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When I was asked if I would be willing to write a few words on why my faith is so important, I was very happy to agree. My mind went immediately back to 1986 when we had a visit in Dublin from Dennis Burkitt the acclaimed discoverer of Burkitt’s Lymphoma and the great advocate of fibre diets as a way of lessening the ills of the western world. He was on a lecture tour and was very happy to come to our house to meet with a selected group of medics. I rang around and invited many of my colleagues to come to my home to meet Dr Burkitt face to face. I had envisaged an evening of detailed medical discussion, when the heights of medical advances in fibre controlled diets would be bandied about among colleagues discussing, learning and advancing medicine. I sat astounded when Dennis swept his eye across the gathered group and announced, with his pronounced lisp, that he was delighted to be here in this austere company, and that he wanted to let them know that Jesus Christ was the one single most influential figure in his life! He spent the next hour talking about Jesus. No hesitation. No embarrassment (except me that is!!). No deviation. He just wanted to share what he felt was the best and most significant person or discovery which he had made in his life.
I learnt a powerful lesson, one which I hope I still carry with me to this day. Having had a medical training and seeing the wonders of the human body under the microscope and having an inkling of how complicated the human body really is, I really cannot but stand in awe of the faith of those who believe it all just came about by chance. Their faith is hugely stronger than mine, if they believe that somehow or other this cell happened to meet up with that cell, the two merged in some fashion and then, over millions and millions of years, developed into the complicated mass of cells that we call the human. Wow, what faith! I read a marvellous statement recently: ‘Coincidences are where God works a miracle and then decides to stay quiet about it!’ I feel that in my daily life there are just too many ‘coincidences’ all around me.
People are ‘evangelical’ about many issues within their lives, but as Christians we so often tend to slide back into the shadows once anything to do with Christianity and the claims of Jesus Christ are mentioned. We become hesitant about opening conversations, about sharing what we know to be true, about letting others know of the changing power of the Christian message in our lives.
I had the immense fortune to be born into a Christian family and heard the Bible stories from a young age. Having attended many camps as a child, I had the opportunity to realise the need for a personal relationship with this great God while still only a youngster. During the next 10 to 15 years I bubbled along in my Christian life, with ups and downs, but all the time knowing and realising that He had a purpose and a plan for my life. Getting in to medicine in TCD was a miracle. Getting through medicine was a miracle! All the time knowing that the creator of everything gave his only son for me personally is a miracle. My life is just so full of miracles!
My favourite verse in the Bible comes from a somewhat strange location. Jonah 4, verse 7. This is where Jonah is moaning and groaning against God. God didn’t destroy the people of Nineveh. All along, Jonah knew he wouldn’t! All this running, being dumped in the sea, swallowed by a humungous fish and then the indignity of being vomited out was just too much! Jonah was cross with God. Chapter 4, verse 7 tells us God sent a worm to eat away the shade from Jonah to show him that God was in control of everything. God sent a worm! I feel that if God can use a worm - well then maybe he can use me, even me!
I have absolutely no doubt that my God cares, my God loves, my God protects, my God guides.
Dr Graham Fry
Consultant in Tropical Medicine
Tropical Medical Bureau
Lecturer in Tropical Medicine
Trinity College Dublin
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