Is there a spiritual side to healthcare?

 

(Me when I was extremely overweight) 

While transferring nearly a decade of our sermon videos from Facebook to our church’s YouTube page https://www.youtube.com/@NewSongChurchKingsport, I cringed.  Peeking at snippets of those sermons as they uploaded revealed how plump, pudgy, and out of shape I was -- well, round is “a” shape so I guess I was in “a” shape, just not in great shape.  

Thanks to some lifestyle changes and the care of Dr. Rogers with Performance Medicine, over the past two years I’ve dropped inches off of my waistline and I’ve lost around 60 pounds (all without diet pills).  I’m at my lowest weight since the 1990s, my overall well-being has improved immensely, I can actually breathe while putting my shoes on (without seeing stars too), I no longer feel bloated, my fatigue and brain-fog are gone, and my emotional/mental-health & quality of life is much better than it has been in decades.  

I share my personal transformation to say, what is in our control is more important than what we can’t control and that taking ownership of our health through proper habits like eating and sleeping better is healthier than trying to cure situations that could be circumvented.  Yes genetics play a role in our health, and unfortunate accidents can happen to us, but the majority of our health issues will not be alleviated by the old medical approach of just “treat a condition” that could’ve been prevented.  

Which makes more sense to you, wait to go to the doctor to get treated for scurvy or take a supplement with vitamin C, or, take insulin for type 2 diabetes or regulate your diet?  As Peter Attis writes in “Outlive,” performance medicine is not passive or reactive, comparing it to the example of Noah who built the Ark, before the rain; he continued his contrast between how he learned to practice medicine in Med school to Performance Medicine, pointing out how insurance companies ignore the value of proactive measures like exercise and healthy lifestyle choices that prevent diabetes, but they pay for insulin while implementing the old “Wait and see” approach to healthcare. 

Yes there are great doctors out there, yet, do you ever feel more like a customer than a patient, are you frustrated with languishing in the waiting room for half of the day only to be rushed through your physician's visit that lasts maybe 5 to 7 minutes leaving you feeling like a widget on a conveyor belt?  I don’t blame our doctors or nurses, I think it is the folks that manage them who have decided that speed is more expedient than bedside manners because more time spent on a patient reduces their profit margins.

More importantly, does our physical health have an impact on a deeper spiritual reality, and if so how, and is there a spiritual element to our healthcare decisions?  Consider what the devil had to say concerning how much value we place on our health as God confronted him about Job, “Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.  But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” (Job 2:4-5)  

What we spend on healthcare & insurance is a stewardship issue, regardless of whether we recognize it or not.  Marketing agencies will prey on our fears, healthcare conglomerates are driven by their bottom line, and lazy people will suffer the consequences of inactivity and poor lifestyle choices.  If you too are frustrated with the higher costs and disappointed by a lowered quality of your medical experiences, maybe it’s time that we consider how fear, greed, and laziness impact the healthcare industry.  

Originally published 9/12/25 in the Kingsport Timesnews click here to read

Being An Army of Ordinaries: why you should see the movie One Life

 

Streaming services have spoiled me.  We still like to watch movies, but usually from the comfort of our home.  I like having the control over the pause button when I need a bathroom-break and free popcorn.  Today we went to a real theater, it's only the second time in about four years to watch a movie in a theater for us, and I am glad we went.  

I shouldn't be surprised but the theater was only about 20%  full, I think we as a culture have gotten out of the habit of going to the theater.  That is neither here nor there, I'm glad we went today because it would be a shame to wait to see One Life.  

I'm glad Tammy discovered the release of a true life story turned into a movie "One Life," starring none other than Anthony Hopkins.  I typically do not cry while watching a movie, but here I did.  The WWII story of Nicky Winton rescuing over 600 Czech children from the Nazi Holocaust was well done, it was memorable, and it should cause anyone watching it to enter into some serious self-reflection.  

In a race against time, paper-pusher stock market office man Winton agonizes over how to move as many children to safety as possible.  This is not an action movie, Hopkins is often nerdy and feeble, and it's not driven by dialogue either.  Hopkins shuffles around from room to room, a prisoner of his memories and frustrated with the inability to have rescued more children than he did.  Hardly the stuff of The Oscars.  

You won't be dazzled by the movie-sets, the soundtrack, or the dialogue.  The character of the character is the point, the compassionate crusader who won't give up is the driving force of the story.  He fights bureaucracy , he raises money, he hounds people, he helps find foster homes, and his devotion to make a difference because he can, is moving.  He is compelled to do the right thing, how refreshing...

Hopkins was the protagonist of the movie, but the real heroes were the folks behind the scenes.  The brave risktakers, the men and women secretly organizing the efforts in Prague to get the children to England as the Nazi war machine gained momentum, and of course the ones who opened their homes and took in the children, these were the real heroes.

    

The movie is a stark reminder of how callous and how indifferent we can be to the suffering of the faceless crowds.  We are slow to alleviate the suffering of helpless people or to combat the forces of evil.  It is not a feel good movie, it is not an inspirational or motivational movie per se, there is no hype or hard-sell, it a soft-sell, undersold, lowkey pitch: You can and you should help, that is the message, or the moral of the story as the old saying goes.

There has been enough time & ample distance from the Holocaust that unfortunately we are either numb to it or we have forgotten about the brutality, the hostility, the horror of unspeakable crimes against humanity that took place in the camps  It is fitting that a movie like this, without polarizing us or politicizing anything, keeps the terrible memory alive and in so doing prompts us to assess our own character.  

This is not a negative complaint or a critique of the movie, instead what I'm about to say is more a reflection on us.  The storyline of One Life (rightful so) just sort of plods along, offers lackluster dialogue, and is slow-paced.  I'm glad it was the way it was.  Why?  Riveting plots get in the way, they cloud powerful messages, and this movie packed a powerful message that is timeless and relevant. 

Yes it had great acting from Hopkins, yes there were great lines, but the whole production was window-dressing.  The real value was the underlying message of the movie, not the movie itself.  The movie was just the container, the story of Winton was the worthwhile content.  

The movie doesn't attack Nazi Germany as one would expect, it attacks our comfort zone.  If the cast or the script stole the spotlight, the movie wouldn't be worth my time to blog about it.  To be clear, I am highly recommending the movie, please go see it as soon as possible, just know this, this movie is more than likely considered boring by Hollywood standards, there's nothing scandalous in it except our apathy and inactivity.  

The movie confronts us on an ethical level, in a healthy and calm manor, it doesn't judge the audience it only asks that you as the audience judge your own self.  One Life opens our mind to the fact that ordinary people can do the extraordinary when we listen to our conscience instead of culture.