Monday Morning Manna: Another Surgery

Most of my “Monday Morning Manna” columns are written on the weekend or week preceding their posting. Such is this one. If you read this on Monday, you will be reading it on the day of my ninth MOHS surgery for skin cancer. I once asked my surgeon why I had so many skin cancers. His reply was twofold: “You are fair-skinned and live in Texas.” I tried to blame my mother by asking the same Surgeon, “Is it because my mother kept sending me outside to play in the summer heat?” His reply got my mother off the hook: “If you drive to the mall, park, and go inside, between the time you get out of your car and get into the mall, you could develop another skin cancer.” Well, I’ve tried to avoid it. I gave up golf, stopped going to afternoon ballgames, stayed away from the beach, etc. I even stopped going to the mall. Still, I got another spot, this one on my forehead. So, I will undergo yet another surgery. If you read this in time you could pray for my surgeon and his assistant. Or you could just pray for my rapid and complete recovery. Then again, you could pray for my wife. Monday is her birthday. I Know! But I didn’t have a choice of surgery dates. The Surgeon’s Receptionist makes that choice. If my bandage is not too ugly, I will take her to dinner tonight. Meanwhile, “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed” (Jeremiah 17:14).

Dr. Dan Crawford, Senior Professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, is the WestCoast Baptist Association’s Spiritual Life & Leadership Mentor. Follow Dan on Twitter @DrDanRC and Facebook www.facebook.com/dan.crawford.