Little Rock

My adventure continued in Little Rock, Arkansas.  My anticipation was that this was going to be primarily a destination for reminiscing.  It turned out to be much more.

My first job in pediatric oncology was at Arkansas Children's Hospital and I had heard that the hospital had grown tremendously.  It definitely had......to the point it was barely recognizable.  The same could be said for the city.  In fact everything was so different that it was like visiting a place I had never been.  As an example, when I was there, there was one other pediatric oncologist and I.  Now there are eight physicians in the section.  I did hook up with the Section Chief of peds oncology(he was a graduating resident when I arrived in 1982) and he showed me around their inpatient and clinic facilities.  The lab tech who was there back in 1984 was still working there.  Those were the only two people I was able to see whom I had known from before.  Everyone else was either not at work that day or retired, more of the latter. Afterwards I drove around Little Rock and couldn't even find the apartment I lived in!

The real joy of the Little Rock visit was staying with Pastor Wyman Richardson and his wife Roni.  Debbie and I had been to Honduras several times with Wyman and I consider him a good friend even though we have not seen each other in a long time.  He is a brilliant guy with a sarcastic, dry sense of humor who likes to say outrageous things just to get a rise out of you or especially Roni.  I had met Roni before but never spent any time with her.  She has such a sweet spirit and is pretty much the anti-Wyman!  God must have felt sorry for Wyman when He put them together.

All kidding aside, Wyman is a good friend and he is the first person on this journey who really had spent time with Debbie.  He talked of what a sweet person Debbie was, how her smile lit up the room and how she loved those children in Honduras.  We went through the photos from the visitation slide show that Brittany had put together into a book.  Every time I look through that book my eyes water, maybe allergies?

Wyman, Roni and I went out to dinner the night I got to LR and had a great time.  The following night he had a commitment to be on an Arkansas Baptist Convention panel for young people contemplating going into the ministry.  Yesterday morning he took me to a men's group at his church  and then to a class in a Bible college he is teaching.  All three of those experiences, although they were totally not focused on my pursuit of new life, helped me process the things I was going through.  The panel fielded questions about how you know when God is speaking to you and what steps you need to take to respond.  These are the same questions I have been asking myself since Debbie died and I retired.  It was a few days of a lot of prayer and new perspectives being infused into my life.  It reaffirmed that God does indeed have a plan for me and that I am on the right path in seeking His will in my life.

At the panel discussion, one of the preacher's testimony resonated with me. He talked about the call on his life and related it to Moses' call. God had told Moses of the great power He was giving him to show the Egyptians he was legit.  But Moses came up its all these excuses why he wasn't God's man. 10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go;I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Exodus 4).  

I thought, that makes sense for the preacher as he was trying to figure out the call on his life as a young man coming out of college.  But I've already had a career and am in the "autumn" of my life. Plus, I've never done anything other than oncology all my professional life. Then I remembered that Moses was 80 years old when God placed this call on His life.  And God has taken care of me and equipped me even when I wasn't following Him and I'm "only" 65 (almost).  God's got this!

While in Little Rock, one of my former students who went into pediatric oncology posted her gratitude for the kind of mentors my partner, Dr. Kevin, and I were in her life.  Several other former students and residents added their kind words.  It was reaffirming that, even though I have not always been the father, doctor, teacher and husband I would have liked to have been, God used what I did do for good in other peoples' lives.  Then I received a message from Pastor George Crow, a giant of a man physically and spiritually and one of my spiritual heroes.  He spoke love and affirmation into my life which meant so much coming from him.

When I think of all the people whom God is using to lift me up I am humbled and appreciative. My children, my sisters, Pastors Mike and George Crow, former patients and their parents, former students and residents and friends along the way have poured blessing into my life.  All I can say is thank you to them and the Lord!

I am in Kansas City today and tomorrow will travel to Denver to see my sister, Barbara and my daughter Julie, but most importantly, my grandchildren Sophie and Audrey (the kids know their status was lowered to second place when they had children). 

God had been putting Houston on my heart and I have been considering taking a 2300 mile detour to help in the relief effort.  But now with Irma (my mother's name!) bearing down on the southeast I am going to wait and see what happens.  I may actually end up shortening my trip to go back east to help there.  Of course that would have to be after I see the grandchildren in Indiana!

No pictures from this segment of the trip although I did see some beautiful country on the drive from LR to KC.  Tomorrow's drive will be longer and I believe much less scenic.  But I'll still have XM radio and God in the car with me!