Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Dear Andie,
Now that you know that you can do this (you just handled one of the worst professional days of your life), you can do anything the Lord puts in your heart. Overcoming problems builds confidence, toughness and resolve and is a blessing in disguise for those who go through it. You have proved that to everyone; your colleagues, your husband and yourself.
Do you still have that letter I wrote to you in college when you were so down. I hope you have kept it because when you have another one of those worst days of your life it will inspire you to keep going. Post it where you can see it.
May be you can relate to this.
When I was awakened at 3:45 a.m. last night in the Emergency Room and I labored for two hours to intubate a patient, a 17 year old girl who was bleeding out so that she had long enough that her father got to say goodbye to her - as she blinked in acknowledgment and cried - .................. Am I appreciated? Do I get paid enough after 31 years of education? Maybe I should be a lawyer, philosopher, or comedian… But I don’t have enough time because morning rounds are beginning and there’s already a patient yelling at me that I am a horrible person because she’s in pain and I have to round in an hour and start the day.Get to know your doctor. Be gentle. They are under appreciated and overwhelmed, yet it is that iron will to preserve life and the desire to help their fellow man that drives them.
I haven’t slept, but hopefully I’m dreaming... A young doctor.
A doctor, like anyone else who has to deal with human beings, each of them unique, cannot be a scientist; she is either, like the surgeon, a craftsman, or, like the physician and the psychologist, an artist. This means that in order to be a good doctor a woman must also have a good character, that is to say, whatever weaknesses and foibles she may have, she must love her fellow human beings in the concrete and desire their good before her own. - W. H. Auden (she substituted for he in this quote).Andie, you are an inspiration to all who know you not just professionally but spiritually as well.
Every club director longs for a volunteer who understands the model of relational ministry. Campus Life is not just about a club meeting once a week; Campus Life is about being invested in the lives of young people: showing up at their football games, track meets, band concerts, plays and musicals.What more can I say?
In this model of ministry a well-planned meeting cannot compete with a 79 cent burger at McDonald's paired with a good conversation. Andie understands this model and has lived it out over the past few years in ways that challenge me to dive deeper into the lives of the students I work with. .... (Author: a great looking guy who goes by the name of Dave.) Perhaps you know him?
I will bless the Lord, who has given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.When you are down and weary and overwhelmed think on these things for they are the path to life. He will be your rock and anchor. He will guide you when there is no apparent answer. He is standing right next to you to carry your burdens and get you through that impossible shift that seems to have no end.
I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:7-11.
Be still, if even for a moment and listen. He will guide your thoughts and direct your paths.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:30-31
Post this where you can see it in time of need. It will inspire you to keep going when the going gets tough. You are an inspiration to all of us.
Love Dad
Sunday, August 03, 2008
"..a significant number of "talking heads" - such as Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Laura Ingraham - are lobbying McCain to take Mitt Romney as his running mate. Romney, they argue, would bring much needed private-sector business experience and economic understanding to the Republican ticket. However, Romney makes more than a few Christians nervous.
According to a newly released book My Kingdom Come, written by ex-Mormon Ed Decker*, the Mormon hierarchy has big plans for Mitt Romney. Ed writes:
The very ethos of the Mormon faith is built around the anticipated return of Jesus to Independence, Missouri, for his thousand-year millennial reign. It is here that he will assign godhood to the worthy. However, it cannot take place until the U.S. Constitution falters and is saved by the LDS church(Church of Latter Day Saints). The nation will become a Mormon theocracy. Mitt Romney has raised Mormon speculation that this may be the time and that he may be the one to lead the way as both U.S. President and LDS high priest.(2)Decker documents his assertions in chapter 12 of his book. He reveals that the LDS Church believes the U.S. Constitution is a divine document(3) that has set the stage for a Mormon one world ruler. He warns, "[The] theocracy would come into existence when the U.S. Constitution would hang by a thread and the Mormon elders would be there to save it and the country, thereby ushering in the The Kingdom of God, the prophesied Mormon theocracy."(4)
He continues, "Mitt Romney's LDS understanding of the U.S. Constitution and its divine role in the end times is not that of the average American."(5) Decker further warns that some of the LDS temple oaths - including the "execution of the penalty" for disobedience at the time Mitt Romney took out his "temple Endowments" - are taken "directly from the rituals of Blue Lodge Masonry, the source of much of the LDS temple rituals. It is no wonder, since the first five presidents and prophets of the LDS church were Masons."(6)
Decker concludes:
These high - level Temple Mormons clearly know that this Mormon "Kingdom of God" is, in reality, a Mormon one-world government, a theocracy, soon coming to America, that will be run by the strong arm of the Mormon Brethren, headed up by the only true prophet of God on earth. It is clear that they did swear such an oath."(7)(To obtain the book My Kingdom Come by Ed Decker, visit garykah.com)
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*At one time Decker was a member of the "Holy Melchizedek" priesthood, a "Temple Mormon" and active in leadership in local LDS churches.
(1)Gary Kah, "Signs of the Times", Hope For The World Update (Noblesville, Indiana, Summer 2008), p. 2.
(2)Ed Decker, My Kingdom Come (Xulon Press, 2007), p. 309. in Kah, "Signs of the Times".
(3)Decker, p. 310. in Kah, "Signs of the Times".
(4)Decker, pp. 311-312. in Kah, "Signs of the Times".
(5)Decker, p. 314. in Kah, "Signs of the Times".
(6)Decker, pp. 316-317. in Kah, "Signs of the Times".
(7)Decker, p. 317. in Kah, "Signs of the Times".
