OUT TO PASTOR: Doctor, could you repeat that?

For the first time in my life, I’ve been having health issues. They’re nothing serious, but just enough to be aggravating.

The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage has been very helpful with my medical issues. She arranges all of the medicine I’m supposed to take every day; otherwise, I probably wouldn’t take any.

She often asks me, “How are you today?”

I look at her, smile, and say, “I’m fine.”

“No, you are not fine. Now take your medicine.”

Obviously, she doesn’t think I’m fine, but I guess I’m fine with that.

My health issues are very superficial, at least from my perspective. I get up in the morning, eat everything I can get a hold of, take a little nap in the afternoon, and do whatever I want to do.

When I have a doctor’s appointment, she usually accompanies me because she knows I will not remember anything the doctor says. 

Of course, she is absolutely truthful about that. I hear what my doctor is saying, but I’m not always listening to what he says. 

The only thing I hear from the doctor is, “You’re doing fine; keep up the good work.”

I noticed something rather interesting. Whenever I go to see a doctor, he or she is always looking for what’s wrong with me. I never had a doctor examine me to find something that was right with me.

I know what that means, of course. If there’s nothing wrong with me, the doctor has no job. If he does find something wrong, no matter how small, he at least has a job.

Several years ago, before I had these health issues, I went to my doctor every year for an annual checkup. Every time I went, the doctor ended the session by saying, “Somebody your age should have something wrong with them.” He was always trying to find something wrong with me. It’s a good thing I wasn’t seeing a psychiatrist.

I remember something happening at one of my yearly visits to the doctor. It was on a Monday, and the day before, I had an episode of shingles on the right side of my body. At the time, I didn’t know what it was.

When I went to see the doctor on Monday, I showed him some of the marks on my right arm, and I’ve never seen my doctor so excited.

He said, “Let me examine that. Something must be wrong.”

Well, he examined it and re-examined it, and every time he examined it, his smile got bigger and bigger. Then, after his examination, he said, “You have been hit with the shingles.”

Of course, I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but he explained it, and every other sentence was a giggle. I’m one patient who never had anything wrong with them and finally has something wrong with him. That’s what my doctor lives for.

That was over five years ago, and it seems like my health went downhill after that. Not too much, just enough to be aggravating. I did spend several days in the hospital. I had a heart attack and had to have a stent put in. I had the Covid episode, which kept me locked in my house for two weeks.

In spite of all of that, I seem to be getting back to some good health. I still have to have regular six-month physical checkups. I have a series of doctors that I have to see, and that just is life.

Last week, for example, I had my six-month appointment to see my heart doctor. I had some tests taken a week before, and he was going to review them for me at this appointment.

He went through all of the regular processes, examined my report, and finally, he was finished. As he was closing up my file, he simply said, “Sir, you are good.”

I looked at him and said, “What did you say doctor?”

“I said, you were good.”

Looking at him and then back at my wife, who was with me, I said, “Doctor, could you repeat that last word for me so my wife can hear it?”

He looked at me, my wife, and then laughed and said, “good.”

I looked over at my wife, who was not smiling then, and said, “My dear, did you hear what the doctor said? Do you need the doctor to repeat it?”

Looking at me with no smile, she said, “I heard everything the doctor said.”

As we left the doctor’s office, I smiled and said as I walked out, “I’m good.” Let’s see how The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage can handle that one.

For many years my favorite Bible verse has been, Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones”

I realize there are many problems in life, but my focus should not be on that, but on the God who is bigger than any problem I might have. My faith in God creates a merry heart in my life.

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone is (352) 216-3025, e-mail is jamessnyder51@gmail.com, and website is www.jamessnyderministries.com