Some of you may have noticed a new list of links on the far right hand side of the blog and a new blog label both titled, "zoweh". This is a new term I have came across in reading which speaks about a new life in Christ. I've decided to label most of my Christian themed past/future post's this and please check out the links under "Zoweh" for some great Christ-centered Churches. I highly recommend the online sermons from all the churches in the list. I'll let C.S. Lewis go into more detail about Zoweh now:
"In reality, the difference between Biological life and Spiritual life is so important that I am going to give them two distinct names. The Biological sort which comes to us through nature, and which (like everything else in nature) is always tending to run down and decay so that it can only be dept up by incessant subsidies from nature in the form of air, water, food, etc., is Bios. The Spiritual life which is in God from all eternity, and which made the whole natural universe, is Zoweh. Bios has, to be sure, a certain shadowy or symbolic resemblance to Zoweh; but only the sort of resemblance there is between a photo and a place, or a statue and a man. A man who changed from having Bios to having Zoweh would have gone through as big a change as a statue which changed from being carved stone to being a real man. And that is precisely what Christianity is about. The world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to LIFE (Zoweh)". -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
12.14.2008
12.09.2008
advent conspiracy
Watch:
I ask that we all learn more about how to put Christ back in CHRISTmas here or on our own (through study of the Bible, through our Church, through our walk with Christ).
I ask that we all learn more about how to put Christ back in CHRISTmas here or on our own (through study of the Bible, through our Church, through our walk with Christ).
11.12.2008
i(n)sight
Obviously, I have too much time on my hands at the moment. I think it's a cool pic nonetheless.
11.05.2008
post-election views
Here is a post from Pastor Mark Driscoll's blog, The Resurgence. Below is the entry entitled "In God When Do Not Trust". Convicting words.
In God We Do Not Trust
by Mark Driscoll
In my years of pastoral ministry I have worked very hard to not be political. I believe that my job as a pastor is to preach and teach the Bible well so that my people make their decisions, including their voting decisions, out of their faith convictions.
This election season which has dominated the cultural conversation for many months has been particularly insightful regarding the incessant gospel thirst that abides deep in the heart of the men and women who bear God's image. Without endorsing or maligning either political party or their respective presidential candidates, I am hopeful that a few insights from the recent election season are of help, particularly to younger evangelicals.
First, people are longing for a savior who will atone for their sins. In this election, people thirst for a savior who will atone for their economic sins of buying things they did not need with money they did not have. The result is a mountain of credit debt they cannot pay and a desperate yearning that somehow a new president will save them from economic hell.
Second, people are longing for a king who will keep them safe from terror in his kingdom. In the Old Testament the concept of a peaceable kingdom is marked by the word shalom. In shalom there is not only the absence of sin, war, strife, and suffering but also the presence of love, peace, harmony, and health. And, this thirst for shalom is so parched that every election people cannot help but naively believe that if their candidate simply wins shalom is sure to come despite sin and the curse.
The bottom line is obvious to those with gospel eyes. People are longing for Jesus, and tragically left voting for mere presidential candidates. For those whose candidate wins today there will be some months of groundless euphoric faith in that candidate and the atoning salvation that their kingdom will bring. But, in time, their supporters will see that no matter who wins the presidency, they are mere mortals prone to sin, folly, and self-interest just like all the other sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. To help extend naïve false hope as long as possible, a great enemy will be named and demonized as the one who is hindering all of the progress to atone for our sins and usher in our kingdom. If the Democrats win it will be the rich, and if the Republicans win it will be the terrorists. This diversionary trick is as old as Eve who blamed her sin on Satan rather than repenting. The lie is that it's always someone else's fault and we're always the victim of sinners and never the sinner.
Speaking of repentance, sadly, no matter who wins there will be no call to personal repentance of our own personal sins which contributes to cultural suffering and decline such as our pride, gluttony, covetousness, greed, indebtedness, self-righteousness, perversion, and laziness. And, in four years we'll do it all again and pretend that this time things will be different. Four years after that, we'll do it yet again. And, we'll continue driving around this cul de sac until Jesus returns, sets up his throne, and puts an end to folly once and for all.
In the meantime, I would encourage all preachers to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance of personal sin. He alone can truly atone for our sins. He alone can deliver us from a real hell. He alone is our sinless and great King. And, he alone has a Shalom kingdom to offer.
Lastly, for those preachers who have gotten sidetracked for the cause of a false king and a false kingdom by making too much of the election and too little of Jesus, today is a good day to practice repentance in preparation to preach it on Sunday. Just give it some time. The thirst will remain that only Jesus can quench. So, we've still got work to do….until we see King Jesus and voting is done once and for all.
In God We Do Not Trust
by Mark Driscoll
In my years of pastoral ministry I have worked very hard to not be political. I believe that my job as a pastor is to preach and teach the Bible well so that my people make their decisions, including their voting decisions, out of their faith convictions.
This election season which has dominated the cultural conversation for many months has been particularly insightful regarding the incessant gospel thirst that abides deep in the heart of the men and women who bear God's image. Without endorsing or maligning either political party or their respective presidential candidates, I am hopeful that a few insights from the recent election season are of help, particularly to younger evangelicals.
First, people are longing for a savior who will atone for their sins. In this election, people thirst for a savior who will atone for their economic sins of buying things they did not need with money they did not have. The result is a mountain of credit debt they cannot pay and a desperate yearning that somehow a new president will save them from economic hell.
Second, people are longing for a king who will keep them safe from terror in his kingdom. In the Old Testament the concept of a peaceable kingdom is marked by the word shalom. In shalom there is not only the absence of sin, war, strife, and suffering but also the presence of love, peace, harmony, and health. And, this thirst for shalom is so parched that every election people cannot help but naively believe that if their candidate simply wins shalom is sure to come despite sin and the curse.
The bottom line is obvious to those with gospel eyes. People are longing for Jesus, and tragically left voting for mere presidential candidates. For those whose candidate wins today there will be some months of groundless euphoric faith in that candidate and the atoning salvation that their kingdom will bring. But, in time, their supporters will see that no matter who wins the presidency, they are mere mortals prone to sin, folly, and self-interest just like all the other sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. To help extend naïve false hope as long as possible, a great enemy will be named and demonized as the one who is hindering all of the progress to atone for our sins and usher in our kingdom. If the Democrats win it will be the rich, and if the Republicans win it will be the terrorists. This diversionary trick is as old as Eve who blamed her sin on Satan rather than repenting. The lie is that it's always someone else's fault and we're always the victim of sinners and never the sinner.
Speaking of repentance, sadly, no matter who wins there will be no call to personal repentance of our own personal sins which contributes to cultural suffering and decline such as our pride, gluttony, covetousness, greed, indebtedness, self-righteousness, perversion, and laziness. And, in four years we'll do it all again and pretend that this time things will be different. Four years after that, we'll do it yet again. And, we'll continue driving around this cul de sac until Jesus returns, sets up his throne, and puts an end to folly once and for all.
In the meantime, I would encourage all preachers to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance of personal sin. He alone can truly atone for our sins. He alone can deliver us from a real hell. He alone is our sinless and great King. And, he alone has a Shalom kingdom to offer.
Lastly, for those preachers who have gotten sidetracked for the cause of a false king and a false kingdom by making too much of the election and too little of Jesus, today is a good day to practice repentance in preparation to preach it on Sunday. Just give it some time. The thirst will remain that only Jesus can quench. So, we've still got work to do….until we see King Jesus and voting is done once and for all.
11.03.2008
vote (or don't)
Derek Webb in commemoration of tomorrow's election has again made his album "Mockingbird" available for free online, for one week only. This album speaks volumes regarding our social, political, and global environments and gives us a lens, as Christians, through which we should look at the problems in each realm. I highly recommend this album, specifically the songs "Rich young ruler" and "My enemies are men like me".Derek also recently wrote an article regarding voting and the upcoming election titled, "How Shall We Then Vote?", which you can find here. Enjoy the reading and album. Pay close attention to lyrics. And go out and vote, or don't.
8.28.2008
amish neurosurgeon
A few weeks ago my attending let me do my first solo vetriculostomy. This is a common bedside procedure we do to relieve intracranial pressure from either trauma, a tumor causing mass effect, or if a pt has a intracranial bleed they may not be able to properly drain their cerebrospinal fluid/CSF (called hydrocephalus).
We were called in because this pt had driven drunk home from his bachelor party and crashed into a tree at a high speed. He was 27 years old and only 6 days out from his wedding with a worsening neurological exam by the minute.
The first thing you do in any cranial neurosurgical procedure is give the pt a very bad haircut. Essentially, you only shave the right frontal area of the skull to locate an anatomical spot called Kocher's point for a ventriculostomy. This is a spot found if you would draw two lines upward onto your head first from your right ear and secondly, from the mid-point of your right pupil; the intersecting point of the two lines is Kocher's. Once you have located the spot you numb the area with lidocaine, incise with a scalpel, and open the 1-2 cm incision with a small retractor.
Next comes the fun. You take out your trusty hand-powered drill (hence the title of this entry), set the drill bit; which I was reassured was designed to not allow the operator to plunge into the brain once you've drilled through the skull. This is the critical stage of the procedure. The angle of the drill needs to be perfect and unchanging while your right hand presses downward on the drill and your left hand cranks the drill to power the bit through the skull. The drilling is done until you feel a "pop" as you go through the inner table of the skull and hit dura. The dura (outer covering of the brain) needs to be incised to allow the passage of the catheter (hollow tube) through the burrhole (nice way to say hole you just drilled into someone's head) into the brain and hopefully directly into one of the two lateral ventricles to drain off the CSF and relieve the pressure. Once proper drainage is confirmed the catheter is secured and connected to a drainage system to monitor the fluid output.
The outcome's are mixed in the patients we perform this procedure, depending on the contributing factors which caused them to need a ventriculostomy. In the case of this young man sadly, he did not recover. He is clinically brain dead but, his family refuses to let go at this time. I haven't seen him in a few weeks. I don't think I'll likely ever forget his story or the feeling of that pop when I finally drilled through his skull.
-07.31.08 Update: Just saw the pt again today. He is totally unresponsive on neurological exam other than a cough (one of the last reflexes to go). He is dependent on a ventilator to breath and has a feeding tube placed. Realistically, he is no longer alive. His family and fiancee however feel he will awaken one day, they've moved the wedding date to November. Very Sad.
We were called in because this pt had driven drunk home from his bachelor party and crashed into a tree at a high speed. He was 27 years old and only 6 days out from his wedding with a worsening neurological exam by the minute.
The first thing you do in any cranial neurosurgical procedure is give the pt a very bad haircut. Essentially, you only shave the right frontal area of the skull to locate an anatomical spot called Kocher's point for a ventriculostomy. This is a spot found if you would draw two lines upward onto your head first from your right ear and secondly, from the mid-point of your right pupil; the intersecting point of the two lines is Kocher's. Once you have located the spot you numb the area with lidocaine, incise with a scalpel, and open the 1-2 cm incision with a small retractor.
Next comes the fun. You take out your trusty hand-powered drill (hence the title of this entry), set the drill bit; which I was reassured was designed to not allow the operator to plunge into the brain once you've drilled through the skull. This is the critical stage of the procedure. The angle of the drill needs to be perfect and unchanging while your right hand presses downward on the drill and your left hand cranks the drill to power the bit through the skull. The drilling is done until you feel a "pop" as you go through the inner table of the skull and hit dura. The dura (outer covering of the brain) needs to be incised to allow the passage of the catheter (hollow tube) through the burrhole (nice way to say hole you just drilled into someone's head) into the brain and hopefully directly into one of the two lateral ventricles to drain off the CSF and relieve the pressure. Once proper drainage is confirmed the catheter is secured and connected to a drainage system to monitor the fluid output.
The outcome's are mixed in the patients we perform this procedure, depending on the contributing factors which caused them to need a ventriculostomy. In the case of this young man sadly, he did not recover. He is clinically brain dead but, his family refuses to let go at this time. I haven't seen him in a few weeks. I don't think I'll likely ever forget his story or the feeling of that pop when I finally drilled through his skull.
-07.31.08 Update: Just saw the pt again today. He is totally unresponsive on neurological exam other than a cough (one of the last reflexes to go). He is dependent on a ventilator to breath and has a feeding tube placed. Realistically, he is no longer alive. His family and fiancee however feel he will awaken one day, they've moved the wedding date to November. Very Sad.
8.04.2008
human study
Just a few movies and one musical artist that have greatly amused me. All of them are definitely off the beaten path.
-King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters:
-Wordplay:
-Lastly is an artist we saw this past Friday at the Musikfest in Bethlehem. He goes buy the name Cast in Bronze, wears an all black jumpsuit, rocks out on a carillon, and wears quite an interesting mask. Check it out:
-King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters:
-Wordplay:
-Lastly is an artist we saw this past Friday at the Musikfest in Bethlehem. He goes buy the name Cast in Bronze, wears an all black jumpsuit, rocks out on a carillon, and wears quite an interesting mask. Check it out:
7.25.2008
colorado
Below are a few pictures which I enjoy from my recent trip out to Colorado. I miss the immensity of nature and the feeling of magnificence that I get hiking is such an amazing surrounding; I think this is why I love the West so much and am longing to return permanently to it in the next few years.
The mountains from our bedroom window the morning we were leaving to come back to the east coast (hard to leave).
Waterfall on the ascent to the Mohawk lakes outside of Breckenridge, CO.
Waterfall during a hike to an unnamed alpine lake, hike was the McCullough Gulch trail. Quite a nice hike and highly recommended; also outside Breckenridge.
4.20.2008
tales from the nsicu
Hey. Sorry for the lapse in my blogging, not that I was ever very routine, but it's been a while. Most to blame is my new job as a Neurosurgical Physician Assistant, which is what prompts today's post. Since, starting this job 3 months ago I've already experienced first hand the sadness of telling someone they have an incurable cancer or treating them emergently to save their life. There is a sadness in this job when you treat a large group of people with cancer, often which is fatal, regardless of if we treat them or not. So, when we find any humor in this job we tend to latch onto it, albeit some dark humor at time.
Which brings me to the story for this post. We were consulted by the trauma team about 2 weeks ago regarding a 21 year old female who had been in a motor vehicle accident; which was very likely occurred due to her intake of heroin and cocaine. It had been a prolonged extraction on scene by EMS and Fire and by the time she had arrived at the hospital she had a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 2 (normal is 15) according to the ER resident freaking out on the phone with my attending. The pt had pretty normal appearing CT of her head and her low GCS could also be due to the large amount of illicit drugs she had taken. So, the recommendation was to let her go to the OR for her ruptured spleen to be taken out and then see if she wakes up after the surgery. If not, then she may need a vetriculostomy (read - tube in head to relieve pressure) placed to relieve any pressure on her brain.
Now, jump forward to this past week. Pt now is awake, spleen-less, and her mom is visiting her in the Neurosurgical ICU. The trauma team is rounding on their pt's and as they come by the mother recognizes the trauma attending physician as the same doctor who save her life when she crashed her car, all hopped up on drugs, and almost died about 3 years ago. So the mother is singing the doctor's praises and introduces her boyfriend; a very active Pagan (a motorcycle gang here). So the mom and scary motorcycle gang member boyfriend are talking to the doctor about how they almost lost their little girl (the 21 year old pt) last year when she took some bad heroin which was laced. The mom proudly boasts that that drug dealer is dead now, he "drowned" *wink, wink*.
The trauma team is is trying to continue on their rounds and the pt's mom thanks the trauma attending one last time saying that she is so great now that she is even back to work. That's great say's the trauma doctor......what doe she do for work you might ask? She's a stripper. Who happened to have one of her legs amputated 3 years ago in her drug-induced car wreck. A one-legged stripper whose stage name is, "Feather". Whose motorcycle gang boyfriend kills people if you give his girls laced heroin.
Sometimes I think advanced medicine gets in the way of natural selection.
Which brings me to the story for this post. We were consulted by the trauma team about 2 weeks ago regarding a 21 year old female who had been in a motor vehicle accident; which was very likely occurred due to her intake of heroin and cocaine. It had been a prolonged extraction on scene by EMS and Fire and by the time she had arrived at the hospital she had a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 2 (normal is 15) according to the ER resident freaking out on the phone with my attending. The pt had pretty normal appearing CT of her head and her low GCS could also be due to the large amount of illicit drugs she had taken. So, the recommendation was to let her go to the OR for her ruptured spleen to be taken out and then see if she wakes up after the surgery. If not, then she may need a vetriculostomy (read - tube in head to relieve pressure) placed to relieve any pressure on her brain.
Now, jump forward to this past week. Pt now is awake, spleen-less, and her mom is visiting her in the Neurosurgical ICU. The trauma team is rounding on their pt's and as they come by the mother recognizes the trauma attending physician as the same doctor who save her life when she crashed her car, all hopped up on drugs, and almost died about 3 years ago. So the mother is singing the doctor's praises and introduces her boyfriend; a very active Pagan (a motorcycle gang here). So the mom and scary motorcycle gang member boyfriend are talking to the doctor about how they almost lost their little girl (the 21 year old pt) last year when she took some bad heroin which was laced. The mom proudly boasts that that drug dealer is dead now, he "drowned" *wink, wink*.
The trauma team is is trying to continue on their rounds and the pt's mom thanks the trauma attending one last time saying that she is so great now that she is even back to work. That's great say's the trauma doctor......what doe she do for work you might ask? She's a stripper. Who happened to have one of her legs amputated 3 years ago in her drug-induced car wreck. A one-legged stripper whose stage name is, "Feather". Whose motorcycle gang boyfriend kills people if you give his girls laced heroin.
Sometimes I think advanced medicine gets in the way of natural selection.
1.27.2008
notables
This update is to let you all in on a few great blogs that I keep up with.
-The first one is called "Donde Esta Timoteo" (Where is Tim?), by a young man named Tim Dyk, a local Ellensburg boy. Tim is enrolled in a program called photogenx through an organization called YWAM. The cool part of photogenx is that you travel all around the world learning about photography and also, studying the bible, along with mission work. Tim has a lot of talent and great insight for being so young. Keep an eye on him.
-Next up is a newly hatched blog called "Bolivia Bound Backpackers", by Jen and Andrew Lyons, or "the hippies" as Rae and I affectionately call them. Jen and Andrew left this past Tuesday for Lima, Peru and they will travel from Lima over the Pan American Highway to Cochabamba, Bolivia. In Cochabamba, a fun town to say nonetheless, they'll volunteer in two orphanages for about 6 months before wandering back through Peru to fly home again in August of 2008. The Lyons have been talking about traveling/volunteering in South America longer than I've know them so it was a bittersweet goodbye this past Monday. The really cool thing is that Jen and Andrew have financed the entire trip themselves; they saved up and are going, on their own dime, to volunteer and talk about God to the people of Cochabamba. A pretty respectable endeavor, to say the least.
-Lastly, a blog called "Once Again", by David Lyons, Andrew's brother. David is a Army helicopter pilot about 50% of the way through a 16 month deployment in Iraq (at the time of this post). I've never met David, so all my David knowledge is via Andrew. It's interesting to read about the war through the eyes of a regular Christian guy, who is away from his wife, and just trying to get through this chapter in his life. This is David's second deployment, hence the tittle of his blog, and hopefully God will keep him safe and he'll be home soon.
I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I do. All the blogs that I regularly keep up on have links over on the right hand of my blog under the title, "Notables". Have a good week.
-The first one is called "Donde Esta Timoteo" (Where is Tim?), by a young man named Tim Dyk, a local Ellensburg boy. Tim is enrolled in a program called photogenx through an organization called YWAM. The cool part of photogenx is that you travel all around the world learning about photography and also, studying the bible, along with mission work. Tim has a lot of talent and great insight for being so young. Keep an eye on him.
-Next up is a newly hatched blog called "Bolivia Bound Backpackers", by Jen and Andrew Lyons, or "the hippies" as Rae and I affectionately call them. Jen and Andrew left this past Tuesday for Lima, Peru and they will travel from Lima over the Pan American Highway to Cochabamba, Bolivia. In Cochabamba, a fun town to say nonetheless, they'll volunteer in two orphanages for about 6 months before wandering back through Peru to fly home again in August of 2008. The Lyons have been talking about traveling/volunteering in South America longer than I've know them so it was a bittersweet goodbye this past Monday. The really cool thing is that Jen and Andrew have financed the entire trip themselves; they saved up and are going, on their own dime, to volunteer and talk about God to the people of Cochabamba. A pretty respectable endeavor, to say the least.
-Lastly, a blog called "Once Again", by David Lyons, Andrew's brother. David is a Army helicopter pilot about 50% of the way through a 16 month deployment in Iraq (at the time of this post). I've never met David, so all my David knowledge is via Andrew. It's interesting to read about the war through the eyes of a regular Christian guy, who is away from his wife, and just trying to get through this chapter in his life. This is David's second deployment, hence the tittle of his blog, and hopefully God will keep him safe and he'll be home soon.
I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I do. All the blogs that I regularly keep up on have links over on the right hand of my blog under the title, "Notables". Have a good week.
1.20.2008
change
A quick note on the name change. Over the past 4-6 months I've realized how naive it was to title my blog, "with my own two hands"; a sweet Ben Harper song nonetheless, but not how I as a Christian should be focusing. My two hands, human hands, only really mess things up and have yet make any true change in this world that I'm aware of.
In fact, if I can be attributed for any worldly change I doubt I knowingly caused the change, or I stumbled through it and can only attribute the final outcome to God.
I will continue to strive to become a better Christian, Husband, Father, Man (in that order) and this will serve as a part of my record. I have a large change in my life on the horizon, which I hope to use as well, to continue that struggle in the opposition of the world.
I'll also be saying goodbye to many good friends and my first Church home which is a cause for reflection and sadness. I pray that God will quickly find my family a new Church home in Pennsylvania and connect us with new Christian brothers and sisters. More to come.
In fact, if I can be attributed for any worldly change I doubt I knowingly caused the change, or I stumbled through it and can only attribute the final outcome to God.
I will continue to strive to become a better Christian, Husband, Father, Man (in that order) and this will serve as a part of my record. I have a large change in my life on the horizon, which I hope to use as well, to continue that struggle in the opposition of the world.
I'll also be saying goodbye to many good friends and my first Church home which is a cause for reflection and sadness. I pray that God will quickly find my family a new Church home in Pennsylvania and connect us with new Christian brothers and sisters. More to come.
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