“The Next Time I Meet Ben Carson”

If you’re meeting someone for the first time, it’s good to have some common ground, especially if that person is famous and you’re a bit nervous. Dr. Ben Carson is a retired neurosurgeon who is now serving as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. “He is considered a pioneer in the field of neurosurgery; he performed the only successful separation of conjoined twins joined at the back of the head”…. an incredible achievement described in his book and movie  “Gifted Hands”. Ben Carson is also a good man and a strong Christian.

I think I know a little bit of how Dr. Carson felt at the time of that great achievement. Yesterday the flap in our toilet tank snapped. Let me take you through some of the pressure filled moments involved… the agony when it snapped, the realization that this all has landed at my feet… trying unsuccessfully to remove the broken flap… the trip to the hardware store and discussion with a “toilet colleague”, the purchase (it wasn’t cheap), the installation, and then the moment of truth…will it work. My assistant Dr. Judith Bird was at my side when I flushed the toilet, waiting, waiting  and then the bad news…it’s leaking. But then my assistant timidly asking “do you think you have it on “upside down”? Swallowing my pride, as all great surgeons  plumbers must be able to do, I said “hmmmm”. So, I took it off, turned it over, flushed again, and “EUREKA”, it worked. It was one of my very highest plumbing achievements. 

I was really happy to fix the toilet. Believe it or not, I’m really not that handy….and I’m not ashamed to admit that I did pray and ask God for help. I would wager that Dr. Carson asked for God’s help in the midst of his ground breaking surgeries. So the message of this BLOG is that God will always help us, even with our little projects and it can bring satisfaction and joy. 

If I ever meet Ben Carson and he asks me if I’ve ever done any brain surgery, I will admit that I haven’t….. then I will say, Ben “have you ever fixed the flap in your toilet tank”?  Nevertheless,  I do believe we have something in common….”when we were in trouble in the midst of our major projects, we prayed.” So, the moral of the BLOG is “remember to pray”.