Writer and Teacher
A Tribute to Joplin’s St. John’s Hospital Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Jun 2nd
The Joplin tornado of May 22, 2011 brought to an end my regular trips to pulmonary rehab on the ninth floor of Joplin’s St John’s Hospital. I began attending this pulmonary rehab on August 12, 2000 and have continued three times a week through May 21, 2011, the day before the destructive tornado. I did have a break of six months while I was in St. Louis attending rehab at Barnes Jewish Hospital where I had a double lung transplant on June 15, 2004.
I had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a deadly disease, which has no known cause and no known cure. A lung transplant is the only way to survive this disease. Exercising at St. John’s pulmonary rehab contributed greatly to my surviving long enough to receive a lung transplant. Since returning home in October, 2004, I have faithfully continued my exercise program at St. John’s. This program has been a major player in enabling me to maintain relative good health in these seven years since my transplant.
I want to express my appreciation to the respiratory therapists, Christine Barnes, director, and her assistant, Tina Williams, and other therapists. They have conducted themselves in a professional yet personal manner. They are competent, friendly, and encouraging. Over the last almost eleven years I have seen many people greatly improved by participating in pulmonary rehab.
St. John’s Pulmonary Rehab has made a significant contribution to my life and I am grateful. I do not know what the future holds for St. John’s. I did not want to lose the well-being I have gained so I wanted to continue in an exercise program. On June 6, 2011, I will begin physical therapy for my pulmonary health at McCune Brooks Hospital in Carthage, Missouri. After one week I was dismissed from the program because McCune Brooks does not provide maintenance. As of June 23, 2011 I am going to pulmonary rehab at Via Christi Health in Pittsburg, Kansas.
The King of Kings Is Arriving in Town Today! (Thoughts on Jesus’ Triumphal Entry)
Apr 16th
Once a king in a little country on the corner of civilization was so wise and wealthy others sought his favor. He sat on a throne of gold and ivory. Each of his 500 royal guards had shields of gold. His extravagant temple would take billions of dollars to build today. People considered him to be the wisest of human beings. But a greater than Solomon is arriving in town today!
A young king of Macedonia created the greatest kingdom on earth in his day. His rule stretched from Egypt to Russia and India. The great cities of Damascus, Nineveh, Babylon fell to him. His influence continued for centuries. People called him and he called himself Alexander the Great. But a greater than Alexander is arriving in town today!
Jesus of Nazareth, never prince but forever an eternal king, clothed his royal divinity in human flesh. He walked and talked with everyday people. He healed and worked mighty miracles. His teaching amazed those who heard. His time had come to demonstrate to Jerusalem, the city of David, his royal claim.
What kind of extravaganza would this be?
Britain’s prince William and Kate Middleton are to be married April 29. The event is expected to cost British taxpayers 48 million dollars. The declaration of April 29 as a national holiday will cost Brits about 9.6 billion dollars. No small party!
Barack Obama’s inauguration in January, 2009, in the midst of what he called the worst economy since the Great Depression, cost about 170 million dollars. Again, no small party!
How much was spent when the King of Kings made his triumphal entry into the capital city of Jerusalem? It was without cost, without fanfare, without media people brandishing cameras. Oh he used a borrowed unbroken colt, a few cloaks instead of a saddle, and branches cut from the field. Yet, praise quoted from an ancient prophet was proclaimed.
Rather than giving a speech he declared his messianic kingship by riding peacefully from the area of the Mount of Olives into the city to the temple. He said nothing. After looking and walking around he turned back to the east and with his twelve disciples ascended the Mount of Olives going to its east side to the city of Bethany where he spent the night.
William Barclay describes it as an act of sheer courage. “It was an act of glorious defiance and of superlative courage.” Jesus has a price on his head (John 11:57). One might have expected a secret entrance into the city. Jesus forced them to give attention to him in this center stage. “It is a breathtaking thing to think of a man who with a price on his head, an outlaw, deliberately riding into a city in such a way that every eye was fixed upon him.”
Are you honoring Jesus as King and Lord of your life?
Reflections on Marriage After Fifty Years
Apr 5th
H. Lynn Gardner
When we got married (February 24, 1961) I had no idea of the serious challenges we would face and the wonderful blessings we would receive in the next fifty years.
A good marriage is not easy and does not happen without a lot of work, mistakes, patience, forgiveness, prayer, and laughter. But it is worth it.
Raising children teaches lessons not learned any other way. The people who have all the answers for raising kids apparently never had any of their own.
Being helped by your spouse when you face serious difficulties is important training for being able to help your spouse when he or she faces a serious challenge.
Marriage brings a unity between a man and a woman each with different backgrounds and personalities. The most important aspect of this relationship is the spiritual dimension. The foundation of common conviction and commitment to God and the lordship of Christ is essential to true unity and the ability to solve the conflicts that will arise with two persons who are selfish at times. A spiritual common ground needs to be supplemented with a social compatibility. In the close union of marriage, not only must we love one another but we must also like each other, having a core of common interests, values, and priorities. The physical “one flesh” union comes only after spiritual and social unity has been established and the couple publicly commits to each other in marriage. Marriages based only on the physical do not last because they lack the commitment of “for better or worse.”
The unity in marriage is not homogenized sameness. Faithful commitment and service in marriage takes two individuals and deepens each spouse in ways they would not have developed otherwise. A loving marriage enhances rather than diminishes the uniqueness of each individual
When conflicts arise, try to understand the other person’s point of view and feelings before you defend yourself.
If you don’t overlook your spouse’s minor weaknesses you will not be able to enjoy their great strengths. Some people never achieve marital oneness and happiness because they let the minor things become major.
Genuine love communicates. Important communications—“I am sorry.” “I forgive you.”
In a sense love is more a product of marriage than a cause. The love that prompts a man and a woman to marry, while valid, does not have the depth of the love for each other that develops from years of seeking to serve the best interests of your spouse.
In my late teens I was skeptical about people who claimed to have a happy marriage. A year or two before our wedding my research for a term paper on marriage helped change my mind. I wrote in the paper that I was convinced that marriage as God designed it provided for greater maturity, greater purity, and greater happiness. My experience of fifty years of marriage has confirmed this for me.
After accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior, the best thing I have done in my life is my marriage to Barbara.
Is it Arrogant to Believe Christianity Is the Only True Religion?
Jan 10th
When is tolerance a virtue and when is tolerance no virtue? What is tolerance? Traditionally tolerance has meant respecting other people’s right to hold different views than we hold and do things we don’t approve. Recently some have used tolerance to mean that all views are equally true and all practices are acceptable. Tolerance in the traditional sense is a virtue. Tolerance in the new meaning is no virtue.
One of the most frequent objections to Christianity is that Christians are arrogant to claim that Christianity is the only true religion. Blair, a twenty-something woman from New York City, expresses this objection, “How could there be just one true faith? It’s arrogant to say your religion is superior and try to convert everyone else to it. Surely all the religions are equally good and valid for meeting the needs of their particular followers.”[1]
David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons in Unchristian cite evidence that today’s Christians are widely viewed as hypocritical, insensitive, arrogant, and judgmental.[2] I do not defend Christians who do not practice what they profess, who are harsh, unkind, and unloving, who are self-centered and egotistical, and who self-righteously condemn any who do not agree will them. But does the mere fact that we believe Christianity is the only true religion make us insensitive, arrogant, and judgmental?
Pluralism believes that all major religions are equally valid and basically teach the same thing. However, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism all reject Jesus as God in the flesh and that he is the only Savior of the world. They can’t all be true. If they are all true, then they are all false because they contradict each other.
Is it arrogant to say one religion is true and the others are false. “It is no more narrow to claim that one religion is right than to claim that one way to think about all religions (namely that all are equal) is right.”[3] Is it narrow minded or arrogant to say 2 + 2 = 4 and not 3 or 5? Truth is narrow. Truth excludes falsehood.
The biblical view is that Jesus Christ is the only savior and faith in him is necessary to salvation. There is no other Savior or way to be saved.
John 3:16-18: One can be saved by believing in Jesus, those who do not are condemned.
John 14:6: Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, no one comes to the Father but by Jesus.
Acts 4:12: No one will be saved except through the name of Jesus.
Rom 10:9-10: Only those who accept the lordship and resurrection of Jesus will be saved.
1 Tim 2:5: Jesus is the only mediator between the one God and men.
If Jesus is God in the flesh and died for our sins and rose from the dead than he is the only true Savior.
[1] Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Dutton, 2008), 3.
[2] David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity and Why it Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007), 81.
[3] Keller, 13.
Resources on Abortion
Jan 5th
The practice of abortion is a moral outrage of our day. One is a human person from the time of conception. Killing the unborn is killing a member of the human community. Each person has value being made in the image of God. As Christians we need to have respect for the sanctity of life. “A person is a person no matter how small.” (Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who (1954).
Here are four resources providing information and guidance in addressing the abortion issue:
Marvin Olasky, Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1992).
Based on his research in the Library of Congress and other major libraries for his doctoral dissertation Olasky’s history while clearly pro-life is fair and objective. It correct some mistaken views of pro-life activists as well as those of abortion advocates. This enlightening work sets the abortion issue in historical context which should be a benefit to all who are interested in truth.
Francis J. Beckwith, Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
“This outstanding book is a favorite of advanced pro-life apologists everywhere. The arguments presented are lucid and hard-hitting, but the style in suitable for both academic and advanced lay audiences. It’s one of the finest (if not the finest) systematic defenses of the pro-life position to date.” Scott Klusendorf
Francis J. Beckwith, Abortion and the Sanctity of Life (Joplin: College Press, 2000).
The purpose of this book “is to present a case against abortion rights and in support of unborn human beings that is accurate, fait, and does not compromise academic integrity, and yet is accessible to a wide range of people who, for differing reasons, would not ordinarily read technical literature on the subject.” (pp. 7-8)
Scott Klusendorf, The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2009).
“The Case for Life is a veritable feast of helpful information about pro-life issues, the finest resource about these matters I have seen. It is accessible to the layperson, and it lays out a strategy for impacting the world for a culture of life.” J. P. Moreland
“Provides a clear and cogent biblical rationale for the sanctity and dignity of life, born or unborn. This is a great tool for the layman who knows he or she is pro-life, but doesn’t understand the presuppositions on which his or her beliefs are based or who doesn’t feel equipped to defend or discuss the issue with others.” Chuck Colson
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