Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 71

Coming to the Clinic during Corona Crisis

     Do you want to know why I really don’t sleep at night? Many a night I am writing an upcoming blog post in my head. Instead of getting up to type it, I just keep editing it in my head, feeling confident I will remember it when the time comes to actually type it. Right. That’s what happens. Not.

Anyway, I had a totally different thing written up for today anyway, and then Monday night a totally different idea jumped in my head. But by yesterday morning, I was feeling like I should really give you more of a public service announcement today.
Yes, you’ve all heard everything there is to hear about coronavirus (aka COVID 19). I’m going to try not to bore you with all of that; instead, hoping to present something new or that you haven’t thought of before.
For starters, do you know what a corona is?

In astronomy, it is that rim of gas that surrounds the sun and other stars, usually only appearing during a total solar eclipse, when it might look like a crown. That’s not so bad. (I’m afraid I will go down the rabbit hole of Corona beer and its crown logo if I don’t stop this line of thought right now.)
As most of you know, I have worked in the health care field for over thirty years, the last twenty in family practice. I’ve seen a thing or two. And with my active imagination, I’ve imagined way more than that. I also watch the occasional end-of-times action movie, so I could picture a virus taking over the world and destroying life as we know it. And now here we are.
No, the coronavirus is not going to change our lives forever. A lot of people will get sick, a few will die. Things could get uglier than they are right now. But let me stop before I digress.
This is a virus. There is no treatment for it, no cure. If you get it and you are reasonably healthy and have the body of someone less than – let’s say – 65 years old, you can ride this out at home, with lots of fluids, rest and ibuprofen or Tylenol for the fever and any pain.
Do not go to the ER, do not go to your doctor’s office, and do not even call your doctor’s office, unless you have difficulty breathing or an underlying serious health condition such as heart disease, diabetes, or COPD. Do not demand to be tested for it - there just are not enough kits available and the labs are already working around the clock to run the tests on those people who are really sick. 

Also, do not go to your doctor’s office for your routine checkups. It’s not worth the risk of picking up any and all of the bugs the other patients have brought in and left all over the waiting rooms. Your health care provider will call in any of your regular meds so that you don’t run out before this black cloud lifts.
Umm, what else? I have to tell you that the patients I have called to reschedule their annual exams this week have been way over the top appreciative that we have thought to cancel their appointments so that they can just stay home. I’ve heard and read a lot of crazy stories, but I feel very blessed that in my little world, things haven’t gone completely out of control.
So, yea, just be nice out there, people. Be thoughtful and patient and kind. Don’t panic. You are not alone in this, and he who dies with the most toilet paper, still dies.
God bless you all. Chris

that He gave his one and only Son

(This year’s Lenten posts revolve around John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Today I am writing about the second section.)
 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33, New International Version)
Only one person of the Triune God – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – came to Earth in the form of a man to live among us. This man, of course, was Jesus. His life here changed this planet forever.
I use Bible Gateway website when I’m referencing Bible verses, and I’ll click on its different versions of the Bible to see what different translations look like. There are over 50 of them just in English (a slew of other languages are listed too). I looked up John 3:16 in over a half a dozen of them, picking totally at random, and they all use the word “gave”. I found this in The Passion Translation —"he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift”.
At Christmas, when we are anticipating opening our gifts, we should remember that Jesus was the first gift we were given. He’s really the Gift that keeps on giving.
Thank, You, Father God, for sending Your Son to live among us and be the perfect gift. Amen.

Keep Calm

    I spent several hours last night, as usual, writing a blog post to share today. Overnight, in my insomnia, I decided to share this instead.
The poem Hollow Men was written by T.S. Elliot in 1925, and you can read more about it here. The last lines are some of the most quoted in literature, and I’ve used them before.
These words are running through my head today in light of the Coronavirus outbreak and the ensuing hysteria. You can interpret their meaning as you like. But it doesn’t mean that they need to come true. Keep your heads, out there, people. There’s no need to panic. Don’t let the media make you crazy. Stay calm. Take deep breaths – yes, please keep breathing, you can’t ward off a virus by holding your breath and passing out.
No matter what happens, just remember, life will go on. It always has.  

Oh, and Happy Friday the 13th. 

Introducing . . .

   As most of you already know, I’ve published four books – the first three quite happily through Aneko Press, just down the road in Abbotsford. They did a terrific job on my memoir and two devotionals, and I have not a single complaint with the entire process. My fourth book, which was my first novel, was published by a different publisher and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

As many authors, I’ve struggled to find a traditional publisher – the kind who pays you upfront and markets your books and makes you feel like an authentic author. I’ve also spent countless hours trying to get a literary agent to take me on. But that’s kind of a Catch-22 – agents won’t look at your stuff unless you’ve been “traditionally published” and traditional publishers won’t read your email unless your agent sent it.  
All those books you read? Writing them was the easy part for the authors; the part that saps the life out of a writer is getting their work in your hands.
But, as with so many things in life, the whole publishing process has gone through a myriad of changes in the last few years. But I’ve rambled enough.
I had a change of heart a few months back and decided to go the route of many authors these days. I won’t make a lot of money or end up on the New York Times Bestseller’s list, but this isn’t going to cost me much either. Maybe I will still have to do all the marketing myself and maybe still nobody is going to read my stuff, but at least I’ve thrown it out there.
I do feel a bit like I have given in to the behemoth, but just know that I didn’t come to this decision without a lot of thought, research, and blood and sweat.
So, ta-da, I present to you “To Find Justice”, my first work published solely by myself through Amazon. (It just dawned on me, after my rant, how apropos that title is.)
It’s not a book, way too short. I’m calling it a novella, but it’s really rather short for that too. What it is, however, is a quick easy read. It’s only currently available as an e-book, because it is so short, but I’d still like to try printing it because . . .  it is really the guinea pig for me to publish my next novel, “The Truth Beyond the River”, hopefully within a month or two.
Stay tuned. Next week, I’ll tell you more about “To Find Justice” – what it’s about and where the idea came from. In the meantime, if you already purchased it on Amazon – thank you from the bottom of my heart and I’d be eternally grateful for your review.

For God so loved the world

 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. . . .
 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:1 and 31 Revised Standard Version)
(Over the past five weeks, I’ve been writing here on Sundays about the different kinds of love. Last week I opened with the very famous verse from John 3 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. It dawned on me – well, or God pointed it out to me – that I could break down that verse into five sections and use each one over the next five weeks, up until Holy Week. So here we have it, this year’s theme for my Lenten blog posts.)
We all know how the very first book of the Bible begins – the Creation. God created the heavens and the earth; the sun, the moon, the stars; the oceans, the rivers, the dry land; the grass, the bushes, the trees; the fishes of the sea and the birds of the air; every creature which walks, crawls, runs or slithers on this planet.  
Then finally, God made mankind – male and female – and He made them in His image.
He made all things, and He made all things good and right. All that changed of course, when man fell into sin, but that’s not the story for today. Today is for witnessing God’s glorious creation and realizing how much He loves it all – every blade of grass, every whale in the sea, every hawk in the sky, every whitetail deer which graces my yard all winter. And most importantly, He loves each and every one of us.
LORD, God, thank You for making this beautiful earth and all that is on it. Thank You for blessing us with Your creation. Amen.

Flashback Friday - Fotography

   If you have been following this blog, you may have realized that in addition to writing, I’ve always had a passion for photography. Back in my youth, I used a Kodak Instamatic of some sort, with no settings except to point and shot.
I still had fun with it. 
I managed to save enough money, that when I left for college that first fall after high school, I had enough left after paying my tuition, room and board, that I went out and bought a real camera. A totally manual Yashica FX-3 SLR 35 mm and multiple accessories, such as a tilt flash, zoom lens and some fun filters. Plus a camera bag for it all. I even signed up for a photography class, which was located just a mile from the dorm where I lived. Which meant that every Thursday night (I think it was Thursdays, that was 39 years ago), I walked twenty minutes there and back, in the dark, along city streets. (Did my mom know I was doing this??)
Last week I scanned some of those old first photos I took back then, planning on sharing them here. 
Then I dragged out my old Yashica to take a picture of it. She looks pretty rough. 
I have had two camera bags in my closet for twenty-one years now, my original one and the one my sister Pat had for her camera and accessories, which her husband gave me when she passed away.
I had to drag both bags out now to see what else was in there – okay, actually I was looking for the receipt for my camera. I seem to remember that I kept it forever and would have left it in the camera bag, but no such luck. What I did find, however, was a third 35 mm. Where that came from, I have no idea.   
Again, the story of my life – everything is a mystery.

Anybody Still Out There From Ten Years Ago?

Wow, sometimes I look at myself and just say, “Wow”. I wonder what is wrong with me, where my head is, how I even get through the day sometimes.
So, funny thing. I had some stuff going on last night (like always) and was trying to get around to writing my blog. Just as I was sitting down to try to get inspired, – not that I needed inspiration, there were already four different ideas in my head, it was just a matter of picking one and getting on it – I took a quick gander at Facebook. I saw a video posted by the publisher of my first three books, where his washing machine was “walking” across the floor during the spin cycle. How crazy is that because I had just been sitting on my washer during the spin cycle because it is all off balance. I replied to his video saying that and he responded that I could write a blog post about that. So, here I am and that’s all I have to say about that.
Because then I scrolled a bit more on Facebook, and one of those friendship anniversary things came up. Apparently, it is the ten-year anniversary of me being friends with someone I’ve known for much longer than that. Which reminded me what March 1 was and what I really wanted to blog about today.  
And .  . .
 . . . When I actually got into my file where I write my blog, that whole topic hit me in the face. A few days ago, I had been planning on writing about this, so I wrote myself a reminder. Good thing, because I totally forgot until seeing that Friendiversary. Hence the question initially posed – what is wrong with me?
Anyway, Sunday was the ten-year anniversary of this blog!!! Well, not really. I think it was actually February 26, but I wrote something very short and very lame, just to figure out this whole blogging thing and then I later deleted it.  
Is anyone still out there reading this who has been with me since the beginning? Let me know! I love hearing from you.  I haven't changed too much in nearly sixty years, have I? I surely haven't changed in ten.

Unconditional Love

    And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (New International Version)

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about the different kinds of love that are talked about in the Bible. Today, finally, we’ve arrived at the final one, agape love, which is unconditional, immeasurable, incomparable, and pure. It is the love which God feels for us, and which we should strive to feel towards others.
You’ve probably read 1 Corinthians 13 in its entirety – you know, the lines about love being patient, kind, not envious or boastful or proud and that it never fails. Those verses are often used in marriage ceremonies, and we should feel this towards our spouses. Unfortunately, thanks to our sinful natures, we often fall short.
After the book of Psalms, the book of John mentions the word “love” more than any other book of the Bible. Thirty-nine times in the New International Version of the Bible, in fact.
  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
This is the first Sunday in Lent, so the famous John 3:16 verse is a good place to begin our six-week journey to the cross and ultimately unto eternal salvation.
Thank You, God, Heavenly Father, for sending Your Son to be our Savior. Help us to focus on that every day of our lives, but especially from now until Easter morning. Amen.   (I spent probably too much time going through my thousands of pictures to find a good one of white flowers, representing the purity of Jesus's love for us. But the morning glories above reminded me of new life in the morning, as in Easter morning. And the crocus below reminded me of all of the new life which blooms in the Spring. So, I had to share these two pictures, as well.)

Quick Trip out of Town

Last Friday, Hubby and I took a quick, overnight trip to the south-east part of the state to see our son. I wish I had time (and energy right now) to tell you specifically where each of these pictures is. I can tell you we went from East Troy to Mukwonago, then back to East Troy to Elkhorn to Lake Geneva and back.
Every time I go down to visit Nick, I am reminded of how much there is to see in that area and tell myself that I’m gonna spend more time next time. Next time…                I can tell you this is the Elegant Farmer - wonderful, fun food store.  

Hubby and Wes, grandpuppy #1 


The rest of the pictures are in Lake Geneva. 

Only close-up of my boy. 

Ash Wednesday and Giving Up

I’ve been reading the novel, “In this House of Brede” by Rumer Godden. If you’ve never heard of it, it is about an abbey in England in the 1950s and 1960s and the group of women who have devoted their lives to God by becoming claustral nuns there.
It is sometimes hard to follow because there is so much dialogue and it’s not always clear who is talking. Plus, some of those conversations are from the past and I sometimes get lost wondering if they are talking about something that happened previously or is going on right now. I’m muddling through, though, and like the book more than I expected to.
I initially wanted to bring it up because these women, these nuns who have professed total devotion to God, are still full of sinful thoughts and actions. No one is perfect which is why we need religion, why we need God’s forgiveness, why we need to get down on our knees sometimes and just send up all the prayers we can. Not only for ourselves, but for all of our family, friends, other loved ones and liked ones, and even enemies. This is also why Jesus died for all of our sins.
Today is Ash Wednesday and I’ve been mulling over what theme I wanted to blog about for the next six weeks of Lent. When I was reading this book earlier this week, the abbey was just going into Lent for another year. One of the characters told one of the younger sisters that Lent was a time of cleansing; spring cleaning, in fact.
Many people “give up” something for Lent, but more recently I’ve heard of people doing other more creative things to remember what these six weeks are leading up to. One of those things is to each day choose an item you no longer use or need, put it in a box and then come Easter you have an entire box of items to donate to charity.
I think I could do that. I think I should do that! All the clutter in my house! But, I think, more importantly, all the clutter in my brain. I think if there were something I really needed to “give up” for Lent, if only I could, it would be to empty my mind of all the nonsense and randomness, as well as the worries and obsessions.
Instead, I think, realistically, I’ll be giving up chocolate until Easter morning.