LET ME RUN WITH YOU A WHILE

Back when I was a member of the National Guard, I was participating in the required annual two mile run, and struggling a bit. Suddenly, a faster runner prepared to go around me, and said, 

"Let me run with you a while." 

As a result I knew he was sacrificing himself and his time for me. He ran a few hundred yards alongside me, cheering me on, and finally said, 

"See you at the finish line" and dashed on ahead. 

We all need someone stronger and faster to run along side of us "a while"; to encourage us, and cheer us on. 

I choose to be such a person.

THE LORD IS RIDING WITH ME

There was a preacher who lived in the mountains of North Carolina who was well known for his "lead foot." It seems everywhere he went, he drove far too fast.

Of course, his friends were concerned about Pastor Bob since he was always riding the side of cliffs, as he negotiated the mountain curves.

One day Bill was on his way up a particular mountain, and spied Preacher Bob about a hundred yards ahead. Suddenly, the good reverend sailed off a cliff, rolled down the side of the mountain, and came to rest under a tree. Then, much to Bill's horror, the car caught fire.

Running down the mountain, and just before he reached the preacher's automobile, Bill saw the preacher crawl out of the window.

Now, Bill spoke.

"Preacher, preacher, are you alright?

To whic the parson replied, 

"Well, yes that ya, Bill. The Lord is riding with me!"

To which Bill responded,

"Well,  you better let Him ride with me before you kill Him!"

SPEAK ENGLISH!!!

A married couple from the states who I know traveled to Scotland to attend a wedding. As they were driving in the Highlands one night a Scottish policeman pulled their car over for some minor infraction. 

As the cop stood at the driver's window, and begin to speak, my friend Jeff had no idea what he was saying. Finally Jeff said, "Speak English!" To which the magistrate replied, "I am!"

FALLING OFF A HORSE

Well, I'm in the emergency room now. Ugh!! 😢 Today was not a good day at all. I decided to go horseback riding, to ease the boredom... something I haven't done in awhile. It turned out to be a big mistake!

I got on the horse and started out fine. Nice and slow, but then we went a little faster. Before I knew it, we were going as fast as the horse could go. I couldn't take the pace and fell off. I caught my foot in the stirrup with the horse dragging me. It wouldn't stop. Hit my head, banged up my back and elbow, pretty good and tore my shirt.

Thank goodness the kind manager at Dollar General came out and unplugged the machine. But, he had the nerve to take the rest of my change so I wouldn't ride the Elephant or Motorcycle. I was also banned from the Merry-go-round. The nerve!

How many of you actually read what I wrote? If you did, copy and paste for someone else to get a laugh! Haha - we all need a laugh now and then!

Borrowed from a friend!!!!!

CURIOUS & MISCELLANEOUS PERSONAL PERSUASIONS RELATED TO THE CORONAVIRUS

1. The number of American Coronavirus's on the TV screen each day lists the total cases since the pandemic began here, rather than the total number of present-tense, active cases. (Some people have gotten well, and some have died).

2. They would never say so, but people such as Brian Williams, the host of "The 11th Hour" on the liberal cable network, MS-NBC, will almost assuredly vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming election. After all, his $10 million per year "Bash Trump" job depends on the president remaining in office for another four years.

3. If Donald Trump loses the next election, the liberal cable channels, MS-NBC and CNN, will be forced to go back to common domestic and world news type programming; since their current design is to criticize everything the Republican administration says and does. They simply will not conduct a similar vendetta against a Democratic administration.

4. While Donald Trump is far from perfect, even a broken clock is right twice a day. If you believe everything you hear on the liberal cable networks, a broken clock "trumps Trump."

5. Then there is the FOX News Network which would, no doubt, conduct similar programming as MS-NBC and CNN does today; should a Democrat be elected in November.

6. And lest anyone think I am biased either way. I wrote my own name in on the national ballot in the last election, and intend to do so again this time around. (I kept waiting for the Secret Service to park in my driveway in 2016, and tell me Air Force One was waiting to fly me to D.C. to assume my prestigious office, but it never happened. I suppose I can tell my grandchildren I ran for president twice. It's a safe bet that I will lose again).

7. Recently, a couple of large churches have defied civil orders not to hold worship services, and the pastors have been subjected to criticism and arrest. They claim they are practicing Freedom of Religion. However, scripture reminds us to obey those in authority over us. And on a practical basis, the health and welfare of a society must be the overriding factor when it comes to whether a group of people fill up a building. The Church doesn't not cease to be the Church just because wisdom dictates they watch a church service on TV, or a computer monitor.

8. Oddly enough, while a Shelter in Place order has just been issued in Florida, Governor Desantis is currently allowing churches to conduct worship services, if they so choose; with the exception of a few counties which have issued more stringent orders in this regard. (It appears to this writer that allowing churches to remain open flies in the face of the whole intention of the order to halt the spread of the virus).

9. Gasoline prices have fallen to their lowest level in many years. At the moment, the price of gasoline in Florida hovers around $1.85 per gallon.

10. The national unemployment rate in the U.S. is expected to reach or exceed a third of the working population.

11. The stimulus package which congress has approved involves the expenditure of 2 Trillion dollars; for all intents federally approved counterfeit money.

12. Ultimately, nothing escapes God's awareness and oversight. Believers can take comfort in the fact that God is in control of their lives, that we live and move and breathe at His pleasure, and that we will be here 'til He decides to take us to our eternal home.

by William McDonald, PhD

ALLOWING & DISALLOWING (A Commentary On Our Current Dilemma)

Pt. 1

1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.

2 And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life.

5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. (Job Chapter 2, NIV)

Pt. 2

I was reading Job Chapter 2 today, and the similarity of the content to what we are experiencing today is simply compelling.

America, and indeed, the world has been struck, and struck hard by a viral pandemic which threatens to rival every pandemic in modern times; except, perhaps, the 1918 Spanish Influenza attack. (My wife’s maternal grandfather died during that pandemic).

I think we can only guess why bad things happen to good people; (and to be sure there will be many good people who succumb to this virus). As believers, we have been informed that when our ancient parents disobeyed God, and tasted the forbidden fruit, sin was introduced into the spiritual dynamic, and mankind’s decision to, well, make his own decisions, has resulted in death and disease and dissolution to all the children of men.

There are some who teach that God is presently in the process of judging the earth on account of the ungodly elements present among us, (none of which I will name here) and that this judgement will result in the Rapture of the Church, The Great Tribulation, The Thousand Year Reign of Christ, and The New Heavens and The New Earth. I am neither in a position to, nor do I wish to refute this perspective.

However, for any student of the Bible, (or perhaps the most ardent agnostic) we cannot be help but acknowledge and confess that God “allows” in our day and age, as surely as He allowed when Job endured what he simply did not merit or deserve.

I think this latest pandemic finds us all rather anxious and fearful. We are, without doubt, witnessing a season in which God has, at least for the moment, removed His hand, and allowed a most threatening and expansive pandemic to overwhelm the nations and people of this planet.

Pt. 3

However, the God who allows also has the wherewithal to disallow.

I think one passage of scripture, in particular, applies to our present dilemma.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2^nd Chronicles 7:14)

It is not my purpose to debate anyone about their personal shortcomings, nor the collective shortcomings of this great nation, and the world. However, be that as it may, we have been called to pray. And that old adage, “Just pray about it” is more than an adage. The Creator has called us to pray for this nation and the world.

Another important passage of scripture can be found in the obscure Book of Habakkuk.

“For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” (Habakkuk 2:3)

“It will certainly come and will not delay.”

Or in what has been referred to as the greatest promise of all time…

“And it came to pass.”

What we are enduring now will come to pass. The God who allows is also perfectly capable of disallowing.

Stay encouraged, my friends. That which we are currently experiencing will surely come to pass. God give us the grace to patiently endure that which has come upon us.

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending

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MY RADIOACTIVE WIFE

My wife is radioactive.

She is the most radioactive human being I’ve ever met …who continues to live and move and breathe.

It all began as World War II was nearing its conclusion, and her father Dock V., the proud father of five and husband of a young wife, enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and was posted to the U.S.S. Topeka.

During the last couple of months in which the war raged the task force, of which the Topeka was a part, bombed Tokyo, and its planes had been launched for a second run, but were recalled when the Japanese Empire capitulated; a direct result of the two atomic bombs which devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Prior to the culmination of its service in the Far East, the Topeka saw duty in Tokyo Bay.

Dock always blamed a couple of bouts with cancer on his service off the Japanese islands, and subsequently applied for a VA disability. There was always an implication, stated or otherwise, that his military service took him closer to one of the ‘atomic cities’ than can be properly substantiated, or at least that he and his shipmates were exposed to the radioactive fallout which saturated land, sea and air after the deadly blasts.

His daughter, Jean, was born less than four years after the surrender of Japan, and given my father-in-law’s suspected exposure to radiation, and its wherewithal to impact the body’s chromosomal blueprint, might be referred to as an ‘atomic baby.’

My wife and I both grew up in the small, but unique city of Bartow, and attended school together. As a matter of fact, we were both students in Mrs. Waters’ 4^th grade class. And speaking of babies I taught her everything she knew at the time about “the birds and the bees;” (which was precious little, as Jean had just informed me that women were responsible for making babies when I made her aware that men had a little something to do with it. But that is a whole different story than the one we are pursuing here).

Pt. 2

Bartow, the third largest city in Polk County, happens to be its county seat. When looking at a state map, you can’t miss it. Larger than Rhode Island, at 2000 square miles the third largest of Florida’s 67 counties, Polk sets smack dab in the center of the state like a gigantic belly button.

Things are changing now, but there was a time when the major industry in our county was phosphate production. And for anyone ‘in the know’ there is the understanding that our county has a Radon problem; made more problematic by the quantity of upturned phosphatic earth with which we contend.

The City of Bartow was built on and around reclaimed phosphate pits. Not only this, but great radioactive gypsum stacks, containing huge quantities of industrial waste water, surround the city. Recently, one of these earthen monstrosities ‘sprung a leak’ when a gigantic sinkhole opened up beneath it; allowing millions of gallons of radioactive water and a myriad of chemicals to reach the Florida aquafer. (And did I mention that at one time a uranium recovery plant was located within ten miles of our ‘fair city?’ Well, it was).

Bartow ‘boasts’ (if that is an appropriate word) more incidences of cancer per hundred residents than the state or national average. One portion of the city is a ‘hot bed’ for the malady, and scores of people in the area have succumbed to the disease. (I think Erin Brockovich would ‘have a field day’ here).

My wife not only grew up with the threat of Radon, and the invisible gamma rays which it produces, but throughout her young and middle-aged years she was employed in, among other places, a hospital, nursing home and school; all within the geographical boundaries of the county seat.

With each passing year her exposure to radiation was growing exponentially.

Pt. 3

During the decade of the 90’s, my wife and daughter were afforded the opportunity to travel on a Christian missions trip to the countries of Belarus and Russia. It was the chance of a lifetime and they were not going to miss out on both the potential for inestimable impact upon the citizens of these countries, and the inherent beauty of the region.

I suppose neither my wife nor I gave it a second thought prior to her departure, but having arrived in Gomel, Belarus Jean became acquainted with ‘Svetlana,’ the group’s English translator.

The young lady was a lovely individual both inside and out; with the exception of …a noticeable tumor on her forehead. Of course, such a condition could not go unnoticed nor unspoken, and Svetlana offered that the cyst was a direct result of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, and the gradual and prolonged effects of the radiation on the populace of that region. The City of Gomel lies just 70 miles from that infamous place.

"The worst scars have settled in the mind. And no place has been punished more than the Gomel region of Belarus, where the Soviet authorities denied the accident for several days, allowing people to linger in the radiation, then lied about its severity.

"An area of nearly 2 million people -- 20 percent of the country's population -- Gomel once had the most fertile farmland in all Belarus. Today it is as if somebody had sown the land with salt: 20 of 21 agricultural districts produce nothing. People have become paralyzed with fear. They are afraid to move, afraid to stay, afraid to marry and afraid to have families. All normal life stopped here simply because there was a strong northerly wind on April 26, 1986." (Michael Specter)

Jean and I have often looked at the photograph of Svetlana which she keeps in her missions album, and wondered whether she is still with us, or whether by now she has succumbed to the awful malady.

Obviously, while my wife and her team resided in Belarus they were exposed to low levels of radiation which is, at some level, still being emitted by the defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Pt. 4

“The Big C” is no respecter of persons. There isn’t a country, state, metropolis or village in the world upon which it hasn’t laid its vile hand. Bartow, Florida. Gomel, Belarus. Paris, France. Podunk, West Virginia.

Our beloved Shih Tzu, Buddy, had been acting strangely the past few days. (He was actually a she, since the moniker seemed to fit and we’d given her a male name). Buddy wouldn’t let my wife out of her sight. Where Jean went, well, she went. If she walked into the living room, Buddy was right behind her. If she needed something out of the refrigerator, the little pooch was underfoot. If she decided to take a nap, the little Shih Tzu curled up at the end of the bed, and followed her lead.

Jean hadn’t felt well, physically or emotionally, and one day as she chose the latter activity, above, she had the sense that some invisible weight was pressing her into the bedstead. Oppressive and suffocating, it seemed like Death, itself.

My wife’s physical and emotional symptoms were indicative of a problem which could not be ignored, and I knew dogs possessed an acute sense of smell, and were able to detect the presence of any number of organic maladies and substances. I encouraged Jean to make an appointment with her physician, and as the result of a mammogram a lump was discovered in one breast.  At this point, ‘Dr. Scott’ referred her to a surgical oncologist, and a biopsy was performed.

When the tests ‘came back’ the lump was found to be malignant. Thankfully, the malignancy was still contained within the duct, and a lumpectomy was scheduled.

When Jean awoke from the scheduled lumpectomy she learned the lead wire had dislodged, and the surgery could not be completed. ‘Dr. Andrews,’ a renowned female surgeon, was not a ‘happy camper.’ Ultimately, the surgical technician was released for not having properly positioned the wire. Later in the week the lumpectomy was successfully performed.

As it fell together, the three surgical procedures which had thus far transpired proved to be the least of it.

Jean was scheduled for a consult, and Dr. Andrews recommended she submit to a follow up regimen. And thus, over the course of the next several weeks my wife submitted to (drum roll)

…33 installments of radiation.

(Readers, that final word in the previous sentence should ‘ring a bell’ for you).

At this writing we are thankful that Jean has been cancer free for well over a decade, and she can rightly be called a ‘Survivor.’

An unusual series of coincidences which when taken together are among the most unusual circumstances to which I have ever personally been privy.

A father exposed to the radioactive cloud generated by the atomic blasts of WWII.

A hometown which exudes gamma rays from the ground upon which it was constructed.

A short term missions trip located right ‘next door’ to the site of the infamous Chernobyl disaster.

‘The Big C’ and its aftermath. Almost three dozen episodes involving the administration of radiation.

Almost seven (count ‘em 7) decades of exposure to radiation of one kind or another.

As a nurse my wife’s patients always remarked that her hands were ‘as soft as a baby’s butt’ and ‘as warm as a summer breeze.’

I can only guess why.


My Radioactive Wife


by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending

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