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TURNING CHEEKS (Bad medicine)
Recently, I attended a week long Purpose Driven conference at Saddleback church in Southern California. I had been looking forward to the trip for a long time and was genuinely excited about spending some time with a team of people from my church, learning and soaking up whatever information that Rick Warren had to offer. A few days before I was to leave, however, I had a bit of a setback.
After recovering from two weeks of the "chest-cold-fever-flu" - as I call it - I was still not feeling well, if fact, I was feeling worse day by day. Four days before my flight to California I went to see a doctor who diagnosed me with bronchitis and prescribed an antibiotic and an inhaler to help with my breathing. "Good," I thought, "I should be much better by the second day or so of the trip."
The night before leaving, I was still having some trouble breathing but my wife encouraged me to take the flight anyway saying that the devil was just trying to keep me from going. (I wasn't sure that the devil gave me bronchitis but I went along with her advice anyway)
I made my morning flight, arrived in Orange County early that afternoon, got my rental car and checked into the hotel. I woke up the next morning and headed off to Saddleback ready to be inspired. The general session and the workshops were incredible but I was having trouble focusing because of my labored breathing. "It's just that Los Angeles air pollution" I kept telling myself, trying to wear a smile and keep an upbeat attitude for the rest of my team.
That night in my hotel room I could not get to sleep. It just felt, laying on my back, that I could not get enough air, enough breath - so I took some of the couch cushions, put them in my bed and propped myself up in a sitting position. After some serious conversations with God about my health, I fell asleep.
The next morning I woke up, not feeling much better but thinking "I've been on this antibiotic for six days now, I must be getting better - maybe I'm just having some bad allergy stuff down here." I made it to the eight o'clock session at Saddleback but by nine-thirty, due to my ever-more-labored breathing, I began to think, "Something is not right with me" which led me to another conversation with God and a very clear voice saying, "Go to a doctor - now." "Stupid!" (I don't think that God really called me stupid - but I did hear that word inside of my head ;-)
Luckily, there was a paramedic on the Saddleback campus who was able to refer me to a local doctor not five minutes away. I spent the next three hours undergoing a variety of medical tests. Two doctors - and a lot of worry later - it was determined that my bronchitis had turned into first stage pneumonia. Evidently, the antibiotic that I was taking was not working and the bacteria in my chest was growing - I was, indeed, getting worse.
They decided to treat it aggressively starting me off with a shot of steroids and a shot of powerful antibiotics. As I prepared my arm for the needle, the nurse just chuckled and said "No, I'm sorry but you'll need to pull down your Cargo pants." (Gives a whole new meaning to "turning the other cheek" doesn't it. - Sorry, I couldn't resist:-)
They sent me off with a handful of other medication and within just a couple of days I was feeling much better.
Isn't it amazing how when we humans have things go wrong in our lives (and in our relationships) we often seek out worldly things to "fix" the problem. I.E. "I'm having anxiety and depression - maybe a vacation in Figi will fix it." or "My spouse and I really need to talk about some of our issues - but not tonight, I'd just turn on the TV and vedge." or "If a get a newer car, a bigger house, a more prestigious job or some cooler style clothes - then I'll feel better about myself."
The problem is that when you take the wrong kind of medicine for a disease (whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual) - it will not only "not cure" the disease, you will eventually get even sicker.
""Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." says Jesus. When we bring our problems to the foot of the Cross and lay them down before God in faith - then and only then does the True healing process begin.
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