Small Beginnings

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Most people are curious about the Mayo Clinic and how it grew to be globally acclaimed in the medical world. Interestingly, its origin was like many other start-ups: really small.

Franciscan SisterThough the Clinic currently employs some 29,000 people, 124 years ago when it began it was just 27 beds in a small building located in the middle of a cornfield. Patients were served by a handful of Franciscan Nuns who were mostly school teachers, not nurses, unaccustomed to blood and bandages.

The only physicians were two brothers, Will and Charlie Mayo, and their father William. Will and Charlie had no hospital experience, and their father was already 70 years old when the clinic was just getting off the ground. By all rights this humble beginning ought not to have grown into a globally recognized medical empire.

There was another problem, too. In the small town of Rochester, many people were critical of a partnership made between Protestants (the Mayo family) and Catholics (the Sisters). But in spite of their sometimes divergent beliefs, they shared an overriding mission: to care for not just bodies but each person as a whole. Protestants and Catholics found common ground in believing their hospital work was more of a ministry than a business.

photo(119)But isn’t that always true when God is the Initiator of something new? He sees to it that insurmountable odds are overcome and the impossible is made possible. If we cooperate with him, taking care not to superimpose our ideas over his, he takes responsibility for the outcome, which always concludes well. But if we insist on tweaking his plans, we’re headed for conflict.

That can be true in business, ministry, marriage, friendship, government, and the church. When we let God lead (which includes us being content to hang back and follow), the results will be spectacular. Opposing sides will find themselves getting along, and divisions will melt away.

The picture of Mayo Clinic’s divergent founders accomplishing something significant in unity is a good illustration of another pair of groups originally in opposition to each other: humanity and divinity. These two were about as far apart as any two groups could be, with no hope for compatibility or unity. It was permanently impossible… until the day Jesus died on the cross.

That willing sacrifice changed everything. As a result, human lives can now intersect with the divine, not as enemies but as friends, a reconciliation that will have dramatic consequences throughout eternity.

Though the Mayo Clinic’s history is a remarkable one, salvation’s story far surpasses it. Not everyone will be part of the Clinic’s story, but all are invited to participate in salvation.

“God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Col. 1:19-20)

Mary’s Prayer Requests:

  1. For the feeding tube to work well. Since it is currently clogged, pray for an uncomplicated repair at the hospital tomorrow
  2. For abdominal/gas/hunger pains to cease.
  3. Praise for God’s Word, particularly for the book of James Mary is currently studying, and for Barb, who types and sends notes each week from the group study Mary is missing
  4. Praise for a good report from Dr. Truty today and the hope of returning home soon, to rest up for chemo

 

Healed?

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For the last month I’ve loved blogging about my favorite sister, Mary. But I know she feels funny having so much attention focused her way. But my idea, as well as hers, has been to update readers on her progress while simultaneously directing attention to the Lord, who has been dramatically present each day.

Several blog readers have made mention of beautiful St. Mary’s Hospital where Mary had her surgery (owned by Mayo Clinic), some having visited there themselves, and one having trained as a nurse there.

photo(120)Just before surgery, Mary, Luke, and Stina took a brief walk around the historied hospital and ended up standing in the cathedral-like chapel, being reminded that God the Healer was at work within that medical complex.

Hospitals are full of doctors, nurses, medicines, and all manner of healing equipment. But behind all of those is the control of the Great Physician. And he doesn’t just deal in physical healing but also that of the emotions, mind, spirit, and most importantly, the soul.

One blog reader, Ann, wrote, “I loved… the chapel within the hospital. It was always a picture to me that God is at the center of real healing.”

I think of all the healing Jesus did in scriptural stories, and it seems that nearly everyone who asked was healed. People followed him in a pack, carrying the injured and ill along with them, confident that Jesus would heal them all. And usually he did.

In Luke we read, “The people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.” (6:19) So, why doesn’t he usually heal like that these days?

Healing 10 lepersThe only answer can be that he wants to use disease and accidents as teaching venues for healing in other categories. Maybe if our diseases were always healed outright, we’d walk away giddy with joy and forget to acknowledge or listen to the One who healed.

A biblical example of that shows 10 lepers racing off in their new, healthy bodies without acknowledging Jesus at all. Though one did come back, the majority didn’t. Maybe without our health struggles, we’d all be like that.

Mary doesn’t know what will happen in her earthly future, whether or not pancreatic cancer will revisit her, or if she’ll be healed. “There are no guarantees,” she said. But either way, her illness has driven her to the Lord with fresh eagerness to hear from him. Scripture has been her food, and she has gobbled up big helpings of it like never before.

Mary does have a guarantee about one thing in her future though. Her heavenly body, whenever it comes to her, will be miraculously healed, and that will include her heart, mind, and soul, too, because God will be the Healer who does it.

“I am God your healer.” (Exodus 15:26)

Mary’s prayer requests:

  1. Praise for gaining expertise with equipment and less dependence on pain meds.
  2. For a profitable visit with Dr. Truty Wednesday afternoon
  3. To find a comfortable position for better nighttime sleep

The Kindness of Strangers

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Whenever I talk to Mary (still in Rochester, MN), one of the things she inevitably mentions is the thoughtfulness of strangers. She can’t understand why people who’ve never met her might be interested in her situation, much less offer to pray for her.

Many of you blog readers are in the group she’s marveling over, and one of you, a woman neither Mary nor I have ever met, did something truly special last week.

Prayer shawl.In the days before surgery, someone named Rachel asked (through this blog) if Mary owned a prayer shawl. Though I’d heard of prayer shawls, I had the misconception only priests or rabbis wore them, and only in a church or temple.

My second misunderstanding was that prayer shawls were all about prayers prayed while the shawl was being worn, but Rachel straightened me out: “While a prayer shawl is being made,” she wrote, “prayers are being said for the recipient.” And here was a stranger wanting to make something beautiful for Mary, with prayer in every stitch. Astonishing.

Prayer shawlsRachel said, “The shawl can be used in any way someone would use a shawl, as a wrap, as a covering when resting, or just to touch while it rests beside you.”

I called Mary, and it didn’t take 2 seconds to say “yes”. For some- one who believes wholeheartedly in the power of prayer, such a gift was of grand proportions.

As God would have it, the shawl (of Mary’s favorite color) arrived in my mailbox the day before I drove to Mayo Clinic. The evening before surgery, Mary and the rest of us went out to dinner, Mary’s last food-by-mouth for many weeks (due to her feeding tube). Over coffee and dessert she opened the box.

Prayer shawlOnce again she was stunned by the kindness of a stranger. As it turns out, Rachel has made prayer shawls for many: she became a widow shortly before I did and wrote, “My husband was a great part of this ministry. He might come home from the dog park, the grocery store, or the community center and tell me about someone who was dealing with something in their life he thought would be made easier if they had a prayer shawl.” And Rachel would get to work.

Her selfless act for stranger-Mary moved us all, challenging us to watch for strangers in our own lives who might need encouraging. We never know when that person might be a messenger from God, because with him, anything is possible.

IMG_0605Rachel closed her email with, “I’m honored for the opportunity to make this shawl for Mary.” And now she is a stranger-no-more.

“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:1-2)

 

Mary’s prayer requests:

  1. Praise for grown “kids” taking time off work and driving far distances to spend time with Mary and Bervin
  2. Praise for God’s provision of co-workers in Mary’s ministry work at home, who have picked up the slack for her since February 15
  3. For relief from rumbling gas pain in her abdomen
  4. For steady weight gain, despite only relying on the feeding tube for nutrition