If you haven't guessed by now I love the heart. I think it is a fascinating organ and if I could do life over again I would become a cardiothoracic surgeon. Of course when talking about issues of the heart and faith, which always seem to go hand in hand, one would find 569 verses in the bible if you were to just look up "heart" in a concordance. You will get subjects like "the depths of the heart" or the "overflow of the heart" and other such topics in the scriptures. There is also the mystery of the heart, philosophically and anatomically. What exactly is the heart? Is it just an organ or a "place" of decision making, of love? Or try this one...did you know the heart will start beating for the first time around week 4 in the womb without the brain controlling it. Each myocardial cell is connected with gap junctions that send electrical impulses to adjacent cells which in turn tell the other heart cells to beat. Now they can beat to their own drum (Atrial Fibrillation) or they can beat together in one accord...WITHOUT the brain...AT 4 WEEKS!!!
Even more interesting; did you know the heart can compensate in many different ways according to many different situations? It is if the heart has a mind of its own. The most interesting thing I have found about the heart is that it can grow without you wanting it to.
When you are fully grown your heart is fully grown. The right side of your heart is smaller than the left side so blood can get pumped to the rest of your body. The pump will nourish your organs with oxygen that each cell of your body needs. Now if you are an active person and take care of yourself and if you eat healthy, your heart will beat stronger, beat slower, and become more efficient and healthier. This is heart that is compatible with life. But let's not forget that your heart needs its own supply of blood and that job belongs to the great arteries and veins that surround your heart. Here is where the compensation starts. If the veins and arteries that surround your heart get blocked, the heart cells could die off, new arteries could grow around your heart, or my favorite...your heart will grow bigger, to be filled with more blood, to pump more oxygenated blood to the body (are you still with me...stay with me just a little while longer). The problem with this is that the actual pumping action of the heart does not get stronger. Eventually if the heart gets bigger, to be filled with more blood, the pumping action to get the oxygenated blood to the body eventually does not match what the heart is doing. This heart becomes incompatible with life. The oversized heart, that was compensating for the fact that the owner of the heart was not taking care of everything else in their life such as good nutrition and exercise, will fail and die.
So what...well think about it. The essentials of the church are to disciple and love. To be totally devoted to the kingdom of God. To be used to provide life giving Shalom to the nations. God breathing into the souls of those that are broken. We need our heart to be strong and be careful of growing too big or else we become ineffective; incompatible with life. What am I talking about? I am talking about focusing on what matters to the very heart beat of God. What matters to God?
It is amazing how in my feeble American mind bigger is better...
I know what you are thinking because I am thinking the same thing, "How did Mike put gospel and Mary Poppins in the same sentence?" Well here is how. I was watching Mary Poppins last night with Holly and my roommate turned little sis Sara. If you haven't watched this movie in a while I suggest you do so. Watch it by yourself if you need to but I suggest watching it from an adult standpoint. I say an adult standpoint because to me there are a ton of life situations that children would just not understand unless they were taught them. I know I didn't when I was a kid or at least I did not understand the weight that each issue truly caries.
Now let me get this perfectly clear...I did not specifically watch this movie to seek out faith meanings but as I was watching, and given the time period that this movie came out, I realized how advanced this movie and its' plot really was. Yes it may be cheesy but it truly was ahead of its' time dealing with family issues, womens rights, overlooking the poor, money and how to use it for self gain or for selfless reasons. These are all very religious and very spiritual ideas; of course all things are spiritual...right!
OK, so I have been giving this whole "Green" or "Save the Planet" thing, which I completely believe in doing, a lot of thought lately and I have come to a realization. This realization came to me when I was thinking about "why are so many people on this bandwagon?" and even more so "why does it seem that going 'green' means that you only conserve (in a generalized sense)?" Don't get me wrong, I myself am trying to go green. I am not good at it but I am making big improvements in my lifestyle; the biggest change is my Yamaha RoadStar Silverado 1600 (I love this thing. If Holly and I don't name our baby Sydney I am going to name my bike Sydney). I didn't need to make this change to get a motorcycle but I did. Which then got me thinking about what I gave up in making this change to go green. Which then got me to realize going green or what ever you want to call it, is not about giving up for the earths sake. Yes it should be for God and creation with in which we live but why...why are we giving up these things is the question. Again...I don't think it is for the health of the planet. That is a natural sequelae because of the original problem which is...us. You see to me recycling, reusing, reducing our waste and needs is our way of telling God, "I am content in You. I am content with what I have been given." In fact, for instance with my bike, I am perfectly content with the fact that I will be driving in the rain at times to go somewhere in Riverside. I am content that even now, in the fall, I am driving at 5:30am in 50 degree weather which really makes it about 40-45 degrees cold. I am content with the fact that Holly and I are having a baby and yes we are going to have issues with transportation but do we really need the extra car payment and insurance and the extra gas that this car will need. "Do we really," is a question that is great to ask yourself. What ends up happening is that when you ask this question you also get really good with rationalizing that yes I really do need _______, even though you don't. Contentment in God is so unconventional because it reaches into the far reaches of our cares and desires. If I care and desire to love God then I choose to go green which shows God my contentment in Him.
So what does all this mean to me, and if you choose, you. This whole green thing, it can totally get out of control and hippie like without it being centered around our connection with God and our role as care takers for this creation. And yes I can "do" stuff that makes it seem like I am caring for this earth but if I am not content with the fact that I don't need stuff or content with what I do have, all of this is just a lot of noise and clanging symbols.
Sorry I haven't given the people anything from The Rican so here goes something that is so amazing, I am still in awe and inspired by the one who is "Good."
Yesterday I had clinicals for my nursing school. Like every day it started at 4:30am. I do not function nor do I want to function at this ungodly time but it is for the future so I do it with a smile. This day was a special day for me because I got to due a round in Pediatric ICU instead of the normal mondain floors of Pediatrics. This is where the worst of the worst of the worst are with 3-6 tubes coming out of their little bodies. There are machines and medicinal drips and beeps and...it is sensory overload and I loved every minute of it.
I was in "normal" ICU from 6:00am till 11:30am, then I went to lunch. After lunch we then spent the rest of our day, observing only, in Cardiac ICU. I was not looking forward to just observing in Cardiac ICU because I just got finished with half of my day doing in normal ICU. I do understand the ramification being that you mess around in Cardiac and you don't allow rookie Puerto Rican nurses near the Dopamine Drips (used for sedation). So needless to say I started out with a bad attitude. My nurse was cool though. She was a short Phillipino (weird that a phillipino is in nursing...that is sarcastic for those that don't know). She let me know that the patient I was observing was just 8 days old and had a
Norwood with a Sano modification because my patient had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. What Hypoplastic Left Hear Syndrome boils down to is that these children are born without a left ventricle and usually there is a hole between the right and left atrium (if you want to see what it looks like go to the link above. It is a cartoon, no blood). This is serious genetic abnormality that unchecked WILL end in death. I started to think about my child on the way and the suffering that must be going through the parents of this little 8 day old baby. I thought about how these parents, after seeing them, do not have a lot of money, can't speak English, and seem to be very alone in this situation. Who wants to be alone in a time like this? The chances of this little child growing up normal are slim. This child will never look nutritionally sound.
Then I saw the Heart of God. As I was contemplating all of this about the baby and its' family, a team from the OR came up to the room where the child was, to close up the sternum from the Norwwod surgery. And as 12 people, in masks and hair nets stood there (I was one of them) the surgical team opened up the chest and I saw the walnut sized heart of an 8 year old baby beating around 160 beats a minute four feet away from me. I stood in awe. All I could keep saying to myself is that this is crazy, this is crazy! Then my heart broke. I realized that this is God's creation beating in front of me. I began to realize the miracle that was taking place. All the times when we praying, "God guide the physicians hands," and what not...there it was in front of me; God guiding their hands. Then when I saw the parents after the surgery, their eyes completely red from crying, the husband holding his wife, I thought...how scared and alone I felt fo
r them. In the corner of my mind Romans 12:15 popped up in my mind over and over again. God was saying, "My heart is for you and them. It is fragile but strong."
Even today as I write this I hear God telling me that my heart is no different than that little 8 day old baby. It is deformed and in need of immediate surgery. His hands are steady and sure. His knowledge of my life is complete and not lacking in order for the surgery.
12:30pm
Then Holly found one...I sang for that pumpkin, Curtis found one....I sang again... him a ha na, him a him a ha na, it's the circle of life... Seriously I am a dork but every time someone picked up an orange pumpkin from the ground all I could see was Simba!!!
Captin' Hook...I choose Captin' Hook to carve. Not only was I mentally prepared for the event but I came with tools that no man should be without while carving...I used a Dremel. If you don't know what a Dremel is, think of it as a mini drill with hundreds of little tools to do little things. My pumpkin is sick. It is the best pumpkin I have ever done...EVER!!!
It was just an amazing day hanging with my wife, and my family Sara and Curtis. Everyone needs a day in spontaneity.
