Where God Wants Me

This is another old forwarded email worth sharing. I am not sure who the original author is. This is in time for tomorrow’s commemoration of the 9/11 attacks eight years ago. Hope you like it.

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One day I happened to call a man on business whom I will probably never talk to again, but this day God wanted me to talk to him.

He was head of security at a company that had invited the remaining members of a company who had been decimated by the attack on the Twin Towers to share their office space. With his voice full of awe, he told me stories of why these people were alive and their counterparts were dead.

All the stories were just little things.

You might know about the head of the company who got in late that day because his son started kindergarten.

Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.

The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning.
He took the various means to get to work, but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive.

So, Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone… all the little things that annoy me… I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.

May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things.

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(video from wesleyschacht)

Bedtime Stories

Why God Allows Pain

Working as a nurse, I am always a witness to other people’s sufferings especially those afflicted with serious illnesses.

 

Just last night, my heart just sank whenever I enter the room of my Filipino rectal cancer patient. His bowels came out continuously from his excoriated behind. He screamed in pain whenever the bowels came in contact with the wounds on his buttocks, and whenever he needed to be cleaned. His pain relievers just did not do their wonders.

 

I sometimes ask God why He allows pain and suffering in this world – why others need to undergo very difficult trials in their lives.

 

Searching for an answer, I found this story in my inbox, forwarded by a cousin who now works in Canada. I think this is one of the best explanations that I have seen why God allows pain and suffering.

 

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation.
They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said:
“I don’t believe that God exists.”

                             

“Why do you say that?” asked the customer. “Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn’t exist.

Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people?
Would there be abandoned children? 

God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain.

I can’t imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.”
The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument.
The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.   

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard.
He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:
“You know what? Barbers do not exist.”
“How can you say that?” asked the surprised barber.
“I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!”
“No!” the customer exclaimed. “Barbers don’t exist because
if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.”

 

“Ah, but barbers DO exist! That’s what happens when people do not come to me.”

“Exactly!” affirmed the customer. “That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist!
That’s what happens when people do not go to Him and don’t look to Him for help.
That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.” 

 

 

I sat down with my patient when I found the time during the wee hours of the night shift. He said that he’s been battling with his cancer for almost half of his life. He’s fifty-six years old, and so I could just imagine how much this man has gone through.

 

But despite all these pain, he still manages to think about his family in the Philippines – how he could possibly send money to his children who are still studying in college. He still thinks about sending support to one of his son, who has dropped out from school and got married without his knowledge.

 

He may not know it, but he has become an inspiration of courage and faith to me.

 

Love Story #3: Unconditional Love

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home from the war. He called his parents from San Francisco.

“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me.”
“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”
“There’s something you should know the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”
“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”
“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”
At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San
Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide.The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body
of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.
The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.
Tonight, before you tuck yourself in for the night, say a little prayer that God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us.

 

 

 

Love Story #2: True Love

This story was forwarded to me by a Malaysian colleague named Meng Choo Wong. She used to be my colleague in the neurosurgery unit until she decided to transfer to another area. She was an excellent nurse.  

The story begins like this:

It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman in his 80’s, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated the he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.

I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. while taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had a doctor’s appointment this morning as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife.

I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease.

As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him. “And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?”He smiled as he patted my hand and said. “She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.”

I had to hold back tears as he left, and thought, “That is the kind of love I want in my life.”

True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.

Love Story #1: Untiring Love

Allow me to share some of my favorite love stories, which I have saved in my pc. Forgive me that I am not sure of who the original authors are, as these were just forwarded to me by friends. I hope the stories touch your lives, as they did to me. 

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! 

This is a true story that happened in Japan. 

In order to renovate the house, someone in Japan tears open the wall. 

Japan houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls. 

When tearing the walls, the man found that there was a lizard stuck there because a nail from outside hammered into one of its feet. He sees this, feels pity, and at the same time curious, as when he checked the nail, it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built. 

What happened? 

The lizard has survived in such position for 10 years! In a dark wall partition for 10 years without moving, it is impossible and mind boggling. 

Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years without moving a single step – since its foot was nailed! 

So he stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it has been doing, and what and how it has been eating. Later, not knowing from where it came, appears another lizard with food in its mouth. 

Ahh! He was stunned and touched deeply. For the lizard that was struck by nail, another lizard has been feeding it for the past 10 years… Such love, such a beautiful love! Such love happened even with this tiny creature … What can love do? It can do wonders! Love can do miracles! Imagine? The other lizard has been doing that untiringly for 10 years, without giving up hope on its partner. 

Imagine what a small creature can do that a creature blessed with a brilliant mind can’t. 

I was touched when I read this story and started wondering about relationships between family members, friends, lovers, brothers, sisters. 

As information and communication technology advances, our access to information becomes faster and faster. But the distance between human beings … is it getting closer as well?