"We are the clay and You our potter" Isa 64:8

This morning I said some of the hardest goodbyes I have said in a while as the Korean students left for Tanzania. What a blessing that group was to me and everyone here and what a void can be felt in their absence. This past week in preparation for their departure we played volleyball together, studied the Word together and even lead worship at the hospital together one morning. It is hard to put into words all that God thought me through them. But most notably, I was impressed and struck by watching their professor. A physician himself who the Lord sought and called to Himself after his career had started and taken off. He now lives to bring colleagues and medical students to Christ. But what struck me most was his patience in letting the Lord work. For example, during Biblestudy this week we talked about Matthew 5 :13-20, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its flavor how then shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and tramped un

This week we worked more hours and it seemed much harder hours than previous weeks. Dr. Sleeth had many extra things to do, so he allowed us to run the team this week without him. I was much impressed by how hard it was to do the simple things. I couldn’t just give an IV medication because it came as a powder and the nurse was asking me how to mix it and then how much to give. I had a premature infant that was desaturating and we had to bag for a while without his oxygen saturations improving. I was racking my brain for all the possible reasons and then we discovered that the oxygen was hooked up to the wrong outlet. Of course he did well after he was actually getting oxygen. The ventilator is possibly the first model every created (exaggeration) and learning to use it was it’s own challenge. So many little things that I have never had to do or think about. There is just not enough nurses to draw all the labs, give all the medications and take more vitals than once a shift. So essent

I can feel the comfort setting in as we adjust to the nuances of the hospital. The last few days on rounds I can say I have thoroughly enjoyed working, teaching the interns, and scratching our heads together over strange cases. There is so much I could potentially do here. I could actually really be helpful long term at the hospital. Dr. Sleeth and I together could really get things to the next level with protocols, teaching and coverage. But outside of the hospital it seems as though I would have little impact. There are so many believers here, and it has become like the bible belt where everyone knows of the name of Jesus but how many truly are known by Him? I always saw myself somewhere I would shine a little brighter. Somewhere a little more unreached. I feel torn. I would love to be here long term and help cover the pediatric wards and possibly even do some sports medicine. But I want to reach the unreached, and it doesn’t seem as though these are those people. I do have to remi

The sovereignty of God, you ether believe it or you don’t. Today I am thankful the Lord has allowed me to believe. Before I left the states I was working nights in the PICU. We had some hard cases where I knew that if this patient were in Africa they would not be alive at that moment. I have lost pediatric patients in the States but they all seemed like extreme cases. Yesterday our peds team lost two patients within minutes. Two codes going at the same time and neither successful. Both children suffered from things that would have been more easily been treated in the States. But here we were, with what we had. I have taken comfort in the sovereignty of God as I have many times claimed that He alone has authority to give and take life. God reminded me of this as we stopped coding the child I had been sweating over for more than 30 minutes. He alone has authority over life. This is the foundational reason why I cannot support abortion but must with all I am adamantly oppose it. This mo