Pathways to Wellness

Let’s consider these two scriptures (quoted in the New American Standard translation)

Mark 5:25 – 29 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse-- after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, "If I just touch His garments, I will get well." Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

I believe that modern physicians do much good. When I broke my leg, I was very glad to have a physician on duty at the local hospital to be sure that I was treated properly and given the opportunity to heal fully. When my daughter developed a brain tumor, I was very glad that MD Anderson Cancer Center had the equipment and staff to diagnose and treat her and facilitate her recovery. I thank God for modern medicine and all the good that it does.

As the first scripture above relates, there are times when the physician does not have the answer. The attending physician did not help my cousin when he died as a young child. One man I know was so shocked at how his mother suffered and died at the hands of the physicians treating her colon cancer that, when he developed a similar tumor, he treated it himself. Within a year, his grapefruit-size tumor was gone! As I am reminded daily of the consequences of the surgery to remove my cancer, I envision the different outcome that I might have realized if I had known in advance what alternatives existed, but it was not my doctor’s privilege to tell me about any choices I had other than surgery, radiation, and “wait and see.” Now I know, so I gladly share with anyone who is interested that there are alternatives to the care of physicians that might be appropriate in some situations.

One of the alternatives is prayer. Scripture includes many passages that tell us of the power of prayer; we don’t have room here to review them, but you can do that on your own. As the second scripture passage above points out, sometimes God’s answer to prayer is “NO!” As our loving Father, He does not do that to punish us, but because He has something better planned for us. Perhaps if Paul had not had his “thorn in the flesh,” he would not have been able to reach many of the people who responded to his presentation of the gospel. For any one instance of our prayers being answered with a “NO,” there are many examples of how God has responded with a loving “YES!”

The Lord Provides!

Myron Remington

The Tree of Life

A recurring theme in Scripture is the Tree of Life. In Genesis and Revelation, the words represent a physical tree that bears fruit and has leaves; in Proverbs, Tree of Life is used in a different sense representing Wisdom and goodness (see Proverbs 3:18, 11:30, 13:12, and 15:4). In Revelation, Tree of Life also represents eternal life in paradise with God. (See Revelation 2:7, 22:2, 22:14, and 22:19) For the sake of our discussion here, let’s consider the Genesis Tree of Life.
Man’s original food was derived entirely from plants.

Genesis 1:29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

Genesis 2:9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Tree of Life appears to be a particular tree (or variety of tree) with special wellness properties such that, after the fall, it had to be put OFF LIMITS:
Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

Genesis 3:24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

As I examine wellness products that are available and the benefits coming from them, it gives me the impression that we have come very close to rediscovering the Tree of Life. Although no one fruit gives perfect health, the choice of a wholly natural diet that includes a predominance of fruits and vegetables can enable the body to protect itself against many of the diseases we see around us all the time. As we turn away from stuff that was not intended as human food and turn back to a simple, natural, balanced diet, together with a balanced life (remember the Wheel of Wellness?), we can avoid much of the disease that surrounds us.

The Lord Provides!

Myron Remington
Scripture from NIV

Daniel's Meatless Wellness

Although we all know the Bible story from Daniel 1 about four young noblemen of Judah who were taken as captives to Babylon, this discussion will be more meaningful if you will re-read the chapter now and keep it open for reference. We will see that the four were enrolled in the royal university to learn the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Initially, they were provided choice food and fine wine from the king’s own select supply, but Daniel convinced his caretaker to let them have vegetables and water instead. The immediate results were so apparent that the caretaker consented to let them continue with vegetables and water instead of meat and wine through the entire course of study.

At the end of the three year program, the four Hebrew youths looked better and scored higher than any of their classmates. Later chapters of the book of Daniel tell of the long and fruitful service that Daniel provided to Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, continuing until the reign of Cyrus, a span of service of about 60 years. Daniel not only was first in his class, he also outlasted all the competition.

Let’s focus our attention on the results achieved by Daniel and his companions, and on the reason for those results. The facts are straightforward: the young men ate vegetables and drank water rather than eating the king’s choice food and drinking his fine wine. What is not as clear is why they proved superior to all the rest of the class when final exam time came. A couple of explanations are possible: it was miraculous, a gift from God to reward them for their single-minded faithfulness; and, it was the natural consequence of maintaining purity by avoiding the toxicity of rich food and alcohol. I can not solve that dilemma, but let us suppose that at least to some degree, the latter was a factor. That is that their choice of a vegetarian diet enabled them to perform at a higher level. As later events in the life of Daniel make very clear, divine power was at work in his life to enable him to interpret dreams and foretell coming events, so I will not assume that natural factors were the only influences at work here.

My conclusion is supported by the results of recent nutritional research. Just within the past few days, I learned of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study which showed that a single serving of particular plant-based dietary supplement significantly improved visual discrimination and working memory. The overwhelming body of evidence that I have reviewed over the past dozen years demonstrates that people who choose a diet consistent with that prior to the flood (in the days of Noah) tend to live longer and with far less disease. That is proof enough for me to give up what I don’t need so I can preserve my wellness and serve more of my remaining years as a good steward of the blessings the Lord has graciously given me. I invite you to join me.

The Lord Provides!

Myron Remington

The Role of Faith in Wellness

Let’s take a brief detour on the way to wise stewardship of wellness. I have said before, but can not emphasize too strongly that wellness is not a means of salvation. I am neither saved by my diet nor condemned by my diet, whatever it may be. So let’s look today at a particular passage regarding that idea.

Romans 14 considers the case in which one with strong faith will eat anything (including meat) and one who has weak faith avoids meat (it brings to his mind that the meat may have been sacrificed to idols). Please read the entire chapter to put the thought in context.

A key verse is Romans 14:2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Taken by itself, that verse would make it appear that my faith is weak, as shown by my avoiding meat, and that I am cautioned in the following verses not to judge those who eat meat. Romans 14:3 The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.

Now is the time to say it again: what I’m saying has nothing to do with faith or salvation, but only with the stewardship of the resources God has put in my care. I do not judge anyone or tell anyone what to do or how to eat. What I am doing is sharing what I have found to provide a wellness benefit to me and to many others. I have already had my cancer; I have modified my diet expecting to prevent recurrence. Some who have not had cancer also choose the path I’ve taken with the expectation of preventing cancer. Research¹ has demonstrated that animal proteins in the diet can serve as a switch for development of cancer. Absence of those proteins tends to keep the switch OFF. Including animal proteins tends to turn the cancer ON. (Processed foods and high fat foods also contribute to the development of cancer and other diseases of aging.)

I would gladly share with you my faith. I would delight to point to the scripture that says that Jesus is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE, and there is no other way to get to God but through Him (John 14:6). That is a matter of faith and salvation.

I would also gladly share with you what I’ve discovered about caring for this mortal body, keeping it healthy so that, as the years accumulate, I can be serving rather than be served. But that is a matter of stewardship, use of resources, not a matter of faith.

The Lord Provides!

Myron Remington

(Scripture References from NASB)
1. T. Colin Campbell, PhD, The China Study, Benbella Books, Dallas: 2004, chapter 3

Worry and Wellness

“For life is more than food, and the body than clothing.” -- Luke 12:23

How one understands and acts on that verse will have a strong influence in one’s approach to life.

One possible approach is to say, “It doesn’t matter what I eat or wear since life is so much more – I can eat anything I want; I can spend all I want on clothing.” I find a conflict between that and what other passages of Scripture tell us. Remember from Proverbs 23:1-3
When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
         Consider carefully what is before you,
    And put a knife to your throat
         If you are a man of great appetite.
    Do not desire his delicacies,
         For it is deceptive food.
And Matthew 6:28-29
"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.”
Sounds to me like it does matter!

Another approach is to recognize that what one eats and wears is a reflection of how he thinks – how disciplined he is and what his priorities are. Which is more important: to eat for enjoyment and pleasure, or to eat to sustain oneself for ministry? There is one big caveat in this distinction – the power of “should.” Everyone knows that there are things he “should” do, as implied duty. “I should not smoke. I should eat right. I should be more supportive of my spouse. I should be a better parent. I should visit sick neighbors.” “Should” can become an impatient taskmaster, stealing the joy from living and leaving only drudgery.

Don’t let “should” steal your joy. Instead, focus on living close to our Lord. Get to know Him as Lord, Savior, and Friend, and live the way that pleases Him. His word will guide you to the right path. (Ps 119:105).

As you walk with Him, He will guide you to the ministry that is His will for your life. He will help you make wise choices about clothing (sufficient but not extravagant), food (sustaining, not leading to diseases of affluence), entertainment (uplifting, purposeful), hobbies (that spend the time constructively, not in idleness), and most important, your call to ministry. We all are witnesses to something; may our lives be living letters from the Lord to our friends and neighbors! (2 Corinthians 3:2-4) Only a few are Clergy, but all of us are in full-time Christian service. WE are the Church!

The Lord Provides!

Myron Remington

(References from NASB)

Purposeful Wellness

The essence of chastity is not the suppression of lust, but the total orientation of one's life towards a goal. -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This is the cure for any bad habit, whether a sexual addiction, smoking, or cursing. When your life is totally focused on a worthy goal, there is no room for distractions. It is when one has no purpose in life that there is so much slack that it is easy to fall into habits that are undesirable.

Consider a rope passing through pulleys. When there is a load at the end, the rope is taut and passes through each pulley without any tendency to bind. It is only when the rope is slack that it drifts off and becomes tangled in a pulley. Too much tension will break the rope, but too little tension allows the rope to go where it doesn’t belong. So it is with life. When I am guided by a sufficient purpose, I am willing and anxious to shed anything that hinders my progress. But when I wander aimlessly, it is not difficult at all to pick up habits that are offensive.

Some years ago, I spent a couple of years in Asia. Others around me found the distance from home liberating – although they had wives or fiancées back home, they felt free to set up housekeeping with a locally available “temporary wife”. With my focus on a lifetime marriage and my commitment to a life in Christ, I was never tempted to even think about such an action. Even when sent to the Korean equivalent to a geisha house and assigned a “hostess”, it was no struggle for me to keep my hands and my mind where they belonged – and it made an interesting story to tell my wife later. (It also earned a reprimand from my boss to the person who put me in that awkward situation.)

What does this have to do with wellness? Everything! Much of the unwellness around us derives from habits developed because of lack of purpose. There is adequate information available that reveals that our choice of food is a significant factor in the state of our health, but the pleasure of the taste and the force of social custom keep many folks trapped in unhealthy habits. For most folks, the awakening comes only when a disease becomes life-threatening, or at least serious enough to get attention, and then it may be too late.

That is why I focus on stewardship. Most Christians understand that all we have has been given to us by God, for us to use for His glory. In the same way that He has provided our treasure, our time, and our talent for us to use wisely and in ways that honor Him, He also has provided our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit. That temple is just as much an object of stewardship as our treasure. Any believer who truly wants to live a life pleasing to Christ will want to serve Him all life long. Many of those who neglect this aspect of stewardship will find themselves trapped in bodies that don’t work any more. Rather than being able to minister to others and share the wisdom gained over a lifetime of service, they become the object of ministry by others. Rather than having financial resources to use to support ministry, they have to use those resources to maintain their bodies in a functional state. No, wellness is not required for salvation. But it is a matter of good stewardship.

The Lord Provides!
Myron Remington
Myron62@juno.com

The Next Generation

First a disclaimer: I am NOT Dr. Dobson, nor any other authority on raising children. However, I have been through the process, with mistakes along the way, but hopefully some right moves as well.

Sitting in the disaster recovery center, I observed a young mother come in with her pre-school son and his grandmother. While mom is taking care of business, son discovers the Coke machine. I offer water to grandmother, and she asks grandson if he wants water. Of course not, he wants Coke, so she dutifully puts in her dollar bill and he grabs the Coke can that drops.

How many times a day is this scene repeated across this bountiful nation? Child wants, child gets, regardless how many grams of sugar are in the can. And without regard for all the studies showing adverse impact to wellness of sugar, without thinking of increasing the prospect for obesity or diabetes, parents and grandparents spoil the child and cripple his ability to make decisions that lead to wellness.

The Lord Provides!

Myron Remington
Texas Manager, Mobile Disaster Recovery Center (currently at Kountze, Hardin County)
Myron62@juno.com

PS – for current helpful health information, I suggest that you go to http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/alerts/ and subscribe to the health alerts that meet your need.

Rediscovering Community

During my deployment in Kountze for Disaster Recovery, I was sleeping for some time at the local fire station. That gave me a special opportunity to observe a very close-knit community, in many ways like a church. The firemen (male and female) and their families thoroughly enjoy spending time together. They eat together, laugh together, cry together. When the challenge of serious fires comes, they band together in mutual support. They are of one mind, one heart – they are one, much as the church is one. I am reminded that, in combat, soldiers don’t die for their country or for their family. They die for their buddies. It is the bond among those united in community that is worth dying for.

Seeing their community challenges me to issue a call to a community of wellness. The primary obstacle to the habits that underlie wellness is the ingrained social custom of eating together foods that are customary rather than especially healthful. Secondary obstacles are cooking for taste rather than wellness benefit, and the time-saving convenience of processed foods.

I envision a community in which all members are aware of the harm to their wellness – and their stewardship – in their habits that do not support wellness. As Paul tells us, if my eating meat causes my brother to stumble, I’ll never eat meat again. Paul wrote in the context of meat sacrificed to idols; I suggest that in our time, there is no idol worshiped in eating meat, but one could say that pleasure has become the god of many people. At any rate, what I do influences those around me, for better or worse.

Dream with me for a moment of a community in which none of the benefits of togetherness are lost, but in which the impact on wellness is considered in all activities. Every member recognizes that the joy of wellness is not inconsistent with the joy of close fellowship. It is not necessary to give up anything to be well –- healthy habits are just as enjoyable as anything else that we could do.

Choosing to maintain wellness in order to serve others rather than have to depend on them does not violate any Biblical standards. As we encourage one another to make wise choices, we can grow together in wise stewardship of whatever wellness we have.

The Lord Provides!

Myron Remington
Texas Manager, Mobile Disaster Recovery Center (currently at Kountze, Hardin County)
Myron62@juno.com

Wellness Beyond Bodily Health

My train of thought from previous issues has been disrupted by the series of disasters that have struck Texas recently – I’ve deployed for hurricane Dolly and now hurricane Ike. Rather than struggle to pick up earlier threads, let me address some of what I’m observing now.

The need for wellness is no less during a time of calamity, but other much more pressing needs may overshadow it. I’ve heard that Ike is the fourth worst natural disaster ever to strike the US. The people I’m seeing now are desperate for a place to sleep, for food to eat, and for a word of encouragement. Even those who appear to be composed may really be simmering inside, just waiting for the slightest provocation, intentional or otherwise, to boil over.

As we have discussed earlier, stress such as I’m observing now is very detrimental to wellness. Those who have difficulty coping with recent events are putting themselves at greater risk of contracting serious, life-threatening disease. Those who have a strong faith and who can accept their trouble and, with Job, still praise their Redeemer, are much less likely to fall ill.

I invite your prayers
• for me and others who are engaged in response and recovery following hurricane Ike and other disasters. Wellness is crucial for us to endure the weeks or months of travel, long days, and stressful encounters.
• for those who have been displaced from their homes, many uncertain of the condition of their homes
• for those who have no home to return to
• for those who have relatives impacted by the disasters (when one hurts, all hurt)

The Lord Provides!

Myron Remington
Texas Manager, Mobile Disaster Recovery Center (currently at Kountze, Hardin County)
Myron62@juno.com