Doc Martin's Offensive Brutal Honesty

Dear Readers,
 
Dr. Martin Ellingham was an accomplished London surgeon until he developed a phobia to blood. He was forced to make a career shift, so he became a general practitioner in the beautiful town of Portwenn, England.

The scenery of the BBC comedy is stunning, but there is an inevitable clash between a brilliant doctor and the quirky townspeople. The people cannot understand the Doc’s brusque manner, and the doctor cannot tolerate the inane way they deal with medical and life problems.

Doc Martin’s major downfall is his offensive brutal honesty. He says what he thinks, and he doesn’t mince words with anyone, even Louisa. Then he looks puzzled when they become offended. 

The people put up with Doc Martin because in many instances he saves their lives. And Doc Martin puts up with them because he has nowhere else to go, and he has an attraction to Louisa, the school headmistress.

We had Steve Hunter, a Gideon Bible Missionary, preach in our little Nazarene church this morning. He said that we should pray to be offensive toward others. Steve shared an experience about Wayne, an 83 year old neighbor, who visited him frequently, and Steve shared the gospel with the Wayne on most visits.

Wayne was craving some “man time”, and Mr. Hunter obliged and grew tender toward the elderly gentleman. Wayne, however, questioned why Steve was so “offensive” toward him, and always had to bring up the subject of God and Jesus, God’s son. Weren’t there many ways to reach God?

The relationship grew, and finally Wayne grew to appreciate Steve’s brutal honesty. One morning Wayne asked to pray to become a child of God. Steve said that three days later Wayne died.

In this case a man’s offensive brutal honesty, much like Doc Martin, saved the life of a man.

What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way. Luke 6:22-23
 
See you next time,
Arlen

The Long Never-Ending Highway!

Dear Readers,

Have you ever driven on a highway in a state and you never thought you would get through it? This happened twice to me, once while driving through Georgia, and another time driving through Kansas.

The problem was that my destination state in each case was just on the other side of the long, boring state. Warm, tropical Florida was just on the other side of Georgia. And, majestic, mountainous Colorado was just on the other side of Kansas. The highway in both cases seemed never-ending and I wondered if I would ever reach my goal.

Then it happened. I crossed the border of Georgia into Florida and I started seeing the tropical plants and palm trees. The warm air oozed onto my body as I turned the windows down. I felt like I was in another world after being several months in frigid Ohio air. 

 

The same thing happened after crossing the border of Kansas into Colorado. I drove a short way yet in Kansas-like flatness. My anticipation of seeing the mountains, however, kept me enthralled and fully engaged. Then in the distance I finally saw them! The peaks in the morning light seemed majestic. They almost overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off them!

 

This is how life always seems to be. We travel and travel. We think we will never reach our destination, if we even have a destination. The state we are in seems never ending!

Then suddenly we reach the border of our destination state, and the beauty of newness reaches us, and the memory of the long tedious journey fades away.

So it is in our journey with God!

From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance. Psalm 50:2

See you next time,
Arlen