Clueless Emma

Government Wants Your Individual Obesity Rating By 2014

All Americans, by 2014 will be required to have an individual obesity rating electronically recorded. It has been determined that under the new health stimulus law passed by President Barack Obama recently, that all Americans, by 2014, will be required to have electronic health records which will include their height, weight and body mass index (BMI).

via patriotupdate.com

Really????

Redistribution of Health: ObamaCare’s Tax Disguised as Morality : Smart Girl Nation

Blatantly ignoring the Constitution, the liberals on Capitol Hill passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, citing moral obligation and the right of all individuals to equal access of health care. President Obama’s visual aids at town hall meetings, rallies, and conferences included a few desperate individuals torn between paying their home mortgages or paying their health care bills. A closer examination of the bill that passed Congress, however, reveals a different picture. The moral obligation to provide individuals with affordable health care, or to help Americans afford or keep their current health care, evidently only applies to the select few the liberals in Congress want to help.

via smartgirlnation.com

Death By Hijab. But What’s It Got To Do With Isadora Duncan? | NewsReal Blog

I have gone on record, many times, about how hazardous the Islamic Veil is to women’s health in both medical and psychiatric terms. There are other kinds of health risks involved in adopting Islamically “modest” dress. For example, in England, Muslim nurses are now refusing to leave their arms uncovered below the elbow which can potentially lead to spreading hospital superbugs and to the death of patients. The British National Health Service has given in to this demand—but has prohibited short-sleeved nurses from wearing crosses.

via www.newsrealblog.com

"New abortion plan: Doctor stays away!" - Patriot Update

"New abortion plan: Doctor stays away!" - Patriot Update

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland offers medical abortions in 16 clinics around Iowa, "but only four of the clinics actually have doctors. At the other 12, smaller clinics, telemed abortions have become routine."

"After the brief teleconference, the dangerous abortion drug RU486, also known as Mifepristone, and its counterpart, Methotrexate, are prescribed. The drugs are then administered to the patient by a nurse or 'clinician' who may or may not be licensed. The patient presses a button an on computer screen that opens a box containing the abortion drugs. The patient is never physically examined by the medical doctor prescribing the drugs – or any other, for that matter – and never sees the abortionist again," the report said.

Law will make doctor deficit more acute | statesmanjournal.com | Statesman Journal

Primary care physicians already are in short supply in parts of the country, and the landmark health overhaul that will bring them millions more newly insured patients in the next few years promises extra strain.

via www.statesmanjournal.com

It's not too late to save 'normal' - Los Angeles Times

As chairman of the task force that created the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), which came out in 1994, I learned from painful experience how small changes in the definition of mental disorders can create huge, unintended consequences.

via articles.latimes.com

Leftist Logic

Animal groups: Could ruling lead to hunters shooting cats? | dailyrecord.com | Daily Record

"A number of animal activists have contacted state officials in an effort to head off a potential reclassification of feral cats, which could end the growing number of programs that trap, neuter and return them back into neighborhoods or the wild, and allow them to be hunted."

via www.dailyrecord.com

Good. Way too many feral cats spreading disease.

When Life Isn't a Choice

When abortion isn't a choice

By Kathleen Parker

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

"...coerced abortions, as well as involuntary sterilizations, are commonplace in China, Beijing's protestations notwithstanding. While the Chinese Communist Party insists that abortions are voluntary under the nation's one-child policy, electronic documentation recently smuggled out of the country tells a different story.

"Congressional members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission heard some of that story Tuesday, two days before President Obama was slated to leave for Asia, including China, to discuss economic issues. Among evidence provided by two human rights organizations, ChinaAid and Women's Rights Without Frontiers, were tales of pregnant women essentially being hunted down and forced to submit to surgery or induced labor.

"...What really happens to a woman who doesn't have a "birth permit" and has an "out of plan" pregnancy?

"The answer is simple and brutal: A woman pregnant without permission has to surrender her unborn child to government enforcers, no matter what the stage of fetal development.

"Late-term abortions are problematic, but the Chinese are nothing if not efficient. On one Web site for Chinese obstetricians and gynecologists, doctors recently traded tips in a dispassionate discussion titled: "What if the infant is still alive after induced labor?" ChinaAid provided a translation of a thread regarding an eight-month-old fetus that survived the procedure.

"'Xuexia' wrote: "Actually, you should have punctured the fetus' skull." Another poster, "Damohuyang," wrote that most late-term infants died during induced labor, some lived and "would be left in trash cans. Some of them could still live for one to two days."

"To be clear, some of the doctors online expressed concern for the rights of the child. Others, however, worried only about potential legal ramifications. Technically, it is illegal in China to kill a baby, one is relieved to learn, but family-planning imperatives sometimes prevail. According to a 2009 State Department report, monetary incentives and penalties are attached to population targets, creating what amounts to bounties on the unborn.

"As recently as July, officials of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission said that the one-child policy "will be strictly enforced as a means of controlling births for decades to come," according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency.

"The violence of these procedures doesn't only kill the child in some instances. In two of the cases described in a document leaked this past August, the mothers died, too. Those who dissent, meanwhile, are persecuted.

"Such has been the fate of activist Chen Guangcheng, who is serving a four-year sentence after exposing 130,000 forced abortions and sterilizations in Linyi County, Shandong province, in 2005. Named by Time magazine as one of 2006's top 100 people "who shape our world," Guangcheng, who is blind, was severely beaten and denied medical care the following year, according to an Amnesty International report.

"The one-child policy has created other problems that threaten women and girls. The traditional preference for boys has meant sex-selected abortions resulting in a gender imbalance. Today, men in China outnumber women by 37 million, a disparity that has become a driving force behind sex slavery in Asia. Exacerbating the imbalance, about 500 women a day commit suicide in China -- the highest rate in the world, which Littlejohn attributes in part to coercive family planning.

"Obviously, the United States is in an awkward position with China, our second-largest trading partner and the largest holder of our government debt. But Littlejohn hopes Obama will "truly represent American values, including our strong commitment to human rights." She is also calling on Planned Parenthood and NARAL to speak up for reproductive choice in China.

"On this much, both sides of the abortion issue can agree: Forced abortion is not a choice. Averting our gaze from China's horrific abuse of women is."

kathleenparker@washpost.com

Oh, Great, And I've Had a Wicked Sore Throat for Two Days...

Mozart's Demise

Forget Pig Flu--The New sky-is-falling-health-scare: Skinny Jeans Syndrome

Constant pressure from tight pants can injure a nerve in the thigh. When compressed it causes mild to excruciating pain.

DiCaprio and Winslet raise money to save life of Titanic survivor

GLENN: Oh, that's right, my friends. From behind my cardboard microphone, the March to Socialism which is in bookstores now, the audio book. Dateline: London. Titanic stars Leonardo diCaprio and Kate Winslet have pledged now to help the last survivor of the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic, Millvina Dean. She was just a couple of months old when the ship sank. She's 97 years old now, the last survivor. Dean has been living in the English city of Southampton since she broke her hip about three years ago. Gee, I wonder what happened. Did she get robbed or something? Stars say that they have thrown their support behind a fund which would subsidize Millvina Dean's nursing home fees. Wait a minute. Why is ‑‑ I have to ‑‑ Stu, is this in San Diego? Are you sure there is not in America? It's not in ‑‑ huh. I can't imagine why Leonardo diCaprio and Kate Winslet are being forced to step in and help pay for healthcare. I mean, it's nice and everything but it's socialized healthcare. There's no need. It's the greatest system on God's green Earth. There's nobody that wants for anything!

According to the report, Dean had to sell several Titanic mementos in order to raise cash as she struggles to keep up with nursing home fees.

There's no nursing home fees. Stu, this is wrong. This is universal. Everybody gets ‑‑ and she gets a lollipop at the end of the day every day.

STU: I bet the report comes from some capitalist journalism newspaper.

GLENN: Oh, I bet it's from Big Doctor. She's 97 years old. She's been paying into the system for at least 50 years. I'm sure she's feeling now like those taxes were well spent. Hey, thanks for the contribution; we normally save your life but you're kind of old now. I mean, wouldn't it make sense to spend money, you know, on somebody younger than you? You've led a good life. Maybe you can kick the bucket tomorrow. Our bad. Got to run. DiCaprio and Winslet started the Millvina Fund and launched it in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Interesting story about Northern Ireland, especially when it comes to healthcare. I mean, do they have enough? Sure. In Northern Ireland they have four health boards. Wow. One, no. Two, uh‑uh. Three can't even cover it. They have four health boards, and they have 19 health and social services trusts and 15 local health and social care groups and four health and social services councils which are all involved in the commissioning and provision of health and social services and yet all of those can't help the poor little old lady just try to stay in the nursing home. "Just let me breathe one more day." An iceberg couldn't kill this woman... but universal healthcare is about to.

Glenn Beck

Looks like we're not only the "Most Unhappy" state, we're also less likely to commit suicide due to insomnia

Too much sunlight in places like Greenland where long summer days often cause insomnia appears more likely to drive a person to suicide

Montana may force doctors to assist with suicide

A Montana trial court has ruled that citizens have a "right" to assisted suicide, according to the state constitution. That case, Baxter v. Montana, has been appealed to the Montana Supreme Court and the Christian Legal Society and the Christian Medical Association have teamed up on a friend of the court brief asking the court to reverse the decision or at least find and equal right for medical providers to NOT participate. Unlike Oregon and Washington states where assisted suicide was enacted through the legislature, Montana offers no conscience protections for health care workers who don't want to kill their patients. Casey Mattox, litigation counsel with the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law & Religious Freedom, has more on the wide-reaching impacts of this case.

Pigs

Finally...

Some good sense in the matter.

In case you missed the headline, we are all going to die!

Love this--I've been saying it all along! CE

"Swine Flu has engulfed Mexico and is spreading to ever corner of the globe. Egypt is slaughtering its entire pig population, the UK is dispensing information leaflets to every single home, and Barack Obama has recommended that some schools be shut down.

"And yet, only one victim has been claimed in the United States by the strain of influenza. Likewise, the World Health Organization says that seven-not the reported 152-is the total worldwide death toll thus far.

"What is replicating rapidly and claiming the psyches of millions, however, is paranoia.

"Simply put, the Swine Flu is the latest in a long line of over-hyped illnesses and so-called pandemics that have done little more than send the world into a paranoid frenzy. In case readers have a short-term memory, consider some of the Swine Flu's precursors (and consider the uniform media and government response to each):

. In 2003, Avian Flu claimed four lives. Paranoia and fear ensued.

. In November of 2002, the first case of SARS (sever acute respiratory syndrome) was reported in China. Paranoia and fear ensued.

. In 1999, the first case of West Nile Virus was reported in New York City. Paranoia and fear ensued.

"And now, in 2009, the first cases of Swine Flu have been reported. And, predictably, paranoia and fear have ensued-all of which has been entirely goaded by the government and media alike.

"Also predictable is the Obama Administration's response. As with any other "good crisis", Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and the rest won't let this one go to waste.

"One way they've already seized upon the crisis is with the successful confirmation of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to the post of health and human services secretary. Mere days ago, the Sebelius nomination was mired in controversy regarding the Governor's shady ties to a particular Kansas abortionist.

"And then Swine Flu happened.

"On Tuesday, she was promptly confirmed by a 61-35 vote in the Senate. As Barack Obama said of his new cabinet member:

"I expect her to hit the ground running…We had to swear her in right away [because the outbreak of swine flu will need her] immediate attention."

In the same vein, Chris Dodd remarked:

"The challenges facing the secretary are so serious..she brings welcome experience."

"In addition to Governor Sebelius, Barack Obama wants the American people to understand that everyone in Washington is "closely monitoring" the flu outbreak and is ready-and definitely willing-to step in. As he said:

"Every American should know that the federal government is prepared to do whatever is necessary to control the impact of this virus."

"Whatever is necessary" is a frightening phrase, especially coming from President Obama who sees every crisis as an opportunity to expand the size and scope of government. The obvious side effect of Swine Flu will be a swollen government.

Exploiting a "crisis" like this, however, is nothing new for the new president.

"For instance, when Barack Obama was bolstering support for his gargantuan $3.6 trillion budget in March, he used similar fear and urgency tactics. The President made it perfectly clear: only his budget could save the nation from certain economic doom. As he said:

"That's why this budget is inseparable from this recovery -- because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity."

"According to Mr. Obama, if the people fail to support his policies, fire and brimstone will fall upon America. The same can be said regarding the $787 billion "stimulus" package, all the TARP funds, and any legislation predicated on "Global Warming" logic.

"Given the Obama "Oh-gosh!" track record, Swine Flu ought to be viewed through the critical lens of the iconoclast. The public ought to be wary of any issue with which the government and the media attempt to whip the masses into a frenzy.

"What the public ought to be concerned about is the reign of paranoia that President Obama's first one hundred days has shaped up to be. At this rate, the strain of paranoia will undoubtedly mutate into something akin to hysteria that renders the public dependent on the protective care of Big Government for everything from a bounced check to a hang nail.

"But don't worry about it too much. It's not like we're all going to die."

William Warren is a Contributing Editor of ALG News Bureau.

ALG CTA: New mutations of the flu have been occurring for millions of years, hundreds of thousands of flu deaths are occurring worldwide every year and are not cause for hysteria. Call the White House comment line at 202-456-1111 or write to comments@whitehouse.gov and tell Barack Obama and Joe Biden to stop scaring people.

http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1164

Swine flu on the way! Best HURRY to pass socialized healthcare, no need to read the bill! Doesn't this seem just a bit too predictable?

Both the House and the Senate are expected to vote TODAY on
the budget resolution that includes over $2 trillion in
tax increases in the next 10 years and fast-track provisions
for socialized healthcare.

I'm asking you to take action in two important ways:

+ + Action Item #1 -- Flood The Phone Lines!

We must let these members of Congress know that we oppose
the tax increases and the fast-tracking of socialized healthcare.

Call your two Senators:

Sen. Wyden      202-224-5244

Sen. Merkley      202-224-3753

Call your Congressman:

Rep. Schrader     202-225-5711

Also, call these 12 key Senate Democrats who have opposed
fast-tracking and urge them to oppose the rules trickery
in the budget:

Senator Mark Begich    202-224-3004
Senator Robert Casey    202-224-6324
Senator Mary Landrieu    202-224-5824
Senator Max Baucus    202-224-2651
Senator Daniel Inouye    202-224-3934
Senator Mark Pryor    202-224-2353
Senator Amy Klobuchar    202-224-3244
Senator Carl Levin    202-224-6221
Senator Blanche Lincoln    202-224-4843
Senator Robert Byrd    202-224-3954
Senator Evan Bayh     202-224-5623
Senator Ben Nelson    202-223-6551

+ + Action #2: Send Your Faxes

If you haven't done so already, send your faxes now.

We have redirected our FaxFire to target the 12 Senate Democrats
who are on record opposing the fast-track provisions -- along
with your two Senators and your Representative.

Go here to send your faxes:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=18656&CID=112&RID=18675652

As always, if you would prefer to send your own faxes, please
do so! We provide all the contact information and sample
letters for your convenience at the above link.

The back-room deal struck by Obama and his cohorts on Capitol
Hill to fast-track socialized healthcare is an outrage.
Sen Judd Gregg compared it to Hugo Chavez' strong-arming tactics.

Please alert your friends and take action!

Steve Elliott, President
Grassfire.org

P.S. Our research team has prepared a more detailed explanation
of how Obama and the Democrats are using rules trickery to
stifle debate and fast-track socialized healthcare. To access
that report, go here:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=18657&RID=18675652

This has been on my mind, too--when bad stuff comes into the US, we should stop allowing it. Like, yesterday.

"I’ve blogged for years about the spread of contagious diseases from around the world into the U.S. as a result of uncontrolled immigration. We’ve heard for years from reckless open-borders ideologues who continue to insist there’s nothing to worry about. And we’ve heard for years that calling any attention to the dangers of allowing untold numbers of people to pass across our borders and through our other ports of entry without proper medical screening — as required of every legal visitor/immigrant to this country — is RAAAACIST.

9/11 didn’t convince the open-borders zealots to put down their race cards and confront reality.

Maybe the threat of their sons or daughters contracting a deadly virus spread from south of the border to their Manhattan prep schools will."

Michelle Malkin

Heroism in the face of adversity: Dr Ben Carson

OREGON ASSISTED SUICIDES HIT RECORD IN 2008

Oregon established a record in 2008 for most deaths by physician-assisted suicide since legalizing the practice, according to its annual report.

The Oregon Department of Human Services reported 60 people committed suicide last year using lethal doses of drugs prescribed by doctors. The total far surpassed the previous yearly high, which was 49 in 2007. Oregon has recorded 401 such deaths since its Death With Dignity Act took effect in late 1997.

Oregon released the report only two days before legalized assisted suicide took effect in the state of Washington on March 5, where voters approved an Oregon model in the November election.

The state of Montana also has assisted suicide currently as a result of a district court judge's ruling in December.

Bioethicist C. Ben Mitchell criticized the idea of assisted suicide being considered "death with dignity."

"Where's the dignity in killing oneself with the assistance of a person in a white lab coat?" said Mitchell, a consultant on biomedical and life issues for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "Turning the healing profession into a suicide profession is a monstrous indignity."

The Oregon report showed 95 percent of those who used assisted suicide expressed concerns about losing autonomy.

"Something is tragically wrong with the idea that a patient can use her right to make her own decisions by giving up her right to make any future decisions through killing herself," said Mitchell, professor of bioethics and contemporary culture at the Chicago-area Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. "Legalized assisted suicide represents the dehumanization of medicine. Effective pain management, palliative care and loving hospice should mark our health-care system, not medicalized killing."

Down for the Count

Last Monday, at our interminable "Monday Meeting" I told a colleague both my kids were home sick, but that I (knocking on wood) seem to be avoiding it.

*Never tempt the Fates*

I have been flat on my back since last Wednesday--haven't wanted to watch TV or pick up my laptop or read or do much of anything but sleep. Today, Sunday, I'm feeling well enough to sit on the couch in the living room, finally able to eat a bit of oatmeal. I even drank a bit of coffee this morning (don't tell Nurse Ann!).

 

Knowing I don't have strep, but wanting to at least rule it out, I allowed Moose (who's been SO attentive and caring!) to drag me to the doctor's office yesterday for a throat culture. Kind nurse, Ann, explained this is a rampant virus in the Willamette Valley this year--I knew my classes started 2nd semester woefully empty, so something's going around, and my own kids have been out sick with colds. Apparently this stuff hangs on for 2 weeks, sometimes longer. Wicked. The only thing to do is rest. [REST! I kinda like those orders! Remember the Army days of the magical words "24- hour quarters?"] Besides, I could barely drag myself to the powder room, let alone deal with a classroom full of teenagers.

So I had to stay home from work 3 days, missed basketball practice and an important game--but at least we have a 3 day weekend so I get one more day to rest. It's certainly no fun being sick and I hate missing stuff I've committed to, but God has a way of using our down times to teach lessons. There's nothing like getting really sick to make me feel eternally grateful for the days when I feel fantastic.

Stay healthy out there! CE

Here it is, folks--forced limits on children in the Western World

"COUPLES who have more than two children are being “irresponsible” by creating an unbearable burden on the environment, the [British] government’s green adviser has warned."

How will this new "standard" be enforced? Exile? Forced abortion (see China)? Forced sterilization (see NAZI Germany)? American funding of Planned Parenthood (see concentration of abortions in minority neighborhoods)?

I daresay the solution for any country worried about overpopulation (for financial stress, NOT the environment, which God created for our use) is to END (ILLEGAL) IMMIGRATION!

Divine Opportunity: T.A. McMahon

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

I consider any opportunity to be willingly used of the Lord to be a foretaste of heaven. But that didn't come to mind as I stared at the hospital room ceiling, taking stock of my situation following surgery. I was thinking more about all the plastic tubes and bags attached to different points of my body, as well as the twenty-or-so staples holding part of me together. I was also wondering why the Lord allowed this to happen to me. Surely He knew that in my present condition I couldn't fulfill the ministry to which He had called me. Furthermore, my friend Dave Hunt had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer while he was struggling to recover from a replacement of an artificial hip that deteriorated after a decade of use. Why would God allow us both to be afflicted? Truthfully, compared to what I knew others were suffering, I'm embarrassed to use the term "afflicted," but thinking of others occupied little, if any, of my thoughts at the time. My primary focus was my own condition.

Great news from my surgeon was soon disturbed by an incidental complication. The technique used in the successful removal of a portion of my colon along with a large tumor (that against all odds proved to be cancer free!) had resulted in nerve damage to my bladder. It had stopped functioning. My thankfulness for God's mercy in my not having to deal with cancer quickly got lost in a host of unsuccessful catheter trials, which led to months of self-catheterizations. The only Scripture verse I could think of when informed that I would have to undergo the latter procedures three to four times a day, perhaps indefinitely, was Job 3:25: "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me...." True, but not exactly comforting.

Another Bible verse came to mind many times during my ordeal--one that I had previously preached, taught, encouraged others by, wrestled over, and ministered with, over the years: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). That familiar verse came home to roost as I lay on my hospital bed. What possible "good" could come of this experience? Not much, I thought--given I couldn't see beyond my discomfort, occasional pain, fear, worry, anxiety, and my worst-case-scenario-stimulated imagination.

Before I completely buried myself in the pit of self-preoccupation, however, the Lord got my attention. It must have been a thought from Him because I certainly wasn't on that page: "Why don't you shift your focus from yourself so you can see some of what I'm doing in all of this?" Conviction pierced my heart immediately. There was no follow-up "why?" or "yes, but"--it was simply "yes, Lord," from a guilty party blinded by himself. Nothing has impacted my life like that in recent years.

What followed from that point had a transforming effect on me. I began to see and learn things that I knew of from Scripture but that were rarely a part of my practical experience. I believe I grew more in the Lord in the last nine months than I had in many years prior. I had a taste of the Lord's superintending of my life when I was helpless (I'm sure He does a great deal more of the same even when I think I'm able!). Let me share some of what He taught me, especially with those of you who, like me, are among the first wave of baby boomers dealing with the destructive consequences of our aging bodies.

A friend gave me a Scripture verse (in jest, I thought) that captured what the Lord was doing (I believe) through my physical and spiritual trials: "He maketh me to lie down..." (Psalm 23:2). That described my condition perfectly, and I wasn't thrilled about it, but here is one of the first things I learned. One of my daily prayers is that the Lord will provide opportunities for me to be used of Him. I couldn't see that happening in my condition, flat on my back, with bags and tubes sticking out of my body.

To me, "opportunities" meant being able to minister to someone. What I learned is that the Lord has another way to use us. He allowed me to become the opportunity for someone else to minister. That disturbed my attitude of self-sufficiency. I was also humbled by the fact that this revelation wasn't exactly new to me. Some years ago, I ran that possibility by a very elderly man who couldn't understand why the Lord saw fit to sustain his wife, who couldn't even feed herself--a task that had fallen on him in the weeks prior to our conversation. Would this man consider that the Lord was using his believing wife, who loved him dearly, to help him to grow in things like compassion, helps, service, and love, and to draw him closer to Himself? He tearfully realized that this was indeed taking place, and we wept together as we were overwhelmed by God's gracious hand upon both of them.

I knew that their experience was true to the Word and to the character of God, but it was not my experience--until last year, that is. After the first of my four surgeries, I began to see the doctors and nurses as those whom the Lord had provided to minister to me. I was their opportunity. Those who were believers (a number were) were fulfilling their ministries. Seeing myself as their God-appointed opportunity, my thinking shifted to "How can I contribute to helping them fulfill their ministry?" Those who were not Christians were no less appreciative of my attitude of cooperation. Still, I wondered what someone in my condition could do that might be helpful. My agenda began with a "thank you," a smile, a kind word, remembering their names,  and showing real interest in them.

Opportunities, I soon discovered, beget opportunities. After a few days, I could see the Lord creating occasions for me to minister to them. My favorite decree for every doctor and nurse ministering to me was boldly declaring "my two rules": 1) Trust in the Lord, and 2) Do what the doctors and nurses tell me. That always received either a hearty "amen" or a thankful smile.

Living up to my own rules, however, wasn't as easy as I thought. When I was given instructions to get up a certain number of times for walks, or to continually use the lung-strengthening apparatus (neither of my favorite things), it initially took God's grace and enablement to meet the minimum goals. Soon, however, I was breaking my own records. The nurses quickly got the idea that I was there to help them help me, and my room became a place for some of them to hang out on their breaks and just chat. The conversations usually picked up where something briefly discussed during their rounds left off. Much of it was about the Lord and the Bible.

I was always looking for ways to talk about Jesus and His Word without "preaching" to my ministers. One day I noticed that the sign on the mirror over the sink was a directive for the nurses to wash their hands. As mundane as that was, it provided a wonderful opportunity for me to talk about the Bible. As each nurse stood at the sink I would ask her if she ever heard of a doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis. Some said the name sounded familiar. I would then explain that he introduced the practice of hand washing at his Viennese hospital in the mid-1800s as a method of preventing disease, particularly that which caused the deaths of newborn babies.

He observed that doctors and medical students often went directly from working on cadavers to assisting with childbirths, sometimes using the same medical instruments. The death rate of newborns in his hospital was close to 30 percent. After directing his staff members to wash their hands and instruments in a solution of water and chlorine, the death rate dropped below 2 percent.

Such a hygienic procedure preceded the discovery of germs as transmitters of diseases by a few decades, yet it was indicated in the Scriptures 3,000 years before this Jewish doctor instituted the hand-washing practice. Semmelweis believed what Moses had to say on the subject although, tragically, the medical profession did not believe Semmelweis. He was driven from his hospital, the high death rate among newborns returned, and Semmelweis was committed to an insane asylum where he died. He could not fathom his profession's rejection of his simple plan for saving babies. Sad as that story is, it provided a few opportunities to bring up the Good News of the Bible, the simple truth of God's plan for saving souls.

I love what I do at The Berean Call, and my calling in that ministry has primarily been to help Dave do what God has put on his heart to do. I've been privileged to work with him in different ways over the past 30 years. Last year, however, I was fearful at times that I couldn't fulfill that calling, especially in light of the fact that Dave was suffering from a number of quite debilitating ailments. Again I questioned the Lord: "How can I contribute to TBC when I'm here in the hospital?" I'm not in the habit of questioning the Lord, but sometimes circumstances have driven me to it. Or, I should say, my flesh drove me to it. The answer that nearly always floods my heart is, "Trust and obey Me, Tom." I did, and what followed was both amazing to me, and a true adventure.

First of all, I learned that every waking moment is an opportunity to be used of the Lord in ministry, inside or outside of TBC--whether talking to Him in prayer, meditating upon His Word, or doing whatever He wants wherever He wants. I've learned that He allows conditions to take place and then uses them for His glory and for beneficial results. We need only to follow His lead as He prayed to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane: "...not what I will, but what thou wilt"(Mark 14:36).

What brings me great joy as I look back is seeing that each hospital experience following my surgeries was wonderfully fruitful as a time of ministering and being ministered to. No dramatic healing took place. In fact, there were complications and setbacks. Nevertheless, I was released earlier than expected following each surgery and back to work within a couple of days (or sooner) after each hospital stay.

What about the adventure? That came, in part, from learning to function (at work and traveling to speaking engagements across the country) with catheter and ileostomy bags! They became temporary parts of my body for a number of months, followed by additional months of self-catheterization. When fear overcame me in anticipation of not being able to function ministry-wise because of my new devices and procedures, the Lord arranged an unexpected divine appointment with a brother-in-Christ whose condition involved the same apparatus--yet on a permanent basis.

He was incredibly encouraging as a "been there, done that" resource of what I could be facing. That's when my mind shifted from dread to "I know the Lord can help me through this." Moreover, I knew He could give me a new attitude about it all that would be a blessing to those ministering to me. That began with the restoration of my sense of humor, which had dried up for a while and which I would need for some of the adventures (or mis-adventures!) ahead. Did you know that an ileostomy bag will explode right off one's body after dining on spicy chili? I didn't, but I do now. Or that same bag will inflate like a life-preserver as one drives over a very high-altitude mountain pass? Self-catheterization (the anticipation of which was my worst nightmare) was, to my surprise, a practice that I got used to after about a week. Never fun, but then again I'm still laughing about attempting the procedure during some of the worst turbulence I've ever experienced on an airplane!

The hundreds of letters and emails I've received from saints all over the world telling me they were continually praying for Dave and me were a comfort beyond description, and that became especially meaningful when the Lord opened my eyes to what He was accomplishing. His ways and means were not mine; they were exceedingly beyond what I could have imagined or even hoped for. Best of all was how He made His Word absolutely real to me as it spoke to my heart more during that time than ever before in my life in Christ.

Here are two of the many verses that greatly encouraged me:

For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many rebound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:15-18)

For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. (Psalm 22:24)

Because of His Son, He not only hears us, but He allows us to experience that which "worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

All of my surgeries were completely successful (no more bags of any kind!), but the experience for which I will be eternally thankful is the Lord's graciousness in enabling me to see the things to which I was previously blinded, and for His unseen renewing of my inward man.

Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. Psalm 25:4-5   

The Berean Call

Eat More Worms and Dirt!

Researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system. Several continuing studies suggest that worms may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma.

These studies, along with epidemiological observations, seem to explain why immune system disorders like multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and allergies have risen significantly in the United States and other developed countries.

Financial success determined by length of ring finger?

The length of a man's ring finger may predict his success as a financial trader. Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England report that men with longer ring fingers, compared to their index fingers, tended to be more successful in the frantic high-frequency trading in the London financial district.

The same ring-to-index finger ratio has previously been associated with success in competitive sports such as soccer and basketball, the researchers noted.

The length ratio between those two fingers is determined during the development of the fetus and the relatively longer ring finger indicates greater exposure to the male hormone androgen, the researchers noted.

Previous studies have found that such exposure can lead to increased confidence, risk preferences, search persistence, heightened vigilance and quickened reaction times.

In a separate study last year, Coates and colleagues reported that the hormone that drives male aggression and sexual interest also seemed able to boost short term success at finance.

Words of the Wise: Dave Ramsey

Hope is stolen when we misunderstand failure. Failure is natural, normal, and is going to happen. If we take all the lessons learned from failure and stack them, we can easily get the breathtaking view that hope gives.

Dave Ramsey

Medical myths even doctors believe

1. People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

2. We use only 10 percent of our brains.

3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

4. Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker or coarser.

5. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.

6. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy.

7. Cellphones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals.

Check out the NYT article