While I probably should be writing about our second granddaughter being born this day, my deadline does not allow it. “Andi” will just have to wait to have her story told on another day. Yesterday, after a morning that brought back a variety of childhood memories, Brooklyn then came to spend the night while I was CARoling.
That morning was spent at the Summit with Dr. Hackenberger. I thought he was going to resolve a hole in my head, but instead he simply installed a “healing plate.” My good buddy, Doc Wainess, will be given the pleasure to finish things up after Easter.
Whenever I am experiencing the fingers of others in my mouth my mind goes back to Dr. Galster – my childhood dentist. He always greeted me with a hard punch to the chest. I think he did that so all the drilling in those pre-Novocain days didn’t seem so bad. One time I sat through six different fillings in one appointment … turns out not brushing my teeth after a bedtime snack of raisins was not the best of practices! You see, I do have a holey head.
Dr. Wainess thinks I have a rather loose jaw, also … and he is probably not the only one thinking that. This is the third or fourth time this “tooth” (or whatever they put on top on an implant) has come out – always the result of a “loose screw” in my head. This time I found the screw behind my lip one morning about two weeks after I placed the tooth in a baggy. As you can see, having a holey head is not my only problem – but you probably knew this already, too.
Of course, my real problem is a lack of “holey-of-different-spellings” in my head. Not only have I sinned against God in words and deeds, but also in my thoughts. In other words, my real problem is that I have a wholly unholy head! And me thinks this might be your real problem, as well.
As we enter into Holy Week, this is an ideal time for us to note that we have someone who heals this problem much better than even a combination of Galster, Wainess, and Hackenberger. He is the one who “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. … He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53.4-5) He is The Good Doctor. No, I am not talking about Shaun Murphy (but you knew that). I am talking about Jesus the Christ.
His suffering makes my “holey head” issues seem minor. His healing touch to my “wholly unholy head” gives the kind of peace that allows me to fall asleep in the chair as I await Dr. Hackenberger’s return. And, during all these days while we await The Good Doctor’s return, he would have a particular word of his echoing throughout our heads (and hearts). “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14.27) These times are troubling in many ways. The violence of recent weeks is very unsettling, but not that surprising for, as our Lord has warned us, “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these things are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24.7-8) And this same Good Doctor has also assured us, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16.33) So I rejoice as Alessandra enters into this world … and live in joyous peace … even when the holes in my head … and new tribulations … keep reappearing.