What Good News Really Means

My PA (and friend) Brandie is undergoing treatment for breast cancer. A cancer diagnosis is always a surprise, but this one was particularly so as she had a normal mammogram just 6 months earlier (she found it by chance when she scratched an itch!). She underwent the standard tests, including an MRI which revealed two separate areas of cancer and an involved lymph node. Her expectations went from simple lump removal and radiation to 6 courses of chemotherapy followed by surgery and then radiation. Since hearing the news we have been concerned but hopeful.

This week she received some surprisingly good news. Her oncologist had ordered a repeat MRI two days before chemo treatment number 3. Everyone was hoping that the MRI would show at least some degree of tumor shrinkage, some evidence of response. None of us expected the cancer to be gone, yet that was what the MRI showed! There was no evidence at all of the tumors that had been there just 2 months earlier. I rejoiced with her at the results and the news that she would now need only a total of 4 rounds of chemo before the next stages of her treatment.

I could not help but thank God at her report, and found myself joyfully thinking, “God is good!”

I have been chewing on that thought about God’s goodness  for the last few days. Why do I only say, “God is good” when things work out the way I want? Why are my declarations of God’s goodness so often dependent on the circumstances in which I find myself?

I think it reflects a common error in our understanding of God’s purposes and work. Without even realizing it we sometimes act as if God’s primary responsibility and concern is to make our earthly lives better. We correctly declare His goodness and righteousness and love for us when things go well but remain silent about His nature when things go poorly.

It is as if we see God as less than God, as if he is a benevolent heavenly grandfather who wants to give us things. Like all grandpas, he wants us to be happy so he of course gives us things we want and desires to make us happy. Sick? Grandpa God will kiss it and make it better. Struggling financially? Grandpa God will withdraw money from his account and send it our way. Hurting? Never worry, go to Grandpa God because he gives the best hugs and we will feel better.  

We know he will do these things, because he is good.

But God doesn’t always do these things. I have an amazingly devout friend who has been in a wheelchair for years with no hope of ever walking again. I have another Christian friend who is slowly dying from ALS. Is God being good to them?

When the one friend gets hospitalized again from a kidney infection will I say, “God is good?”  When the other loses the ability to talk and is choking on his own saliva, will I tell him how wonderful God is? If Brandie’s cancer returns, will I still praise God for the outcome?

If I understand God’s nature correctly I think the answer must be “Yes!”

Goodness is part of God’s eternal nature. God is eternal and unchanging. His nature never changes, which means his goodness never changes. It never increases or decreases in intensity. It is forever constant.

How can we understand and praise the eternal nature of God’s goodness, when things are going terribly, painfully wrong? I believe we need to turn to God’s eternal plan to help us understand. The bible tells us that God’s plan is to redeem sinful men through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Out of God’s goodness, he sent his Son to die for us. Out of his goodness he works and moves to draw people to himself, and to change us into the people he wants us to be. This goodness never stops.

Whether we experience victory or defeat, joy or sorrow, health or sickness, God is working for our eternal good. This means that if we wish to truly see God’s goodness, we should look to his eternal work and never to our earthly circumstances.

This is difficult to grasp but essential to understand. It is because of this Christians can confidently say, “God is good, ALL the time.”

I thank God for Brandie’s response to treatment, grateful that He has answered these prayers. I do so confident that in his goodness he will work his will in her life, regardless of the outcome.

I am clinging to this knowledge as I prepare for my upcoming surgery. I am doing my best to be prepared to thank Him for his goodness whatever the outcome. If the surgery is successful and my chronic pain resolves, I will be grateful that I will be better able to serve Him, but more so for the fact that I am his child. If the surgery does not work and I end up facing lasting pain, I will be thankful for the promise of grace and strength to endure the pain, but more so for that fact that I am his child.

Nothing about the surgery or its outcome will in anyway impact God’s eternal plan for me. I know this because God is good.

Bart

PS: For those who have not heard, I am scheduled to have my right first rib removed at UCLA on August 8th. The nerves to the arm pass through a triangle that has the first rib at the bottom and two muscles from the neck as the sides. The doctor believes that it is there that the nerves are being pinched, causing the chronic pain and numbness I have had for the last few years. (Any repetitive use of the arm, from using a mouse to driving, causes significant pain flares).

My Turn to be Offended

I get offended too. I find myself increasingly offended at things I see on television. (Or should I say I find myself offended my things I increasingly see on television?) I used to be able to avoid shows that insulted my Christian values by not watching certain shows or by changing channels. This is no longer possible, for now even commercials contain things I do not want to see.

Last night we were watching a classic television series, American Ninja Warrior, when a commercial came on that not so subtly promoted behavior that should not be promoted. I started to mentally huff and puff and to internally compose a ranting screed about the moral failings of society. I was about halfway through the piece when I realized I was an idiot.

Just a few weeks ago I wrote a piece about people being offended by the past and how that was foolish. One of the points of the piece was that people shouldn’t go looking for reasons to be offended, that people should let things go. And here I am, getting offended by something other people let go!

I can make the argument that I get offended by the right things and they get offended by the wrong things, but can’t they do the same? I can bolster my position by showing how the Bible supports my views, but since when do television executives follow the Bible?

This is not to say that I shouldn’t find certain things offensive, only that I need to develop a different response. Ranting and complaining or encouraging boycotts may make be feel good for a moment but they are not likely to change anything. There must be a better way.

There is a better way, and the way can be found in the Bible. In the book of Acts we see a story of the Apostle Paul being offended by the rampant idolatry he saw in the City of Athens. (side note- he could not have been surprised by this, it was not a secret that the Greeks worshiped many Gods!). The Greek text makes it clear that Paul was ticked off by what he saw, that he was incensed.

So what did Paul do?

He talked to people. He did not get on a soap box in the town square, he did not pen an angry letter to the folks back home in Jerusalem condemning the heathen. He went to where people gathered and he reasoned with them. He dialogued, he discussed, he explained. He did this in places where dialogue naturally occurred, in places where people gathered to talk.

We don’t do that anymore. We don’t talk to one another. We don’t explain ourselves, we don’t gently persuade or try to convince anyone. We instead attack, insult, berate and complain, and as a result we never change anyone’s mind.

I need to change my approach. If I am going to change the way people think I need to reason more, explain more, listen more, and complain less.

I can also turn off the TV.

Bart

PS: Thanks to all of you who subscribe to the blog. It is truly encouraging to see that so many care enough to make the effort to receive my posts in their email. It is amazing that so many care about what I have to say!

The Death of Grace, The Rise of the Offended

Nike stepped in it this week with the recall of patriotic sneakers emblazoned with the Betsy Ross flag. The red, white and blue sneakers with the flag of the original 13 colonies had already been shipped to retailers when the company decided that the flag design was potentially offensive, as the flag is from an era during which slavery still existed in America.

I was taken aback by the story. The flag has been around for 243 years. No new information has recently come to light about the founders or their slave owning ways, and nothing new has been discovered about our nation’s history. Why are people offended now?

Thomas Jefferson was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. The city has long honored the birthday of the author of the Declaration of Independence and our third president as a paid public holiday. This last week the city council of Charlottesville voted to end the holiday, citing Jefferson’s history of slave ownership. As with the Betsy Ross flag, the decision was not based on any new information. Almost overnight the city of Charlottesville transitioned from pride to shame in their native son.

I have read much condemning these decisions, but little about the changes in thought that led to them. What has happened in America that has so quickly led to the condemnation of the previously celebrated?

I wonder if the answer is the death of grace. There was a time when it was universally understood that all men are broken, that there is brokenness, even evil, in all hearts. This realization of personal brokenness is a protection against judging others, it allows us to see the failures of others and say, “There but for the grace of God go I.”  It helps us remember that all men tend to share the sins of the time in which they live, and to see our forefathers in the context of the culture into which they were born. It keeps us from judging the past by modern standards, to realize that we would likely have made the same mistakes as our ancestors if we had lived in a similar time.

It is this historical grace that allows us to praise the accomplishments of slave owners such as George Washington, James Madison and Jefferson. It gives us room to overlook the adulterous failings of Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin and instead focus on their contributions to society. It helps us see the good works of fallen men like Martin Luther, who was an anti-Semite, the murderous apostle Paul, and the beloved Franklin Roosevelt, who as president put Americans of Japanese descent into relocation camps.

When we cease to see the world through the eyes of grace, condemnation and judgment will take the place of forgiveness and acceptance in our society. As grace dies we will see more retrospective judgmentalism and more relentless searches for the flaws of our past heroes. The problem is that there are no perfect heroes. No historical figure will be able to withstand the inquisitions of the offended.

I think we will all be better served if we remember a simple truth. The grace of God has always allowed fallen men to achieve great things. Over 200 years ago in His grace He allowed rebellious, flawed men to form the greatest nation in the history of the world.

I think that is something to celebrate.

Bart

PS: I would have bought the shoes.

Broken Promises, Broken Marriages

He was shocked and depressed. The divorce papers served came as a total surprise. He had no idea his wife was that unhappy, which was a big part of the problem. He seemed to be the only person that didn’t know.

I knew, as she had been telling me for years how unhappy she was, how disconnected from the family he was, how uninvolved he was in her and their kids lives. They didn’t talk because he didn’t talk. When he had free time he either did nothing or he went out biking with his friends. He had asked his wife to bike with him, but she was not the biking kind. In his mind his invitation showed he cared and wanted her to do something with him, in her mind it was just another indication that he was not interested in what she wanted to do.

She told me that she was “done”. In her mind love was gone and he needed to be gone too. She was not interested in counseling or saving the marriage. Like CPR on a corpse, she felt all attempts to resurrect their relationship would be pointless. He took the opposite view. Finally acknowledging he could have and should have done more, he was ready to go to counseling to do what needed to be done to save his marriage. It was too late.

As I dialogued with each of them, I was saddened by the familiarity of their tale. Two people who were once in love, who had once looked forward to growing old together, had seen their relationship devolve into discussions of visitation rights and community property. In talking with them they each had their opinions on what had brought them to this point, places and times where each of them had gone wrong. As they shared their feelings I noticed something missing from each of their stories.

Neither one of them talked about the promises they had made to one another. 20 years ago, they stood before friends and family and made promises to one another, the promises couples make when they marry. They promised to love one another- in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, for better or worse, til death parted them.

They aren’t rich, not are they poor. They are both in reasonable health, and neither of them is dead, but things have definitely taken a turn for the worse, so much so the marriage was being abandoned. Apparently the promises they made to one another weren’t really promises at all. They were more like political promises, the kind that disappear at the first signs of conflict or opposition.

They are sadly normal in this regard. Marital promises don’t seem to carry much weight anymore. I have seen marriages end over finances, family conflicts, cigarettes and even obesity. Every divorcing couple I have encountered shares their sad reality, they have all failed to keep the most important promises they ever made.

This is the problem. People who keep their promises don’t get divorced.

Several years ago I heard the well-known Christian Pastor share his secret for he and his wife’s over 60 marriage- “Keep your promises and live a long time.”

It really is that simple. Lisa and I have learned this. When we are hurt and disappointed we have learned to focus on the promises we have made and how we can keep them instead of the hurts we feel and how we have been let down.

As of this morning, we have been doing that for 13,488 days. I think it’s working.

Bart

Hemorrhages and Homelessness

My instructor in inpatient medicine seemed to be obsessed with anemia. Whenever a patient in the hospital had a low red blood cell count, he would write in his notes, “w/u anemia” (for “work-up anemia”) It was such a common occurrence that one year the residents bought him a rubber stamp with “w/u anemia” on it so he wouldn’t have to write it anymore!

Anemia does require a medical work-up. The single abnormality of a low red blood cell count can have many different causes, each with a different treatment. Sometimes anemia is due to a single episode of blood loss and a transfusion is all that is needed. Other times, such as with bleeding ulcers, the bleeding must be stopped so the anemia can be treated, repeated transfusions make no sense. Other times anemia is a sign of another disease that needs to be treated. Alcoholism, vitamin deficiencies, kidney disease, cancers and infections can all suppress blood cell production in the bone marrow and lead to anemia. Fixing the blood count requires the physician to address the underlying cause.

Given the long list of possible causes, the word “anemia” used in isolation, is near meaningless. More information is needed to understand the word and devise treatment. There is no single solution to the problem. A doctor who orders iron tablets for every anemia is a very bad doctor.

Homelessness and anemia have this in common. All homelessness involves people living on the streets, but not all homelessness is the same. There are many different causes of homelessness, and treating the problem will require varied approaches

Some homeless people want to participate in society and have the ability to work, but need some help rejoining the workforce. Others are so damaged mentally and emotionally that participation in society is impossible. They lack the personal and mental skills needed to hold a job, handle money and relate to others. Many, perhaps the majority, could participate in society if they wanted to, but don’t want to. The causes are varied, and the solutions must vary as well.

The “capable homeless”, those who want to work and provide for themselves are perhaps the easiest to help. These unfortunate souls often find themselves on the street due to a combination of poor planning and bad luck and on occasion, burned bridges. They may be hardworking people who were barely getting by, living paycheck to paycheck until a health crisis, loss of transportation, or lost job left them with no place to go. Whether due to pride or social isolation, they have no friends or family to turn to. For these people a homeless shelter, some free meals and some financial assistance (perhaps affordable housing) could turn their lives around. When it comes to the problem of homelessness, these people seem to be in the minority.

The mentally ill pose a unique problem. People who suffer from psychotic disorders may never be able to participate in society. Delusional thinking, hallucinations, lack of interpersonal skills and inability to handle complex tasks may render them incapable of holding down a job or managing their finances. Mental illness can also make it impossible for them to comply with medication regimens, trapping them in a cycle of isolation. Our society decades ago decided it was immoral to force these individuals into institutions, is so doing ignoring the reality that a life on the streets trapped in delusions is an even crueler existence. Temporary shelters may provide a brief respite for those suffering from severe mental illness, but like blood transfusions for a bleeding man they do nothing to solve the underlying problem.

The most numerous and most troubling segment of the homeless population are those who have (or had) the ability to work and participate in society but choose not to. The stress of normal life, of waking up on time, going to a boring job, answering to a boss, and paying bills is more than they care to handle. Some escape from the stresses of life via needle or bottle, living from one high to the next. There are others who are simply antisocial. They do not care at all about other people or how their actions impact others. They want what they want, when they want, how they want, refusing to answer to anyone. Paradoxically, these people act as if the world owes them everything and that they owe the world nothing.

This last category may be the largest. They know help is available, know there is a way they could rejoin society, but have no interest in such help. They prefer a life on the streets to a life of responsibility. They will take food and financial assistance when offered but will intentionally avoid such help if it requires them to change their behavior. It is difficult for others to understand, but to these people a life of “freedom” on the streets is superior to a life of responsibility.

Just as the treatment of anemia is dependent on the underlying cause, the treatment of homelessness must also take root causes into consideration. There is no single response to the homeless problem that will work for all. If the problem of homelessness is to be addressed multiple solutions will need to be pursued. As obvious as this truth is, it seems to not be understood by the judges who hand down rulings demanding more shelters or the politicians who make our laws. Our government leaders seem to think the solution is to provide everyone with a place to live and food to eat. While this may work for the small subset of unfortunate individuals who want to work and rejoin society, it will do nothing to address the root causes for the majority of those living on the street.

The mentally ill are often unable to access help on their own and thus will need hospitalization, institutionalization, or ongoing supervised care. They need to be in settings where there are people to make sure they take their medications appropriately, counselors to help them understand the world, and structure to keep them safe from their bad judgment and destructive behaviors. Our society needs to let go of the belief that such arrangements violate the rights of the insane. If we do not change our approach, there plight will not change. They will remain on the streets.

The anti-social, drug addicted and alcoholic homeless present a different problem. As long as they are given the option of living outside of the rules of society, most will choose it. They will refuse shelter and services when offered. Those that accept shelter will not typically stay long, leaving when they realize they cannot use drugs or drink. Getting these people off of the streets will require a firm and decisive response from society. Instead of building shelters with swinging doors and no obligations, we will need to develop a path to reenter society. We will need programs, camps or facilities to provide these people with opportunities to get sober, receive psychiatric care, life counseling and job training. These able bodied homeless will need to be given a clear choice, enroll in a reentry program and become someone who contributes to society, or go to jail and contribute to society via a supervised work problem. Returning to the streets cannot be an option. If it is, they will choose it.

I have little hope that these approaches will ever be implemented, for they will require us to accept hard truths about human nature and to change our way of thinking. Simple solutions, though destined to fail, are more politically and socially palatable.

Bart