Beech Tree News Network

IN THE CENTER

Recently I had to spend several days at a place designed to treat people who are suffering from various ailments, to an extent that treatment at home is not really an alternative. It is a place known simply as -The Medical Center. If you go by the name one would infer that this is the place to be when sick or injured, for the name implies that this one place is at the hub, core, center, of the medical practice and all things related, revolve around it.

I had tried local treatment first but after several days it was apparent I was getting worse and not better, so I relented and told my wife I thought I indeed better go to the hospital, as she had suggested, several minutes before I came to the conclusion myself. I went in through the emergency department but as most of you know, most situations are not really deemed actual emergencies at these places and time did not seem to be much of an issue, at least until my blood work came back and then for a few moments things moved p.d.q, if you know what I mean. My blood work shown that I was fighting an infection with a virtually nonexistent immune system and any other infection, even a slight one, could prove quite hazardous and the odds of that occurring in an emergency room were pretty high, so they got me isolated without much delay. They determined that I needed to be admitted and that process still took a while. Once they got my fever under control I felt some better but it was quite a while before I felt much better than “death warmed over” as the saying goes and even now, after being home several days, I am still nowhere close to where I would like to be but at least I don't feel like I have been hit and then backed over by a Mack truck, anymore, so I am grateful for that.

While I was sick I had several instances where I met Jesus and no, I don't mean I was so sick that I had any “out of body” or “near death experiences.” I met Jesus in a different way. I met Jesus when I looked over and saw a lady trying to rest in a chair, whom had not slept or left my side in a day and half. I met Jesus when this same lady propped my arms up with pillows to help me breathe, so that I could get some small relief and rest myself. I met Jesus when I saw a blue-eyed young lady and young man sitting on the edge of my bed, doing homework or playing on the phone, while giving me concerned glances that they don't think I saw and I met Jesus when these same children made sure they told me they loved me each night before they left. I met Jesus when friends showed up with beautiful live flowers and gifts for my family or with books that they knew I would enjoy because they know me so well and I met Jesus when they laughed at my twisted sense of humor and prayed with me. I met Jesus when family, not in the best of health themselves, showed up to show concern and encouragement. I met Jesus when a nurse crouched down to look me in the eye and listened patiently while I explained the drowning sensation I was having and then she confidently and compassionately took measures which greatly eased my pain.

You see, this is what a life centered around faith looks like to me. When it is at the core, the very center of who you are, you see Jesus whenever you see compassion and you meet Jesus whenever you meet love, everything else revolves around that. For me it is when love meets real life, that is when faith actually becomes the central focus of everything else going on. You can have rooms full of declarations talking about acts taken which are meant to confirm faith but until love and compassion become the center, it can never really be much more than a peripheral part of your life.

Illness can take many forms, it can effect not only your body but illness can touch your heart, when you battle such things as loneliness, anxiety and depression. Sometimes being physically sick long enough can itself bring about pain in other areas of your life. I know for an absolute fact that the only way out of depression is to stop focusing on yourself and to focus on what you can do to add compassion or hope to other people's lives. What makes me the most proud of my family is when they show courage in the face of adversity, when they show perseverance in the face of obstacles or obstruction, when they show genuine concern, compassion or kindness, to those around them, then I am so proud I could burst. I am not impressed in the least by some kind of bada** routine where you try to prove your tougher or better than everyone around you, neither am I impressed with a “It's none of my concern” attitude. It would disappoint me tremendously if I saw these attitudes becoming prevalent in the lives of any of my family and in particular my children.

What makes me proud of my family and what would disappoint me also holds true for my country. I am impressed when compassion is shown, when hope is rendered an important component, when dignity and respect becomes central to who we all are. An attitude of callousness, “not my concern,” “stay out of it” or a posture of “gotta be the biggest and the baddest and how we get there is not important, only winning;” this is the definition of a bully and disappoints me, to the core of who I am.

A friend and I recently had lunch together and we see a lot of things differently but I still consider him a good friend. In our discussion the topic of education came up and I told him I basically only look at two things; does it inspire curiosity or does it enhance a life-long love of learning, just that, just those two core, central principles, we could discuss methods and processes and reform and learning basics and a host of things but at the core, only those two things are central to me. The conversation also turned around to some other areas and here too I offered that I had but really one central tenet to base my decisions on and that was 'Does it help spread Gods' kingdom, here on earth. That is my central philosophy, it is at the very center of my life, everything else is peripheral behind this one core value.

“For 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, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you visited me.” These words are central to my faith, they are what everything else revolves around. When you see this kind of love played out in your family, in your workplace, in your country, in your politics, in all your relationships, then you understand love and when you understand love, you meet Jesus; life will never be the same.