Check Up

Yesterday I brought Maria over to the medical clinic for a quick check up. She has a very itchy rash and instead of getting better, it seems to be spreading and getting worse. Also, she still has not totally gotten back on top of things, strength-wise, after her bout with the flu back in early October. I just wanted a quick check to make sure there was nothing else going on and to get some help with clearing up this rash.

We saw the on call doctor for the day. He has been at the Sioux Center medical clinic for over 30 years and was very gregarious. He also was very knowledgeable about Myasthenia Gravis, which was a nice bonus. He assured me that Maria's rash was just eczema and gave us a prescription for a cream to treat it. He also told me that, given all Maria's health complications, he would expect it to take up to 12 weeks for her to fully recover from that virus so not to be too concerned about that either.

Then the doctor took me by surprise with his next question. He looked up from his notes and asked me, "Are you saved and do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?" I so did not expect that particular question at that particular moment. I did manage to quickly give a response in the affirmative. Dwight has suggested that that would have been a good time to trot out a few lines from the philosophy I've been reading for new faculty orientation, maybe drop in a comment or two about Kuyper and Dooyeweerd. Of course, none of that came back to me in that moment. Then the good doctor, reassured of the fact of my salvation, proceeded to lecture me on the topic of evolution. It was an interesting office visit.

We have noticed that most of Northwest Iowa is overtly Christian. Everywhere you go, you hear Christian music playing - in the grocery store, at the bank, in government offices. The gas station downtown is closed on Sundays, but every square inch of their lot is used for parking cars for the church next door during Sunday services. Most people assume that since I work at Dordt and have in fact worked in Christian education for nearly a quarter of a century now, I am a Christian. I guess this doc just wanted to make sure.