Athens Food Tours, Part Deux

After leaving Jittery Joe's, the next stop on our food tour was Whiplash Cafe, just a little farther down the street. Whiplash served us two different pizzas and one of their pasta salads, as well as providing a selection of beverages. One pizza was their Jersey Turnpike pizza which had salami, bacon, and jalapenos or banana peppers. The other was a Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapple, I believe. The pasta salad was a chicken caesar pasta salad, which was very good, though they say that their house pasta salad is even better. We will definitely have to visit Whiplash Cafe again.

After Whiplash, we made our way up the hill and around the corner to Square One, the relatively new seafood restaurant on Thomas Street. At Square One, we were served a little jerk steak, which was spicy and flavorful, and oysters Bienville, which was rich and savory. This was my first experience with oysters, and it was a good one. This was also something that I would probably not have selected from a menu, but I decided to try them since previous ventures into the culinary unknown had been handsomely rewarded, in the form of escargot in Bermuda, sushi in Berkeley, molletes and street vendor hot dogs in Mexico (I can hear the collective gasp of germophobes everywhere), and samosas and chipatis in Kenya. The oysters was followed with a taste of an orange-based dessert, which was rather refreshing.

After finishing at Square One, we made our way to Yoguria, a locally-owned frozen yogurt shop at College Square, for the final stop on the tour. This was not TCBY. This yogurt, though frozen, retains the health benefits of the refrigerated yogurt you might buy from the grocery store, but is much flavorful. Yoguria had several flavors I had never previously tasted, including taro and bilberry. After sampling each of the flavors, I settled on bilberry with kiwi, bananas, and blackberries and was quite pleased with the result. I highly recommend Yoguria if you are looking for a cool treat that is still good for you.

Our Athens Food Tour was a great experience. Mary Charles is a phenomenal hostess and does a great job of stimulating conversation among the food tour participants, while keeping the interactions informal and relaxed. Her food selections were all delicious and allowed us to try new restaurants and new foods that we might otherwise have not known about or selected. If you are looking for a fun way to try a variety of local restaurants, try Athens Food Tours. Athens Food Tours offers a variety of tours, including several downtown itineraries, Normaltown, and Five Points. Check them out at http://www.athensfoodtours.com/

Athens Food Tours, part 1

And now, for something completely different...

This weekend Amy and I had the opportunity to take part in an Athens Food Tour, compliments of my brother, Mike.  For Christmas this year, Mike gave us, my parents, my other brother, and my sister-in-law a gift certificate for an Athens Food Tour.  Athens Food Tours (find them at http://www.athensfoodtours.com/)was begun last year by my brother's friend, Mary Charles, who is also co-owner of their joint pet-sitting business, Five Points Four Paws (http://www.fivepointsfourpaws.com/).

The seven of us and eight others met at the arch Saturday evening to begin the tour.  The first stop on the food tour was actually a vintage clothing store, Community.  Why, you might ask, would a food tour stop at a vintage clothing store?  Good question.  It turns out that this particular store sells hand-made chocolates in addition to the eclectic collection of clothing.  Flavors included dark chocolate caramel red sea salt, Grand Marnier truffle, and Jim Beam truffle.  Amy and I split the caramel sea salt and a Grand Marnier truffle and both were outstanding.  To wash down the treat, Mary Charles had picked up watermelon lemonade from Clocked, which was unique and quite delicious.  Our tour then continued down the street to the Jittery Joe's roasting house.

Jittery Joe's roasting house is quite possibly the best smelling place on earth.  Before you walk through the door, you are greeted by the wonderful aromatic scent of roasting coffee, which only increases in intensity as you enter and tour the building.  At this stop we were offered an opportunity to try various coffee-based beverages.  Mary Charles also provided several local beers to sample, including the Terrapin Sunray wheat beer, the special edition Georgia Theater brew, and an Abita strawberry beer.  Mary Charles acknowledged that Abita is not from Athens, or even from Georgia, but since Abita is a southeastern company, their strawberry beer is seasonal, and it happens to be one of her favorites, she decided to include it as a selection.  

To accompany the beverage selections provided at this location, Mary Charles had brought along perhaps my favorite food of the night, dates stuffed with goat cheese and celery from The National.  It is likely that I would never have ordered this from a menu, but it was one of the most delectable treats I have ever had.  I am craving one even now as I write this post.

Following our treats, we were taken on a tour of the facility by Charlie, the roaster for Jittery Joe's.  He showed us the raw coffee beans, talked us through the roasting process, and demonstrated the canning process by sealing my sister-in-law's phone in a coffee can, which she was happy about since it was her work phone.  Charlie explained some of the intricacies of the roasting process and then proceeded to demonstrate his skill as he smelled the roasting beans every few seconds waiting for a particular smell to disappear.  Before our next stop, Mary Charles informed us that the chaff from the coffee roasting process is a great substance for storing bulbs, in case anyone has a greener thumb than I.

More to come on the tour in my next post.

Planning for Retirement

The days are evil:

Ephesians 5 warns us to walk as wise, not as unwise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

A friend of mine shared with me a sermon he gave when returned from a trip to Zambia about a year and a half ago.  He had taken the  trip with his eldest daughter and came back with a new passion for advancing the kingdom of God to the uttermost parts of the earth.  He runs a successful business, but returned with almost a distaste for this business.  His business revolves primarily around providing financial security for retirees, but his perspective has changed dramatically since his trip.  One of the questions he now has is why believers have hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars tied up in 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts when there are billions of people in the world who suffer in poverty and who need to be introduced to Jesus.

I think his question is valid.  Is saving for retirement biblical?  This is a difficult question to answer.  Proverbs provides biblical wisdom for the management of personal finances and certainly seems to imply that saving is a good thing.  Jesus, on the other hand, tells of the rich man who must build new barns to store his produce from an abundant harvest.  This man finally decides that he has enough stored that he can take his ease, retire,  and eat, drink and be merry.  Jesus call this man a fool because he will pass away that very night.

What are to make of this?  Is it bad to have a 401(k)?  Should we save at all?  Jesus also states that we should not spend our time worrying about what we will wear or what we will eat.  If God will clothe and feed the birds and the flowers, will He not much more provide for us?  I believe God does want us to save for our future, but with a much longer term plan than we have.

Matthew 6:19-21  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Now that is planning for retirement.

Why Your Doctor Chose to Be Your Doctor

Probably the most common answer in medical school interviews to why someone is interested in entering medicine is “to help people".  The reason it is such a common answer is not that it is the "right" answer.  In fact, most interviewers would probably rather hear something different than "to help people", just to relieve the monotony of the interviews.  The reason it is a common answer, though, is that you have, at a minimum, seven years of physically and intellectually demanding education and training above and beyond your undergraduate education before you begin to practice independently.  By the time the training process is completed, you will have devoted 24-28 years obtaining the education necessary to enter your career. 

While you are devoting upwards of 100 hours per week for at least seven years to your courses, study, and training, your friends are enjoying their twenties.  They are earning a living, going out, attending sporting events, traveling, dating, marrying and starting families.  They are no longer accumulating educational debt.  They are beginning to pay off the debt they do have.  They are advancing in their careers.  

You are struggling to get enough sleep to stay awake in class the next day, or during the seemingly interminable internal medicine rounds (which involves a short time seeing patients at the bedside and a great deal of time sitting in dimly fluorescent-lit conference rooms discussing those patients and their extensive lists of problems and medicines).  You are spending your nights and weekends trying desperately to prepare for the next anxiety-producing board exam, the next presentation before your attending physicians who are ready to pick apart whatever you present, or trying to unravel the mystery of the dying patient that just doesn't seem to respond to anything you do.

The reason "to help people" is the most common reason for wanting to pursue medicine as a career is that you must make tremendous personal sacrifices just to begin your career.  Friendships must be discarded or neglected.  Entertainment and other enjoyable activities must be greatly reduced for quite a long time.  Marriages are strained and often fail during this period.  Indeed, certain residency programs have a greater than 100% divorce rate.  You must truly believe that what you are pursuing is a worthwhile endeavor in order to make such great personal sacrifices.  

One and Done - I'll take it, for now

The Dawgs made it back to the NCAA tournament this year for only the fourth time in the last 11 years and only the eighth time since 1990.  Coach Mark Fox led the team to the dance in his second year as head coach, quite an accomplishment given the troubled history of the program.  The team struggled in the early '90s under coach Hugh Durham during my time as a student.  I loved basketball but was forced to endure some of the most pitiful displays of basketball in the history of the school.  Things began to look up when Georgia hired Tubby Smith away from Rick Pitino and the University of Kentucky.

Great progress was made during Smith's tenure, but the team had the rug pulled from under it when Tubby signed a contract extension with UGA and then abandoned ship to take the head coaching job at UK.  I thought the move was a mistake for Tubby at the time, since he could have become a legend if he had stayed at UGA and turned the program into a contender.  Tubby performed well at UK, but, as often happens when you follow a legend, he could never live up to the expectations of Kentucky fans.  Tubby's reign at UGA was followed by the painful Jirsa years and suffering was again the theme of Georgia basketball.

Fortunes seemed to turn when Jim Harrick was hired in 1999.  He took the Dawgs to the tournament twice in his four year turn at the wheel, only to leave the program in shambles following an embarrassing scandal.  Dennis Felton then took over the program in 2003 and appeared to have the Bulldogs on the right track after a miraculous SEC tournament in 2008, which the Dawgs won after playing 4 games in 3 days in the conference tournament that was disrupted by the tornado that tore through downtown Atlanta and the Georgia Dome.  Felton could not recapture the magic that happened during that historic tournament and was fired mid-season 2009, leaving the program again searching for a leader.

Enter Coach Mark Fox, who took over the program for the 2009-2010 season after Pete Hermann finished the 2008-2009 season.  The 2009-2010 team was very inconsistent, but showed moments of promise which lead to a degree of anticipation for this season.  Overall, I am pleased with the progress that has been made in the short time Coach Fox has had with the team.  21 wins.  Wins against Tech and Kentucky this year.  Near misses with Florida, Vandy, and Notre Dame.  An NCAA Tournament appearance.  Not bad for a second season as head coach.  There is again hope for the UGA men's basketball program.

African Cats

We saw the preview for the new Disney Nature movie, "African Cats", today, and it really stirs strong feelings.  They say it was filmed in the Masaai Mara, which is where we were when we went on our safari in Kenya.  I can not wait to see this film when it comes out in April.  The beauty and wildness of the Mara is incomparable, and to see it again on the big screen is exciting.  I am not sure if this feeling is just due to a fond memory, or if it is a call to return to Kenya.  It is almost a homesickness for a place that has not been my home, yet.

Amy and I are taking a class right now, "Perspectives on the World Christian Movement".  I am going to quote from one of this week's readings. The author is Samuel Zwemer and this was written in 1911 in an article called "The Glory of the Impossible".

"Is there a more heroic test for the powers of manhood than pioneer work in the mission field?  Here is opportunity for those who at home may never find elbow-room for their latent capacities, who may never find adequate scope elsewhere for the powers of their minds and their souls.  There are hundreds of Christian college men who expect to spend life in practicing law or in some trade for a livelihood, yet who have strength and talent enough to enter these unoccupied fields.  there are young doctors who might gather around them in some new mission station thousands of those who 'suffer the horrors of heathenism and Islam,' and lift their burden of pain, but who now confine their efforts to some 'pent-up Utica' where the healing art is subject to the law of competition and is measured too often merely in terms of a cash-book and ledger.  They are making a living; they might be making a life."

Wow.  That is as applicable today as it was 100 years ago when it was originally written.  One of the things Amy and I discussed after our trip to Kenya was that, although it was certainly stressful, I felt like I was practicing real medicine and was fulfilling something of what I had spent the last 14 years training to do.  Certainly what I currently do is too often measured "in terms of a cash-book and ledger".  Perhaps I need to consider more often lifting "the burden of pain" of those who may not have ready access to healthcare.

Africa - Some Ways You Can Help

It has been a while since my last post, primarily because we have been quite busy.  All the kids are playing basketball and I am head coaching one team and assisting another.  Amy and I are taking the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement class for the next few months (which we would highly recommend to others).  That has turned out to involve a large amount of reading.  I have been struggling each week to get the homework done in time.  Even with the extra work that the class involves, it has been worthwhile.  The class from this past week was especially thought-provoking.  Oh, yeah, I work, too.  With my plate so full, it has been hard to find a time to blog.

I know the title of my last post implied that I might be done writing about Africa, but I can't seem to get Africa off my mind or out of my heart.  Amy and I continue to be burdened by the tremendous physical and spiritual needs that are so widespread in Africa.  We do not know yet what God has planned for us in relation to Africa, but we are certain that we will continue to be involved with Africa somehow.

I'd like to make mention here of several opportunities for others to get involved in some of the important work going on in Africa.  The ministries I will mention hardly scratch the surface of the needs that exist and the ways that one can help.

We went to Kijabe, Kenya with World Medical Mission, which is a part of Samaritan's Purse.  Both World Medical Mission and Samaritan's Purse have numerous opportunities to serve or give.  Opportunities can be found at http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ and http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/WMM/index/ .  There are opportunities for medical and non-medical personnel to get involved.  Check them out.  There are needs for medical personnel, therapists, accountants, engineers, and virtually any other profession out there.  You can also give directly to Kijabe Hospital at http://www.kijabehospital.org/ or  http://www.bethanykids.org/ .

Some friends of mine have helped start a ministry to orphans in Uganda who are wrongly suffering imprisonment, often for no good reason other than the fact that they are orphans.  They are enduring confinement, neglect, abuse and injustice.  Check out SixtyFeet.org to learn more.  Financial support is needed for this ministry.  Consider getting your kids involved with a Cupcake Kids sale:  http://thecupcakekids.org/

Consider "giving a cup of cold water" to those who are thirsty by helping meet physical needs with http://thewaterproject.org/ .  How about Compassion International?  http://www.compassion.com/  They have numerous ways to help.  You can directly support a child and provide for physical and spiritual needs.  You can help fight malaria, still one of the most common and deadly diseases in Africa, by providing mosquito nets for those who are without them.  You actually help prevent a number of other mosquito born diseases at the same time (yellow fever, dengue fever, and various encephalitides).

There are numerous other possible ways to help.  Most of those that we consider poor in the U.S. would be considered wealthy in Africa.  We are blessed tremendously to live in the U.S.  Is that financial blessing really for our own personal benefit?  Pray about what God would have you do.  Does He want you to give?  Does He want you to raise funds?  Does He want you to go?

A few verses to consider:

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow

  New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Is 1:17

Jeremiah 5:28-29 ‘They are fat, they are sleek, They also excel in deeds of wickedness;They do not plead the cause, The cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; And they do not defend the rights of the poor.  Shall I not punish these people?’ declares the Lord, ‘On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?’

New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Je 5:28-29

Matthew 10:42  “And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”

New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Mt 10:42

Matthew 25:31-40     “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.     32     “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;     33     and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.     34     “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.     35     ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;     36     naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’     37     “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?     38     ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?     39     ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’     40     “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Mt 25:31-40

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Jas 1:27

Last Kenya post, maybe.

Ok, this post is primarily for my own benefit.  I wanted to compile, in one easily accessible place, a list of the different diagnoses, procedures, and other medical events with which I was involved while at Kijabe.  This will let me file away the little notebooks I kept while I was there so I don't have to carry them around anymore.

While in the nursery, diagnoses and procedures included all of the following:
Patient 1 G:  Intrauterine growth retardation, patent ductus arteriosus (unsuccessful indomethacin closure), pulmonic stenosis, congenital cataracts
Patient 2  I:  Jaundice, tachypnea, meconium aspiration, atrial septal defect, pulmonary hypertension, talipes equinovarus (clubfoot), hypoxia
Patient 3  T:  Neonatal sepsis (home delivery), jaundice, congenital conjunctivitis (likely chlamydia),
4  A :  28 week prematurity, GE reflux, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, neonatal sepsis, aspiration pneumonia (klebsiella), apnea of prematurity (treated with aminophylline), hypokalemia, intubated 2 different times, bubble CPAP  (amazingly this very premature baby did not require mechanical ventilation until he was about 6 weeks old) - passed away during the month after I left
5  J:  28 week prematurity, neonatal sepsis, GE reflux, apnea of prematurity (aminophylline)
6  D:  36 week prematurity, encephalocele, home delivery/neonatal sepsis,
7  V:  hypernatremia with phototherapy
8  N:  footling breech with severe neonatal asphyxia, was intubated then extubated to CPAP and passed away.
9  J:  hyperbilirubinemia, possible galactosemia
10  N:  33 week prematurity with probable neonatal sepsis, apnea of prematurity
11  L:  neonatal sepsis, hypoxia, neonatal jaundice s/p phototherapy
12  L:  sepsis, birth asphyxia, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, seizures, hyperemic upper extremity (still don't know what that was about)
13  V:  sepsis, hypoxia, meconium aspiration
14  N:  32 week prematurity, neonatal sepsis, apnea of prematurity
15  J:  Encephalocele, birth asphyxia, neonatal sepsis, home delivery.  Intubated, ventilated, extubated - passed away from respiratory insufficiency
16  J:  Fever, neonatal sepsis, hypernatremia, dehydration
17  A:  Imperforate anus s/p correction
18  N:  hydrocephalus, spina bifida, neonatal sepsis
19  B:  fever, neonatal sepsis
20  S:  fever, neonatal sepsis, jaundice
21  G:  neonatal sepsis, 33 week prematurity
22  J:  neonatal sepsis
Other procedures and such: intubations, ventilator management, femoral stick, versed drips, CPR/bag and mask ventilation
Note:  There were other babies along the way with similar problems whose information I no longer possess.

Pediatrics:

Diagnoses and procedures included:  meningomyelocele (spina bifida - many cases), external ventricular drain, ventriculitis, malaria (many cases), hemolytic anemia, direct hyperbilirubinemia/cholestasis, hematuria, seizures, nephrolithiasis, brain calcifications, toxic shock syndrome, hypocalcemia with positive Chvostek sign (this patient passed away), hypoglycemia, severe rickets, severe malnutrition, diabetes mellitus, pneumonia, severe dehydration, hydrocephalus, thrush, peptic ulcer disease, dilated cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure (several cases), glomerulonephritis, optic neuritis (probably due to quinine), hypokalemia, entamoeba, UTI with urethral strictures and vesicoureteral reflux, tuberculosis, pulmonary hypertension, cataracts, encephalocele (massive), acinetobacter ventriculitis, pericardial effusions, acute renal failure, periorbital mass (likely lymphoma), meningitis, peritonitis, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, tonsillar/adenoidal hypertrophy, mydriasis, Burkitt lymphoma, VP shunts, eroded VP shunt with resultant sepsis and death, probable duchenne muscular dystrophy.

I probably missed a few kids/diagnoses in the above lists.  All of those kids were in the hospital during the 3 1/2 weeks I was at Kijabe.  In six years here in the U.S., I still have not seen the equivalent diversity or severity of illness that I saw during my short time at Kijabe.  There is much greater need for medical care in Kenya than there is here.

Anybody want to buy a house in Oconee County?

Note to those of you who bring your kids to me:  Don't freak out.  There are no immediate plans being made. But, if anyone would like to buy a house, we would love to downsize our mortgage so we can give or do more.

Noise

I am surrounded by noise.  Everywhere I go.  Every waking moment.  It keeps me distracted, preoccupied.  There is always something demanding my attention.  Many of these attention seekers are good things in and of themselves.  Children.  Work.  Church.  Music.  Small group.  Basketball practice.  Friends.  Many are neutral, but with potential negatives.  TV.  Music.  Movies.  Computer.  Internet.  Reading (depending on what you read). Friends.  My life seems to be dominated by noise.

I am convinced that we need to reduce the noise in our lives.  We need to unplug from the distractions, electronic or otherwise.  Our kids don't really need to play a sport every season, participate in all the plays and concerts, and go to all the birthday parties, do they?  To be more self-critical, do I really need to see the Orange Bowl tonight?  Will anything in my life change if Stanford wins or if Virginia Tech upsets them and I miss it?  Do I really need to see that new movie in the theaters?  What if I forget to set the DVR for "Chuck"?  It is a very diverting TV show that I greatly enjoy, but should I really allow all these diversions in my life?   Maybe I need to be a little less diverted and a little more focused.  One of the great things about our trip to Kenya was that most of these unnecessary distractions were nonexistent.

The trouble with all the noise is that it makes it more difficult to hear the important things.  What does my wife actually need or want from me?  How do my kids need to be led, encouraged, or corrected?  Do I need to sell this house?  If so, do we rent or buy?  More importantly, what is God trying to say to me?  Am I supposed to stay where I am?  Should I regularly take short-term medical mission trips?  Should I go long-term?  Should I go to seminary before a long-term commitment?  May I (and you all) be given ears to hear.

Two months home

It has now been a little over two months since coming back from Kenya and I have had a bit of time to reflect on the trip.  Those of you who follow my sister-in-law's blog will recognize some similarity in this post to one of hers.  Deedee went on a mission trip with ABWE to Liberia during part of the time we were in Kenya and returned with thoughts that were comparable to my own.

Many have asked questions about the trip that are kind of hard to answer.

How was the trip?  
Expected spiritual answer: Great!  God did amazing things.
Actual answer:  Challenging.  Hard.  Demanding.  God did amazing things.

Was it life-changing?
Expected spiritual answer:  Yes!  I will never be the same.  I can't wait to do it again!
Actual answer:  Umm...Yes....It certainly does change me...I wonder if I can do it again?  Repeatedly?

Will you go back?
Expected spiritual answer:  Yes!  I can't wait to do it again!
Actual answer:  I don't know.  It depends on where God leads us.  I am not sure if repeated short-term trips are what we should do.  The need is hard to ignore.

Are you glad to be home?
Expected spiritual answer:  Yes!  We are so fortunate here in the U.S.
Actual answer:  I am glad not to worry about rinsing my toothbrush from the faucet.  I am glad not to worry that the kids are going to get malaria or E. coli or visceral leishmaniasis or African trypanosomiasis or worms or ...  I am glad to be back to Jittery Joe's and Chick-fil-A.   I am glad to watch the Falcons and dismayed over the state of the Bulldogs.  I am not glad to be back to all the unnecessary things that consume our time and energy.  I am not glad to be back to worrying about people who make a fuss about driving 20 minutes in a warm car to come to the office to be seen when there are people who gladly travel for hours or days to get to a place where they can receive care.  I am not glad to be back to battling insurance companies to pay for the services that they promised to provide to their customers who paid them in good faith.  I am not glad to have what I have when there are so many who have nothing.

What's next?
Expected spiritual answer:  I am looking for our next trip.  I can't wait to do it again!
Actual answer: Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
I don't know what's next.  I know that I have to get through the winter.  I know I have to continue to provide customer satisfaction to people who think they should be able to walk into my office and be seen immediately, whether or not the child actually needs to be seen immediately.  I know God has a purpose for me being here, in Athens, now, but I know my time is excessively consumed by my profession.  I know Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness of Midian before returning to Egypt to lead Israel out of captivity.  Is forty years in the wilderness part of God's plan for me or does he have something else for me to do sooner?  I don't know what's next.

I know that God's plan does not always follow our logic.  See my friend Lynn's blog for more on this.  Logically, I should have gotten a job with my undergraduate degree in business.  Logically, I never should have gone to medical school.  Logically, we should have gone to a Spanish-speaking country in this hemisphere for a medical mission trip.  Logically, we should have gone for a shorter time and not taken the kids with us, to protect them.  Logically, God would condemn all of us who rejected or betrayed Him.

But that was not what God had in mind for us.  He made a Way for us instead.