Thoughts from Honduras

As we have traveled stateside this year, we have had the opportunity to attend or speak at more than 15 different churches, representing a large part of the spectrum of denominations and traditions within contemporary conservative Christianity.   Towering cathedrals, stained glass murals, pipe organs, wooden pews; A sense of reverence, awe and transcendence. Multipurpose auditoriums, basketball hoops, all weather carpet, stackable chairs; Welcome for the uninitiated, community, utility.   Pastors in robes, collars and suits, reverently pointing toward a Majestic Creator. Leaders in blue jeans, T-shirts and shorts, welcoming the common to worship the King.   Ancient hymns, chants and creeds; the test of time have proved them. Reverent singing, orchestra, organ, robed choirs, hymnals. New songs, drums, electric guitar, clapping, swaying, hands raised high; Tears of emotion, worship teams, sound systems, words on the wall.   Sprinkling, dunking, dedication, confirmation...

As our family prepared for our trip to The States this year, my wife, Becky, led the kids in a study of the American Civil War. They read biographies and historical novels. We watched the mini-series “Gettysburg,” sensed the horrible nature of war, and developed the sense that no one really won. During our travels we visited Stone Mountain, Georgia and learned more about Sherman’s March to the Sea and the Battle of Atlanta. We visited Chickamauga and learned of the significance of Chattanooga to the South, and better understood the uniqueness of this battle that was fought predominantly in the forest. And we visited Gettysburg where we visualized the killing fields of Pickett’s Charge, the Wheatfield, Seminary and Cemetery Ridges and Little Round Top, where so many died in such a short time. It was an emotional experience! As a result of these travels, a word picture began to take form in my mind: To the farmer who plowed the field, now long silent except for the sounds of nature and t...

We had a great two weeks! The Christian Medical Dental Association Gynecologic Surgery Team was a tremendous success! We performed thirty surgeries in two weeks. The last patients went home on May 27th. The main glitches were due to power (we lost one day the first week and two partial days the second week due to power outages) and autoclave (sterilizer) problems. We logged a number of “firsts” for Hospital Loma de Luz: ·        First surgeries in our permanent operating rooms. ·        First patients go through our permanent recovery room. ·        First patients in our in-patient wards. ·        First planned in-patients. ·        First major abdominal surgery (mostly hysterectomies) ·        First cystoscopy (looking in the bladder with a scope) ·        First laparoscopy (lookin...

Semana Santa, or “Holy Week” in Honduras, is much different than we are accustomed to in North America for the week before Easter. Semana Santa in Honduras, in one way, is like our Christmas or Thanksgiving. It is the time of year for family to be “home for the holidays” and to travel “over the rivers and through the rain forest”. Hondurans from around the country and the US return home in droves. Although the whole week is festive, Thursday and Friday are national holidays, creating a 4-day weekend. The peak of the festivities occurs on “Good Friday”. Unlike our Christmas, Semana Santa occurs during a hot time of year, so rather than celebrating in warm cozy homes, the beach becomes “the place to be”, adding a 4 th of July -like quality to the holiday. Preparations for the celebration actually begin early in the week. Celebrants cut palm branches and construct crude shelters on the beach to provide shade. More elaborate structures are built by vendors who will sell food and alcohol on...

People often ask, “What is missionary life like? What is a normal day for you?”   There is no such thing as a “normal” day! It is kind of like a television medical drama. People used to ask me if life in the hospital was really like the television program “ER”. I never even once watched “ER”, but from the accounts I heard, one episode may have represented in one hour the events that may have transpired in reality over two or three months, compressed into a short period of time. But who would really want to watch the boring routine of one day’s events? Occasionally a day may contain a cluster of events that produces a “very busy” day So, this is kind of like “ER” giving you a glimpse into missionary life. This just so happens to represent a true, exceptionally busy day in the life of a missionary doctor. The backdrop was a warm day just at the end of rainy season. Several new missionary families had just joined us, but were not yet settled in and oriented enough to enter fully into ...

I am pretty adaptable, never really suffering from homesickness, being content to be wherever I am. But occasionally I have a twinge of momentary melancholy that is usually triggered visually, but sometimes by a sound, a smell, a taste, or a thought. It is at times very powerful, causing a turn of the stomach, a surge of emotions. For example, last fall as we were eating at the mall in La Ceiba, we noticed a Big Ten football game on the TV screen. We live in a land of eternal summer where the climate changes little, and it is easy to forget the time of year. Seeing the football game brought a flood of thoughts that rushed through my mind in a matter of a couple of seconds. It began with thoughts of fall colors, falling leaves, burning leaves, frost, blue sky, Ohio State football and our years in Columbus, our church there, friends, the struggle of surgical residency, then a jump to high school football and marching band, the sounds and smells of a Friday night game, pep rallies, friends...

As visitors and fellow missionaries view our hospital building, surrounding property and structures, they frequently remark, “God is blessing!” Certainly, God is blessing, for He has promised to work all things for the good of those who love Him. But do we measure that blessing by the wrong standard? When my car breaks down, the roof leaks, the bridge washes out, my mother is diagnosed with cancer; is God blessing? Who would respond to these things with “What a blessing!”? Well certainly God is blessing Bill Gates! He blessed Bill Clinton! What a “blessing” (?) it is so be counted among the richest or most powerful in the world. Wouldn’t we say that a religious leader who represents our point of view, has gained world attention, is rallying countless people to his cause, but in the process is also being persecuted, is being blessed of God? How about Osama bin Laden? We measure blessing based on the externals, the visible, and often misconstrue human success as “God’s blessing”. Even as...

      By Abbie Drozek, age 11 y/o   There is a great big problem in our home. There are creatures popping up from places unknown.   Lots of different kinds of critters scurrying around, On the ceilings, and the counters, on the walls, and on the ground. There are cockroaches, centipedes, even a snake! Ants in the sink, for goodness sake!   Yes ,There is a great big problem in our home, For there are creatures popping up from places unknown.   A few weeks ago there was a larger problem. There was an anteater in our tree; all black and golden. It's tail was like a monkey's and it smelled like a skunk. But when we had come back from swimming, away it had slunk.   There are also lots of little crabs that scurry here and there. They are light brown and tan, and haven't any hair.   Yes, there's a great big problem in our home, There are creatures popping up from places unknown.   Last week the exterminator came and sprayed around; In the yard,...

How much would you spend to find out if your daughter’s injury was fatal or could be corrected?     $200? How much would you spend for surgery to correct a life-threatening problem? $2000?     How about if you could possibly afford $200, but not $2000?     To spend $200 to find out that your daughter needed surgery that you couldn’t afford, or that she had a fatal injury anyway would just frustrate you and put you in debt.     To put it into perspective for a North American, maybe the figures of a $100,000 and $1,000,000 would be more comparable.   Two Saturdays ago, we had big plans to work around the house.  It was a sunny day, in the 70’s, clear blue sky.  Becky was making bagels to give out as Christmas gifts.  I was emptying the bodega (storage shed) for a much needed cleaning and sorting.  Then our plans changed drastically.  The doorbell rang.   It was a messenger looking for our e...

It is so close that we can taste, touch, smell, see and hear it!     The front half of our hospital is almost complete!     It is hard to be patient!     I want to move in right now!   We “tasted” it on Thanksgiving Day when 45 North American missionaries celebrated a traditional Thanksgiving meal in the lobby.     We can touch the counters, doors, windows etc, and feel the reality of them.    We can smell the newness, the fresh paint, the cut wood, the glue for the flooring and baseboard, the dust from construction, and the wax for the floors.    We can see the walls and rooms, and imagine them completed with shelving and furniture and full of patients and staff.     And we can hear the sounds of the workers running the buffer and the saw, moving things, and their joyful voices as they see the job almost complete, a dream almost fulfilled.  They were here when this was nothing more than an ov...

What does God think about a human clone?     How does He see him?     Is the clone a being that bears the image of God?     Does it have a sin nature and a spirit that requires salvation?    On the answers to these question hinges our response.   What is the purpose of human cloning?  It appears to me that there are no good reasons to do so.  It circumvents the usual means of producing a human being that God has established.  It fulfills the selfish desires of individuals to have “organ banks” of compatible tissue for future use.  It lets scientists feel like they are gods.   Let’s for a moment assume that cloned human beings are not human; they merely represent an off growth of the donor, a cell that has been induced to reproduce into an identical image, an identical twin, removed in time.  How shall we treat this being?  If it is to be saved for organ donation, we certainly do...