One Good Kidney CMDA TODAY
From the CMDA President
Salt and Light
Jesus says to us, “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14a). As Christian healthcare professionals, what does it mean to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world?
We must examine the Scriptures in context. Matthew 5 begins with the “Be Attitudes,” which lift us up and bless us when we truly seek after God and obey Him. The two preceding verses in Matthew 5:11-12 talk of our witness in society, such that we are persecuted for obeying God and being Christ followers and His spokesmen. You are not likely to be persecuted if you say nothing and remain hidden—and in turn don’t affect change in society. As Christ’s representatives, that is our identity: salt and light. And He goes on to say—so now act like it. He placed you where you are in school, work, residency and your social circles to be salt and light.
Jesus also makes a stern warning: don’t ever lose your saltiness! If you do, you could lose your purpose in advancing God’s kingdom on earth. You are filled with the Spirit to be salty, help heal and preserve and slow decay in society. That is what salt does. Listen to your heart as the Holy Spirit speaks and keep to your convictions. If needed, change your behavior to match your identity in Christ. Salty people sometimes lose a few friends, but you please the Father who made us for that purpose.
On the other extreme, some of us can be too salty. If you have ever accidently spilled salt on your food when the top of the salt container was not on tight, you know the food is inedible and ruined. It is best to “sprinkle” salt as we interact with others.
The power of salt is best felt collectively, and this is one reason why CMDA is so important. An individual grain of salt does not do much to change the taste of food (or impact society), but together, in the right proportions, we are pleasing and purposeful, and we can affect change. Recognize that God places you where salt is needed. Don’t be afraid to speak truth that sometimes stings a little in open wounds but later brings healing.
You are the light of the world. The purpose of light is to take you out of darkness where people stumble and fall. Light is most needed when it is very dark. We live in a world with deep darkness. Light exposes and reveals things for what they are. As Christians in healthcare, we should bring light into a room in such a way that it benefits everyone in the room. The best way to do this is recognize our source of being light, which is Jesus and the Holy Spirit working in us.
Just as the moon reflects brightly the radiance of the sun, we are to reflect Jesus the Son of God. Jesus is the true light of the world (John 1). Just as Moses’ face reflected the glory of God as he came down from Mount Sinai, we are to reflect Christ as we spend more intimate time with Him. However, when you live in darkness for a long time, being exposed to the brilliance of the sun can be blinding and uncomfortable.
People whose lives are fully invested in sin don’t want to be exposed, so they run from the truth of Jesus.
Still, our identity is to be light that brings clarity and understanding while revealing the true source of all goodness and truth. Don’t be afraid to shine the light of Christ on others, even if they initially don’t want much of it. The woman at the well is a good example where Jesus spoke truth to one in darkness. It exposed her and made her feel uncomfortable at first, but then it totally transformed her. She was then lit up for Christ and saved her entire city. Our purpose as light in a dark world is not necessarily to draw attention to ourselves but to reveal the source of light and give glory to God. Our identity as salt and light forbids us from blending into the unbelieving world we live in. We must stand out—not for our glory but for His.
Jesus modeled salt and light. All we need to do is follow His example of spending lots of time with the Father in prayer and in the Scriptures, then obey His Spirit’s leading in our lives. Here are some practical ways to be salt and light within CMDA:
• Serve as an American Academy of Medical Ethics state director, speaking up for the vulnerable in society and on issues in healthcare with boldness and compassion.
• Be a CMDA advocate to other healthcare colleagues by inviting them to join and be part of the CMDA family and work with other like-minded professionals.
• Be a mentor to students, residents and other young healthcare professionals.
• Be practicing the Saline Solution in your office, workplace or other local areas of influence.
• Be gospel mission minded, locally and internationally, by serving with CMDA’s Global Health Outreach and Medical Education International.
• Be part of a local CMDA council or start a chapter in your community.
And that’s just to name a few. Are you ready to be salt and light?
George C. Gonzalez, MD, is a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine and has practiced for over 30 years in Fresno and Clovis, California. Dr. Gonzalez has served as the medical director of Pregnancy Care Center of Fresno for 20 years. He has been the acting president of the local CMDA Fresno/Clovis Chapter for more than 27 years. He is a founding member of Medical Ministries International (MMI), serving 17 years on the MMI Board. Dr. Gonzalez has been the team leader for over 30 international mission trips and 55 local mission outreaches in the Central Valley of California.
George C. Gonzalez, MD
EDITOR
Rebeka Honeycutt EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Gregg Albers, MD
John Crouch, MD
Autumn Dawn Galbreath, MD
Curtis E. Harris, MD, JD
Van Haywood, DMD
Rebecca Klint-Townsend, MD
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Summer 2025, Volume LVI, No. 2. Printed in the United States of America. Published four times each year by the Christian Medical & Dental Associations® at 2604 Highway 421, Bristol, TN 37620. Copyright© 2025, Christian Medical & Dental Associations®. All Rights Reserved. Distributed free to CMDA members. Non-doctors (US) are welcome to subscribe at a rate of $35 per year ($40 per year, international). Standard presort postage paid at Bristol, Tennessee.
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CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS
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If you are interested in submitting articles to be considered for publication, visit www.cmda.org/publications for submission guidelines and details. Articles and letters published represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. Acceptance of paid advertising from any source does not necessarily imply the endorsement of a particular program, product or service by CMDA. Any technical information, advice or instruction provided in this publication is for the benefit of our readers, without any guarantee with respect to results they may experience with regard to the same. Implementation of the same is the decision of the reader and at his or her own risk. CMDA cannot be responsible for any untoward results experienced as a result of following or attempting to follow said information, advice or instruction.
12 ON THE COVER
One Good Kidney
AutumnDawnGalbreath,MD,MBA
A personal story displaying the sufficiency of God through a physician and her personal medical journey
Introducing Real Physicians, Real Faith
DavidL.Larson.MD,FACS
An introduction to a brand-new book exploring how faith impacts healthcare professionals 20
FrancisNuthalapaty,MD
The importance of training up the next generation and a look at the creation of CMDA's newest commission
Discover a new resource designed to cultivate deeper engagement with Scripture
32
The Dr. John Patrick Bioethics Column Rationality, Conscience and Justice: The Foundations of Western Cultural Success JohnPatrick,MD
A call to resist cultural decay by recovering the moral foundation that once sustained Western civilization
REGIONAL MINISTRIES
Connecting you with other Christ-followers to help better motivate, equip, disciple and serve within your community
Western Region: Wes Ehrhart, MA • 6204 Green Top Way • Orangevale, CA 95662 • 916-716-7826 • wes.ehrhart@cmda.org
Midwest Region: Connor Ham, MA • 2435 Lincoln Avenue • Cincinnati, OH 45231 • 419-789-3933 • connor.ham@cmda.org
Northeast Region: Tom Grosh, DMin • 1844 Cloverleaf Road • Mount Joy, PA 17552 • 609-502-2078 • northeast@cmda.org
Southern Region: Grant Hewitt, MDiv • P.O. Box 7500 • Bristol, TN 37621 • 402-677-3252 • south@cmda.org
COMMUNITY
Senior Vice President Retires
CMDA Introduces New Senior Vice President
Senior Vice President of Bioethics and Public Policy Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA (Ethics), retired from his position at CMDA after five years of faithful leadership. Dr. Barrows is an obstetrician/gynecologist, author, educator, medical ethicist and speaker. Dr. Barrows served alongside CEO Dr. Mike Chupp, navigating several challenges with grace, including but not limited to, the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and the lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as developing CMDA curriculum, writing for The Point blog, speaking on the CMDA Matters podcast and developing The Voice of Advocacy podcast. CMDA is immensely grateful for his numerous contributions over the years. Dr. Barrows will get to enjoy this new chapter alongside his wife Kathy, and they are looking forward to spending more time with their children and grandchildren.
CMDA Welcomes New Vice President
CMDA is pleased to welcome Brick Lantz, MD, as the new Vice President of Bioethics and Public Policy. An orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Lantz received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma and has been a member of CMDA since 1984. He has previously served on the Board of Trustees, as Oregon’s CMDA State Representative and as the Oregon State Director of the American Academy of Medical Ethics. Dr. Lantz will take the place of Dr. Jeffrey Barrows in leading CMDA’s advocacy endeavors. CMDA is delighted that Dr. Lantz has taken this role. For more information about CMDA and Dr. Lantz’s leadership in advocacy, visit cmda.org/advocacy
CMDA is pleased to introduce William Griffin, DDS, as the new Senior Vice President of CMDA. Dr. Griffin previously served as the Vice President for Dental Ministries with CMDA. A member of CMDA since dental school, he has been a part of the senior leadership team since 2019. He averages about four dental mission trips each year, and he also serves as the Director of CMDA’s Faith Prescriptions resource. In his new role, he will lead CMDA alongside CEO Dr. Mike Chupp. CMDA is excited that Dr. Griffin has taken this role, and we look forward to his leadership in this new capacity.
MEMBER NEWS
CMDA Welcomes New President and President-Elect
During the 2025 CMDA National Convention, CMDA was honored to welcome both a new President and President-Elect.
This year, the gavel was passed from outgoing President George Gonzalez, MD, to incoming President Omari Hodge, MD. Dr. Hodge is the program director of the family medicine residency program at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel in Tampa, Florida, and he received his medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. He has served as a CMDA Trustee since 2018.
Every two years, the CMDA membership elects a new President-Elect. This year, Cara Brown, MD, was elected as the new President-Elect. She will begin her two-year term as CMDA President in 2027, and then she will continue her service for an additional year as Past-President. Dr. Brown is a board-certified family physician in Johnstown, Colorado, and she received her medical degree from University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Medicine. She has served as a CMDA Trustee since 2021.
Omari Hodge, MD
Cara Brown, MD
Ministry News
CMDA 2025 Member Awards
2025 Educator of the Year Award
Dr. Sandy Christiansen
2025 Global Servant Award
Dr. Tina Slusher
Dr. Christiansen’s journey into healthcare started early in life. She graduated from University of Maryland, College Park in 1980. She spent her first year of medical school at the St. George’s School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies, before transferring to the Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she joined a CMDA student chapter. After graduating medical school in 1986, she completed residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at the Hospital of the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1990. Following residency, she spent 10 years in private practice as an OB/Gyn. In the late-1990s, her work with pro-life ministry accelerated as she became involved with the local pregnancy center, first as an in-center volunteer, then as a board member, interim director and then medical director. For 17 years, Dr. Christiansen has been involved with Care Net national, first as a consultant and then on staff serving as the national medical director. Dr. Christiansen is also an adjunct professor at Mount St. Mary’s University, serves as the CMDA State Representative for Maryland and Delaware and is the Maryland State Director with CMDA’s American Academy of Medical Ethics. She is also an Associate Scholar for the Charlotte Lozier Institute and is a longstanding member of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Dr. Christiansen is a writer and speaker on pregnancy, abortion and Hippocratic medicine, addressing a variety of forums including legislative bodies and providing commentary to national media outlets. Dr. Christiansen has dedicated her professional life to educating patients, healthcare professionals, legislators and the general public on the sanctity of human life and life-affirming alternatives to abortion to the glory of God. Today, Sandy and her husband Kyle remain grateful followers of Jesus Christ as well as parents and grandparents.
LEARN MORE
The following awards were presented at this year’s National Convention. These articles are excerpted from the actual award citations which can be viewed at cmda.org/awards.
Dr. Tina Slusher accepted Jesus as her Savior at the age of nine. Tina and her family lived on a farm in Kentucky, but her family traveled a great deal, thus exposing her to a much broader world. After graduating from University of Kentucky Medical School in 1980, she headed to Oklahoma to complete residency in pediatrics. In the late 1980s, Tina went on her first short-term mission trip to Costa Rica, followed by a trip to Nigeria. God made it clear she was to leave private practice, so she left to complete a fellowship in pediatric critical care with time in the neonatal intensive care unit in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Slusher began developing international collaborations in 1989 in Nigeria when she first went to a small mission hospital. Early on she faced problems, but she learned device and protocol innovations from her colleagues, while she also helped educate students, resident doctors and nurses. Over the last 36 years, she has built an extensive network of collaborators in several countries. Additionally, throughout her career and as part of the Global Pediatrics Program at the University of Minnesota, she has lectured in more than 15 countries and had the privilege of mentoring scores of trainees, faculty and healthcare professionals in their global health work. Dr. Slusher has been involved in CMDA since she was a medical student. She began attending continuing education conferences in Kenya in 1992 and has been attending ever since. She began lecturing at these conference in the late 1990s and continues to lecture today. After relocating to Minnesota in 2008, she became active in a local CMDA community group and CMDA’s Women Physicians & Dentists in Christ. She’s also spoken at multiple conferences, including the annual Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
CMDA 2025 Member Awards
2025 President’s Heritage Award
Dr. Päivi Räsänen
2025 Servant of Christ Award
Dr. Mary Wilder
Dr. Päivi Räsänen grew up in Eastern Finland. She studied the Bible as a young girl; yet, just behind the well-closed borders of the Soviet Union, the Bible was a forbidden book. After graduating from the University of Helsinki in 1984, she worked in internal medicine and occupational health. In the early 1990s, she ran for parliament in Finland. Currently, she is serving her eighth term in the Finnish Parliament, where she serves on the Social Affairs and Health Committee. In her time serving in politics, she has also published several books. Dr. Räsänen has written about abortion, euthanasia and marriage. She is married to Dr. Niilo Räsänen and together they have five children and 12 grandchildren. In 2019, Dr. Räsänen posted a tweet questioning the leadership of her church regarding its decision to sponsor an LGBT “Pride” event. As a result, Dr. Räsänen found herself in a Finnish Supreme Court, accused of having violated Finnish hate speech laws for voicing her opinion on marriage and human sexuality in the tweet, as well as in a pamphlet she wrote for her church in 2004 entitled Male and Female He Created Them. For the last six years, Päivi has found herself on trial all to protect her religious rights. Dr. Räsänen stands ready to defend her rights on behalf of the millions of people in her country. In her own words, she said, “In my case the investigation has lasted almost six years and has involved untrue accusations, several long police interrogations totaling more than 13 hours, preparations for court hearings, the District Court hearing and a hearing in the Court of Appeal. This was not just about my opinions, but about everyone’s freedom of expression. I hope that with the ruling of the Supreme Court, others would not have to undergo the same ordeal. I have considered it a privilege and an honor to defend freedom of expression, which is a fundamental right in a democratic state.”
Dr. Mary Wilder was born in Los Angeles, California, but before her junior year of high school, her family moved to the Portland, Oregon area. After attending Portland State University, she became one of only two women accepted into the University of Oregon Medical School each year. Despite her brilliance, she constantly faced sexism. The school stopped posting grades once Mary started school, because she consistently ranked in the top of her class. However, her academic excellence did not shield her from discrimination. Despite numerous hurdles, medical school went smoother after she met her new attending, Dr. Leonard Ritzmann, who served as President of CMDA in the late 1970s and also as a campus advisor at Oregon Health & Science University for 45 years. She often referred to his mentorship as “a gracious gift from God.” Over the last 30 years, Mary has often spoken at various CMDA meetings and churches, summoning young healthcare professionals to consider serving Jesus in healthcare here and abroad. She is loved by those who hear her story for her unfading quick wit and love for Jesus. After 20 years of a varied surgical and medical career in Pakistan, Mary returned to the U.S. to care for her ailing mother following her father’s death. She joined the faculty at Western Seminary, where she taught in the Intercultural Studies Department for 35 years. Today, Dr. Mary Wilder resides in an adult care center, her small bedroom bustling with visitors. Her enduring influence and sharp mind are matched only by her humility and faith. Her favorite line is, “Faith is trusting God with the consequences of your obedience.” She often points to a sign on her wall that reads, “God is still in charge,” a testament to the unwavering trust that has guided her life.
CMDA Member Wins Award
Don Middleton, Jr., DO, a CMDA lifetime member, was awarded the Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association (AOMA) Physician of the Year Award. This honor recognizes a compassionate and outstanding physician who exemplifies leadership in the medical profession, humanitarian service and community involvement. A board-certified family physician, Dr. Middleton has dedicated more than two decades to private practice before transitioning into academic medicine. He founded and directed the Family Practice Clinic at Midwestern University, where he served as Co-Division Director and Assistant Professor.
Currently, Dr. Middleton practices addiction medicine at the internationally recognized Meadows Behavioral Health in Wickenburg, Arizona. He also serves as Medical Director of Vital 4 Men, a series of men’s health clinic,s and leads a Christian 12step addiction recovery non-profit that partners with churches to provide support for those struggling with addiction. Dr. Middleton has written several books including The Dunamis Effect: When Jesus is Your Higher Power and Dissecting the Prayers and Promises of AA. He serves faithfully as the chair of CMDA’s Addiction Medicine Section, is an active member of the AOMA Board of Trustees and House of Delegates, serves on the Board of Directors for Crossroads Rehabilitation of Arizona and is Medical Director for medical missions at Christ Church of the Valley. Dr. Middleton has been married to Dr. Tracy Middleton for 35 years, and together they have four children and three grandchildren.
RESOURCES
Standing Strong in Training
Faith in Healthcare—A CMDA Matters Podcast
Are you listening to CMDA’s podcast with CEO Dr. Mike Chupp? Faith in Healthcare—A CMDA Matters Podcast, formerly known as CMDA Matters, is the premier audio resource for Christian healthcare professionals. This popular weekly podcast shares powerful stories and explores the issues that matter most to you, along with the latest news from CMDA and healthcare. A new episode is released each Thursday, and interview topics include bioethics, healthcare missions, financial stewardship, marriage, family, public policy updates and much more. Plus, you’ll get recommendations for new books, conferences and other resources designed to help you as a Christian in healthcare.
Listen to Faith in Healthcare—A CMDA Matters Podcast on your smartphone, your computer, your tablet…wherever you are and whenever you want. For more information, visit cmda. org/cmdamatters.
New CMDA Ethics and Policy Statements
At the annual meeting during the 2025 CMDA National Convention, CMDA’s Board of Trustees and House of Representatives approved new and updated CMDA Position Statements. Those statements are:
• Commercial Surrogacy
• In Vitro Fertilization
• Medically-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (MAS&E)
As the latest addition to CMDA’s long list of resources for our members, Standing Strong in Training is an on-demand video series that helps healthcare students and residents stand up against the cultural pressures facing Christians within healthcare today. The curriculum’s seven modules are designed for group settings, allowing attendees to solidify their foundational worldview beliefs regarding important issues, such as the beginning of life, end of life and biblical sexuality. Each module also offers ideas of how to winsomely defend biblical values and positively interact with others in developing their worldview beliefs. For more information and to access this study, visit cmda. org/standingstrong
• Firearm Associated Violence (Public Policy Statement) These statements are designed to provide you with biblical, ethical, social and scientific understanding of these issues through concise statements articulated in a compassionate and caring manner. They are needed for the religious freedom battles we are currently facing, so we encourage you to share them with your colleagues, pastors, church leaders and others. Visit cmda.org/ethics for more information about CMDA’s Positions Statements and to review all of the statements.
UPCOMING EVENTS
2025 Great Commission Dental Conference
Join the Christian Dental Association and the Christian Dental Society on September 12-13, 2025 in Carrollton, Texas for an inspiring event designed for dental professionals nationwide. Discover how your God-given skills in dentistry can be a powerful tool for sharing the love of Christ—whether in private practice, in the clinic or on mission fields around the world. Be encouraged by fellow dental professionals who are committed to filling both teeth and hearts with hope. Experience how dental care can open doors for the gospel, both at home and abroad! To learn more and register for this event, visit cmda.org/events.
Voice of CMDA Media Training
CMDA is increasingly called on by the national media to give perspective on topics like abortion, transgender, assisted suicide and more. From congressional testimony to network television, God continues to open doors for CMDA to amplify the voice of Christian healthcare professionals on the critical life issues of our day. If you are interested, we encourage you to attend the upcoming Voice of CMDA Media Training on August 8-9, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee. This two-day training is designed to teach you how to use the media as an educational tool and to sharpen skills as a CMDA media representative. We will use real-life examples to share a proven methodology that works in the most hostile situations. Plus, we will explore how advocacy and media work hand-in-hand together and how to prepare to use your media skills to testify in your state legislature. Participation is limited to 12 attendees in order to provide one-on-one training, so visit cmda.org/events to reserve your space.
Upcoming Events
Dates and locations are subject to change. For a full list of upcoming CMDA events, visit cmda.org/events.
Voice of CMDA Media Training
August 8-9, 2025 • Bristol, Tennessee
2025 Women Physicians & Dentists in Christ (WPDC) Annual Conference
September 4-7, 2025 • Albuquerque, New Mexico
2025 Great Commission Dental Conference
September 12-13, 2025 • Carrollton, Texas
Greece Tour – In the Footsteps of Paul
September 19-26, 2025 • Greece
2025 Midwest Fall Conference
September 26-28, 2025 • Muskegon, Michigan
Marriage Enrichment Weekend
September 26-28, 2025 • Bristol, Tennessee
Reformation and Luther Tour 2025
October 11-23, 2025 • Germany, Prague, Switzerland and France
Remedy25 West: Healthcare on Mission
October 17, 2025 • Riverside, California
Northeast Regional Retreat
October 24-26, 2025 • North East, Maryland
Global Missions Health Conference
November 6-8, 2025 • Louisville, Kentucky
2026 CMDA National Convention
April 23-26, 2026 • Loveland, Colorado
One Good Kidney
It was July 1994. I was a newly married third year medical student on my first rotation: cardiothoracic surgery. Nothing like diving in headfirst for your third year—you have the most energy in July, after all. Unfortunately, while you have energy, you lack both the temerity and the experience to stand up for yourself, even when all you need is a few minutes for a bathroom break. Well, to all the third year medical students out there, I say, “A bathroom break is a very reasonable request, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!”
Not having had anyone tell me this ahead of time, I ended up with refractory pyelonephritis. (If you are wondering whether or not I missed any days of work, of course I did not! I was a third year medical student!) In an attempt to understand why the multiple rounds of antibiotics were not clearing the infection, my doctor ordered an intravenous pyelogram (IVP). For those who entered medicine after 2000, this was a radiologic study with contrast dye, most commonly used to look for a kidney stone. Based on that IVP, I was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD), an autosomal dominant disease causing progressively increasing cystic changes to the kidneys and usually resulting in kidney failure. I had no family history. Imagine being eight months married, two months into third year on a surgery rotation, and learning you have a genetic disease that will likely lead to dialysis or transplant in the future and all your future children have a 50 percent chance of inheriting it. It was a stressful moment. However, since the one thing I did not have at that moment was extra time, there was never really any processing or pondering of the diagnosis. I simply went on with my life.
cantly worse than mine since he had symptoms as an infant? When would either of us require additional treatment? How life-altering would the treatment be?
The next two pregnancies followed the same pattern as the first, and by the third pregnancy, I required anti-hypertensives during pregnancy, while my blood pressure remained elevated after delivery. From there, the disease marched forward to a slow but steady rhythm—blood pressure increasing and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decreasing, but always in tiny increments.
Flash forward to fall 1998 when our first child was born. PKD had been pushed to the back of my mind as I progressed through residency back in the days prior to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s 2003 mandate of the 80-hour work week. However, as my blood pressure increased during the pregnancy, culminating in an early induction, PKD refused to be ignored.
It further forced itself into my thoughts when our infant son began having hematuria in his diapers. Unable to convince our pediatrician that I was certain I had not spilled red Kool-Aid in the diapers, I asked a pediatric nephrologist at the hospital if he would recommend an ultrasound. He ordered one, and it showed bilateral cysts. PKD was never far from my thoughts after that. Would my son’s case be signifi-
Then came March 2020. (Sorry if I triggered any flashbacks by mentioning that date!) It began the terrible two years of sick patients, patients arguing their diagnoses, patients begging for treatment, patients angrily refusing vaccinations and, for those of you in the hospitals and ICUs, patients dying while you had to be the go-between in communicating with their families. I only work outpatient, so it was not as bad for me, but it was bad enough. Numerous patient encounters were difficult, and wearing masks (and initially eye shields and hazmat suits) was hot, was uncomfortable and made communication with patients more difficult. It was a strange time of pride in our hard work, excitement in our ability to be involved in fighting something huge, exhaustion from the hours we worked and anger at the people who minimized the risk of infection.
I managed to avoid COVID until summer 2021, and even then, I had a mild case. Unfortunately, even a mild case can cause microvascular complications. Prior to that illness, my GFR was 60. At my routine nephrology visit three months later, it was 21, and our initial hopes that it would recover over time proved unfounded. It just kept slowly dropping.
The next time you talk to a patient in renal failure and casually throw out the word “fatigue,” please know the word you are using does not even begin to encompass what your patient is experiencing. This is a fatigue so deep and so severe that you can’t imagine it if you have not felt it. It is a feeling of being buried and trying to move your limbs against the dirt packed around you. A feeling that you need to sleep, but when you awaken, you feel just as tired as you did when you laid down. A feeling that you might not be able to stand up when seated and
newlywed couple before us, we were certain we would only have better, richer and health. And, like every newlywed couple before us, we were wrong.
In our 27 years of marriage, we had experienced better, worse, richer, poorer and health. We had not yet experienced sickness— at least, not anything more severe than a week of flu symptoms. Neither of us had ever had surgery or been hospitalized for illness. Despite my diagnosis during our first year of marriage, I had not yet truly been sick. In 2020, as my health and energy began declining, I began making up for all those healthy years we had. As the fatigue increased, I continued to work full-time, because that’s just what we healthcare professionals do. My overall activity level decreased rapidly, though, until I wasn’t doing anything but going to work and returning home, far from the super-involved person and parent I had traditionally been.
“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you. So do
walking to the next room just might require more energy than you can muster. And, more than anything else, it is a fatigue so severe you are certain you absolutely cannot go to work, stay awake and do anything meaningful. Unfortunately, in my case, with the renal failure coming at least 10 years earlier than I expected, we were not in a position for me to simply quit work and wait to see when I would need dialysis or when I would get a transplant.
This seems like the right time to introduce David, my husband. We married at 23 as wide-eyed, head-over-heels, naïve students, certain our love would never fail us. My mother pointed out that the reason the marriage ceremony includes vows to be faithful “for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health” is because all of those things are going to happen during your life together. Nevertheless, like every
As I began to have nausea and itching all the time, I felt even less inclined toward any voluntary extra activities.
This strange, in-between time of marching toward end-stage kidney disease while still keeping up with the basics of life, from work to activities with our kids to keeping the house livable, was difficult. When I look back on it now, I wonder how I did it. How was I not in bed all the time? It was a gradual process, like the proverbial frog in the pot of water, not realizing the water is heating until it boils to death. Looking back, I might have “fatigued” myself to death had this stage gone on long enough. When you feel horrible, it’s hard to realize just how much worse you feel than you did last week, so you just keep trudging along, doing the next thing in front of you. As I was trudging, my nephrologist referred me for a transplant evaluation.
Upon arriving for my first visit, I was surprised to learn the Methodist Hospital system here in San Antonio, Texas is the highest volume living donor kidney transplant center in the United States. As David and I read the brochures and posters on the wall during that visit, it was clear I was in experienced hands. I was planning a living donor transplant, but I had not yet begun the process of identifying a donor or even discussing that with my family. So when the nephrologist said to David, “Are you the donor? Why don’t you go ahead and get your preliminary labs done today since you’re here?” it felt a bit premature. As the process of my workup to qualify as a candidate moved forward, the clinic simply moved David forward in the donor workup as well. And at the end, he was the best candidate. None of my four siblings nor our 22-year-old daughter Eleanor was an appropriate donor, but every step of the way, David cleared the hurdles. Unrelated donors have a less than 10 percent chance of matching the intended recipient, but David was an excellent match for me—matching my blood type as well as a number of my human leukocyte antigens, which are immune markers used to find the best match possible for transplants. Plus, his excellent health meant there was no reason not to go ahead.
The period of testing both of us was long and felt somewhat slow; yet, the day we received the final results of the screening tests, everything shifted into overdrive. Suddenly, instead of waiting for the next available appointments for mammograms and colonoscopies, we were facing a surgery date a mere two weeks later. Suddenly, there was a lot to do! We had to get time off from work. We had to make arrangements for Norah, our
youngest child who was in ninth grade and not yet driving. We needed someone to be in our home to help during our recovery.
As things so often do when God is arranging them, all the details came together seamlessly. Eleanor was allowed by all her professors to leave school three weeks early. She and her fiancée arrived prior to the surgery and took things in hand. They cleaned the house much better than I could at the time. They drove Norah to the hospital each day so she could see us, and they also ensured she was doing her schoolwork. They brought David home from the hospital when he thought he was ready, and then they took him back when it became obvious he was not. And they ultimately brought both of us home, where they ensured we had food, drink and medications and were following all the rules the doctors gave us. My parents came to town for the surgery to make sure we were well and in good hands. David’s mother, who lives near us, brought food, shopped for anything we were craving and worried over us when we needed it. Our friends made a meal train and brought food, news and well-wishes. Our son called frequently from his home in the United Kingdom, ensuring we were well and expressing his frustration at not being with us. We were surrounded by love and support while all our needs were met.
The surgery and recovery were smooth. When I asked David about his time as a patient, he said, “I was amazed at the power of modern medicine and what God has given medical personnel and scientists the intellect to discover and accomplish. It was an intense experience to have surgery and to donate an organ, but the team’s skill and compassion made the process seem almost
easy.” The surgeon did warn us ahead of time that the recovery is much harder on the donor, who was healthy when entering the hospital, than on the recipient, who was not. In fact, immediately upon awakening from anesthesia, I already felt better. David, on the other hand, chafed a bit at the post-operative restrictions. However, the six weeks of post-operative recovery went quickly overall, and then we were both back to full activity.
Several weeks after the surgery, a friend asked how I grew spiritually during the ordeal. It surprised me how hard it was to answer that question. I realized how easy it had been as a physician to view the entire process through a medical lens. As I read back through my posts on the CaringBridge site, it’s clear I was focused on the surgery, my lab results and the immunosuppressant dosages much more than I was on the spiritual aspects of being ill. My friend’s question sparked a change of mindset as I began thinking about how God was using this episode in my life to mold and change me, as He is always faithful to do.
I learned several important things, all of which I continue to ponder regularly.
First, I keep thinking about how incredible the human body is, how intricate and detailed in its design. It’s hard to contemplate the complexity of creation without seeing the divine hand in its creation. As Romans 1 says, people can clearly see God’s invisible qualities through everything He made, and I think the human body conveys the pinnacle of God’s invisible qualities.
Take the lowly kidney, for example. It is an organ you would never normally see, and its function is rarely lauded. After all, the kidney is responsible for wet beds, all-too-frequent stops on road trips, incontinence and the general nuisance of having to urinate regularly. Even when it is in top form and doing its job well, we find the result of its work irritating. When it is not doing its job well, it’s even worse. The poor kidney can’t win in the frenzy of human activities—it is always interrupting us doing what we want to be doing. Yet, if you look at it, it’s quite beautiful. It’s fascinating for something we would never see under normal circumstances to be so intricate and artistic. In addition, it’s dadgum complicated. The tiny little quarter-pound kidney cleans the entire volume of blood—and it does it about every 45 minutes. It regulates blood and electrolyte levels and still has enough gumption leftover to secrete epoetin and prevent anemia! When you think about all these kidney functions, you have to marvel at how complex the structure of the kidney is. One normal kidney has 1.2 million functional units (nephrons) that are about three centimeters long, and each one of those has 13 millimeters of renal tubule. If you’re better at math than I am, you can calculate the length of renal tubule in one kidney—it’s a big number! It’s an incredibly complex organ, despite its small size.
What does all this have to do with my spiritual growth during my surgical recovery? The more I think about how complex these bodies of ours are, the more miraculous it is that medical knowledge understands as much as it does and can intervene as much as it can. I think both the design and the human intelligence to understand that design are beautiful displays of God’s invisible qualities. Yet, every day we roam around town running errands or having coffee and never think to stop and contemplate the miracle of the bodies we are walking around in. It reminds me of that famous C.S. Lewis quote from The Weight of Glory:
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
How much infinite joy do we miss every day, just because we pass by the things around us without thinking about where they came from and how astounding their design is—that is, by focusing on the design and failing to focus on the Designer? As both a physician and a patient, I have a renewed focus on the Designer and the wonder of His creation.
A second spiritual lesson in this process was a humbling reminder of my own inability to save myself. It is a strange thing to have someone sacrifice a part of their body for you. Watching David recover from a surgery he didn’t need repeatedly reminded me of the ways in which David has selflessly lived alongside me for the last three decades. Even more importantly, it reminded me of the ways in which God knows, cares and provides, even for a need I didn’t know I would have. How can I justify worry about the daily cares of life when God showed up
so dramatically in the biggest need I have had thus far? I have read Matthew 6:25-34 and heard it preached countless times, and yet that same old anxiety keeps sneaking back in. Despite Jesus’ words reminding me not to worry, somehow worry comes so much more naturally than trust. The humbling experience of watching God, through my husband, so clearly meet a need I could never meet for myself is a constant reminder to seek after Him rather than after the things of earth.
Of course, this means giving up control. When we are in control, we only need to trust ourselves, and somehow that selfsufficiency is comforting. The central problem, though, is that each of us is limited in what we can actually do. I can’t bring about a good surgical outcome for myself. Even more importantly, I can’t forgive my own sinfulness or cleanse myself from the wrongs I commit. I can’t sanctify myself or set myself on an eternal path. It’s a great irony, really—that I rely on myself to feel more in control and less anxious, but in that very selfreliance, I limit my growth and the good I can do in the world. In that very self-reliance, I forfeit the wisdom of God and those who have gone before me. I shun my access to the throne of grace, where love, mercy and eternal hope await me.
Lastly, this experience taught me in a whole new way about the body of Christ and community. I have never had a bigger need than I did during the transplant, so I have never had a bigger opportunity for God to show up in my life through His
people. I was truly astonished at the ways in which our community was ready and willing to meet our needs. So many people offered so many types of support, and had I not been ill, I would never have experienced this. God truly works through His people to care for us in times of need, and I learned this in a deeper way in 2023. I think it’s probably not a bad thing if everyone has a major health issue every so often, just to remind them how much people love them and how well God cares for them. This experience certainly reminded me of those things!
I think the realities of life in a fallen world—where bodies fail us and need surgical correction, where relationships fail us and need legal adjudication, where minds fail us and need decisionmaking substitution—I think these realities simply take us to the end of our self-sufficiency. They take us to the places where we can no longer rely solely on ourselves. Those are the places where we find God waiting—in His word, in His people, in His presence in our spirits. He is there, reminding us we were made by Him and for Him. We were never made to do this life of our own strength. We were never even supposed to see it through those lenses. Before the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, reliance on a moment-by-moment relationship with God seemed beautiful and easy to Adam and Eve. It’s only through the twisted lenses of fallen humanity that it becomes so difficult to trust in that relationship.
As I live the second half of my life with one good kidney instead of two bad ones, I’m reminding myself to be grateful for the limits of my human abilities since they point me to the limitless God we serve.
Autumn Dawn Galbreath, MD, MBA, is an internist in San Antonio, Texas, where she lives with her husband David. They have three children: a married adult son who lives, writes and performs in the United Kingdom, a married adult daughter who attends law school at the University of Texas and a 17-year-old daughter who is ready to finish high school. Though they met in medical school, David now owns restaurants in the San Antonio area. When they are not having major surgeries together, they love watching their son perform (whenever they can get to London), traveling with their kids, reading, eating good food, cooking good food and trying to keep their menagerie of pets from destroying the house. Autumn Dawn earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio, where she also completed her internal medicine residency. She earned her MBA from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.
INTRODUCING
DavidL.Larson,MD,FACS
Real Physicians, Real Faith was co-edited by Benjamin Doolittle, MD, and David L. Larson, MD, who are both CAPS members. The book is compromised of the writings of selected Christian physicians, from various domains, who each shared a 2,000-word narrative of how their faith impacts their profession. The contributions include testimonies, impactful moments from their practice or a thought-piece that addresses questions such as: How does your faith influence your medical practice? Is there a patient story that moved you? How do you understand your own faith journey as a healer? The pieces submitted are provocative, thoughtful, personal and well-written.
Real Physicians, Real Faith is modeled after a similar work, Real Scientists, Real Faith, which was published in 2009 and shared the scientist/faith journey of various celebrated scientists from the United Kingdom.
The 25 chapters are separated into one of four categories: The Mission Field, The Bedside, The Church and The Academy, all presenting a wonderful opportunity for the authors to share their stories on a broad platform. Anyone in healthcare on their own faith journey will be interested in the book’s contents—medical students, physicians, chaplains and academics, as well as those curious about Christianity. Real Scientists, Real Faith was well received when published in 2009, and we expect the same with our shared project.
The history behind the genesis of this book is of particular interest. In fall 2024, Dr. Doolittle spent a sabbatical at the Faraday Institute, University of Cambridge. The Faraday is a welcoming community of keen-minded scholars and good-hearted friends. The place is a beehive of activity, with programs for undergraduate and graduate students, churches and even public schools. Their team lectures everywhere from Japan to the United Arab Emirates. They greeted Ben into their midst and challenged him with the most challenging, yet encouraging, ideas. Several of the Faraday scholars mentioned a deeply influential book, Real Scientists, Real Faith, which is a collection of essays by Christian Oxbridge scientists who reconcile their faith and their science. They are astronomers, biochemists and physicists of the highest rank. At a time when the “New Atheists” are so popular, and the “Nones” are on the
CMDA and the Christian Academic Physicians and Scientists (CAPS) specialty section recently sponsored a book project— and that book is now available to you in the CMDA Bookstore!
rise, this thoughtful collection provided a refreshing perspective: it is possible to be both a scientist and a Christian.
The collection of stories of this new book is borne from that tradition; yet, perhaps physicians engage in faith a bit differently than the scientist. A scientist beholds the glory of God in the cosmos,
the chemical reaction and the microscope. A physician beholds the glory of God in the patient. God’s presence is often experienced in the weeping, the suffering, the grind of the work and even, hopefully, the healing. We rejoice when the patient improves, but we also struggle with burnout, occasional depression and failures. Of course, we too are scientists, but we are also human. Because medicine is intensely human, we, as Christian physicians, lean into our faith. What else are we to do? As Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).
Real Physicians, Real Faith germinated in Cambridge and bore fruit through CMDA’s CAPS section. CAPS meets monthly, virtually, to encourage Christian faculty members and equip them in leadership ministry (Luke 4:18). Besides the monthly webinars featuring nationally recognized figures and CMDA members, other CAPS activities include a newsletter (CAPSoul), the CAPS Faith & Medicine Research Sponsorship and Quad Squads. These Quad Squads started in April 2020 and concluded in April 2024; this curriculum-driven initiative facilitated virtual meetings of four CAPS members to learn about each other’s challenges in academic medicine, learn about discipleship and used Scripture to meditate on the attributes of God.
In addition to these activities, the CAPS Writing Lab was initiated in a chance conversation between Andre Cipta, MD, the 2022 first recipient of the CAPS Faith & Medicine Research Sponsorship, and Dr. Doolittle at Dr. Harold Koenig’s annual course on Religion, Spirituality and Health at Duke University. The CAPS Writing Lab provides a forum for members to brainstorm ideas, make goals and support one another in their academic work. When Dr. Doolittle returned from Cambridge, he pitched this project to the lab group, and it immediately rallied. David reached out to CMDA CEO Dr. Mike Chupp, who enthusiastically gave a green light. This collection, we believe, is both the joy of those conversations and the fruit of the Spirit.
Dr. Doolittle, Dr. Cipta, Dr. Chupp and I invited a variety of Christian physicians from different paths to write thoughtful, personal essays about how their faith and medical practice intertwined. Perhaps they were influenced by a patient? A tragic moment in their lives? A grace-imbued rescue? A conflict difficult to resolve? They are a diverse group—surgeons, primary care physicians, missionaries, academics, researchers and even a flight surgeon!
And so, the book has a diversity of stories. Some are intensely personal. Dr. Christine Liu shares about her son who was born with severe hydrocephalus. Dr. Kimbell Kornu writes about his sister who died from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Other stories are more harrowing. Dr. Russell White tells the incredible story of a patient who nearly bled out from a ruptured aorta. How he saved this man is almost too good to be true, but you will have to read Chapter 2 to find out the rest of this unbelievable story. Stories come from the highest echelon of the academy. Dr. Debra Schwinn is a university president and former medical school dean.
Dr. Jeannette South-Paul is a Provost and Executive Vice President of a medical school. The authors tell lots of stories of the patients who inspire us, challenge us and deepen our faith. Throughout the book, they share how God has moved in their lives. Dr. John Patrick quotes Anselm of Canterbury, “Credo ut intelligam” (I believe so that we may understand). Perhaps this is the most authentic position. How else can we contend with the suffering of our patients? Our own challenges with grief and trauma?
The co-editors are so grateful for the authentic struggles, the deep faith and the abiding love of these contributors—and also for receiving their manuscripts in the requested six weeks, a miracle in itself!
We are not perfect—far from it. We struggle with our faith. We doubt. We weep. Nevertheless, each of these stories articulate the mystery of God’s power to work in our lives. As co-editors, we hope these stories give witness not to us but to God’s grace. We hope these stories will encourage those on their own journeys, those who ponder how being a Christian and a physician are not contrary to each other but synergistically lead to a flourishing of both.
PURCHASE YOUR COPY
You can purchase your copy of RealPhysicians,RealFaith in the online CMDA Bookstore at cmda.org/bookstore. We also encourage you to purchase a second copy and share it with a colleague in healthcare.
David L. Larson, MD, FACS, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After 27 years, Dr. Larson retired as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2012. Before moving to Milwaukee, he held the position of Surgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, from 1979 to 1986, where he served in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and was the only plastic surgeon at that institution during that period. He is board-certified in otolaryngology and plastic surgery. Dr. Larson has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and three books. His 0.7 FTE “encore career” is being an Accreditation Field Representative for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Dr. Larson has a lifetime commitment to educating medical students, residents, fellows and peers on head and neck cancer, wound care and reconstruction of all body areas. Since retirement, Dr. Larson has been on more than 15 mission trips to China, Lebanon, Northern Macedonia, Azerbaijan and Serbia, all related to education in graduate medical education. He is also chairman of CMDA’s Medical Education International (MEI) Advisory Council, and with Kim-Lien Nguyen, MD, PhD, he is co-founder of CMDA’s Christian Academic Physicians and Scientists (CAPS) specialty section. He has been married to Sherry for 48 years and is the father of three children, all of whom graduated from Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.
The Successful Physician
Janet Ma, MD
At almost six feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds, Orson* towered over everyone in the clinic room. After I introduced myself and sat down at the computer, Orson’s parents introduced themselves and Orson to me in Spanish. They explained that Orson is a non-verbal young adult with severe autism, and they were there to transition his medical care from pediatric to adult care. As a med-peds physician specializing in healthcare transitions, this is a typical clinic visit for me, but I can still feel my heartbeat quicken slightly before examining him, uncertain how he will react, considering his conditions. Regardless, by maintaining eye contact and using his name to ask permission for each step, we successfully finished the physical exam without incident.
As I got to know Orson and his parents over the years serving as his adult primary care physician, I learned Orson has such a kind and gentle soul. Despite his appearance and the fact that he tends to wander throughout the clinic room during his visits, sometimes actively trying to remove all his clothing, I learned that appearances and stereotypes are deceiving. Orson’s parents tell me stories of them visiting local southern California farms that are often staffed by migrant workers. Orson had learned over time that the migrant children have few material things, including clothing and food, and he would insist his parents bring food and clothing to these children when they visit, sometimes even getting upset if they visited without a bag of food. At one routine clinic visit, Orson surprised me with a lovely native plant with red, velvety leaves. Orson’s parents proudly told me Orson had himself picked up the plant at the farm the day before and insisted on giving it to me. When I tried to gently decline this beautiful gift, suggesting Orson and his family should keep the plant themselves (knowing Orson and his family do not have much materially), he insisted I keep the precious plant as his gift. My eyes teared knowing that, while Orson may not have a lot financially here on earth, he is more generous in his heart than others who have much more materially.
At first glance, it would be so easy to regard Orson the way the world sees him: neurodiverse, developmentally delayed, non-verbal, perhaps even a little intimidating; he offers no real value to society or the world. Proponents of eugenics would argue this is a person to permanently sterilize, as there is no reason to produce others like him.1 As a Christian physician, though, I am so glad the Bible tells us the opposite and real truth, that God created ALL of us in His image we are equally loved by Him, regardless of appearance, talent, intelligence, health status or any other myriad attributes society promotes as being worthy in this world. Romans 3:23 reminds us we have all fallen short of the glory of God; whether president of the most powerful country in the world or
the lowliest servant in another country, we need God’s grace equally. The best news in the world is that the God of the universe, who created the heavens and the earth and who loves and cares for each one of us so deeply and who loves Orson and his parents so much, came in the person of Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, thus reconciling all of mankind with the God of the universe. As Pastor Tim Keller once said, “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”2 Therefore, Orson and his family can have the blessed assurance that Orson is also equally loved and accepted in Christ just like any other person, thanks to Jesus. Hallelujah!
Working in academic medicine, we are constantly bombarded by the opposite message. To succeed, we are told to constantly climb the academic ladder to the top. The rat race even starts before entering medical school—GPA, MCAT score, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, etc. In medical school, the struggle continues—grades, shelf exam scores, rotation evaluations, research, publications and more letters of recommendation to match in that dream residency. Residency and fellowship have their own version of struggles—more standardized exams, evaluations, QI and research projects and more, all to attain our final destination, the attending job. For those of us in academia, however, the ladder continues, as every few years we must prove ourselves worthy for the next step of academic promotion through further evaluations, number of publications, teaching and clinical performance; thus, the race to academic success never seems to end. In direct contrast, Jesus was the King of the Universe who came down from heaven as a humble baby born in a manger to serve, wash our feet and pay the ultimate price we deserved to pay ourselves. He taught us time and again that our worldly accolades don’t mean much and cannot be brought to the next world, and that the true definition of success is relationships forged for Him that result in treasures stored in heaven. It can be so challenging to remember these fundamental truths when we are constantly barraged with the busyness of the world, thus I’m so thankful for having a genuine spiritual community of brothers and sisters who regularly remind me of these fundamental gospel truths.
What does it mean to be a successful physician? Is it someone who trains at the best medical school and residency program? Someone who matched into the most competitive and coveted faculty position at a prestigious university or the ultimate private practice position? Someone who has the most publications each year? Someone who gets the best patient satisfaction scores or has the most RVUs every year? Of course, to be an excellent physician, we must be extremely competent and skilled in our field of medi-
cine; however, beyond that we must also view our patients from the “whole person care” perspective. I’m thankful we have the example of the most successful physician of all time as a standard—Jesus. While He might not have had any formal medical training, Jesus knew it was not enough to heal someone physically, but it’s more important to address the fundamental issue at hand. He knew for someone to truly be healed, they must be healed both spiritually and physically (Luke 9:10-11).
In a way, Jesus was the Father of whole person care, the idea that true healing involves addressing physical, emotional and spiritual health all at the same time. Medicine, unfortunately, has its limitations, as those of us who have cared for stage 4 cancer patients know. Whole person care takes it a step further, by offering true healing through hope and prayer and offering the love of God for those interested in receiving it. I was blessed to have learned about whole person care as a fourth-year medical student during a summer spiritual care preceptorship program, and it revolutionized the way I practice medicine. I was surprised by the number of patients who were interested in receiving prayer at medical visits, and I sensed the spiritual hunger in countless people who longed for something more than what this world can offer. Some of my patients are so used to prayer at their visits, that if I did not offer prayer, they would ask me for prayer. Some even offer unsolicited prayers for my family and me at the conclusion of our visit. Unfortunately, one of my praying patients developed gastric cancer recently, and she found that her faith and prayer are helping to sustain her through these challenging times.
Prayer and God’s Word can offer so much hope for patients. As a med-peds physician, I am blessed to care for patients of all ages, but some of them go through incredibly difficult medical journeys with progressive medical conditions. One of my young adult patients with tuberous sclerosis and seizure disorder, unfortunately, also struggles with chronic pain. I am so impressed as she hangs on to the Lord for strength and hope daily through these constant struggles. She documents her journey by writing numerous physician messages in our electronic medical record system, sometimes even messaging me to ask for prayer for her during her flares. This causes me to wonder what my triage nurses in our secular academic clinic think, but I hope they are also encouraged by what God is doing in our patients’ lives.
When I was an intern in residency, I encountered a memorable patient in the MICU. Flynn* was just 21 years old and had developed multiorgan failure from IV drug use. Even as a baby intern, I recognized there was little medicine could do to help him as his body was starting to shut down. I started to visit Flynn each afternoon after rounds, to learn more about his life story and to talk with his sister who was often with him. His sister confided in me that, while she is a Christian, her brother is not…yet. That day, I asked permission to pray with Flynn, and he gratefully accepted. Two days later, while in the process of being transferred to hospice, he asked for a pastor to come visit and baptize him. Two days later, I visited him in our hospice unit, and though he was so weak he could barely speak, he welcomed hearing the good news of the gospel. When I asked if he wanted to pray to accept Christ, he responded with a loud confident, “Yes.” There was such a sense of peace in his eyes after the prayer. The next day, he went home to be with the Lord, leaving this physical world of pain in exchange for eternity with
his Father. This experience epitomized whole person care for me, and while not every experience is this impactful and dramatic, the Lord has a way to work His healing and love into each person’s life for His glory.
Whole person care now looks a little different for me in primary care, as opposed to the ICU setting. Regardless, there is a common theme no matter which medical setting we work in: the need to be open to the Holy Spirit. In medicine, we are often wary of interruptions or unexpected circumstances, as much of our day is tightly scheduled. It is important for us to maintain structure in our day, whether we work in the operating room, the hospital or the clinic, as this allows us to do a tremendous amount of work for our patients in an efficient amount of time. Any interruptions may mean a potential delay for our next patients. I am reminded, however, that Jesus always had time to be interrupted. Even when He was going to heal a little girl who was dying, He had time to pause to heal a woman—both physically and spiritually—who had been bleeding for multiple years (Luke 8:40-48). If the Son of Man had time to be interrupted during His busy days, how much more can we learn from His example of being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? This might include praying with a patient, or to offer God’s hope and love, or to spend an extra five minutes with someone who recently suffered a devastating loss. The spiritual impact of these connections may be far reaching, and they often bless us even more in return.
For those of us who are Christian physicians, while we are to be in the world, we must remember we are here for a greater purpose—to heal, to serve and to love. True success in God’s eyes may look quite different than the world’s definition of success, and I can’t wait to see the people in heaven again someday whom I have had the privilege of impacting on earth. May we always remember that, while we all deserve the wrath of God, because of Jesus we are more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever could have imagined, and we have the opportunity to share this amazing and good news with those around us. In this broken world, God can use us as His hands and feet to bring a small piece of heaven to earth by actively sharing His love with everyone around us. And this, my friends, is the truly successful physician.
Endnotes
1. Pham HH, Lerner BH. In the patient's best interest? Revisiting sexual autonomy and sterilization of the developmentally disabled. West J Med. 2001 Oct;175(4):280-3. doi: 10.1136/ewjm.175.4.280. PMID: 11577067; PMCID: PMC1071584.
2. Keller, T. and Keller, L. The meaning of marriage: facing the complexities of commitment with the wisdom of God. 2011, New York, Dutton.
Dr. Janet Ma is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine-Pediatrics at UCLA. She also serves as an Associate Program Director of the UCLA Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program. She is the Director of the Healthcare Transition program, helping adolescents and young adults navigate the challenges of transitioning to adult care. She furthermore serves as the CMDA Faculty Advisor for medical students and residents/fellows at UCLA. She lives in southern California with her husband and two young children.
RAISING THE NEXT GENERATION
A Call to Mentoring and Discipleship in Medicine
RAISING UP
It was my first year of maternal-fetal medicine fellowship, and I was at an impasse. Between a grueling 1.5-hour daily commute, 36-hour shifts caring for patients and returning home to be a husband to my wife, a father to our two toddlers and a son to my widowed mother, I found myself completely depleted. I had no peace—only exhaustion, exasperation and a soul stretched thin.
It was in that season of desperation that the Holy Spirit pierced my heart with the gospel, and I became a genuine follower of Jesus Christ. In God’s perfect providence, He placed a mature believer in healthcare in my path who took me under his wing. Over the next six months, we met regularly in what became a life-on-life discipleship journey. Through his patient investment, my walk with Christ was firmly rooted, and my worldview began to transform. I began to understand how to be a husband and father and lead my family spiritually. I started to see my hospital halls and clinic rooms not just as places of work—but as mission fields. God gave me boldness to initiate spiritual conversations and invite curious trainees into our home for meals, fellowship and exploration of God’s Word.
Most importantly, I came to realize this: my experience of spiritual challenge during medical training was not unique. In fact, it is a shared reality among countless healthcare trainees. So, too, is the opportunity for believers in healthcare to step into the calling of mentorship and discipleship.
Healthcare trainees have long been central to the mission of CMDA—to educate, encourage and equip Christian healthcare professionals to glorify God. Yet, as the content and culture of training evolve, maintaining a Christian worldview through
“PARTICIPATING IN THE MENTORING ACADEMY WITH CMDA HAS GIVEN ME CLARITY AND CONFIDENCE IN HOW TO COMBINE MY DESIRE TO DISCIPLE YOUNG HEALTH PROFESSIONALS WHILE PROVIDING MENTORSHIP FOR PRACTICAL STEPS THAT WILL HELP THEM DURING THEIR MEDICAL CAREERS. THE CMDA MENTORING GUIDES HAVE BEEN DEDICATED AND INSPIRING. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND PARTICIPATING IN THIS PROGRAM!” —ERICPENNIMAN,DO,MENTORINGACADEMYFELLOW
GET INVOLVED
Now is the time to take your next steps and get involved with CMDA’s Mentoring and Discipleship Commission. To learn more, visit cmdamentor.org
the grueling stages of healthcare education has become increasingly difficult. From undergraduate medical education, through graduate medical education and into independent practice, our trainees are in desperate need of a Christ-centered community to help them endure—and flourish.
CMDA’s Campus & Community Ministry (CCM) has faithfully nurtured students on medical, dental and health professional school campuses for years, providing strong fellowship and spiritual formation during pre-clinical years. However, when students graduate into the next stage—residency and fellowship—they often become disconnected. The structure of graduate medical education, scattered across thousands of programs and often marked by secularism, demands long hours, brings emotional exhaustion and offers few opportunities for faith-based connection.
“WHAT A GREAT HONOR IT WAS TO INVEST A YEAR OF MY LIFE IN TWO FELLOWS IN THE ACADEMY! WATCHING THEM GROW IN THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF BIBLICAL DISCIPLESHIP AND MENTORING AND CATCHING THE VISION TO INVEST THEIR LIVES IN YOUNGER PHYSICIANS WAS EXTREMELY EXCITING AND REWARDING!”
—BILLGEIGER,MD,MENTORINGACADEMYGUIDE
In 2017, God orchestrated another divine encounter when I crossed paths with CMDA CEO Dr. Mike Chupp. Over the next two years, we shared conversations about the urgent need to support healthcare trainees—especially in graduate medical education—and help bridge the spiritual gap that often emerges during transitions. This passion ultimately led to the formation of an exploratory taskforce to assess the barriers and opportunities for mentorship and discipleship in graduate medical training.
Over a period of 10 months, we listened to trainees, surveyed members and analyzed engagement trends. What we found was sobering, but it was also deeply encouraging. The majority of graduate medical education trainees engaged with CMDA desire spiritual mentorship, but they lack access to Christian mentors in their training locations. In fact, 94 percent of graduate medical education trainees we surveyed said they would welcome a Christian physician or dentist to walk with them spiritually, but two-thirds reported they currently don’t have such a mentor. The need is great, but so is the potential.
We also discovered something remarkable: an estimated 60 percent of CMDA members in practice we surveyed already have opportunities to interact with trainees. Many simply need vision, training and encouragement to step into those relationships. The fields are indeed ripe for harvest.
As a result, the taskforce recommended the creation of a Mentoring and Discipleship Commission, now formally approved by CMDA’s Board of Trustees. Our mission is clear: to build a community of Christ-followers committed to shaping
the spiritual and professional identity of healthcare trainees by equipping mentors, creating resources and cultivating organic, life-giving relationships rooted in the gospel.
At the heart of this work is the Mentoring Academy, launched in 2024. Modeled after Christ’s own method of discipleship, the academy assigns each Fellow a Mentoring Guide to walk with them through a year-long journey. The curriculum weaves together three core threads:
1. Spiritual – Cultivating disciplines like daily quiet time, Scripture study, prayer and worship.
2. Professional – Navigating healthcare challenges with a Christian worldview, from ethics to interprofessional conflict.
3. Personal – Coaching on life issues such as relationships, finances and emotional wellness.
In May 2024, our first cohort of five Fellows—four physicians and one nurse practitioner—embarked on this journey. Through virtual and in-person sessions, they’ve been inspired by leaders like Dr. Farr Curlin and Dr. Darilyn Falck, engaged in rich discussions with residents and equipped with practical tools to mentor the next generation of healthcare professionals.
These pioneers graduated in May 2025, and a new cohort of 10 Fellows began their journey. Each one is a faithful laborer in Christ’s harvest field, ready to invest their lives in others who will do the same. This is not just a program—it’s a movement of multiplication.
I invite you to prayerfully consider how God might be calling you to engage. Are there trainees in your hospital, your clinic or your community who need encouragement, guidance and spiritual companionship? Could you be the mentor they are longing for? You don’t need to be perfect—you just need to be present, available and anchored in Christ. In the words of Paul to Timothy: “And the things you have heard me say…entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). May we, as members of CMDA and the body of Christ, take up this charge with joy and faithfulness—for the glory of God and the healing of a broken world.
Francis Nuthalapaty, MD, is a maternal-fetal medicine physician, Chair of the CMDA Mentoring and Discipleship Commission and Director of the CMDA Mentoring Academy. Dr. Nuthalapaty has a passion for impacting the professional and spiritual formation of trainees since he became a follower of Christ, serving in educational leadership roles in both undergraduate and graduate medical education. He currently serves as the founding Program Director for the Obstetrics and Gynecology residency program at AdventHealth - Tampa.
If you used a depth finder during your daily Bible study, what kind of reading would you be receiving? Throughout my years as a pastor, I’ve observed that faithful followers of Jesus consistently demonstrate both breadth of obedience and depth of understanding—a clear indication of time spent with Him (Acts 4:13). As a master fisherman, Jesus Himself often emphasized the depth finder in His teachings.
Consider those who call Him Lord but don’t follow His commands—hearers but not doers (James 1:22-25). This shallow approach yields unfruitful outcomes. As James writes:
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:22-25, ESV).
In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus further illustrates this point:
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great” (ESV).
In the Parable of the Soils (Matthew 13:5-6), Jesus describes rocky soil with “no depth,” causing seeds to wither quickly due to shallow root systems. And later in that chapter, “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away ” (Matthew 13:20-21, ESV). What a vivid and sobering picture of the importance of deep roots in our faith!
Exploring these passages, along with others like 1 Corinthians 2:10 and Romans 11:33, reveals the profound depth available in our relationship with God. The deeper we dig, the more we discover. Spiritual resilience and insight are directly linked to immersing ourselves in God’s Word. As Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all
the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19, ESV). Remember, the seed represents God’s Word. For the soul to flourish, there must be “toil in the soil”—it requires work to be in the Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal meaningful and life-changing lessons (John 16:13). The bottom line is that for your Bible study to be sweet, it will require some sweat. Grab your shovel.
BEYOND THE SPOON: THE POWER OF “DIG DEEP DAILY”
I believe the key to spiritual success lies in three simple words: “dig deep daily.” Let’s face it: many devotionals are short, sweet and shallow, offering a quick “spiritual snack” in five minutes or less. Is it any wonder a single verse, a brief story, a one-sentence prayer and a quick quote often leave us feeling spiritually anemic and undernourished? We are so busy with the demands of this world that we are unable to devote the necessary time to grow spiritually. Are we so naïve to believe we can maintain a strong walk with God with only five minutes of Bible reading each day? God desires for us to draw near to Him, and He promises that as we do, He will draw near to us (James 4:8).
The Word of God is often likened to food (1 Corinthians 3:2). Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4b). Peter encourages us to “…crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). Jeremiah proclaimed, “Your words were found, and I ate them, And your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16, NKJV).
Imagine being spiritually starved and offered only a bite-sized devotional to satisfy your hunger? What would you do? You’d likely search for more substantial nourishment. While short readings can be a helpful practice, extended reflection in the Word is often missing. As Thomas Brooks wisely noted:
“Remember that it is not hasty reading but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower that draws out the sweet.”1
The same is true for the nourishing and flourishing of our soul—the act of growing vigorously, healthily and thriving. Maturing in our faith is not a passive activity. It requires intentionality, discipline and a hunger for God’s Word.
Charles Spurgeon emphasized the importance of meditation when he said, “A single text, well digested, is better than a whole sermon swallowed down whole.” He understood that true understanding and transformation come not from passively hearing or reading, but from actively engaging with the Word and allowing it to take root in our hearts.
INTRODUCING DIGIN! A SHOVEL, NOT A SPOON
My library is filled with devotional books, treasures I’ve collected through the years. They are the most prized portion of my library. It was my mother who instilled in me a love for devotionals, and years ago she challenged me to write my own. While her request interested me, it was also an overwhelming challenge. Setting out to write a devotional book seemed like a daunting task. Where do you even begin to write 365 devotions? How could I possibly offer something fresh and meaningful each day?
As I prayed about this challenge, CMDA CEO Dr. Mike Chupp asked me one day in our weekly one-on-one meeting, “What are you writing? What is your next book?” In an immediate moment of inspiration, the Lord gave me the complete concept of this book that would be the difference between a spoon and a shovel.
Instead of spoon-feeding people a short devotional that served as their snack for the day, what if we gave them an outline, saturated in Scripture and a shovel to Dig In! and feast on God’s Word? I left Dr. Chupp’s office and immediately began pursuing the vision for this new CMDA resource.
Dig In! is more than just a devotional; it’s a guide to help you cultivate a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God through His Word. It’s a tool designed to equip you to explore the riches of Scripture for yourself, allowing the Holy Spirit to illuminate your understanding and transform your life.
WHY DIG IN! IS THE RIGHT TOOL FOR YOU
• Scripture-saturated Content: Each day’s entry provides a carefully crafted outline filled with relevant Scripture references. This approach encourages you to go directly to the source, allowing God’s Word to speak for itself.
• Personal Discovery: Dig In! isn’t about passively reading someone else’s thoughts. It’s about actively engaging with the text, asking questions and discovering truths for yourself. The outlines are designed to spark your curiosity and guide you on a journey of personal discovery.
• Space for Reflection: Each day includes a dedicated space for notes, allowing you to record your insights, prayers and any additional Scriptures you uncover during your study. This gives you space to journal your own discoveries.
• Topical Index: The book includes a comprehensive topical index, making it easy to explore specific subjects and themes.
• Versatile applications: Dig In! can be used for personal study, small group discussions, Sunday school classes or mentoring younger believers. Its flexible format makes it a valuable resource for a variety of settings.
• Deeper Discernment: The more we discover, the more we can discern what it is to live like Christ.
Included above, you will find an example from the book.
WHY HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS NEED DIG IN!
In the demanding world of healthcare, it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and neglect your spiritual well-being. Long hours, stressful situations and emotional challenges can leave you feeling drained and disconnected from God. Dig In! offers a lifeline, providing a daily tool for the garden of your soul to reconnect with your faith and find strength and guidance in God’s Word.
Here are some specific ways Dig In! can benefit healthcare professionals:
• Stress Relief: Spending time in God’s Word can be a powerful antidote to stress and anxiety. As you meditate on Scripture, you’ll find peace and comfort during challenging circumstances.
• Ethical Guidance: Healthcare professionals face complex ethical dilemmas on a regular basis. Dig In! can help you develop a strong moral compass rooted in biblical principles, enabling you to make sound decisions that honor God and your practice.
• Compassion Fatigue: The emotional demands of healthcare can lead to compassion fatigue. Dig In! can help you replenish your emotional reserves and maintain a heart of compassion for your patients.
• Work-life Balance: Dig In! provides a structured way to pri-
oritize your spiritual well-being, even when your schedule is packed. By making time for God each day, you’ll find greater balance and fulfillment in all areas of your life.
I hope and pray this resource will be a tool for you to use as you grow deeper in God’s Word. Remember, the deeper we dig, the more we discover, and the more we discover, the more we can discern what it means to live like Christ.
Don’t settle for a shallow spiritual life. Embrace the challenge to “Dig Deep Daily” and discover the riches that await you in God’s Word. Pick up your copy of Dig In! today at cmda.org/bookstore.
Endnotes
1 https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/biblical-meditation/
Pastor Bert Jones serves as Vice President of Missions & Member Care at CMDA. In this role, Bert oversees all the mission outreach ministries of CMDA as well as the Center for Well-Being. Bert also serves as chaplain and a coach for CMDA. Bert is a certified ACC Coach with the International Coaching Federation. Bert has co-authored two leadership books with Dr. David Stevens: Leadership Proverbs and Servant Leadership Proverbs, and he is the author of The Leadership Journal from a Leaders Journey. His latest book is called Dig In!, which is a devotional book.
Bioethics
The Dr. John Patrick Bioethics Column
RATIONALITY, CONSCIENCE AND JUSTICE: THE FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN CULTURAL
Isuccess
was appalled this week by a good friend who often acts as a check on my wilder moments, but this time roles were reversed—except he was right. He sent me a report showing that most North Americans are ceasing to read even the Bible. Almost all of us, me included, have reduced concentration spans and blunted critical faculties. Even Nobel laureates have commented that modern awards are less likely to be for stunning insights than for applied technology. This week I led a Bible study on John 13— the beginning of the upper room discourses. All in attendance had read the chapter, but no one could tell me how the chapter started. Apparently, no one taught them the basic first step of coming to grips with a text. Read it, close the book, write down the main points as you remember them and then look at what you missed. This was the first thing I did some years ago when I felt I had to know John 13-17 better. I failed the test! Good practice meant I found my first error quickly. Write down now without looking at a Bible how John 13 starts. The vast majority will say they had never seen that as important before.
This week, I also saw that Melanie Phillips, whose journalism I have appreciated over the years, released a new book with an intriguing title: The Builder’s Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West—and Why Only They Can Save It. It took October 7 and the subsequent reactions around the world to really wake her up. She had been a classical, liberal, Guardian journalist for years, therefore tacitly atheist with no interest in going to Israel. That has now changed. She is unconcerned by the flack she is getting, but she is incredibly concerned for the state of mind of the liberal elite who ought to know better.
Although evangelicals support Israel because the Bible tells us to, we are largely politically unaware in ways that would appall the founding fathers of the United States, who wrote the U.S. Constitution from the starting premise they were beings created in the image of God but fallen. Their greatest fear was the abuse of power, so they created a system of divided power that could only work if they cooperated.
What has happened to the Western world since the 17th century? Can you imagine a time when wise men were writing documents like the U.S. Constitution? Scientists had been expanding
knowledge in the seventh century at an incredible rate, and many like Copernicus, Galileo, Keppler, Boyle, Newton and Leibniz were Christians. In this intellectual ferment, young men in their teens directed their energies to building amazing things like bridges, steam engines and roads. These young men were largely self-educated and hardly literate, but they were incredibly inventive and competent engineers. George Stephenson was illiterate when he built his first steam engine.
What made Western Europe so incredibly productive of new thought, inventiveness and energy between the late 13th century and the 19th century? I would argue that the rise of the universities and the arrival of Aristotelian logic from Spain awakened the dormant Western mind. Johann Gutenberg’s 1454 invention of the printing press (it is estimated 15 million books were printed in the subsequent 50 years, and the majority were Bibles) and Martin Luther’s rejection of abuses, like the selling of indulgences by the Roman church, led to the reformation. Luther’s brilliance in giving people the Bible in their native language led to intellectual ferment. Ordinary people began reading and thinking for themselves. The most read book was the Bible. Luther did not intend the “Reformation,” but God did.
America is the only country founded on Protestant theology, which naturally flourished as local congregations without the
John Patrick, MD
hierarchical structure of the Roman church that was necessary to restrain the medieval monarchs. John Milton beautifully expressed the effect of this new freedom within the church in Areopagitica: “Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.” (When did you last hear vigorous theological argument in your church?) The founding of the U.S. was birthed through much argument built on a common biblical understanding of the nature of man and his redemption. The opening discussions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania were preceded by prayer! No other nation began in such a way. The government could leave and necessarily did leave small, distant communities to solve their own problems, knowing they were standing on millennia of Judeo-Christian moral teachings.
Melanie Philips argues that our ideas about rationality, conscience and justice are the result of Jews and Christians taking their religions seriously. I think she is right, and we must do a better job of giving reasons for our faith and defending the realism of our faith. Although Christians have often been mocked for their naïve faith, it is the modern politically correct multiculturalist who is espousing the fairy tale. This is particularly true of science and molecular biology. In the Cavendish laboratory of Cambridge University in 1953 when Francis Crick and James Watson “got” the structure of DNA, no one could have predicted it would destroy the Darwinian idea of development by random variation and natural selection as the explanation of all living creatures. It will probably still take a while for biology textbooks to grudgingly tell the truth, but they will.
For myself, it was a moment of unforgettable grace when I was taught the truth that we should never fear defending our faith in public because we are promised divine intervention. I was in Cuba in the 1990s with a group of Canadian physicians to take part in annual conferences for Cuban physicians basically aiming at updating medical education. After giving a lecture on some aspects of metabolic medicine, I was approached by a gentleman who turned out to be the head of the department of Marxism and Leninism. That was unexpected! Students had told him I believed Russia was collapsing because of moral decay—an insight I got from reading Alexander Solzhenitsyn. I was surprised he shared my opinion, but I was even more surprised with what he was doing. Most Cubans are much more Nationalist than Communist, and he feared for what was going to happen if the Russian economy collapsed and Russia no longer bought Cuban sugar. The return of the Mafia was what he feared most. His response was to introduce multicultural ethics into the curriculum, but the students went to sleep. He was told I argued that a multicultural society is a contradiction in terms, and I thought that without transcendence, ethics has no intellectual coherence. He came to ask me to debate with him the proposition that ethics and justice require transcendence to be rational. He wanted to see the concept in action. I could not refuse. I had one evening to prepare, and although I was reasonably confident, I knew there was a much better way to do it but had no idea what it was. The next morning as I got up to speak, my mind went blank except for one sentence, which I immediately understood was what I
had been looking for the night before. The sentence was: “This message assembled itself.” I asked my translator to write it on the board in Spanish and then asked the audience what they made of it. They admitted its grammatical correctness, but it was nonsensical. I then crossed out the word message and replaced it with DNA and said, “But you believe this sentence because Darwin requires it, but it is the same sentence. DNA is an extraordinary message; indeed, it is a blueprint for the basic structure of every living creature. God needs only four letters in His alphabet, and He only uses three letter words. Put 300 such words in order and a protein is designed. There are 1.5 billion letters in the right order in your DNA; need I elaborate?” The audience applauded, because they had lived under scientific socialism long enough and knew immediately what I was going to do next. God is back in the public square, especially in science, and we need to celebrate that fact.
Now to tie these thoughts together. One of the great historical mysteries is the emergence of organized experimental science beginning in 14th century in Oxford, with its subsequent growth for almost five centuries and its apparent decline into applied technology in the last 50 years. In parallel, beginning late in the 19th century was the amazing production of wealth from and inventiveness consequent upon the exploitation of the free market and sophisticated financial skills. Lots of factors are involved, but a major one was to place truth above loyalty. Science for the new experimentalists depended on publication and replication. At present, the vast majority of scientific papers are not read. Blatant fraud takes at least 10 years to be proved, and then only if the fabricated data comes up against contrary results. This is not a question science can answer. It is a moral problem. The Jews were told to teach their children God’s commandments in order to flourish. They were warned they would lose their way without that obedience. Only grace brought them back. It was not an accident the Jews ran the banking for the first millennium of Christendom, because only they truly understood the essential requirement of promise keeping. Righteousness exalts a nation!
The moral for all of us? If your healthcare professionals don’t fear God and believe in judgment after death, you would be wise not to trust them.
John Patrick, MD, studied medicine at Kings College, London and St. George’s Hospital, London in the United Kingdom. He has held appointments in Britain, the West Indies and Canada. At the University of Ottawa, Dr. Patrick was Associate Professor in Clinical Nutrition in the Department of Biochemistry and Pediatrics for 20 years. Today he is President and Professor at Augustine College and speaks to Christian and secular groups around the world, communicating effectively on medical ethics, culture, public policy and the integration of faith and science. Connect with Dr. Patrick at johnpatrick.ca. You can also learn more about his work with Augustine College at augustinecollege.org. To hear more from Dr. Patrick, visit johnpatrick.ca to listen to the Dr. John Patrick Podcast.
Classifieds
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Disciple-making Physician Assistants
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CMDA PLACEMENT SERVICES
Bringing together healthcare professionals to further God’s kingdom
I
“Absolutely
amazing!
would not have found my job without CMDA Placement Services.”
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Rachel VanderWall, NP
“It’s a valuable source for colleagues who recognize that their calling to medicine is a calling to ministry.”
— The Jackson Clinic
We exist to glorify God by placing healthcare professionals and assisting them in finding God’s will for their careers. Our goal is to place healthcare professionals in an environment that will encourage ministry and also be pleasing to God.
We make connections across the U.S. for healthcare professionals and practices. We have an established network consisting of hundreds of opportunities in various specialties.
You will benefit from our experience and guidance. Every single placement carries its own set of challenges. We help find the perfect fit for you and your practice.
