For its cover story last month, Christianity Today published an article on contemporary Radicalism. The article struck me as controversial and provocative because it held out criticism of controversial and provocative people: David Platt, Francis Chan, and Shane Claiborne among others. The overall tone is quite critical of the icons and the culture of emerging Christian radicalism: These teachers want us to see that following Christ genuinely, truly, really, radically, sacrificially, inconveniently, and uncomfortably … [Read more...] about On Christian Radicalism
On Cynicism [Part 2] — Hope
After a bru tal series of Christ mas shifts working in the Emergency Room, I had finally come home for the hol i days. My mother and I were in the kitchen, talk ing like we used to. We had seen and loved the new Les Mis er ables film, and so I brought up an inter est ing ques tion from an inter view with Saman tha Barks, who played Eponine: Inter viewer: I think aside from “I Dreamed a Dream”, “On My Own” is prob a bly one of the most loved songs of the musi cal, and I think it's fas ci nat … [Read more...] about On Cynicism [Part 2] — Hope
On Cynicism [Part 1]
[Orig i nally written for a Good Fri day reflec tion in 2007, unknow ingly done one week before the Vir ginia Tech shoot ing. It remains upsettingly current. It is also the first of a two part series; don't worry, the title of the second one is "On Hope."] The statistic is that roughly 18,000 children die each day from hunger and malnutrition alone. This does not include those who die from preventable diseases like rotavirus (which causes severe diar rhea and kills approx i mately 600,000 children a … [Read more...] about On Cynicism [Part 1]
Hands and Feet
[This was originally written for a Christian campus publication, Revisions.] The patient came in for a refill of pain medications even though it was his first visit to the family medicine practice. The front desk staff had a letter for the supervising resident from the patient's previous doctor, which the resident read out loud to me: “Due to difficulties in our doctor-patient relationship, we regret to inform you that we can no longer serve as your primary care physician office.” The resident's eyes widened … [Read more...] about Hands and Feet
Match Day: On Call
Today is Match Day. Today, thousands of medical students across the USA will be given a sealed envelope containing a description of where they will be going for residency. At noon, in every medical school, they will gather to simultaneously open those envelopes. These students have spent months applying and interviewing for various programs. Many will have spent hundreds of dollars and hours on applications, interview suits, travel expenses, and retail therapy in the pursuit of a place to give them the training … [Read more...] about Match Day: On Call