I think that’s the title to some chapter in one of the Wheel Of Time books…

Anyways, I started my intern year today! Gosh, it’s been forever since I’ve updated my blog – and I anticipate that things will continue to be rather sparse, since intern year is rumored to be the busiest and most stressful year of residency.

To catch people up, I’m doing a year of Internal Medicine, followed by 3 years of Ophthalmology at Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas. I’m looking forward to all the learning and experience that I’m going to receive, though I still dread the long days and general sense of confusion.

I miss writing and updating my blog, so I hope that every once and again I’ll be able to write something. I’ve been working on an interesting piece that I hope people will enjoy.

Praise God, I’m done with medical school!!!

In case I haven’t told you, dear readers, I have a girlfriend. Yes, a real one. No, I didn’t order her online. No, we didn’t hook up on eHarmony. Anyways, I share this little tidbit for two reasons – 1) She’s coming into town today and I’m terribly excited, and 2) Preparing for her to come got me thinking about a deeper truth.

As I mentioned previously, I’m moving to Texas in June. As is fitting with my current situation, I’ve been slowly packing up my books, papers, assorted junk, etc. so that I will be ready to move when that time comes. Of course, that also means that my room and everything I own is in disarray.

In less than 30 minutes I will be leaving for the airport to pick up my girlfriend, so that we can enjoy a few days together before she has to go back to work. Prior to this moment, I have spent the better part of 2-3 days packing and cleaning and reorganizing everything so that my room is moderately clean and ready for her to be here. Not that I intend for us to spend significant amounts of time in my room, but I want to have everything prepared for her so that when she gets here she can relax and enjoy some time away from everything.

With all of the bustling and busyness, the thought occurred to me that if I get too caught up in the cleaning and rearranging, it’s quite possible for me to work so hard at getting ready for my girlfriend’s arrival that I forget to leave with enough time to meet her at the airport. And so now that I have time to reflect (and still smelling like bleach), I realize that in some ways, this mirrors our own process of “preparing” for Jesus’ imminent return.

Jesus instructs His believers to “keep watch” for His return, because it will come suddenly, while most of the world continues along their business (Matthew 24-25). He even tells a few parables, explaining that because the exact hour is unknown to everyone except God the Father, we need to be prepared, or else we might get caught with our pants down (metaphorically).

Anyways, preparing for my girlfriend’s arrival planted this thought in my head – do I busy myself with “preparing” for Christ’s return, so much so that I could miss out on the very Person I’m waiting to arrive? It reminded me of Mary and Martha, the two sisters who played frequent hosts to Jesus and His disciples – Martha busied herself with the preparations for hosting Jesus, while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to His teaching. While certainly preparation is good and important – I doubt my girlfriend would want to come visit a pigsty – but am I going to place HER above the preparations, such that when she comes, I will enjoy her presence above the presentation (or lack thereof)? I definitely do the same to Jesus. I get so caught up in the acts of service and the thoughts of preparation that I miss out on knowing the Person.

The thought’s been challenging me to remember that it is the WHO that I worship and serve that matters, rather than the WHAT that I do. And hopefully that’s something that I will continue to carry with me.

BoneMan’s Daughters is the newest book by best-selling author Ted Dekker. Ryan Evans, a Naval Intelligence officer, returns to the US after being captured and tortured. He is eager to return to his family, whom he has not seen for several years. Meanwhile, a chilling serial killer named BoneMan has been abducting and killing young women by breaking all of their bones. When Ryan’s daughter is selected as BoneMan’s next target, a father’s desperate love goes to war against a killer’s obsession. A thriller with compelling characters and a stirring story, BoneMan’s Daughters has all the elements of a classic serial killer tale interwoven with a much deeper theme: love knows no bounds. I personally feel this is one of Mr. Dekker’s best novels to date, and highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good serial killer story or enjoys stories with deeper meanings and wouldn’t mind being creeped out by a terrifying villain.

Kiss, by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy, is a terrific novel that tells the story of Shauna, a politician’s daughter who finds herself caught in a life-threatening drama when she wakes up from a coma with selective amnesia. In her desperation to regain her lost memories, she begins to discover that those memories may not only be unpleasant for her to remember, but that some people would take drastic measures to keep her from remembering. Filled with a suspenseful plot, signature Dekker twists, and vivid imagery, Kiss is guaranteed to keep you ensnared from cover to cover, then leaving you in awe as the book’s deeper themes begin to sink in.

I have been a fan of Mr. Dekker’s books for quite some time now, and Kiss definitely lives up to its billing. While his most recent novels have been quite excellent, Kiss quickly distinguished itself as one of his best. Ms. Healy’s contribution to the work enriched the entire story, and it’s clear to me that as much as Kiss fully belongs to Dekker, it belongs just as fully to Erin Healy. Personally, I felt that the character development was richer in this novel as compared to many of Dekker’s more recent works, which made the character’s discussions even more poignant. The theme of how we deal with our past is one that I believe we all struggle with, and through the story of Shauna McAllister, I feel that Dekker and Healy have brought illumination and encouraging perspective. I look forward to many more future Dekker/Healy collaborations, beginning with Burn (in 2010)!

Rating: 5/5