God Provides

 Good morning!

 Tomorrow, I have a dental appointment.  I had been to the dentist a few days ago for a routine cleaning and checkup.  Of course, they found something in the checkup.  I have a tooth that has decay under it’s crown.  That means they’ll have to remove the crown and take a better look at it to determine treatment.

Treatment could consist of removing the decay and replacing the crown, a root canal, or possibly extraction and implant.  Of course, I’m hoping for the most conservative of these…the removal and replacement of the crown without the root canal or the extraction.  I don’t know yet what he will decide to do.

Most people don’t like to see the dentist.  I get it.  I have I don’t know how many root canals and crowns.  I also have two implants.

I’ve been seeing the dentist ever since I was about 9 years old.  Back then we had an older gentleman in town who did dentistry.  We didn’t have much money and dental insurance wasn’t a thing.  So I only saw him when absolutely necessary.

I won’t tell the entire story, but one of my front teeth got broken back then.  We went to this dentist to try to get something that would work for me.  He evidently didn’t do the porcelain-infused metal crowns, so tried to put a giant filling on it.  Of course, it wasn’t at all permanent, and I had to regularly go back to have it re-glued.

Each time he did that, he’d grind on my tooth without anesthetic, telling me it didn’t hurt.  But it did.  I’d about come out of the chair.  Finally at age 12 I was taken to a dentist out of town who did modern crowns, and he fixed me up with one that worked, and used anesthetic as well.  I had that one replaced 12 years later with one I still have.  That one is over 50 years old.

So, I get my distaste for dentistry honestly.

Of course, dentists now use all manner of aids to lessen the stress and discomfort.  However, I still get that turning in my stomach whenever the time for the appointment approaches.  And during the procedure, often there are sounds of grinding or other noises that, although they don’t bring discomfort, still they tend to create images of what may be going on inside my mouth.

So there’s that tomorrow.  Hopefully, something will go right and I’ll be able to be back in business in a very short time.  However, if extraction is called for, I can do that too.  I’ll ask for a referral to the oral surgeon who did the other two extractions a couple of years ago.  He’ll also be the one to set up the implant.  He did a great job.  Very little discomfort.  Very little complication.

But in the event I’m laid up for the day, I’m doing this Thursday Thought on Wednesday and am making it public right away.  So at least you’ll know.

In other news, we’ve had to curtail our non-member benevolence recently due to funding.  In June and earlier this month, need was greater than we’ve ever seen before.  Utility bills were the primary driver of the need.

We do our best to “tithe” or set aside ten percent of our donations for non-member benevolence.  We far exceeded that by the first week in July in this budget year, so we’ve had to not only cut back, but just eliminate that service for a time until the budget catches up with the actual expenses.

I don’t like to have to do this.  I realize the need.  I get the fact that there are many homes in Wichita who have no electric service or water service because of non-payment.  And I get that it’s hot out there…that many times there are children living in the house, or perhaps an elderly person or someone with medical equipment of some kind.

I go back to my friend Jennifer White when I think of this.  “We can’t do everything,” she says, “But we can do something.”  We can’t fix all the ills of the world, or even the ills of those who come to our door or call our phone number at the church.  But we can do something.  We can do what we can do…we can use what God gives us.  I believe we are doing that to the best of our ability right now.

We’ve not stopped all benevolence.  We have members of the church who are in need who we are helping right now.  The needs of our members are not subject to the suspension.  We’re doing what we can right now with what we have.  And prayer is a very necessary part of this.  We pray for wisdom.  We pray for circumstance and situation.  We pray for guidance.  And God provides.

 Thanks for listening.

Blessings.