I am livid. I am so angry I am seeing red and would stomp somebody's big toe flat had I license to do so.

Medical GREED has prevailed in Dothan, Alabama. The ob-gyn community has shut down the only practicioner in the area who promotes and prescribes bio-identical hormone replacement therapy for women. The word on the street is that they pressured the hospitals to shut out the physicians in her clinic if she didn't cease and desist treating women for hormonal conditions.

Mainstream medicine has always despised alternative medicine. Chiropractors have endured this for years. And the pharmacutical industry has such a grip on this country's economy they routinely and regularly try to discredit herbal and other alternative forms of treatment. In some cases they've even succeeded shutting them down entirely. (This happened with a product that helped cure my friend Mavis of cancer.) It should come as no surprise in our little corner of the state that doctors have successfully shut down a threat to their BMW payments.

I was appalled last year when an ob-gyn asked me if I'd decided how I wanted to be cut up before any test results had come back. There was no problem but it was obvious he'd have been happy to take something out anyway. My friend T.D. cancelled her hysterectomy a couple of days ago when she got wind that her clinic was involved. Her ob-gyn had flat out denied that Premarin could cause breast cancer and had angrily walked out on a patient who asked about bio-identical hormones. Apparently it is a very hot issue and "the establishment" doesn't like it.

Well, it's not going away. We are close enough to Tallahassee that if enough of us start making the pilgrimage to get REAL and SANE healthcare (none of this horse pee stuff) maybe someone will get the idea that women want CHOICES about how they go through menopause. The dr's at Women's Medical Center PC, Dothan OB-Gyn, Ob & Gyn-Dothan, etc. may have silenced and stopped bio-identical HTR for now, but it's not going away. Too many women have heard about it from Suzanne Somers, too many have read about it in health magazines, and many, many have heard about it from someone like myself who has been helped in a profound way.

I'm not going to shut up. And I'm not going to hide my anger about this shameful turn of events. Having an MD behind your name doesn't make you a god nor does it negate sound research or the experience of thousands of women who have been helped. GROW UP. Get a life that doesn't include the automatic removal of a woman's uterus once she finishes childbearing.

Science and Scripture

As a kid growing up in a denominational church wayyyyyy out in the country and attending public school my influences for a attaining a Christian world view were rather limited. We had Sunday School and church on Sunday morning, the Bible, and the occasional Sword of the Lord. No Christian Radio; not even a Christian bookstore within a hundred miles; no college tour groups; Bible camp was unheard of. The words "Youth Pastor" were unknown.

Not to get off on a rabbit trail here, but the Bible itself was enough. That is huge.

That being said, high school posed some interesting challenges. The first was being thrown in a big mix of people with varying backgrounds. I was a quiet, conservative, quirky Bible thumper who didn't fit in too well. (Still am, only definitely not so quiet anymore.) The other thing was public education itself; the whole humanistic worldview; forced evolution and sociology, etc. Fortunately we had a few older teachers who themselves embraced truth despite what the textbooks said. Mrs. D in biology was quick to point out that evolution was a THEORY that some people chose to believe. We didn't get any of this "proven fact that you're stupid not to believe" junk.

Chemistry was where I got my wings though. Our teacher was a Methodist pastor's wife, an organized, reserved and refined woman - good traits for a pastor's wife. Also good traits for a chemistry teacher. Early in the year we covered the basics of molecular structure. Why I was the only one in the class to question the inconsistency of the laws of physics I'll never know but the hand went up and the question was asked. "Since protons are positive and electrons are negative and like charges attract, what keeps the those things apart? Why doesn't that thing just (hand motion for crunching together)?" I think that was the only time I saw Mrs. H's shell crack. She took on a bemused little smile and a twinkle in her eye as she answered, "If that happened the universe as we know it would collapse. I guess whatever's holding it together keeps that from happening."

She knew. And I knew. And we each knew that the other knew. It was God. I did not know Colossians 1:16 and17 yet, but it didn't take a degree in rocket science to see the obvious. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The other thing that happened that year was a casual observation about that evolution thing. If life on earth was evolving into something better, why were things getting worse? It didn't add up. I later learned that observation was based on entropy, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, what the Bible calls the "law of sin and death". Creation wasn't changing into something better, it was groaning in travail awaiting redemption.

All that was 30 years ago. I didn't need science to confirm scripture, but as a young person it was exciting that real science existed peacefully and in harmony with God's Word. A conscious choice to reject the world's science was the first of many steps of faith.

As I understand it now the creation/evolution debate taking place on a larger scale was getting into full swing. Dr Henry Morris and other believing scientists fought for the hearts and minds of young people. Debates took place on campuses. More people joined the battle. It hasn't let up and has only got more ugly. I meet people all the time who grew up as I did and had their faith shattered or corrupted by "science so falsely called" in university. I'm just so thankful that God showed me the truth early on and I had enough sense to believe it.

Pimping Hollywood (again)

Dan Burrell had mentioned in his 2006 year end observations that the money grubbers in Hollywood were using churches to promote (i.e. pimp) conservative and faith based movies.

It's not just churches. Thanks to some astute PR work the National Honey Board is now enlisted to promote Jerry Senfield's new movie. So what's being promoted here? Is the movie promoting beekeeping and honey products or is it the other way around? Will pimping this movie actually DO anything for beekeeping and beekeepers or will it leave impressionable and sometimes ignorant viewers with huge misperceptions like Disney's Pocohontis did? Will promoting this movie cause people to use more honey? Who stands to make more from this partnership? Will Jerry donate money for CCD research?

Fast food chains have been pimping Hollywood for years. Star Wars and Finding Nemo promotions never prompted me to get a Whopper or Big Mac. Don't get me wrong, I full well intend to see the movie. They'll get my few dollars for a ticket. I may even buy the dvd. I just question what short term or long term benefit we as beekeepers will gain from this.

Right There all the Time

I lost my kefir ball this week. Talk about a panic. I had run out of milk and had to suspend it until I got more. I remembered putting it in a container with the last couple of tablespoons from the milk carton. But I couldn't remember what I did with it. Not a good thing. A kefir ball is a living thing and can be destroyed by ignorance or neglect. All I could think of was that Mrs. Eleanor would be needing more soon and it may be weeks before I could get another ball from my neice. Thirty six hours had passed and the panic was mounting.

The search started. I tore into every cabinet in the kitchen and pantry. I checked every shelf of both freezers. I stared at the space I last remembered seeing it and tried to remember. Nothing. So the whole search started again, Cabinets, pantry, freezer, prayer; "Where would I have put that thing?" More cabinets, the chest freezer, more prayer. This was a mission. People were counting on me, I couldn't let them down! "What am I going to do?" You'd have thought I lost a baby.

Then I saw it. It was sitting at eye level directly in front of me in the refigerator. It had been there the whole time and I'd actually looked by it, past it above it, or below it seveal times. It stared me in the face but I didn't see it. It was safe in it's little jar just where I'd left it. And it was fine.

How often is God's truth like that in our lives! I know I've missed so much my Savior would have for me because I'm incognizant of the needs He has prepared to meet. Then things hit the fan and I'm not prepared. The Holy Spirit was right there, waiting to empower me and I was looking elsewhere. God the Father desired fellowship, Christ was waiting to intercede, and I missed it. I was looking beside, past, above and below what I needed most. What I need most every moment of every day is HIM. Time in his Word, time in confession, time in worship.

So the kefir ball was found. And I felt stupid. It was right there the whole time.

Lord, let me evermore look to You first and foremost in and for all things in my life. And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13