Ed, my neighbor next door, really enjoyed seeing a good-sized white bandage on my nose. “Stuck your snout into the wrong person’s business and got a good poke in the nose didn’t you?” Ed asked in self-satisfaction at my expense.

“Nothing so exciting, I donated a growth to a surgeon who seemed so young I wondered how long he’d been out of diapers,” I told Ed. Then I added, “My nose has never had so much attention before, but at my age any attention is a bonus.”

Ed only wanted to know a few details, because too much talk of blood or pain makes him uncomfortable. He had five-rapid-fire questions for me. They were: “How long until the bandage comes off? Where did you have the surgery done? Did they freeze your nose before the procedure? Did you watch them do the procedure? How long did it take?” I guess Ed was satisfied with the answers as he proceeded into a favorite topic of his – overpaid doctors and nurses. Thankfully, Ruby called Ed for supper or I’d be still stuck at fence while Ed wound up and down on one of his pet peeves.

When I go to the doctor, I don’t care what amount of money he makes, but I do care if he can help me with what ails me. Benjamin Franklin spoke of doctors this way, “God heals and the doctor takes the fee.” As far as I know, Ben Franklin wasn’t a relative of Ed’s. I like the Arabian Proverb that states, “No man is a good physician who has never been sick.” Best of all, I like the words of Ambroise Pare – father of modern surgery – “I dressed his wounds, but God healed him.” All the inside information a doctor gets would overwhelm me.

Sickness tends to overwhelm most people. In the Bible, we are told of a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and spent all she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. The woman, hearing about Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd surrounding him and touched his cloak. She thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” And she was!

Jesus healed many people, but not for money. His healings here on earth were to demonstrate that He was, and is, the Son of God. God is concerned with both our body and our souls. Health and healing are limited here on earth. Our mortality rate is 100%. Jesus came to bring God’s healing to bear upon us now and eternally. He was willing to suffer on the cross and lay down His life there for us. He arose on the third day after His death so that we could know earthly death can lead us to eternal life with God.

I waited an hour on a hospital bed for the plastic surgeon to come and deal with my procedure. It seemed long, but the time was not filled with pain, suffering, or harassment. As I waited, I thought of Jesus nailed on a cross suffering terrible pain and hateful taunts. At the hospital, I was receiving the best of care, while on the cross Jesus faced the worst. He died there to heal us forever.

 

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