Month: August 2020

“I GOT AN INTERVIEW AT MICHIGANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“We are getting married. Never thought this would happen for me again! God is SO good!

“Hey Doc, I’ve been meaning to tell you. Thanks for catching all of these melanomas lately. We have really had more for some reason recently. And, I gotta tell you, I don’t think I have ever had more job satisfaction. I believe we have really made a difference in people’s lives, maybe giving many of these people more years with their loved ones. As someone who has recently lost both a father and a mother-in-law to cancer, I realize on a more personal level how important our work is. Thanks again!!”

What do these three text messages have in common? I received them all on the same day, within the span of a few hours. All were from people for whom I regularly pray. The first was from a former dermatology resident who is interested in pursuing additional subspeciality training in dermatopathology. She was informing that she was just granted an interview at her top choice, the University of Michigan. 

The second text was from a dear sister in the Lord who used to work with me nearly twenty years ago as one of my transcribers. Several years ago, she lost her husband to cancer. They were high school sweethearts and shared a deep love for each other and God. God was gracious to her and allowed her to meet another strong Christian man. Three years ago, she asked me to pray for their relationship and when this text message appeared with a photograph of a beautiful diamond ring on her finger, I knew God had answered our prayers.

The third text was from a dermatologist colleague. Usually very business-like, I was surprised by the very personal nature of his text as he shared about his family members and encouraged that he was able to help so many of his patients by diagnosing their melanomas at an early and usually completely curable stage. 

As I reflected upon this amazing day of answered prayers, I realized that God was teaching me something about Himself and my faith. The following verse from Psalms immediately came to mind. 

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalms 37:4 (ESV)

Delighting yourself in the Lord is much more than just seeking blessings for one’s own life. God gives me the desires of my heart by allowing me to see how He blesses those for whom I care and treasure. In the very next verse, God reaffirms His promise to all who place their faith in Him, through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.

Psalms 37:5 (ESV)

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

“We saw the cutest little girl today. She was afraid of seeing the dentist but Mom was able to calm her down and we were able to clean her teeth.”

I was earnestly listening to my daughter discuss her day with our family at the dinner table. For the past two months, she had been assisting my wife, a pediatric dentist, in her office. As I watched my daughter and wife enthusiastically delve deeper into the nuances of dental care, a broad smile emerged on my face. She was exhibiting the same enthusiasm that my wife has when she discusses her day with me. Not only was she immensely enjoying the experience, she even began thinking about changing her career plans to dentistry. Neither me nor my wife had ever pushed our respective careers upon our children. It was gratifying to see the evolution of my daughter’s career choice. My wife was imparting her many years of wisdom and experience to my daughter and she was positively responding. Like mother, like daughter!

Her mouth speaks wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue.

Proverbs 31:26 (CSB)

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD will be praised.

Proverbs 31:30 (CSB)

The Bible honors the godly influence of mothers in the lives of their children. Whether it is through the spiritual or vocational guidance, a godly mother is one who fears God above all else.

The sayings of King Lemuel contain this message, which his mother taught him. 

Proverbs 31:1 (NLT)

In this last chapter from the book of Proverbs, the author, King Lemuel, honors his mother. Many Bible scholars believe King Lemuel was really King Solomon, acclaimed as the wisest man in the world at that time. Most of the Book of Proverbs was written by him, inspired by God, the Holy Spirit. Yet in this last chapter of Proverbs, Solomon acknowledges the role that his mother, Bathsheba, had in molding and shaping his faith in God. Solomon’s great wisdom in God was rooted in his mother’s tender guidance and example. 

I am thankful that my wife is a godly woman who fears God. Since the birth of our children, she has been a positive spiritual influence, helping to shape their understanding of God’s love, grace, and mercy. Now, as a young adult, my wife is taking on a new role as she imparts her collective wisdom as a pediatric dentist to our daughter. The nurturing influence of a godly mother never ceases!

Like mother, like daughter. 

Praise God!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

Accounting fraud. Baseball statistics. Distances of galaxies from the Earth.

Surprisingly, all of these disparate and seemingly unconnected data points follow a principle dubbed “Benford’s Law.” Named for the physicist, Frank Benford, it is also known as the “Newcomb-Benford Law” and the “First Digit Law” and postulates that the number 1 is more frequently represented than the other digits, 2 through 9 when examining data sets of large numbers.

Although the application of traditional probability analysis should lead to the conclusion that each number has an equal 1/9 chance of being used, Benford found that the number 1 is represented about 30% of the time when dealing with these sets of large numbers. Even more surprising, is the following numbers such as 2, 3 until 9, occur with decreasing frequency by approximately 11%. This logarithmic scale is illustrated here. 

Source: The Cleverst.com

What are the real world applications?

It turns out that so many random processes follow Benford’s law that when one attempts to fraudulently change the numbers, it will violate the law and raise concerns. This is exactly what happens in forensic accounting. During the Dot-com bubble and bust, a number of very high profile companies were cooking their books. Retrospective analyses clearly demonstrated a deviation from Benford’s Law which could have alerted auditors. Presently, Benford’s law is used by auditors to screen for fraudulent tax returns. As University of Maryland researcher Professor Jen Golbeck noted, “It’s amazing to see how Benford’s law, something that a human being observed, can be applied to everything that we see around us, from taxes, music, sports, crime, votes, social media and the entire universe as well. You name it, and Benford’s Law is probably there.”

A law that is present in every activity we are engaged in, infuses many natural phenomena, and even is embedded within the workings of the universe. This sounds familiar!

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world…

Psalms 19:1-4 (NLT)

God has embedded His omniscient and omnipresent qualities into His Creation. As we discover more principles of how God operates in His world, it should not surprise us that our world is not a random assortment of physical forces. The beauty and complexity of Creation should lead us to the beauty and supreme intelligence of God, its Creator. 

Indeed, all Creation proclaims the glory of God!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

Nearly all medical decisions are based upon the results of the laboratory.  These results are complicated and written in highly technical language, requiring years of training to properly interpret.  Ironically, the physician producing these results, the pathologist, very rarely communicates with the patient.  The patient that is able to understand their laboratory result is in a better position to make an informed decision regarding their medical care.  By sending us a copy of your medical report, a board certified pathologist will “translate” your report into everyday language.  Thus the patient can now access the tremendous resource of the pathologist.

Source: The Doctor’s Doctor website. 

This paragraph is from my website, which I created to help patients understand their pathology and laboratory reports. From 1998 until 2019, this informational website was dedicated to empowering patients. The website was very popular, garnering over 32 million internet hits in 2005. It was even mentioned in an article in the “Wall Street Journal” citing it as an important reference for patient information. It connected me with patients throughout the world and impressed upon me a very important lesson. When given a medical diagnosis, everyone is seeking to better understand their own disease. I can provide a very scholarly and detailed answer but at the heart of every inquiry is the question, “Am I going to die and if not, can I be cured?”

There is an important spiritual lesson. When I am hurting, I could turn to a theological discussion on the problem of pain and suffering. Indeed, I have learned a great deal from reading books by gifted evangelists, preachers, and theologians. However, while these scholarly discussions have shed great insight into my problem, at the heart of my every inquiry is the question, “Why is this happening to me?”

Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:9-11 (CSB)

God, our Heavenly Father, translates and explains the complex problem of pain and suffering by putting it into the perspective of our earthly fathers. We do not have to go to an internet site to learn of God’s wisdom. He freely gives it to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. If we confess and repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God’s Holy Spirit will immediately indwell within us, always giving us guidance and direction to understand God’s purpose for our lives. 

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

“Honey can you go next door and get some Meyer lemons?”

“No problem.” At my wife’s request, I walked to the backyard of my neighbor, heading straight to his lemon tree. Spying some luscious lemons, I picked several and turned to return home. My neighbor’s wife saw me from her kitchen window and cheerfully waved. Twenty years ago, my neighbor and his wife moved into the house next door at the same time we did. They were both retired and the husband’s passion was gardening. His backyard is a veritable farmer’s market of fresh produce. When we first met, they often brought over fresh Meyer lemons and other fruits and vegetables. One day, his wife came over and said, “You know, anytime you want some fruits or vegetables, you don’t have to ask, just come over and pick them yourself!” So after a few hesitating visits, we did. 

We later learned that my neighbor’s love of gardening is well-known in the area where we live. Ironically, before we bought our home, we visited his home that he was selling. In addition to the immaculate condition of his home, we were treated to a tour of his backyard. It was even more impressive than his current backyard. He had cultivated twenty fruit trees and a wide variety of vegetables. To assist any prospective home buyer, he created a detailed map showing the location of each tree and vegetable bush in English and Chinese! The information may not be useful to every homeowner but if one needs such detailed information, it is there, thanks to the thoughtfulness of my neighbor. 

This interesting example reminds me of the way the Bible is very detailed in its descriptions of the sacrificial system of worship for the Jews. When I read passages in the book of Leviticus, my mind sometimes glosses over the details: arranging the heads of a sheep or goat on the sacrificial altar, sprinkling the altar with its blood, and then washing the internal organs and legs (Leviticus 1). When will I ever need this information? Why would God give such granular details? The beautiful answer is that it points us to understand the ultimate sacrifice of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. All of the detailed instructions for sacrifice acted as a tutor for the Jews and for us, to lead us to the understanding and realization that we need much more than animal sacrifices to atone for our sins. 

For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Hebrews 10:1-4 (NLT)

We need a Savior. We need Jesus Christ. Jesus instituted a New Covenant, a new agreement between God and man by becoming the actual sacrifice and being crucified on the Cross. 

For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

Hebrews 10:10-12 (NLT)

Like the very detailed map my neighbor left for the fortunate buyer who purchased his home, in the first books of the Bible, God gave us a detailed outline of why the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is central to the redemption of mankind. It is written in the Bible because of the omniscient knowledge and providence of an Almighty God!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

Several years ago, I decided to fast, coordinated with a church-wide Bible study in which I was participating. During this exercise, we were encouraged to perform our usual daily activities and during the time we usually took for eating, we should spend it in prayer and meditation. At first, I thought I would only be able to fast for 24 hours but after the first day, I realized that I was able to extend it for another day. During the fast, I attempted to focus upon the sustenance of God and found it to be a fulfilling experience. After the fast, I shared my experiences with others in the Bible study group and nearly all of us agreed it was a good spiritual exercise. However, I have never fasted again since this study and I have always wondered if I should be fasting more frequently.

“You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord? “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58:5-6‬ (‭NLT‬‬)

I was recently challenged by this definition of prophecy from the Book of Isaiah. Fasting is much more than a short-time denial of food, it is about sacrificing one’s time and effort for the purpose of serving God. Fasting does not have to end with the restarting of meals, it is a continual spiritual state. It is an action that seeks to care for God’s Creation by extending the same grace and mercy that He offers to all of us. When we fast, we voluntarily give up the comforts of our life by contributing our most valuable resources to those who are less fortunate. This may take the form of time, financial resources, or service. Whatever the sacrifice, it should be performed without fanfare or trumpeting one’s actions to serve others.

There are many levels of fasting. Thanks be to God for redefining my understanding of fasting. It is a continual spiritual sacrifice to serve God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. 

Amen!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

The song was familiar but there were subtle differences. There was a change in the wording of one of the phrases, the drum fill added an extra high hat, and the instrumental solo was an organ instead of a guitar. 

I was listening to an outtake.

Whether in a movie or musical recording, outtakes are performances that were filmed or recorded but ultimately not used. A blooper reel is one humorous example for video productions. For musical recordings, it is usually a take where a mistake was made or the recording did not have the final approval of the artists or producers. 

Special compilations, readily available through social media, have showcased numerous musical outtakes from famous artists and musicians. It provides a unique and fascinating opportunity to see how a song may evolve to the final product. Sometimes, musical themes develop with each outtake until the final product is showcased in the finished well-known recording. Thus, what sounds like a perfect recording is often the result of painstaking hours of editing and reworking. 

Some critics of the Bible and Christianity claim the Bible has undergone numerous revisions to bolster the claim that Jesus Christ is truly God. In essence, they were stating that the early Gospels and letters of the New Testament written by Paul, Peter, and other disciples of Jesus were outtakes, and the Bible was revised over time to support the divine narrative. Some pundits even aver the early Church fathers did not believe Jesus was divine; it was only a theme that developed over hundreds of years, brought to completion at the Council at Nicea in 325 A.D. when an unequivocal statement affirming the divinity of Jesus Christ was written and issued. Before this, there were numerous versions of the Bible, some in conflict with one another. 

What many critics fail to mention is the Council at Nicea was simply reaffirming what the Bible had stated hundreds of years earlier. All of the Books of the New Testament were written within sixty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of the authors were eyewitnesses to the living Jesus after His resurrection. 

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:1-3 (NLT)

This letter from the Apostle John is one of the last letters written in the New Testament. John was one of Jesus’ closest disciples, one of the original twelve Apostles. He walked and lived with Him for three years, witnessing countless miracles. He saw Him tortured and crucified on the Cross. He was an eye-witness to His glorious Resurrection and fellowshipped with Him for forty days until He ascended and returned to heaven to God, His Father. No one questioned the authenticity of John’s testimony and his writings. In this opening passage in this letter, John is unequivocally stating that Jesus is God. 

God directed men, moved by His Holy Spirit, to record His teachings. God does not make mistakes. The Bible is not the sum of numerous outtakes. It is the infallible and inerrant Word of God.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

In science, ideas begin with a hypothesis. If this hypothesis is tested and is proven correct by many independent researchers, it may become elevated to the status of a theory. We are familiar with many. 

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

Heisenberg’s Theory of Uncertainty

With time, these theories, after subject to thousands of additional experiments and testing may reach the hallowed status of a Law. Here are a few.

Newton’s Laws of Gravitation
Benford’s Law.

There are laws of nature and there also Laws of God. God declared His Laws to His people through His prophet Moses. However, unlike the laws of nature, there are no hypotheses or theories in God’s Kingdom. God’s Law begins and ends with His declaration. He does not have to prove them because they are self-evident and written on the hearts of all of us, His Creation. However, our sinful natures may rebel against His Truth and determine that we know of a better way to live in this world and deal with our relationships. Thousands of years later, God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, reinforced the unchanging and inerrant Law of God. 

And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Matthew 22:35-40 (CSB)

Laws of Nature.

Jesus Christ is the source of all the Laws of nature and of life. He fulfilled God’s purpose for all of us by living a perfect life, completely devoted to God, the Father, and sacrificing His life so that all who believe in Him would have eternal life and salvation. 

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

“Hurry Sweetheart, you’re going to miss the beginning of the fourth quarter.”

“Don’t worry! All we need to do is watch the last five minutes of the game!” I confidently declared to my wife.

“But they are down by fifteen points! There isn’t enough time!”

“Don’t worry, they will do it!” Sure enough, at about the six minute mark, our favorite basketball team began to rally. With one minute to go, they tied the game and a last second buzzer beater clinched the victory!

As many basketball fans can attest, the most exciting portion of a basketball game often occurs in the final five minutes. No matter how bleak it may seem for one’s favorite team, they usually find a way to pull out a stunning victory. I state “usually” since there have been times when I have been disappointed. Sometimes when the circumstances seem darkest, there may be no way to snatch victory from defeat. 

When I read the Book of Revelation, I may initially be discouraged that there is no way evil can be overcome.  It is seven years of Tribulation, the worst famines, wars, and diseases this world will ever experience. Over a third of the earth’s population will die and those who remain will be tortured by Satans’ demons. The sheer desperation of the time is vividly captured in this verse.

In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

Revelation 9:6 (CSB)

There is so much angst that people feel during this current COVID19 crisis, prompting them to cry out, “Where is God?” Sadly, this will pale in comparison to the sheer terror of the Tribulation. How long can mankind hold out? Will God be able to pull out a victory in the last moments of the ultimate fight for our existence? The answer is a resounding yes!

The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:10 (CSB)

No matter how bleak our circumstances may appear, we can be completely confident that God and Good will triumph over Satan and evil, but we do not have to wait for the Tribulation period for this to happen. If you confess and repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will secure immediate victory over death by salvation and eternal life. God will rescue you before the start of the Tribulation by His grace and mercy. For those who ignore Gods’ invitation, there is still an opportunity for all to secure victory from defeat during the Tribulation. 

God continues to extend His grace and mercy to all who chose victory in His Name rather than defeat with Satan. Even if it occurs in the last five minutes of the Tribulation, when things seem darkest, God will always be victorious!

Amen!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

“She’s different!”

“What do you mean, different?”

“She’s different!”

I was conversing with my classmate. We were both in the third grade and I was struggling to understand her attempts to describe her older sister who attended a special school. I had met her a few times when she accompanied her mother to pick up my classmate from school. It was not until many years later, when I was an adult, did I learn from my mother that she was autistic.

Over fifty years ago, autism was not widely known, poorly understood, and rarely discussed in public. Today, tremendous progress has been made and societal inclusion and acceptance is the goal. There is still much work but understanding the complex genetic and environmental factors that lead to autism has led to excellent interventional strategies and treatments.

Most of us have met someone who has been diagnosed with the autism spectrum disorder. I have been blessed through these many relationships just as I have been blessed through all my relationships with others with special needs, including my son, who has Down syndrome. God has endowed them with a different way to view His Creation and I am thankful to continue to learn new insights and perspectives I would never have arrived on my own. 

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

God does not make mistakes. Every person is a unique creation, blessed with a soul that yearns to meet their Maker. Everyone is endowed with a gift by which God can use to bless the individual and they, in turn, can bless others. Autism is one of these gifts. Since the majority of people do not have autism, God has chosen to specially bless them and others with special needs to help us to better understand ourselves and how differences can complete, not fragment, our understanding of the grace and mercy of God in this broken world. 

She’s different. Yes, because she and everyone are God’s masterpiece!

Praise God!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.