THANKFUL

The mouth speaks of that which dwells within the heart—Luke 6:24 King Jimmy Translation.

“Finding Hidden Treasures”

The year 2002 will be remembered as a benchmark year.

• Only two years into the 21^st century, Michael Jackson received the Artist of the Century Award, presented by the American Music Awards.
• The Mars Odyssey discovered signs of ice deposits, indicating the possibility the red planet could sustain life. The Democrats immediately launched a rocket to Mars, loaded with voter registration cards. Not to be outdone, the Republicans followed with their own rocket, loaded with materials to build a wall.
• Doctors found large deposits of Crohn’s Disease in the intestines of your humble Aggie scribe.

In emergency surgery, the doctors removed nine inches of my small intestine and the ileum, the final segment of the small intestine.

Dr. Husein, my surgeon, came to my bedside two days later. His ashen face indicated bad news. “We got the results back from pathology,” he said. “It came back as Crohn’s. You have Crohn’s Disease.”

“Oh, thank you Jesus.” I raised both hands in praise. “I am so relieved. I was worried you might have f-f-found a s-s-stutter in m-me.”

My comment sailed completely over the serious surgeon’s head. He never smiled, smirked, or showed a toothy grin, but with a dead-pan face said he’d check on me in the morning. After he left, Mrs. Aggie nearly choked trying to suppress her laughter. For a moment, I thought I’d have to leap off my deathbed to give her the Heimlich maneuver.

I’d heard of Crohn’s Disease. My dear cousin has this auto-immune illness, but I didn’t know much about it. I envisioned the old Pac-Man video game inside your intestines, making pulled pork of your guts. As it turns out, that is a close description. To monitor this all-consuming, intestine-eating disease and to ensure no other digestive disorders are hiding undetected, a colonoscopy is recommended every three years. My employer provided excellent insurance that covered four colonoscopies.

Then, in 2015, I retired.

Mrs. Aggie and your ileum-less humble Aggie scribe searched the Internet for new insurance. The Affordable Care Act [Obamacare] premiums were higher than a free-spirited millennial sitting atop a mound of marijuana bigger than Mount Rushmore. Every insurance company asked this same too-personal question: “No surprises now—Do you have any pre-existing conditions we need to know about?”

Being the honest souls that we are, we checked the “Yes” box and entered “Crohn’s Disease.” In every instance, the default rejection message appeared: “Thank you, but we need to go in a different direction.” This screen was followed by YouTube episodes of Marcus Welby, M.D.

Mrs. Aggie finally enrolled us with an Oklahoma-based insurance company, Mutual of Ardmore. Their policy covered colonoscopies but restrictions applied. The $19,300 deductible must be met first, and the procedure must be performed using the Acme Do-it-Yourself Colonoscopy Kit—Home Edition, which Mutual of Ardmore generously covered 50 percent of its cost. The kit included thirty-six inches of clear plastic hose, a disposable camera and a Junior Scientist Microscope. To cleanse the digestive track before the procedure, the patient was required to watch fifteen hours of Burt Reynolds movies, which were included in the kit.

My first in-home exam yielded good results and some unexpected finds.

The procedure disclosed a healthy colon with no indications of Crohn’s or other autoimmune deficiencies. Praise the Lord.

However, we did find the missing set of car keys for the 1997 Honda Civic, as well as the remnants of the plastic milk crate Mrs. Aggie warned me about standing on. We recovered the missing U.S. Government pamphlet #11-9743 How to Navigate the Obamacare Health Website Effortlessly. Praise the Lord?

Jesus talked often about hidden things although I doubt he referred to this unpopular medical routine. He taught a biblical truth: whatever a person thinks, whatever is hidden in a person’s heart, will be revealed by what he says.

Most look at this truth as a negative warning. Regardless of the efforts people take to disguise their hypocrisy, or to hide dishonesty and guile, unless they repent, God promises a day of reckoning—a “gotcha” moment of humiliation that is coming their way. Those who consider God’s truths as nonsense, this disgrace is a certainty, albeit for some people, especially those whom God has turned over to their reprobate minds, shame and dishonor have little, if any, effect on them.

As a Christ-follower, I often stumble in my faith journey. Even in times of my self-centeredness, when I make dumb choices that leave God shaking his head, graciously, he doesn’t condemn me. The Holy Spirit, sometimes gently, but usually using a spiritual sledge hammer, reminds [convicts] me of my wrongdoing. He’s not buying my story these little sins I’m trying to hide are not that big a deal. All sin is a big deal. Jesus was crucified because of sin. I repent and my heavenly Father lovingly forgives me. Cleansing my heart is a full-time job for the Holy Spirit. He still finds junk I wasn’t aware of comfortably hiding in corners of my heart.

Is it the same for all believers in Christ? Probably so, since we all sin.

But exposing what is hidden in our hearts can also be a good thing. The psalmist wrote, “your truths that I hide in my heart protect me from sinning against you, Lord.” (Psalm 119:11). Christ-followers who practice hiding God’s truths in their hearts display to the world his grace and mercy. Truth-hiders love people, regardless of who they are or their lifestyle, even if it’s polar-opposite of theirs. People notice this godly behavior, although the command to love others presents a challenge when it comes to loving a non-truth-hiding politician or Hollywood actors. The psalmist David wrote “surely your goodness and grace will forever be my companions wherever I go,” (Psalm 23:6). When the Holy Spirit controls us, God’s love flows freely from us.

Jesus summed it up succinctly: good or bad, “the mouth speaks of that which dwells within the heart” (Luke 6:24). Like the sun rises from the east, this truth is undeniable.

Lord, make us truth-hiders of your words so that as goodness and mercy follow us we may share your love and grace to all, even to the unlovable.

Stay close to Jesus.

Jimmy

P.S. We also removed a crumpled envelope lodged deep within—my contested 2011 Employee Evaluation review, which the H R department had filed during the dispute.

Jimmy Eskew © 2017