The 40th annual meeting was certainly a huge blessing to me. I was awed by the spirit there and thankful to meet many new attendees. We were all blessed by the support from so many exhibitors. My favorite sessions included hearing the missionaries on Thursday, our mission’s day on Thursday, praying on Saturday morning with a great small group, hearing the resident testimonies, Nathan Greene’s wonderful talk on Saturday and hearing Scott Lawrence on Sunday AM. Dan Siapco’s band, SardiuS was unbelievable and brought our worship out to very deep level. I’d vote for having them every year!
Portland Reflections
Portland was definitely weird so I’m guessing that they don’t have too much to worry about keeping their slogan going. I did even get to enjoy a Voodoo donut and the colorful long wait that is part of that experience. The surrounding areas of beauty around Mt Hood and the Columbia River Gorge shouted loudly to our Creator God’s designer touch.
Just this last weekend, I was at an global ophthalmology meeting in Chicago sponsored by Loyola and was taken by suprise by one of the four evening speakers. This retinal specialist from Indiana was sharing about his mission trip to Haiti and without any hesitation to the secular audience shared quite plainly about Jesus as defining his purpose and significance for being involved. It was quite a surprise as his Indian heritage probably made me guess he would be Hindu. However, it was refreshing that he was bold about his faith as he unashamedly shared about his “why” and his “who.” A particularly nice touch was that his style was quite humble.
This short testimony flashed me back to our Wednesday night discussion on “Being Bold in Faith and Practice”. It made me recognize that being bold takes many different forms and certainly includes speaking to colleagues in public forums. Truth be told, our religious freedoms have allowed us to practice our faith without being bold or taking risks. Is this what God wants? So many verses make us recognize that God may sharpen us through suffering or persecution. (Matthew 5:11, 1 Peter 4:16)
Now it’s your turn. What inspired you about the Portland meeting? What stories do you have to share about ophthalmologists who have been bold in faith or practice? Would you share them with our community below?
Blessings,
Stan
