Some may wonder why I chose to be a Chiropractor instead of an inventor like I so clearly seemed fitted for. That's a good question that I've asked myself from time to time. You see, through the years I've been taught to be all I could be. Amd all through my childhood into high school I was heading to be an electronic engineer. But thanks to the Lord's graciousness, one day I was thinking about what I thought I was going to be and realized that I needed to become a chiropractor. Why? Because that is what was needed.
After school I would come home and my job was to go down into the basement and develop the x-rays my dad had taken during the day. I had a lot of opportunity to observe my dad's patients coming into his office. These were not the ordinary type of people you'd see in a doctor's office. These were people who took a risk. A risk for a new-found science. A risk for scorn in society for trying an unknown profession. A risk for going against "I've always did it that way". But they were more than willing to take that risk and why? Were these degenerate or unecducated people from the backwoods? No, they were bankers, lawyers, nurses, an occasional doctor, and everyday people from every walk of life. And why would they take that risk? Because they had one thing that all others have in common throughout all time. They wanted to be well. My dad's patients were people like you and me that had gotten sick and had tried everything. And done everything, and they still were sick and getting sicker. They were told they had to "live with it", that all was being done that could be done. They weren't happy with that answer and wanted to see if there was something else that could be done.
Many of them found out like my dad did through his only experience with sickness, that Chiropractic could help them get well when everything else had failed irregardless of money, prestige, education, faith in the doctor, etc. Day in and day out I and my sisters saw people like that come to my dad's office and get wonderfully well!
And in spite of the fact that I love(d) gadgets and all things with it and still do, that I felt there was someting more important than that. I needed to be like my dad and help get sick people well.
These last few years have made me realize even more what my profession of Chiropractic really is. It's a way to help sick people get well and stay well, naturally.
Now, I'm not claiming that Chiropractic will get everyone well, but it is so far advanced from anything else that I know that a caring person couldn't choose to do anything else. And even though I had many struggles in my practice because of my deficiencies I was able through God's grace to see many many people get well. And for that I'm grateful. People that would not have otherwise have an opportunity to live a better life. Nothing I could have ever done or do would have taken the joy I had when my patients would come and tell me how much better they were doing. I remember one kind old man who came to me many years ago. He couldn't swallow whole foods with out choking and so had resigned himself to life on soups. After coming to me for a while he came in one day all excited. "Doc!" "I ate a steak today!". That was a wonderful day. I had another couple who couldn't have children and were seeking to adopt and chose to try Chiropractic. After a few months care that couple got pregnant and now have several happy healthy children. I had two sisters who had migraine headaches for years. They were even being studied by U of M along with their mother and grandmother for genetic diseases, and yet they came to see if Chiropractic could help. And it did. They no longer had migraines. On and on, I could tell you of the wonderful experiences I had seeing this happen. And like my father who saw the same thing as he sat in his chiropractor's office when he was sick many years before. It was the only choice he had, to take this great and wonderful profession to others. Thanks to him and the 18 or so people who became chiropractors because of him, many thousands of people had and have better health through Chiropractic.
It's a funny thing. As I've been thinking about this the last few days, I'm reminded of how my dad was good at so many things but was never happy until he became a Chiropractor. I never though about why he wasn't discouraged before that. When he chose chiropractic he knew this was the thing for him. The same way I felt when in high school one day I chose the same thing. These last years have made me question why I chose the path I did and yet I knew it was the right one.
As I sit here today, I'm thankful for the path I chose. In spite of the opposition and doubt by many of my own family. It was the only way to go.
And so, as I meditate on thses things, I wonder how many of us have fallen in the trap of looking at our talents and going with what we thought we we're good at instead of what was needed.
In the Bible the Lord gave talents to his servants and basically commanded them to do something with it. There wasn't a test given to see who scored the best and yet they were EXPECTED to do something with what they were commanded to do.
I believe I've just hit the tip of the iceberg on this subject and it needs more investigation.
Anyway, that's the way it is - August 3, 2007!
