Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 37

Peace in Times of Trouble

    “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, New International Version)

One week ago, I read about the attack at the Munich Olympics fifty years ago. Many of you might not remember that; some of you hadn’t been born. I remember it well and remember that it scared me. You can look up the details of the attack yourself, but it was labeled as the first major international act of terrorism. 

Today we remember the 9/11 attacks of 2001. But how many people have died before then and since then? How many senseless acts of terrorism have affected us all? How many children have been killed on the grounds of their own schools? How many innocent men and women have died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time? And where is God in all of this?

God is with us, from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun and through all hours of darkness. He sent His Son to be our Savior, to carry us home when our time has come.

God has got this. He is bigger than all of our problems and all of our disagreements. He will never leave us. But we have to believe in Him and surrender our lives to Him.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27, NIV)

Camping at Pattison, Overview, post #1

 I’m not really feeling much like writing this blog post today. I rather continue scrolling online through articles about Queen Elizabeth. We all knew she had to pass away sometime; she was 96 years old, after all. But somehow, with everything we have all gone through in the last few years, all the people we have lost, we thought that the Queen would always be there, with her bright eyes and mischievous grin.

I was all reflective and deep here on Wednesday. I just can’t do that to you again, today, can I?

We went camping for the last time this year the week of August 8, only for four nights this time. We stayed at Pattison State Park, way up at the top of Wisconsin, just south of Superior.

Hubby and I drove through the park years ago when we stayed in a hotel in Superior for a few days. Before that, my sister Pat, my two kids, and I camped at nearby Amnicon Falls State Park one time and drove over to the falls at Pattison. It is a nice park; I don’t know why we’ve never stayed there before.

It’s a beautiful part of the state, isolated and full of those waterfalls I love. But I’ll stop right there because I’m starting to feel philosophical again.

Here is a quick overview of the trip. More pictures, along with their stories, to come next week. 

Interfalls Lake, at Pattison State Park 
At our campsite 
Eskolin Log Cabin near Cutter

At Amnicon Falls State Park

Orienta Falls, near Port Wing
A ship out on Lake Superior. As many times as I've seen them on Lake Superior,
they still always fascinate me.  
Heritage Hall at School Memorial Park in Port Wing
Bayfield County Courthouse in Washburn
Fairlawn Mansion in Superior
How's that for an overview? So very much more to share. 

In Between

 Our kids have all gone back to school, and my husband is driving the school bus again. The nights are cooler, and even when it’s a warm sunny day, there is still the feeling of fall in the air. Most trees are still showing off their brilliant green colors, but a few have surrendered a handful of yellow or orange leaves. The flowers in my yard have morphed into spindly, colorless vines.

Labor Day has marched past – the last summer holiday. The calendar won’t declare autumn for two more weeks, but we know in our hearts where we are in the yearly cycle. Yet, I hope we are still in between.

I hope there are still more warm days than cool ones, more nights when we can sleep with the windows open without the furnace kicking on. I hope for an Indian summer before all the leaves have fallen. I hope we get those leaves raked up before snow falls.

I still have several journeys from this past summer to share with you, hundreds of pictures, if you are up to it. But I thought I should take a break today. A short post to reflect on where we were and where we’re going. And everything in between.

Anger

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1:19-20, New International Version)

It’s hard sometimes not to get angry. If you read my blog post this past Friday, you may have heard some of the anger in my voice. It seems like getting angry should be a sin (though I didn’t see it in those ten commandments I taught you all about this summer). Then I remember the incident in the Bible, where Jesus got mad when he went into the Temple, knocking over tables and driving out the people who were buying and selling there.

I used to think, “ah-ha, anger cannot be a sin because Jesus got angry.”

We are reading the book of James in my Thursday afternoon Bible study, so I read up on these verses on anger.

There are two types of anger. One of them is selfish anger, where you get mad when you don’t get your way or your kids don’t do what you tell them or you can’t figure something out on your own or you stub your toe. You’re angry because these things caused an inconvenience or other minor trouble in your life. You are thinking of yourself and not others. Ah-ha, which is clearly a sin (if you remember anything from those Ten Commandments).  

The other type of anger is righteous anger, the kind Jesus had when he went into the Temple and saw things happening which were not of God. Or when we see the damage that sin does in the lives of innocent people. When kids are killed in school shootings or when a loved one is dying from cancer or when someone is being abused by their spouse. It’s okay to get angry over these things, but then the next step is to do something about it.

Oh, I know, it’s tough. No one wants to get involved in the injustices committed against others. But there is always something we can do. Look at the first two recommendations in this Bible passage – be quick to listen and slow to speak. Think about it. 

 

Health Care Hitting the Wall

 As you probably already know, on June 1, I officially retired from the medical field. I’d worked as a medical assistant for 35 years, all but one, with the same organization. Except that during those years, the organization changed hands three times. 

I’ve worked in surgery, urology, women’s health, the lab, and for the last 22 years, in family practice. In the previous twelve years, I’ve been subjected to three different electronic health records. 

At some point during all that time, health insurance companies began to call the shots. As a result, providers could no longer treat their patients according to their years of medical training. Instead, they often had to bow to the wishes of insurance carriers whose decisions made no sense. 

And if it wasn’t insurance powering the doctors’ care, it was a legal system that focused even more on the all-mighty dollar. 

Next came the prescription opioid crisis. Which began when someone so high up the corporate ladder that they were running low on oxygen added another vital sign. So, in addition to acquiring a weight, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration on our patients, we had to take the subjective measurement of their pain. If a patient rated their pain high enough on the one to ten scale, their health care provider was obligated to treat it. 

This meant that in addition to patients who were already seeing us for their pain, people who mentioned their neck pain as a side note were getting prescription pain meds. (So don’t blame doctors and other providers for the opioid crisis; it was those clowns who made us start pursuing pain.) 

Then there is the cry throughout America that they need to raise the minimum wage. But no one is raising our wages. Why would anyone in their right mind have a job with the stress we have in health care when they could work in a factory or convenience store or a coffee shop and earn nearly as much? 

If you think we work where we do for the benefits, you are way off. Employer-supplied health care insurance carries some of the highest employee premiums in the country, with higher deductibles and co-pays. 

Our PTO benefits are maybe average, but because our clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes are so short-staffed, we can’t take time off when we want to. 

Health care professionals were already starting to feel burn-out. Then the pandemic hit. 

Now, not only were we working long hours with few breaks, we were working longer hours with fewer breaks, with fewer staff. AND we were wearing masks all day long, with additional PPE for any patient with any symptoms of COVID. 

When the COVID vaccine became available, they told us we had to get it. We no longer had any rights. If we didn’t get the vaccine, for any reason, some of us were forced to get tested weekly. At other health care facilities, we were shown the door. 

We got sick with COVID and were in quarantine, initially for two weeks, while our co-workers managed without us. By the time the CDC cut the quarantine time to five days, we had lost enough partners from the vaccine mandates, or because they had quit from the stress, or because they had died, that those five days felt like two months. 

So, if you call the clinic and no one answers, or you are on hold for 45 minutes. Or if you left a message at eight am and no one has called back at noon. Or if you need a refill on your pain pills because you took the last one this morning, and we tell you that it might not be until tomorrow that we can send it in for you. Or you can’t get an appointment with your regular provider today. Or you can’t get an appointment with a specialist for a month. Or your insurance no longer covers the prescription you have been on for six years. Or your insurance won’t pay for the CAT scan your doctor ordered. 

Or you walk down the hall and hear our staff laughing at a joke one of us just told, and the phone is ringing, and no one is answering it. 

We need to laugh whenever we can. Because otherwise, we would be crying. 

We care about you. We really do. That’s why we work in health care. We could quit and go work at the corner convenience store (and some of us do).  

We have families of our own who we want to spend quality time with. We have personal crises beyond living in fear of getting COVID or another potentially life-threatening illness. We worry about paying our bills. We worry about a lot. 

So cut us some slack. Think of someone besides yourself. Say “please” and “thank you” when you talk to us. Don’t call the clinic incessantly. Don’t present at our front desk demanding we answer the question which you already called on but that no one has gotten back to you about. And how about answering your phone when we finally call you back?

Oh, and if you haven't heard recently how my retirement is going, they've asked me to come back to work, since two of my co-workers have taken different jobs. I worked three days this week and have eight more scheduled for the month of September. 

I do it because I care. 

The Last of the UP, 2022 – Camping Post #7

Well, finally we are here, looking at the last hodge-podge mix of pictures from our annual camping trip to Michigan’s UP. Amazing that after – I don’t know – at least eight vacations up there, that I still have more things to see and more pictures to take. Already looking forward to next year. 

Fortune Lake, the lake which Bewabic State Park is on.
In Ishpeming
Still in Ishpeming
Alger Falls 
Wagner Falls In Iron River
Still in Iron River
The pleasantly delightful Buck Lake Park 
Summer is way too short
 

Let's Just Get Along

Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.

          What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other. ( Romans 14:5-9, The Message)

I don’t know if you noticed or not, but I use different versions of the Bible. Some translations make more sense to me or are just easier to read. I don’t usually like The Message Bible, because it seems like it gets pretty wordy. It’s supposed to be easy to read and understand, but if the verses get too long, my attention span wanders. You know, like when you’re listening to a long sermon.

Anyway, I read Romans chapter 14 a while back and really liked what it had to say. I marked it to write about on my blog at some point. It seems like that time has arrived, and I really like how The Message Bible describes the point that Jesus is making.

So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture: “As I live and breathe,” God says, “every knee will bow before me; Every tongue will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God.”

So mind your own business. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God. ( Romans 14:10-12, The Message)

Once again, our country is embroiled in controversy and dissent. Everyone has a very strong opinion on this issue of student loan forgiveness. And no one wants to bend or wants to even rationally discuss it with the opposition.

Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. (Romans 14:13, The Message)

How about if we all just stop the madness – again – and just get along. How about if we just listen to Jesus. How about if we all just take a deep breath and find peace and spread peace to others.   

So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. (Romans 14:19-21, The Message)

 

The Rest of the Museum - Camping Post #6

   I’m sorry that I didn’t post anything earlier this week, but we were once again out of town – as hard as that is to believe. Today’s post is still from when we were camping in the UP in the middle of July. There has been so much happening since then!  

But anyway, a week ago, I shared pictures from the one-room schoolhouse at the Iron County Historical Museum. Today hosts pictures from the rest of the grounds which are located at the site of the former Caspian Mine which closed in 1937. The tall headframe stands over a flooded mine shaft that is 539 feet deep!

As many times as I’ve visited the various mines of upper Michigan, you would think I would know how they work. Someday.

Imagine taking this to work on a frosty, January morning.

This is the Carrie Jacobs-Bond house. She was born in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1862 and later lived in Iron River with her second husband for seven years. She was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. She also formed her own sheet music publishing company when no one would take her seriously because she was a woman. She had an amazing, though tragic, life.

This was what her dining room table might have looked like. And surely what mine looks like at every meal. Not.

This looks more like my kitchen table.

St. Mary’s Catholic Church, built around 1912.

Quite obviously, and disappointedly, circa 1976 on the inside.

It was nice that Dino could join us as we walked around the grounds, even if he couldn’t go in the buildings. Like the silly boy needs to use the outhouse!

Hubby and I had a good day and even enjoyed our picnic lunch there.

For more information on the Iron County Historical Museum, click this link:           https://ironcountymuseum.org/exhibits/This link will give you the museum brochure which has much more information on it:          https://ironcountymuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Museum-Tour-Guide-2.pdfFor more on Carrie Jacobs-Bond, click this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Jacobs-Bond

The First Commandment

      Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3, King James Version)

Since there’s more to the first commandment than the one verse, let me give it all to you in an easier translation than the King James Version.

God spoke, and these were his words: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. Worship no god but me. Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation. But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws. (Exodus 20:1-6, Good News Translation)

We finally made it back to the beginning, the first – and perhaps most important – law which God gave to His people.

If you think back on all the other commandments, if we just kept this one, we wouldn’t break the others. If we put other gods – possessions, power, people – above the one true God, that’s when we steal, covet, cheat, commit adultery, kill.

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37, New International Version)

If we put our love and our trust in God Almighty and put all those other distractions on the back burner, we would have peace in our hearts. We wouldn’t have to look elsewhere for happiness.

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:10, New International Version)

But what about the hard-hearted non-believers, the ones who have ripped the Ten Commandments out of public places, claiming that this is a free country and that by posting God’s laws for all to see, Christians are forcing our agenda on them?

Folks, you need to have something bigger and more powerful than you are. Something or someone that you can turn to in times of trouble, that has the ability to rescue you when you are sinking, that will love you more than you can ever love yourself. Without that, you are nothing. And if you can truly find that god somewhere other than in heaven, then congratulations, I guess.

“But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. . . . But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15, New Living Translation)

Because the one true, triune God is the One who I know will always have my back. And I will try, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to believe in and worship only Him. 

Going Back to School - Camping post #5

   The Iron County Museum is a complex of historic buildings just outside of Iron River, Michigan. We first toured it four years ago when we were camping at the nearby State Park. In the middle of July, on our yearly camping trip to the area this year, we visited the museum once again.

In a future post, I will share the other exhibits throughout the grounds, but today I’m only going to share the one-room schoolhouse.

The Pioneer Baumgartner school was built in 1896. Like many school buildings of the time, it was named for the person on whose land it was built. The Pioneer school was moved from its initial location to the museum grounds and restored in 1988.

I’ve been fascinated by one-room schoolhouses for two years. That was when I started writing my latest novel which has one of those schools as its main character.   

The schoolhouse in my book was built of brick around 1860 in a town that is in a vague location. I wanted it to be in northern Illinois or Indiana because that location would fit with the rest of the story. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any record of brick schoolhouses that far north and west in that time period. Ah, such is the quandary of the novelist! 

My goal is to finish writing this novel in the next week or so. Send me a message if you want to be one of the first to read the rough draft. 

In the meantime, best wishes to all students, teachers, bus drivers, and others who will be returning to modern schools in the next few weeks.

 The Iron County Historical Museum website: https://ironcountymuseum.org/