He was a young man, and I could see fear in his eyes as he gripped the railings of the bed and struggled to breathe, sucking in heavily through the plastic mask feeding him oxygen. His body was wasting away from cancer, and the infections that had crept into his lungs were now forcing every compensatory mechanism into extremis. He wanted to fight and live, but there was little left for the ICU to offer. I had been pleading with him for days to consider hospice and a more peaceable passing at home where he could be … [Read more...] about Death and Resurrection
healthcare
Reasons: Why I am a Christian Part 2
Every year, the translator at our pediatric hospital asks this question: What are the four hardest words to translate? He will pause for a moment and then say, Your child is dead. Every time I hear it, I wonder how many times he has had to say that phrase. Every year, I think the tally must be a little higher. Fixed in every medical provider's mind are similar moments of unsettling and stunning grief. Death, crippling injury, and disability rarely happen in the dramatic TV show ways. They are ordinary and … [Read more...] about Reasons: Why I am a Christian Part 2
Reasons: Why I am a Christian
"How can you believe in God and science at the same time?" Even though I am rarely asked this question so plainly, it is often implied in conversation. Many atheistic advocates think that there is a conflict between the two. They may suspect that a belief in the supernatural is used primarily to explain the physical world with non-physical means and to "fill in the gaps" for conundrums for which there is no better or more reasonable determination. They may believe that beliefs are driven by a search for meaning … [Read more...] about Reasons: Why I am a Christian
Writing a Christian Personal Statement: Part 2
My essay for admission to medical school was brutally honest. I talked about my low GPA, my relationship with my parents, my obsession with the problem of suffering, quotes from my personal journal, and how it was all driven by a radical faith in Jesus Christ (and images in my head of suffering children). It was my attempt at being really, really honest and was the product of many careful hours of meticulous revision. Note: Click here for Writing a Christian Personal Statement: Part 1. It was also really, really … [Read more...] about Writing a Christian Personal Statement: Part 2
Writing a Christian Personal Statement
Writing any application for a school can be difficult, and writing the Personal Statement can become the most challenging part of it. By the time you are preparing to submit an application, most of its elements are already fixed: your GPA, your MCAT or GRE scores, the activities you did (or didn't do). The Personal Statement, however, is an open field of possibilities in self expression, and that sense of ambiguity lends itself to great liberty and/or great anxiety. Admittedly, the title is somewhat misleading. A … [Read more...] about Writing a Christian Personal Statement