Restoring Life: Bones & the Bibleنموونە

FOUNDATION

My father is a man of deep faith and a retired orthopedic surgeon. 

Growing up, I thought it ordinary for the local high school athletes to sit in our living room after Friday night’s game to have their hurting shoulder examined or swollen knee drained. As my father continued to plant himself into the local community and faithfully serve those who were hurting decade after decade, I saw generations of lives impacted by the physical restoration he provided. Years later when I moved home after college and began my career in the orthopedic industry, I observed an even more impactful dual restoration by the work he had sown.

As I raised a family in the same community and built my own network of friends and acquaintances, nearly everywhere I turned there was someone who, when they learned who my father was, would share a story of how he had performed a Total Knee Arthroplasty on their mother or fixed their own broken ankle. Additionally, as I entered a new hospital or clinic for work, nurses, scrub techs, other surgeons, and hospital administrators all would profusely praise the type of man my father was and how he conducted himself with integrity, patience, and goodness while living out his calling as an orthopedic surgeon.

I began to recognize that orthopedics and my father’s faith were deeply intertwined. His calling as a surgeon was deeply rooted in his conviction to serve others and give back as a response to all God had given him. The physical restoration he was able to provide to his patients through modern orthopedics was only amplified by the spiritual restoration he had personally experienced through the grace and Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In fact, just like our work in the orthopedic community is every single day, the Bible is full of stories, themes, and principles all revolving around bones! Over the next few days together we will unpack a few of these. I hope that this plan will open your eyes to the relevance of the Bible to your work within the orthopedic community!

Questions for reflection:

How have you compartmentalized your work and faith?

Where can you integrate your faith more into your work calling?