The Devil Came On Horseback

At the recommendation of the Cropseys, we, the McLaughlins and Faders, got together with some friends last night and had a viewing of The Devil Came on Horseback, a documentary about a young retired US Marine who travels to Darfur and ends up with a photographic exposition of the atrocities there. It is a fine film, chosen for the Sundance Festival last year. We thought it would be an interesting way to learn more about this conflict and engage some of our friends on a situation dear to our hearts.

Jason's brother Caleb, who is heading out next week for 2 years with the Peace Corps in Uganda, spent 2-3 months in Darfur drilling wells last year. Thankfully he was in town and able to be there, and provided some very personal perspective to an already personal documentary.

David Durham (my brother-in-law's father) wrote that much of the sentiment over Africa can be summed up in a single letter: "O". As in, "O Africa!" The tragedy, the joy, the horror, the need, the gift.

As eight young Americans sat around after our movie last night, it seemed that everyone's heart was crying out "O!", but when we tried to decide what to do, the complexity of any solution loomed large. I do not claim any exhaustive knowledge of world affairs, but it does seem that the greatest world crisis currently is Darfur, with millions displaced, and over 400,000 killed. What to do? Be aware? OK, we can do that. Tell others? We can do that, too. Support sending in armed forces and be involved in another nation-building event? Maybe, but our collective wisdom seems not to be sufficient to answer that definitively.

Pray? Yes, we can pray. God, help Darfur. Help us to know how to act justly. Bring healing, wholeness, peace.

Medicine and the 4 Levels of Happiness

Several years ago, I heard John Patrick speak at a conference, and he talked about the 4 levels of happiness. The first and lowest level is animal happiness, that is, our hungers, thirst, physical drives. The next level is discipline happiness, or the happiness that comes from applying yourself and acheiving that goal, such as in athletics or academics. The third level is that of needing to be needed, which can result in altruism. The highest level is that which comes from knowing and loving God (and, I would say, being known by and being loved by God). It's a very Neoplatonic idea, in the sense that we strive to aim for the higher levels, while de-prioritizing but still enjoying the lower levels.

At first blush, I didn't see much more than an interesting thought exercise in this, but later my friend James (of the Lyntelnosters) gave me pause to think how the work of medicine fits into this. I think two things can be gleaned:

1. Medicine is fundamental: This is the gravity of what we do. When physical and mental health deteriorate, the ability to pursue any of the happiness mentioned above is seriously challenged. This is the reason people will drain all their resources to pursue a cure; because what good are all these resources if I'm not alive or functional to pursue any other happiness?

2. Medicine is foundational: To me, this is the other side of the coin. What we do gives people the lowest level of happiness mentioned above, but that's it. Whether anything higher is achieved is up to them. Yes, physicians can help people to pursue higher happiness, but at that point, most people would say they have gone beyong the limits of medicine and into some other service more common to friendships than doctor-patient relationships.

So, in this light, medicine becomes humility and honor. It reminds me of a scene from Lewis' Narnia: "'You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,' said Aslan. 'And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor in earth.'" Those of you who didn't think this was going to come around to CS Lewis ought to have known better.

Jason Graduates from Residency

Another step towards Africa: This week marks the end of my (Jason's) quarter century of education required to become a general surgeon. Last Saturday I officially graduated from general surgery residency. I was thankful to be surrounded by wonderful family including Heather, in-laws, grandmothers, and siblings, as well as some good friends.

Another highlight from the graduation event was definitely having Eric play the piano during the cocktail hour before the ceremony.

Now I begin a one-year "fellowship" in which I will learn various skills to better prepare me for operating as a surgeon in Africa. This will include learning a wide variety of operations such as C-sections, fracture repair, urological procedures, plastic surgery, and various ENT procedures. The light at the end of the tunnel is certainly getting brighter, as I look forward to getting my first "real job" next year, at the age of 32!

Country Profiles on Sudan & Liberia

Sudan & Liberia are two countries that we have considered as long-term locations. Both countries have recently gone through lengthy civil wars and are in desperate need of help on many levels. To find out more about these countries, click on the links below to view country profiles created by BBC News.

Sudan:

Interesting Facts:
*Largest country in Africa

*The two-decade civil war between the north and the south claimed the lives of 1.5 million people and an estimated 200,000 people have been killed in the Darfur conflict which began in 2003

Liberia:

Interesting Facts:
*Founded by freed American & Caribbean slaves

*250,000 people were killed in the civil war that ended in 2003

*President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became Africa's first female head of state in Jan '06

Drs. Kuhn and "The Impact Factor"

Drs. Ted and Sharon Kuhn, medical leads for Mission To the World (MTW), graciously made the trip up from Atlanta, GA, to meet with us and we really appreciate it. The "Lyn" and "Tel" were also present. MTW is an organization within the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), a cousin denomination to our home church, Knox, that is involved in sundry ways with medical mission work across the globe. We all met at Jessica's parents' home (a.k.a. Rivendell), and Rachel, Eric, and Jason were a few minutes late due to an incredible amount of wind, which delayed their bike ride precisely 26 minutes.

We all sat down and the McCropders, via spokesperson Eric, gave a brief overview of where we're at. The conversation lasted quite a while, and probably posed more questions than answered, which we consider to be a difficult but wonderfully necessary feature of this early stage of our planning. Obviously, a complete recap of this meeting is not possible, but here are a few highlights.

Per the Drs. Kuhn, the two main "first things" questions for us at the outset are the following:

1. What is the relationship between Word and Deed in our overall mission model? As the title of this blog makes quite clear, we are committed to the marriage of these two ideas, but how will this really play out in a day-to-day scenario?

2. What will be the relationship of the church to our work, both the local African church, and churches with which we have relationships in the US?

These questions hint at something we have, in our discussions with each other, come to call "The Impact Factor", which is very dear to us. In short, "The Impact Factor" is the ability to bring the most benefit and blessing to those whom we will serve. One of the ways in which this Factor has continued to guide our thinking through the present time is that the more medically underserved area, the better. And yes, some parts of Africa are more than the others, though need is overall quite pervasive. The spin the Kuhns placed on this was in thinking more long-term about Impact. Should we head to a larger city with established hospitals, in order to maximize Impact by working in medical education? Should we be in a similar area in order to take advantage of the increased accessability to maximize Impact?

These questions are not answered, but are a necessary flavoring to our "question stew" as we plan out our overall mission model. Thank you Kuhns, and we look forward to sharing more time and conversations in the future.

God, grant us grace to serve You well.

Zimbabwe

I suppose there are continually many places of great need in Africa, thus part of our interest. However, hearing the latest from the Zimbabwe elections, we ask that you would be in prayer for that country, that they would be spared war and find justice.

Team Picture, Birthday Pictures

The Faders walloped the Cropseys & McLaughlins at "10 Days in Africa". It's a good game. We recommend it. We also recommend that you all someday spend an actual 10 Days in Africa. Or more. With us. :)

Community Thoughts from Stephen Montgomery

This past week, the Cropseys have been visiting Ann Arbor, and a veritable torrent of meetings have taken place. It's given us all a lot to process, and we're grateful for everyone who has provided input to us. We'll try and update the blog with some of our thoughts and recapitulations.

Stephen Montgomery, 3-year veteran of Niger, soon to return as a hospital administrator to Galmi Hospital, Niger, came as spoke to us regarding Serving in Mission, or SIM, an agency that sends many people, often in medical contexts, to several hospitals in Africa. We enjoyed Moe's burritos together, and then sat in the shade next to Jessica's parents' pool, and talked about many things. Among them, we were interested in his perspectives on life in community, as he not only had lived in the communities in Niger, but also had long-lived in a very close community in the Chicago area. Since we have undertaken to pursue this as 3 families together, we are interested in learning how to best make this aspect of our lives fruitful.

Certainly the take-home quote from Stephen went something like this: "It's true that wisdom can be found within a community, but it's also entirely possible for the sum thoughts of the group to be stupider than any one person's individual wisdom." Noted.

He also spoke from a Jean Vanier (founder of the L'Arche community, often thought of in connection with Henri Nouwen) book. Namely, that the pursuance of community itself can be held so high as an idea, that one begins to see the faults of the members of the community merely as impedances to the idea. In other words, you can't see the trees because of the forest. Community itself can be important, but it is only important because of the people involved, who thus must be upheld above the community idea.

Strong thoughts, and worth learning for us at this point of beginning with this community. Thanks much for your travel and your time, Stephen. God bless your family's work in Niger.

MTOS 5.23.2008

Given our geographical disparities, we have taken to meeting ever so often for a video conference via Skype in a session aptly abbreviated "MTOS" - McCropders Talking Over Skype. Last Friday was the most recent of these, with all McCropders in attendance, with a brief reprieve by Heather to put Anna to bed, and the Parents McLaughlin as guest observers.

A number of things were discussed, mostly centered around 3 ideas:
1. The status of our current applications with different agencies we are exploring that would send us to Africa.
2. The relative pros and cons of the two main options: namely, going to train for 2 years in Africa, then finding a long-term agency and location vs. attempting to find a longterm agency on the front end and having the training abbreviated to some degree. This will be discussed more in depth when the Cropseys spend a week in Michigan in early June.
3. The agenda for the said visit from the Cropseys, in which we will gather to meet with a couple different organizations.

This was all done in the subtext of friendship and banter that gives our lives its true color. Thus the following 3 things were also discussed:
1. McCropders Summit 2008 in a farm house in Kentucky, at the Global Health Missions Conference. Man, we're psyched.
2. Heather and Eric strangely have the exact same birthday in early June whilst the Cropseys sojourn with us, and thus there will be celebration, food, and Catan to commemorate what will likely be the first of decades of joint Heather/Eric birthday celebrations.
3. John Cropsey inner desires: "I've always dreamed of becoming a jungle bunny." That's right, friends: Jungle. Bunny.

Faith in Medicine: Thoughts from Dr. Chang

The miniseries at Knox Presbyterian goes on, and last week, the venerable Dr. Robert Chang, hospitalist extraordinnaire, gave a rockin' talk on what he's learned from his work at the hospital. And he did so on a minimal night's sleep, having just come back from a Honduran hospital early in the a.m. He's in internal medicine, and likes these long, sleepless runs.

There were a lot of great points that he made, but I'll focus on one. There's an old testament story (2 Sam 12) that I've heard for many years. King David, after committing adultery with the wife of one of his soldiers and getting her pregnant, he indirectly murders the husband and marries the woman himself. Through the prophet Nathan, David learns that God is going to punish his actions by the baby dying. That such a renowned hero of the Bible as David was guilty of such heinous actions, and that God took the life of the innocent, are both parts of the story that deserve long conversations not to be found here.

Here's the focal point: David hears this, and fasts and prays and lays prostrate on the ground for days and days, imploring God to change his mind. He was so desparate that, when the infant did die, his men were afraid to tell him this news, not knowing what he might do. But he senses their hesitation, and they tell him the truth. He gets up, bathes, changes clothes, goes and worships in the temple, and then eats. They ask him how he could act like this. He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.' But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."

Here is a solemn model for the physician. Ardent striving to save, ardent sacrifice on behalf of the sick and dying that we love. And then, peaceful recognition of the limits of our efforts. Acceptance, and the ability to move on and continue to live as God desires. We sense this tension in which we live. Robert, thanks for using this illustration to acknowledge the tension and instruct in the midst of it.