Fridays are for…. Newpaper Articles

 

 

 

Once again, this is a recent column I wrote for the Canyon Lake (TX) Times-Guardian, which is used with editorial permission

 

“An ‘Up-Close-and-Personal’ Example of True Humility” 

I once heard a wise person explain that true humility is not emphasizing your lowliness.  That’s either a bad self-image or false humility.  Instead, true humility is seeing yourself as God sees you—strengths, weaknesses, the whole package—and living accordingly.

Is that not true?  After all, who is going to say that Jesus was not “humble?”  But, did he not always display the confidence (not cockiness or arrogance) and self-awareness of knowing exactly who He was and how to act appropriately?  Yes.

It is my joy to report to you today a wonderful recent example I have seen of true humility.  The person I am going to describe is not excited about me writing this column with this slant.  But, that is because she does not like to draw attention to herself.

Cindy Campbell is a beautiful lady from Greenville, TX, who I met in October, 2004 through eHarmony.com (and, yes, I’m a satisfied customer!).  She is a very loving, giving, nurturing person who also happens to be an exceedingly capable medical professional.  Cindy is a physician’s assistant who specializes in pediatric neurology, working at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital in Dallas.

Because of her superb people skills (i.e., they used to call it “bedside manner”), an area lacking in most medical care today, Scottish Rite is very fortunate to have Cindy on staff.  But, often, she wonders about that very thing, partly because she does not work full-time and partly because so many of her colleagues are driven to move through “cases” (numbers) as quickly as possible, while Cindy is going to pay attention to every child and parent and try to meet them at their point of need, even if that is beyond the immediately presenting medical situation. 

She is constitutionally incapable of doing otherwise.  That is her and the personality and spiritual gifts/abilities God has “graced” her life with in order to serve others.  I refer to her as my human paraklete, a Greek word used of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.  It means, literally, “one called alongside to help.”  And, Cindy has been that both to me and many patients and their families at Scottish Rite. 

But, in the past, the quiet confidence that is part of true humility has been lacking for Cindy.  Fully aware of her limitations and weaknesses, she has not been able to see herself with a ‘God’s-eye-view’ balance.

Then, several weeks ago, a life-changing event took place.  After much prayer, Cindy went as part of a group of 35 medical professionals and over 70 other support staff on a medical mission called ‘TIME for Christ’ (working out of First Baptist Church, Castle Hills, in the San Antonio area) to a town in southern Mexico.  In just 10 days of clinical work, sandwiched in between multiple days of traveling each way, for a total of 16 days gone, the team treated well over 3,000 patients in a number of areas of medical specialty.

Now, all I can say about all the others on the mission is to express my deep admiration.  They paid their own ways to sleep in classrooms on cots and work at least 12-14 hour days, often on very challenging and very sad cases of many extremely poor Mexican people (although, for political reasons within the town, they were also required to treat others who were much better off financially).  If God asked my advice, I’d suggest that they be given very large crowns in heaven.

But, as much as their incredible generosity and productivity made a God-honoring “dent” in the suffering of the world around us, I’m at least as excited about the transformation in Cindy.  When I picked her up in San Antonio, she was glowing!  Where I expected exhaustion and relief at being home, I saw instead the quiet confidence and serenity of true humility.

What a joy for me to look into her eyes and see the change!  And, how convicting for me to get my act together in regard to true humility!