supposed to talk about my faith unless asked. So I preach his love by supporting families and patients in their times of Crisis. This love is the central part of Christ’s message and it is what will win people to Christ. Andy Stanley has said, “I could answer all of your question on Christianity, in fact there is a book on every single topic you could bring up, but those answers will not win you to Christ. No rather is it the love of Christ and you accepting his unconditional love that will cause you to want to be in His family. And so I show this love by making my self available For example I had one patient whom, I was visiting for the first time, had just passed away. I met a friend of the family outside the room and asked if she thought they would like me to pray for them? She said they were not religious and in fact that had earlier turned away the hospice (Odyssey) chaplain that she was a patient with. I took that in stride and told her that if she felt they would want one later I would be more than happy to talk to them. As I was leaving the family stepped out and I introduced myself and I asked if I could support them in any way? The husband told me I was just the person they needed to see and had me come into the room with the family. We talked about her life a bit and then I said a short prayer (without mentioning the gospel), talked some more about her life and then I left. There was also a patient, this past summer, which was an atheist and did not want prayer at all. However he was very passionate about politics, history, and his children so we spent many visits talking about that. There I showed Christ’s love to him by supporting him in his time of need but without mentioning the word to him. He was so impressed that I never tried to convert him but rather was willing to converse with him while he was here in the hospital. This does not mean he will ever go to church (he lives near mine) however by showing Christ’s love to him I may have planted a seed in his life which may be watered down the road. Many modern evangelistic organizations have said there are three main parts to evangelism. They are sewing the seed, watering the seed, reaping the harvest. For the most part, as a chaplain, I do the sewing and the rest is up to someone else.
To help the sick the needy and the poor. Te Bible tells us that we are to help those that are sick, widowed, or in need. (1Jn3.17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence say. Matt. 25.34"Then the King will to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.')As a chaplain I support many people who fall into one or more of those categories. Most of the patients that come here are not only sick but have many other issues as well. For example a man with sickle cell needed help from a social worker with some personal issues and so instead of trying solve his problems on my own I connected him to a staff social worker and let her deal with those issues while I supported him in his pain. With another woman who was on 3W I tried to help her find a church that not only fit her spiritual needs but also had sign language interpreters as she was deaf.
I believe each person can have a personal relationship with God and that they do not need a pastor or a chaplain to help them communicate to Him. Many patients feel that our prayers are better heard by God as we are perceived to be more holy or because we spend more time with God. They feel that if we say their prayers for them that God will answer them and so they have us pray for them instead of doing it themselves. They also feel guilty as they may not go to church as often as they should or not at all. Finally patients often feel that God will not listen to their angry concerns, disappointments, or frustrations and so they do not talk to Him about them. Knowing all of this I always tell them that they can always pray to God and that they do not need a chaplain or priest to pray to God for them. That they have their own personal relationship with God because of His Son dying on the cross for them and so they have direct access to God and thus they do not need us. I also tell them that God is big enough for their anger, frustrations, and disappointments and that he wants to hear about them. I tell them about how David and many old testament prophets complained to God and he heard them comforted them and helped them through their problems.

Ringing in the New Year

So we are now in 2008. Last night will go down as one of my most fav. New Years Party. My fav. one is still in Boston in 2001/2002 where it was so cold my face almost froze off, but this night was pretty close to that memory.
A group of us (about 25) went to Deep Blue, a sea food restaurant in Wilmington, for their New Years' Party. They had a decent band, The Larry Tucker Band, an open bar, and some food I never did get to try. The band was what made the night as they played stuff from the 70's as well as good dance music. The sax and the guitar most definitely rocked the night.
It was also good to hang with so many friends. I met some new people, had a blast with some close friends, as well as said good bye to Sarah Gale who will be leaving us for sunny Florida for CCC and to be ummm married or something:)...Anyway the night rocked and I have not been up till 3am in a long time and yet the night went by so quickly.

So happy NEW YEAR ALL and may you be more blessed this year than in '07.