Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 62

Trust in Modern Medicine

    The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore, my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him. (Psalm 28:7, New King James Version).    

This past Friday, I received my first COVID vaccine. I’m not gonna lie, I feel somewhat guilty about it. As a healthcare worker – who maybe doesn’t treat COVID patients directly, but crosses paths with them on nearly a daily basis – I made the cut, I’m on the first-tier list.

I’m also not gonna lie about the amount of anxiety I had over this. We’ve been told that two vaccines – one from Pfizer and one from Moderna – have been approved for use against the COVID virus. Yet, the fine print I received on Friday said that the shot I was receiving (from Moderna) is an unapproved vaccine that may prevent COVID-19 and that there is no FDA-approved vaccine to prevent it. The FDA has authorized the emergency use of this vaccine under an Emergency Use Authorization. Did you all know that?

But I really want to save that discussion for another time – there is just too much. And I always rather spread inspiration instead of science on my Sunday blog posts.

So, here’s the thing. I trust in my Lord and God. I trust Him to keep me safe and healthy and I also trust Him to guide the scientists and doctors who are making these vaccines. For people who don’t believe in modern medicine because they fully believe that God is the Great Physician – well, I can’t deny that is who He is. But I also believe that He had His hand in the discoveries which modern medicine has made.

Which is why I placed my trust in God, took the plunge, and got my shot.

Lord, God, Heavenly Father, thank You for guiding our medical community in fighting this pandemic. Continue to support them in their efforts and allow this vaccine to truly be safe and effective. Amen.  

Camp More, Worry Less

   I had a few other ideas to write about today, but they all required more research and more writing than I felt up to after this – yet another – stressful week.

The one positive thing that happened this week is that I put in for a week’s vacation this summer, it was approved and I immediately made reservations at one of our favorite state parks. And the very best part of that is  . . . that we’ll be taking the new travel trailer.

Yes, I mentioned it here before, but thought I should finally properly introduce her. Full kitchen and dining room
Sink, frig, stove and microwave. No oven, but like I'm not planning on baking anything anyway.  Living room couch and bedroom Shower and toilet, which we say we aren't going to use, but we'll see. I think the day will come.  Nice to have a separate bathroom sink. That has me pretty excited. No more brushing my teeth outside on the edge of the woods. 

The bunk beds we really don't plan on using, at least not for sleeping. I think a tote on each one for our clothes will work out well.                                                       

She's about three feet longer than we had planned on, but the price was right and Hubby will get used to towing the longer rig.  We bought the camper the first part of December, an early Christmas present to ourselves. Then my friend, Jo, made me the very best Christmas present. 
Even though there is snow in the forecast today, I absolutely, positively can not wait!                                       

Paradise in South-eastern Wisconsin

 “Nature always wears the color of the spirit.” How wonderfully true. And how wonderful that one unseasonably warm, early November day last year, I was able to visit a magical place with my kids and one of our friends. Oh, and number one Grandpuppy as well.

Paradise Springs, near Eagle, Wisconsin, is aptly named. I would have liked to rewrite its story here, but decided you could just as easily read about it by clicking this link. If you do so, you can follow along as we visit some of the places mentioned in the brochure you'll find there. 

Our crew on the steps of the ruins of the bottling plant. 
The trout pond,
My first view of the Fieldstone Spring House. 
Megan meditating.

The trout weren't quite as photogenic. 

Who's that peaking out the window? 
Grandpuppy Wesley of course!
Where the water-driven turbine once was. 

The trout pond from the other end. 
The wading pool. Umm, no, not wading there today. 
Where the horse race track once was, if you can believe it!
What a fun adventure for all. 

It was late in the day when we were there, and even though every article I’ve found on it says that hardly anyone ever visits, the area was crowded that day, which cut down on some of my picture taking. I only snapped 134 of them! 

You can read some more about Paradise Springs by clicking this link or this one. Enjoy and visit sometime if you can.

And the word of the year is . . .

   But the people who trust the Lord will become strong again. They will rise up as an eagle in the sky; they will run and not need rest; they will walk and not become tired. (Isaiah 40:31, New Century Version)

If you read last Sunday’s post, the verse above might look familiar to you. Which might make you think that I am losing it, or that I am indeed going to stick with the same word of the year (strength) as last year. Oh, silly reader.

How’s this verse instead?

   Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5, New Century Version)

There ya go.

Sometime in mid-December, with everything going on with the pandemic and my anxiety level reaching the stars, God reminded me that all I need to do is trust in Him. I know He’s got this, but sometimes – wow – it’s just tough, isn’t it? Hard to let go and turn everything over to Him. Darn near impossible to just take a breath and be still. I need to lean on the One who will always be there, who will never leave me or forsake me.

Just trust. 

 

Wickedness in the World

   I usually only post Bible verses on my Sunday blog posts. But sometimes God has a different idea for me.

The end of the old year, I finally finished reading through the entire Bible, for the second time. It took me three years. A few days into the new year, I decided I would jump right back in, reading it again.

These were the verses I read from Genesis the other night.

   The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:5-8, New International Version)

My heart cries out for – not only the entire human race – but for God also. How He must grieve to see what we have done to the world He so lovingly created and how He must grieve even more to see what we are doing to each other.

I have no words. I only have His words.

   The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:21-22, NIV)

I am praying for us all. 

November Road Trip

I have to make this a quick post. I’ve had a lot going on and haven’t taken the time to write up a proper post for the trip my daughter and I took back in November, to visit my son. 

That first full weekend in November was amazingly warm and beautiful. Val and I took off early Saturday morning, making only a few stops, before pulling into Milton so I could visit the Milton House. Supposedly this was a stop on the Underground Railroad back in the 1850s and I want to take a tour of it some day for research for the book I am currently writing. Because of COVID, though, the museum here was closed. 

Val and I still made the most of our stop. 

We finally got to Nick’s by mid-afternoon. Nice house, huh? Too bad my son doesn’t own it, but – well, it’s not my story to tell. 

His landlord does have two horses besides. 

As with most horses I've known over the years, one of them pretty much just wants to eat.  Maddie likes her people almost as much as her food. 

I think she disagrees with that statement. 

Nick’s friend Megan joined us, and then we set off on our real adventure of the afternoon. Which entailed why too many pictures to share anymore this week. You’ll want to be sure to check back next Wednesday for the most remarkable place we visited.


 

Am I going to be Strong for another year?

    But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31, New Living Translation)

 

Oh, boy, here we are, finally in the new year. The year we’ve probably been anticipating more than any other, if only because it means the end of 2020.

 

Every year, for the last seven years, I’ve chosen a word of the year, a word to guide me, to focus on, to keep me afloat when life is dragging me down. My word for 2020 was strength.

 

Wow, and didn’t we all need a great deal of strength to get through this past year. Strength of mind, body and spirit. An added dose of strength to get through most days and even strength just to get out of bed and go to work some days.

 Unless, of course, you were unemployed or forced to work from home, in which case, maybe you didn’t have to get out of bed on time every day. But then, didn’t it require that much more strength to get going each day?

 

Maybe you had loved ones sick and dying in 2020 and needed to be stronger than usual to deal with all of that. (I raise my hand.) Maybe you or a loved one suffered a somewhat life-altering injury. You needed to be strong to heal your body and even stronger emotionally if you had to help your loved one heal themselves. (Raise my hand again.)

 And through it all, as much as I fell back on my word of the year, sometimes, I lost sight of the fact that this strength doesn’t come from within me. My strength comes from above.

 

  I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2, New International Version)

 

We need to always remember that. No matter what life hands us, no matter what we have to do to get through it, God is the One who is there taking our hand, holding us up, getting us to the other side of sadness, tragedy and all our other struggles.

 

But here, we are, as mentioned in the beginning, in a new year. Should I hang unto my word “strength” for another year? Or is there a different word which God has placed on my heart to strengthen me this year in a different way? You’ll have to come back next Sunday to find out.

Spreading the Word Throughout the World

   Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” (Luke 2:13-14, New Living Translation)

This past Thursday night, we celebrated the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Shepherds tending their flocks at night, all those years ago, were the first to hear the news of this miraculous event.

All this month, I’ve been imagining how much different the birth of Jesus would have been during a pandemic. As you all have been aware, the coronavirus has not slowed down the spread of news.

Had Jesus been born in the year 2020, His arrival would have been on everyone’s Facebook page, it would have been tweeted on Twitter and broadcasted on Instagram. Just as at the time of the first Christmas, people would be skeptical. There would be unbelievers. There would be those like King Herod who would even try to kill the baby boy. But no one can deny that we all would have seen the news of what had just taken place in that humble home in Bethlehem.

Here’s the thing – whether Jesus was born over two thousand years ago or just a few days ago, you know about it. Now what are you going to do about? Sing praises to God like the angels did? Spread the word like the shepherds did? Share your belief in God’s Son on your social media?

Thank You, God, Heavenly Father, for sending Your Son into this world to save us from our sins. May Your Holy Spirit grant us the means to spread the word. Amen. 

 

2020 Christmas Letter, Part 3

Since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, I should be posting a blog about that blessed event we celebrate this time of year. Then I realized shortly after finishing up my Christmas letter last Wednesday that I had forgotten something else that happened this year. No big deal. No one cares. Then there was another thing and another and yet another, so I thought I should bite the bullet and backtrack.

I’d written a novella a year or two ago and had sent it to a few places to be published. I didn’t get a nibble, so the first of March, I thought I would try self-publishing it as an e-book only on Amazon.com. It went pretty smoothly, and even though I didn’t sell many, it didn’t cost me a thing and was way less time consuming than slaving away at finding someone to publish it for me. I continue to question the whole publishing business and ponder why I write and who I write for – for a score of paying fans or for myself. I have yet to figure that out, but in the meantime, I continue to write what I can when I can.

I’ve had a vegetable garden ever since moving into this house thirty years ago. Some years more so than others. The last few years, no doubt mostly due to my own neglect, the garden hadn’t been producing much. So early this past spring, we downsized it and put in raised beds. I was pretty pleased with the results.

In June, the kids put up a new garden shed for us. So perhaps my plants just grew so well because they felt they had a big brother watching out for them. Or, more likely, I actually fertilized and put down garden fabric to hold the weeds at bay.

 

The same weekend as the shed construction, my sister and I rented a cabin at a resort just north of here. It didn’t work out as hoped – my sister couldn’t stay as long as she wanted to and I didn’t get done as much writing as I would have liked. But the weather was beautiful and I talked my daughter into joining me one night.  

I think I already wrote about everything else worth mentioning. Except for my most recent overnight trip with my daughter to my son’s the first part of November. The weather was absolutely gorgeous – for that time of year – and we discovered this fascinating place. I haven’t blogged about it yet, so you’ll have to watch for that whole story come the new year.

And now I promise, that’s all, Folks. Chris 

Caring During a Crisis

   I have seen what they have done, but I will heal them. I will guide them and comfort them and those who felt sad for them. (Isaiah 57:18, New Century Version)

We’ve followed Mary and Joseph on their journey to Bethlehem and seen them given safe shelter. We picture Mary and Joseph alone now as she delivers her Son. Of all the scenes of that first Christmas that I have the most trouble with it would be this one. There is no doubt in my mind that Mary was surrounded by loving women, probably relatives of Joseph. In fact, we already know from earlier in the book of Luke that her cousin Elizabeth lived in the area.

   Mary got up and went quickly to a town in the hills of Judea. She came to Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the unborn baby inside her jumped, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:39-41, New Century Version)

Nope, Jesus was not born in the company of only his earthly mother and father and various farm animals. He was welcomed into this world by a bevy of women. But what if he had come into this world during the pandemic of 2020?

I believe most maternity wards are still generally fully staffed, and that fathers are still allowed in the delivery room. But what about the grandmothers and grandfathers and other relatives sitting at home, in isolation, only getting pictures and videos of these newborns. Many of them have still not held their precious grandchildren.

Anyone hospitalized for any reason has been in the same boat all year. When my mother-in-law had her hip surgery in October, resulting in a few hours in ICU before she passed away, only one family member - my husband as he was closest to the hospital at the time - was allowed at her bedside to say good-bye. No one had been allowed to see her before she went into surgery.

The saddest though, I think, are our dear nursing home residents. Even before the pandemic, their daily lives often consisted of hours of staring at a TV screen or the ceiling above their beds. The brightest moments for them were those visits from loved ones, the hugs, the hand-holding, the sneaking in of treats. This year, they can only see their loved ones through their windows or via their cellphones or I-pads, if they have one and are cognizant enough to use one. Very sad times for sure.

Lord, God, be with families and friends who are in need of a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on. Give them strength and hope to get through these times. Amen.

Two of the residents at the nursing home I visited in Ayacucho, Peru in 2009.