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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Throwing Pearls in Front of Swine


In reading this morning from the Gospel according to Matthew about God and Possessions, Jesus teaches that it is impossible to be loyal to both God and possessions; that is, it is impossible to be loyal to both God and money.  Jesus says that if we are loyal to God we will despise money or if we are loyal to money, it is God we will despise.  Jesus continues by giving examples concerning food and drink and clothes, teaching that we should not be worried about these things almost exclusively and not believe at all that God sees that we need these things and will, in his generosity, give us what we need.  He gives us another example of how birds in the wild are provided with food and drink as well as a domicile through God’s providence.

As I read through these examples and others I couldn’t help but think about the people in the world today who are starving and are die dehydrated and have no place to stay and yet seemingly God does not make provision for them; but then reading a little bit further there is a teaching which I have always had difficulty in understanding and how it is possibly connected with his teachings. This teaching is: “Do not give what is holy to dogs – they will only turn and attack you.  Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs – they will only trample them under foot.”

Then a thought came to me.   When I have these thoughts of doubt about cases in which God seems not to care for people, could it be that my doubts about God are likened to those who actually doubt God’s involvement in human concerns, including human petitions of prayer to God and any trust in God’s power and willingness to provide for human needs? Such doubts make it impossible for such people to cooperate with God’s goodness and power.  Their very doubts are likened to those who have no belief in God, have no dependence on God’s bringing about anything good; what they perceive to be satisfaction of human needs will come about through their own efforts without God’s help.  In other words they are throwing pearls of God’s love and compassion and providing for others in front of swine who will simply trample on them.

This leads me to understand that the way God wants us to think about his providing things for us when we are in trouble and in need, is through a trust in God and our willingness to accept that God will provide those things over which we really may not have control; he wants to see that we have trust in him and love for him. He wants to see that we do not throw these pearls of God and his love and provision for our needs in the front of swine to be trampled; God asks us and greatly desires our love for him, our trust in him, and not anxiety about those things that he will provide for us; as long as we do not throw these promises and concerns and love of God for us in the path of swine.

Monday, January 20, 2014

REVELATIONS


A RECENT LETTER TO BOTH MY DAUGHTERS AND MY SISTER:

Hey kids/siblings or whatever,

I am having so much fun with all the challenges being strewn across my path. Some would say these are a burden. While I certainly understand that I've come to the conclusion that these events are not calamities but opportunities to grow; such a conclusion is born out of necessity lest I lose my mind.

What would be more boring than to go through life without these unbelievable events which serve to increase my knowledge of what a body consists of and how it works (and mostly doesn't work) thus increasing my ability to say to myself that I know a lot of stuff that maybe a lot of younger folks who have not experienced loss of balance, tripping over almost anything, loss of continence, loss of memory, while never arriving at a point where the number and severity of such ailments cease.

In any case I hope the history of these wonderful happenings that started in January of 2013 and have continued into this new year will enlighten you (joyfully, of course) in understanding what many joys you have yet to look forward to.  Enjoy!

Here are just a few events of recent happening:

I had blood drawn again at the clinic for half a dozen items Dr. N wants to check, in particular, low blood count and too great a number for Creatinine, a product of the kidney which is used as an indication of kidney disease/failure; I made sure I had sufficient hydration for the blood test since dehydration can be a cause of a higher count of creatinine.

Next day at  pre-op for my scheduled back surgery, I saw Dr. K; he asked me about my back pain and I responded that since my surgery to repair an aneurism (after my first visit to Dr K), the pain has been so reduced that I am able walk whereas the pain before the repair was so severe that I could hardly walk and needed a wheelchair. He was amazed and had never heard of a case where an aneurism repair had reduced severe back pain.  Then Dr K told me that having back surgery without the presence of severe back pain accompanied by pain shooting down my leg was not worth the risk; so the surgery was cancelled!

So now, back to physical therapy.

Love, 
Dad/Brother

MY FIRST BORN DAUGHTER RESPONDS:

Dad what is the prognosis in regards to the low blood count and high creatinine?  
Hope all is well. You are in our thoughts and prayers all the time. 

MY LETTER IN RETURN:

Dear S,

Thanks for noticing.  Of course these things are a bit unexpected but I have good vibes that things will be okay. The prognosis will come on Monday.  If my blood count is low this may account for my tiredness all the time and there are ways of raising the blood count like iron supplements.

The creatinine count being high concerned me more; however I have a feeling that I may have been dehydrated that morning because I have had the bad habit of not getting enough fluids in the morning after having had no fluids during the night.  I have now changed this to having some fluids during the night so that I am not overly dehydrated in the morning; 

Besides, I have a cup of buttermilk every day as suggested by the female doctor who helped me with the severe infections after my aneurism surgery with no antibiotics prescribed.  The buttermilk makes the urinary system acidic with acidophilus which has practically eliminated the burning feeling in the unitary tract.

So there is no reason for me to believe my kidney(s) are at risk.  We will find out Monday.  And always remember we have the beautiful caveat that our will always is subordinate to that of the Lord's!  Thanks for your loving concern; I really appreciate it.

Love, Dad

Friday, January 10, 2014

OUTRAGEOUS!


They speak about her dead body but she breaths with the help of a ventilator.  They speak about her corpse but her heart is beating.  They talk about her being deceased but she responds to touch with movements.  Spokespersons of Children’s Hospital Oakland have verbally expressed their opinion of the medical status of 13 year old Jahi McMath, in these above terms of Jahi being a dead person; their justification of using such language was their declaration that Jahi was brain dead after a tonsillectomy on December 9 followed by severe bleeding and cardiac arrest resulting in Jahi falling into a coma.  The decision on December 12 to declare her brain dead was immediately followed by the repeated use of words to mean that her entire body had died and that she was nothing more than a dead body.

The hospital wanted the ventilator shut off because she had “died”.  Her family protested and wanted Jahi to be given a feeding tube and a breathing tube and Jahi nourished with food, water and oxygen when needed to allow for time to assess her progress.  The hospital refused, contributing to the health of her “dead body” slowly deteriorating.  

Fortunately a judge granted, until January 7, Jahi’s mother the right to transfer Jahi to another facility willing to take care of her, giving the family a chance to see how well Jahi would do in a positive and caring facility, but her mother must take full responsibility.  With the quiet help of Right to Life organizations, the family successfully transferred Jahi to such a facility on January 5 (the name and location of the facility kept secret).

At first, doctors at this new facility observed that Jahi’s body was deteriorating because of the long time during which Jahi received no nourishment; but on the evening of January 8, after implantation of feeding and breathing tubes, her bodily heath started improving.  Jahi continued to improve on January 9 and Jahi’s mother, Nailah Winkfield, prayed and hoped for her daughter’s recovery.

There are countless examples of persons in a coma waking up in weeks, months and even years, after doctors had claimed the person to be brain dead and had recommended all attempts to use life sustaining equipment such as ventilators be not employed; even food and water to nourish the body with food and water had been recommended to be terminated.  Loving family members had rejected their recommendations resulting in, with patience and love, the recovery of their loved ones.

So the false theory that being brain dead means the person is deceased has been demonstrated to be false.  These same doctors wait until the body ceases all activity with no nourishment given until the body truly dies, thus invalidating their theory that brain death means body death.  Their beliefs are outrageous!

Hopefully there will always be someone like a judge who allows such a person like Jahi to be transferred from a hospital with a negative death attitude toward patients in comas to a hospital assuming that “brain death” does not imply “body death” and are willing to allow, at the very least, nourishment from food and water with the expectation that keeping the body in good health gives the brain time to heal itself.

That’s what has happened in the brains of those who have awakened from a coma.


Saturday, January 4, 2014

Should You Contribute to the ASPCA


During December of 2013 and now in January of 2014, I continue to view almost daily, and sometimes more than once a day, TV appeals for money from an organization named the ASPCA, or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  

The appeals show photos of dogs and cats purported to have been treated cruelly while an emotionally pitying female voice explains the variety of abuse these animals have undergone; she pleads with the audience to contribute $18 per month, within the next 10 minutes, so that these animals can be treated and cared for until adoption by people who love animals.

In 2004 the No kill Advocacy Center was founded in Oakland California  to draft and support state and national legislation to promote animal protection in the various shelters around the United States;  in addition to promoting legislation the Center has been responsible for developing communities of shelters that have accepted animal protection legislation. 

The problem has been that many of the so-called agencies like ASPCA have supported the killing of dogs and cats in some shelters as soon as they have come into a so-called animal shelter so that people coming to such shelters to find their missing cat or dog have found their pet had been killed.


In September of last year the Center issued a position paper in response to a California Sheltering Report, written by the ASPAC and other shelter organizations; in the paper the Center expressed the dangers associated with some recommendations contained in the California Sheltering Report.

One of the recommendations in this report is to leave the decision about employment of policy to either:
     a) kill animals as soon as they enter the shelter or 
     b) allow holding periods before killing so at to provide time    
         for recovery of lost animals and adoption 
up to the shelter itself as the shelter decides what is best for their community surrounding the shelter.

According to the Center, leaving such a decision to kill or not kill up to the shelter itself does not follow the currently recommended Center policy for all shelters: to allow for at least a holding period of several days to allow for dog and cat owners to recover their animal or to allow for adoption of an animal. 

In fact new legislation proposed by the Center is: to dispose of holding periods since the animals could be transferred either immediately or after a few days to rescue shelters; such shelters do not have a policy of immediate killing and do their utmost to either find out the original owners of the lost animal or if not, to put the animal up for adoption.

Frankly, I would rather give my monthly $18 a month to The No Kill Advocacy Center knowing that my money would help animal shelters having a no kill policy as well as help support no kill legislation.  

As far as these TV appeals of ASPCA are concerned, I will suggest to all who see these appeals to carefully decide whether or not to give money to an organization which uses at best half truths in their appeals.

Sources:
1) The Truth About ASPCA:  http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?cat=8;  
2) Founding of Center: http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/about/