Disclaimer: This entry contains portions of heavy sarcasm.
Yesterday, I had the underwhleming pleasure of going to the travel doctor. I needed to get some important vaccinations and I thought it would help to learn about the health in the countries I'll be traveling to. Well, it was enlightening, to say the least. After the nearly 2 hour appointment was finished, I walked out of that office with a sore arm and one important nugget of information- There are a lot of ways you can die.
Now, you may be saying to yourself, "She's being a bit overly dramatic." Perhaps you're right, I thought this myself at first. And then you know what happened? The nurse handed my a booklet comparable in size to a Harry Potter novel, filled to the brim on the many pleasant diseases I could catch abroad. Not only that, but it was categorized specifically by each country I would be in. For instance- Maybe I would like to know how I could get violently ill or die in El Salvador? Bam. Turn to page 32 and there is a list of wonderful diseases. food borne illnesses, areas where the fatality is the highest, etc etc. complete with complimentary highlighting from the nurse on the most important information. I learned about the wonders of the insects that can inhabit your body through fresh water, burrowing under the nice pillowy warmth of your flesh, and slowly making its way into your blood stream causing serious infections. I learned that practically every animal that isn't native to the United States is dangerous and probably will bite you causing rabies that is fatal if untreated in 24 hours (Michael Scott was right to have to Dunder Mifflin Rabies Awareness Pro Am Fun Run Race for the Cure). I also learned that the plague is still a thing. Yes people, the bubonic plague. And do you know how one catches the plague? A flea bite. Oh yeah, and there's nothing you can do about it. After getting all this fantastically horrifying information, I was then shot in the arm three times and I swear to you, I felt those dead diseases traveling through every inch of my body. So, not only am I afraid to go outside without a force field encapsulating my body but I can't lift my head above my arm.
In all seriousness, going to the travel doctor was actually a good experience (I tend to use witty repartee to process things, not to mention it's a little fun). The more I learned about the world's health issues, the more I realized how many people are hurting. There are so many countries that don't have proper medical care. One of the things the doctor kept telling me was that if I were to get ill abroad, I would most likely have to come to the states for treatment because the care in other countries is so poor. People are dying all over the world because they don't have a hospital to go to with simple things like clean instruments or anti-biotics. My best friend is dedicating her life to correcting this injustice and with every word the doctor spoke I began to understand it more. I understand why she's so passionate about this cause. It's getting back to some of Jesus' most important work- healing. Jesus wasn't only interested in spiritual healing but physical as well. It's not just about souls, it's about lives too. I may not be doing any medical work on the WR but with each place I go I'll become more informed and use that to help those, like my friend who can and will do the medical work. We can do great things together as the body, to merge the physical and spiritual and create a healing for God's people.
