The Saga of the Infected Leg

Thanksgiving took on new meaning for me this year.  I am thankful to the Lord for another wonderful day in this marvelous existence we call life.  A day with family and friends, a day with goals and wishes, and with the strength to reach forward to new challenges.

I wanted to thank the many that wished me well and prayed for me during my recent bout with a staph infection on a leg.  I tried to keep things low key, but there were so many friends that had questions about my condition, that I felt I needed to write something about it.

Time for a confession, I was definitely nervous about my infection last month.  This was really evident the second night  I was in the hospital and I couldn't get to sleep.  Earlier in the day my leg had been operated on.  The 3/4 inch deep hole in my leg, about an inch and a half in circumference did not look well.  This infection was on my shin, near the ankle, and the doctor made it a point to show me how clearly you could see the bone through that last thin layer of muscle in the hole.

Up until that night I had remained cheerful and optimistic. I had even joked to Elias, who produces our TV program, that in the worse case scenario we would have to change the program format from dealing with social issues, to instead, a children's program with me dressed as a one-legged pirate.  We had laughed about this, but later that night, it suddenly did not seem so funny.  I tossed and turned, and started getting worried. "Majority world" or "third world" medicine does not have a good reputation.  What if something terrible happened? Why did this happen to me?  I rebuked possible curses uttered against me.  I believe as Christians we need to do that every once in awhile.  I  am a firm believer in spiritual warfare.   I rebuked the spirit of fear, and depression.  We need to do that also as needed.  I examined myself spiritually, but that doesn't usually help very much because then I have to thrust myself on the mercy of God.  What I mean is that I am conscious that without God's promise to me of forgiveness and acceptance I really don't measure up to His standards.  I am a work in progress, forgiven, but still flawed.  If God wanted to find fault with me, he wouldn't have to look too hard.  Needless to say, I was definitely down in my spirit.  Debbie was spending the night in my room on a

The difference between short and long term missions?

From time to time I see "full-time missionaries" come to the field who clearly were not prepared for the experience.  They may have had a wonderful experience with a 1 or 2 week missions team visit to a needy country, and inadvertently thought, "This is great, I want to continue this full-time".  The problem is that you cannot compare a short visit with the total commitment involved in giving a year or more of your life to missions work overseas.

Short Term missions team from Calvary Christian School ministers at La Vega Christian School

For example, when you are hosted by missionaries, you are usually housed in a safe furnished environment (even when not staying in a hotel), your meals and meal times are all arranged.  You are transported (you are not driving) to wherever you will be ministering or serving.  And you are surrounded by your wonderful friends from your local church.  I know I am generalizing some, but bear with me.  Church services have all been arranged ahead of time.  The cooks have been given