Making news

REGINA — The number of pharmacists at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul, Gambia, will double when Regina’s [pharmacist] arrives.

“There’s currently only one pharmacist for this hospital, which is the main teaching and referral centre for the whole country,” [she] said. “Part of the problem is that companies from North America and Europe often come and recruit people from these countries so it depletes their trained workers.”

{She] is taking a four-month leave from her job at the [a Regina hospital] in February to volunteer at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH). While there she’ll continue the work she began on the two previous trips she took to West Africa with the Christian Volunteer Movement, a non-denominational Christian organization.

read more of Regina pharmacist to volunteer in Gambia.

A reporter at the local paper who read a story about my upcoming volunteering health region newsletter wanted to spread the news. The online version appeared earlier than the print version, due Friday.

I am so very excited that word can spread about things that are happening in Africa. Everything that is happening is simply incredible. It’s amazing what God will do when He is in control.

Believe / Know

You shake your head at me and say, “What kind of a minister are you? Don’t you believe the Bible?”

And I look back at you, just as puzzled. “Believe the Bible?” What does that even mean? I say it over and over to myself.

“Believe the Bible. Believe the Bible. Believe the Bible. Believe the Bible.”

Eventually the word “believe” starts to sound like something you do with your hands. Like punching something or pushing a vacuum cleaner around. Like you could believe the Bible all over the house and then out into the front yard, where you could believe it around in little circles while waving to the neighbors. Then you could believe the Bible back into your house and store it in the closet, where you keep it until you feel like believing it out in public again.

Do I believe the Bible? I’m trying to know the Bible. And by knowing, I mean the way that Adam knew Eve, and the way that the Creator knows us. I mean the kind of knowing that is like falling in love. I’m trying to love/know the Bible. And I will always struggle with how I can love/know the scriptures when some parts are so hard and mean and awful that you feel bad for even reading them. And then some parts are so beautiful that you can’t stop crying when they whisper little hints of truth and mystery to you.

read more from Real Live Preacher.

Believe or know? Believe and know? Believe then know?

I would probably agree that ‘believe the Bible’ is an odd statement. One doesn’t believe an object — belief refers to an object’s attribute. You might believe Antarctica exists. You might believe your mother is telling the truth. You might believe medicine is good for you.

But what if you knew these things? Knew them through and through, fully and completely? The cold, the breadth, the wind, the construct of Antarctica. The motives, the love, the character of your mother. The pathology of illness, the intricacies of the human body, the science and art of medicine.

What if you knew the Bible?

Reading up

I was told of a couple who were recently arrested in The Gambia, apparently for speaking against the state. Being accused of sedition is serious stuff. The couple recently changed their pleas to guilty and asked for leniency.

London Times
BBC News
The Point (Gambia)

Seeking change and yet respectful of one’s surroundings–that’s the focus. Perhaps there are things that do not require comment. Perhaps things can be repeated without interpretation; present just the facts, no more and no less.

What have you

So this is Christmas
And what have you done

Maybe John wasn’t your favourite Beatle, that’s okay. Maybe you even dislike the phrase “Happy Christmas.” (Why the monopoly on Merry?) Now, with the scents of pine and turkey fading softly, with the anticipation of tolling New Year’s bells, now are the few precious days to take stock.

What have you done? Loved your family? Taken care of friends? Listened to your elders? Wondered with a child? Gazed at the heavens? Marvelled at a seed?

What have you done? Harboured resentment? Spoken ill of a colleague? Not let that vehicle merge? Ignored poverty, violence and hunger? Become more self-absorbed? Not returned a library book?

Another year over
And a new one just begun

What will you do?

Glimmer

I made an attempt to venture home for the holidays earlier today. The road conditions seemed to be getting worse throughout the morning – more icy/slippery sections and reduced visibility. Still, being a seasoned in the art of Canadian prairie winter driving, I figured it couldn’t be that bad. A mere five minutes from my house, on the main road out of town, traffic was being routed into a single lane. A truck and a SUV were stuck in tire deep snow between the main artery and the exit ramp. So, I choose the exit ramp and returned home.

I truly did want to see my extended family tomorrow. It was going to be held at my grandmother’s seniors’ complex. She moved there this past summer as she was just not managing in her condo. I haven’t seen her for a few months now. Nor have I seen many of my aunts, uncles and cousins. I think it’s been even longer since I’ve seen my grandparents and relatives on the other side of my family.

So, while a piece of me misses these people, I also recognize my other “family”: a great friend stopped over this evening and I’ll be off to visit over games and Christmas baking with a group from church tomorrow. I suppose you could say I do have some roots after all.