What You Really Really Want

For couple a weeks the pain from my teeth had been increasing, and I began to wonder about the competency of my dentist...

The God of Science and the Science of God

Let me start by saying, as I have always said, I'm not an expert in anything... Nothing.

First and Second Aid

I hope exercising my First Amendment right doesn't mean you're going to start exercising your Second Amendment right...

I haven't read this yet, but I will

Actually now I have read it, and maybe you should too...

Equal Time

The time between so called "news reporting" and advertising.

Jesus and Obamacare

This whole response is off the cuff. Anyone who knows me at all, also then knows that I'm not at all politically minded, so I usually don't engage in these types of discussions.

That said, I wasn't aware that anyone was aware of my position on "Obamacare" although you (A facebook friend) are correct about my stance of support, and so I offer this...

To those who need the help, I am happy to think that my money is in part going toward more than just making the fat cats even fatter (although it's doing that as well).

Let's be real for a minute and call things as they are, currently it is the insurance companies that run our healthcare system and decide what's in "our best interest" regarding treatments, unless you happen to have enough money to cover those gaps, and I don't personally know anyone who does.

The reality of it is this; people live and die everyday based solely on someone's (a claims adjuster's) decision, 100s or 1000s of miles away, who is completely disconnected with impact of the situation, deciding the monetary value of human health and life versus the financial benefit and cost to the insurance company they work for, as their own best interest is measured by the company's best interest. Suffice to say, as usual, the bottom line always seems to be the bottom line.

Doctors receive kick backs from insurance companies for doing or not doing certain tests and procedures, and from pharmaceutical companies for test marketing or prescribing some drugs over others. In the end it is we who pay the price for these things, when the long term consequences come to fruition, as well as ultimately paying for the uninsured who go to the emergency room for health maintenance rather than actual emergencies, knowing they would be turned away at a doctor's office because they didn't posses an insurance card.

My 18 year old was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and without "Obamacare" she could have been kicked off of my insurance and left on her own to find insurance that would cover a pre-existing condition, leaving our family in dire financial straits. Even with fantastic insurance (from FedEx) the luxuriously extravagant lifestyle we currently lead from my maintaining 3 jobs is severely strained. (that should be read with a good deal of sarcasm).

As far as the church and compassion goes, I'd like to think that if I attended a church they'd be there to help, but Paige's own church, clearly knowing the situation, failed to make even a gesture in that direction until I posted on my blog the parable of the sheep and goats pointing out the obvious, "as you have done unto the least of these..."

After being made aware of this post, when at last the pastor did make a gesture, I texted him afterward to say thanks for his efforts, only for the response to be a reply text simply stating that "love fulfills the law"…and hence ended any other follow up. Apparently the law has been fulfilled…with love?

I digress…

Let's be real, it is insurance companies that have made the ever increasing cost of medical care so overinflated and far out of reach for anyone who wants to simply maintain their health and all the more so for anyone with a life threatening condition that requires ongoing treatment. (Long and short term insulin, syringes, test strips, needles, and the list goes on)

As for this "legislation of compassion" thing that has been mentioned, affordable and available health care to a country's citizens to my mind doesn't really fall under that heading, after all isn't it a government's job to care for its citizens? And a community's job to care for those within that community?

As it currently stands the cost of doing so seems far too burdensome on such a small scale as a community caring for its own, especially when everyone seems to be scrapping just to make ends meet for their own households, and so it has fallen to the government I suppose.

When it comes to helping those in need, I'm happy to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's especially when it means that not only the elderly and veteran's might be included in those benefits, but the everyday citizens whose health is vital to doing the jobs that keep this country running, as well. Health that I might add, if not maintained, would not only mean personal and financial ruin, but would then also become another burden to an already failing system.

Of course, I don't really know all the ins and outs of "Obamacare", I only know how how it has affected me and the one's I love, and so far that's positively. So how could I possibly be against it?

As I see it, it's really got nothing (or at least not a whole lot) to do with Jesus and what he said unless we consider that the secular culture seems to be exemplifying more compassion to our fellow humans than our own in many ways…and then we might consider the prostitutes who get to heaven before the priests...

Just my two cents, and I certainly could be wrong...but I don't think I am.

d(-_-)b

Scene but not herd...

Separation Anxiety

Matthew 25:31-40: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

The Saddest Girl in the World.

Sorry if we did this too you...goodbye...

Strange to say of all the things I've seen Paige go through this week, and it's been a tough week, I think I just watched the most heartbreaking thing I've seen yet.

Paige (the little girl, not Paige the adult) just took all the junk food out of her room. Cookies, candy bars, chips, popcorn, soda, crackers...a whole stockpile. I can't even describe the sadness and defeat on her face as she did it.

I really thought I would cry for her.

I almost did...

Reality has come home and reality sucks.

d(-_-)b

To All the Girls I've Loved

It's almost 3am and we just got home from the hospital.
I really should be going to bed...


Of all the things I've done in my life, being a Dad has been the greatest labor of love that I have ever both embraced and endured at the same time.

Tut Tut, looks like rain

It's almost 3am and we just got home from the hospital.
I really should be going to bed...


Of all the things I've done in my life, being a Dad has been the greatest labor of love that I have ever both embraced and endured at the same time.

 For $3 and some change at the Desert Samaritan cafeteria you can have your hand held daily!

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 Hospital chaplain here for your Jedification!

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 Here's something we could all use at some point!

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Now when people ask where my hope is found, I can now say I found my hope in the interfaith chapel, in a cabinet...in a can.

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If you open this cabinet, there's no barricade between the two sides. Seems like a lot of potential for trouble right here.

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 This is the standard dry erase board you find in all hospital rooms. I guess what really concerns me is that diet had to be written in and pain is a permanent part of the plan.

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If we can describe something you need to use twice a day as having 24 hour protection, where do we draw the line? 30 day protection, use 60 times month.

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Uh oh...someone looks like someone lost their lunch on the elevator.

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Jed, getting down with his badge self!

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If you're one of the "taking", then these bibles are for you!

PBA336

Well we've been here since Wednesday morning.

Is it getting colder in here?

Some global warming might not be a bad thing given the current climate...and I'm not talking about the weather.

As you have done unto the least of these...

Our words mean something no matter how cleverly or eloquently we try to use them.

Why I don't attend parties...

(Upon being called a liberal Christian...)
Please allow me to say here,  that my objective is not, nor has it ever been political as the term that some have used in calling me "liberal" might imply in our current culture.