Participants: Timothy Howe and Sheryl McWilliams
Series Code: WM
Program Code: WM000398
00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health and is 00:04 not intended to take the place of 00:06 personalized professional care. The opinions and 00:09 ideas expressed are those of the speaker. 00:11 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own 00:13 conclusions about the information presented. 00:35 Hi and welcome to Wonderfully Made. 00:37 My name is Sheryl McWilliams. Today, 00:40 we are talking about a subject that is 00:43 interesting for me because sometimes I 00:45 say that I want to do one thing and 00:48 then it seems that I end up doing the exact 00:49 opposite of the very thing that I have said 00:52 that I wanted to do. To help us discuss this 00:55 today is Dr. Timothy Howe from Parkview 00:57 Adventist Medical Center. Welcome Dr. Howe. 00:59 Thank you Sheryl it's good to be with 01:01 you on this program. So, I say I wanna 01:04 lose weight and I sit down and eat half a 01:07 bag of Oreo Cookies. Why do I do that? 01:10 I'm not sure Sheryl maybe we should talk 01:14 about this further. This topic of making changes, 01:19 I think is one of the most important. 01:21 It's important for me because you know I 01:25 talk about these things quite frequently, but 01:28 then going home in the evening, do I 01:31 always do them. Well not always. You see 01:36 I'm human too and this problem of not doing 01:41 what we know we should is not new. 01:44 You remember the Apostle Paul said that 01:47 which I would I do not and that which I 01:51 would not that do I. That was in the spiritual realm, 01:56 but you know it's true in the physical realm 01:59 as well. It's a natural problem and yet it's 02:04 for today as well. Making changes is difficult, 02:09 but I think at the bottom of it we have to 02:13 realize and recognize with Paul that we 02:16 are in a battle. A battle not only for our 02:21 souls, but for our bodies as well. And I feel 02:25 that because I've known the healthful behaviors 02:29 and healthful choices, but I don't know always 02:31 make them and sometimes I know when I'm making 02:34 an unhealthy choice and I do it anyway and so 02:37 this topic I think is important for everybody 02:40 because you know we tend to know when 02:44 we are not doing well and we do it anyway. 02:46 You know I remember my family and I 02:49 where in Nepal in 1998. We worked for 02:53 Adventist Frontier Mission for a time 02:56 had a wonderful time there in Nepal. I grew 02:59 to love the Nepali people there, so open 03:03 and so warm as one of them said to me 03:06 when I had first met him, he said let's have a talk, 03:10 but let's talk about deep things. It's almost 03:15 characteristic of the Nepali that they want to 03:18 brush aside the superficial and go right 03:21 to the heart of the matter. It was so 03:24 wonderful to be in a culture like that perhaps 03:27 we could learn something from their culture 03:29 and go to the heart of the matter more 03:32 frequently. I realized that I wouldn't be 03:36 in the valley there very long and thought 03:39 it would be best if I spend time educating 03:43 the people that would be there when I left. 03:45 As we read in the book Ministry of Healing, 03:49 A true physician is an educator and I'm 03:53 wanting to be a true physician I took up 03:55 the education. I would speak with the high 03:59 school teachers through an interpreter most 04:03 afternoons during the week. On one 04:06 occasion, the first time actually that I 04:08 had spoken at the high school to the teachers. 04:11 At the end of the lecture, a man stood up 04:16 and through the interpreter said I 04:18 understand very clearly now why I 04:22 should make changes in my life. I'm convinced of 04:27 the truth of what you say. I see how it 04:30 will work physiologically and how I would be a 04:33 better man if I made these changes, but 04:38 already within myself I sense a fighting 04:42 against what you have told me. Why is that? 04:45 Isn't that the most important question that 04:49 any of us could ask. Why is it that I feel that 04:53 struggle in myself? I want to do and yet I 04:58 don't. The same thing that the Apostle Paul 05:01 expressed this wonderful Nepali high school 05:06 teacher expressed when he was first exposed 05:10 to health in a better way of living. 05:13 Interesting so how do I go about changing? 05:17 I think the first and most important thing 05:20 Sheryl is to remember that we are in a battle. 05:24 When I'm confronted with wanting to do 05:28 something that I know is not the best 05:30 for me. Let's say something simple like 05:34 oh its morning time and I know I should go 05:38 out and exercise, but bed feel so good and 05:42 I really have had enough sleep. Who is it 05:47 prompting me to get a little more rest? It isn't 05:52 Jesus who wants me to be healthy, 05:54 so who is it? I'm afraid sometimes often 05:59 it's not only my lazy self, but the devil 06:04 himself tempting me to not exercise to 06:10 overeat, because he is intensely interested 06:14 in destroying me. You know, I heard one 06:18 person say. You are not just, let me rephrase it. 06:23 You don't have a body, you are a body. 06:28 And that is so true and the devil knows 06:31 that by attacking our body he attacks our 06:36 soul as well. Well I certainly feel him 06:39 attacking me from time to time. You once 06:43 told me a story about some skunks and I 06:48 would like you to share that story for 06:50 our viewing audience because it made a 06:52 distinct impression for me. Okay well this is 06:55 an interesting story it took place in Maryland 06:58 that's where I grew up and it's one of my 07:01 favorite stories and we will draw the 07:04 conclusions at the end of the story. There was a 07:07 lady whose we will call Aunt Edith and 07:10 Aunt Edith had many children. She had six 07:15 children now that's not many by some standards, 07:18 but it's many since I only have three. Well, 07:22 Aunt Edith was very busy with her children 07:24 as you might expect and she didn't get 07:28 much time to talk to her neighbor, but 07:30 she loved to talk with her neighbor, so 07:32 one day the children were out in the yard 07:34 playing and they lived in a rather rural area 07:38 in Maryland and she looked out at the window 07:41 and she saw the children and they seemed happy 07:43 and busy, so she went over to her neighbor's 07:45 house and decided she would just talk with 07:48 her neighbor. She spent sometime there and 07:51 then as mother's know it seemed to get a 07:54 bit quite outside and she didn't hear the children 07:57 talking quite as much and she said to her 08:00 neighbor you know I better check on the 08:02 children and so she looked out at the window and 08:06 there at the window, where all the children 08:08 gathered together peering at something and 08:11 she couldn't see what it was. They were hurdled 08:13 together, they weren't be misbehaving, she was 08:17 thankful for that at least, so she went out 08:19 the door and there the children were just 08:22 standing there in a hurdle looking at 08:24 something and Aunt Edith she parted the 08:28 children and she look down and she saw 08:33 something black and white and she said 08:35 children run and you know those children 08:39 didn't run, but they each grabbed a baby 08:43 skunk and ran. You imagine what those 08:47 children smelled like because even baby skunks 08:51 are well equipped, but you know when 08:54 we are talking about change. Sometimes I 08:57 think it's important to think of Aunt Edith's 09:00 children. Have you ever met someone who 09:03 had that smell about them. They had a 09:07 trouble, but when trouble had come they 09:10 had clunged with their trouble and you 09:13 know they have that peculiar smell of trouble 09:15 about them. You can meet them today, 09:17 you can meet them in a week, you can meet 09:20 them in two weeks and you know what 09:23 they will talk about. They will talk about 09:25 that time when someone did something to me 09:28 and they have that smell of trouble about 09:31 them no matter when you meet them. 09:33 You know when we were making changes in 09:36 our lives sometimes the first thing to do 09:40 is to let go of past wrongs and past 09:44 bitterness and to start to forgive people 09:48 to clear our minds, so that we can 09:51 then make good clear decisions to move 09:55 ahead on the pathway to health. Too many 09:58 times, we define ourselves by what 10:02 people have done to us. You know if 10:05 you think about it, the person that you 10:08 don't forgive is the one that you handover 10:13 the most control of your life. Have you ever 10:16 met someone like that? Every time you 10:19 talk to them they say you know I just 10:24 can't forgive. I've even heard people say if 10:28 that person is gonna be in heaven I don't 10:30 wanna go there. Wow. That is sobering. 10:34 We need to remember those skunks and not 10:38 hold onto our troubles because that peculiar 10:42 smell clings to us if we hold on to those 10:46 grudges and grievances and they keep us 10:49 from making those changes in our life 10:51 that are so important for our health both 10:54 mental, physical, and spiritual. Absolutely, I 10:59 tend to live a very busy lifestyle and 11:03 sometimes it seems that my very lifestyle 11:05 prevents me from doing some of the 11:09 things that I wanted to do. I'm so busy 11:11 with e-mail and voice mail and junk mail and 11:15 answering phone calls and people walking 11:18 into the office that sometimes it seems 11:22 difficult to find the right path. You know 11:26 that also is very important when we are 11:29 making changes. It's very difficult to add 11:33 more to your life. You go to the doctor and 11:36 he says alright Sheryl you need to exercise 11:38 and you say well I already get up at 5:30 11:42 to do my hair and then I have to prepare 11:45 breakfast and then I want to spend some 11:47 quality time with my daughter and then I 11:50 have to get in my private devotions and 11:53 then I have to leave for work. How am I 11:56 ever gonna put in exercise. I guess I'll 11:59 have to get more sleep. What I encourage people 12:02 to do is this. Look carefully at your life. 12:06 You know, stress is often simply busyness. 12:11 I like to liken our lives to a small bridge 12:16 in the country and that bridge maybe 12:20 designed for lets say 15 tons. Year after year 12:25 after year that bridge will hold up very well 12:28 with cars and small trucks passing over it. 12:32 It may stand up to two to three to four 12:36 cars at a time, but if you put 20 cars 12:39 on that bridge at a time. It's going to have 12:42 major trouble. It's going to sag and start 12:45 to buckle and maybe tilt a little bit and it's 12:48 gonna have real trouble. Sometimes when we are 12:51 about to make changes in our life, the first 12:54 thing we need to do is kick a couple of cars 12:56 off the bridge and simplify our lives. What 13:02 I try to do is say are there things that 13:05 I'm doing that are using up time that 13:08 aren't helping me achieve my goal. 13:12 Stephen Cavit has a wonderful square that 13:16 he uses where he divide things into urgent, 13:19 not urgent, important, not important. Many of us 13:24 find that we spend a lot of our lives as 13:27 far as time is concerned in the not important, 13:31 urgent or in the not important, not urgent. 13:36 Think of television watching, think of 13:40 sorting mail, looking at catalogs, magazines. 13:45 How many of those things can you carve 13:48 out of your life simplifying it, so you 13:51 can have time to put in the important things 13:55 and what's most important in your life. 13:58 Do you schedule that? It's so easy for me 14:02 as a physician; I spend much of my time 14:05 in the urgent category. My beeper goes off, 14:08 it's a stat call. I have to run like mad 14:12 for the car drive, well we won't tell you 14:15 how I drive, but to get there and its 14:18 urgent and important, but how about those 14:22 not urgent, very important things like 14:26 time for exercise, time for meal planning, 14:30 time with my wife, time with our children. Do I 14:35 schedule those in, so when I get that 14:38 telephone call. I really could use your help 14:41 now I can say. I'm sorry I have a prior 14:45 commitment. I think it's so important for us to 14:49 schedule the important not urgent things 14:53 into our lives. Bible study, time with family, 14:58 time with friends, exercise and you know 15:02 that's been very helpful me if I can 15:05 combine those things together and make a 15:07 better use of my time. That's why my 15:11 exercise almost always is walking with my 15:15 wife. I can't spend enough time with my 15:18 wife. I would like to spend more and when 15:21 I retire maybe I will, but today I can't 15:25 take a walk with her, we can talk while we are 15:28 walking, we can have very good time planning 15:31 the day and that's why we walk first 15:33 thing in the morning almost everyday. 15:36 It's doing two things at once it's more 15:40 efficient and it's a great time I wouldn't 15:42 miss my walks with my wife. When my children 15:45 are home, they have left home now, but we often 15:48 walk with them too. Why do we walk because 15:51 I can't keep up with them running any longer, 15:53 so its walk time hiking and we can have two 15:58 things at once and it's so good to do. You 16:02 mentioned Stephen Cavit I've read some of 16:04 his work and one thing that was helpful 16:06 for me in regard to this subject was the 16:09 telephone. My telephone rings of the hook on a 16:13 rather consistent basis and I would in the 16:16 past run right over to it and pick it up. Well, 16:20 I have learned now that whoever is on 16:22 the other side of that line they may feel 16:26 that their issue is important and urgent, 16:28 but that doesn't necessarily mean that 16:32 their urgent issue needs to become my 16:35 urgent issue and take away time from 16:38 my family from Bible study from that sort 16:42 of thing that was helpful to me. It's 16:45 very important to manage the communications that 16:49 we have in our world today. We have beepers, 16:52 we have cell phones, we have instant 16:55 messengers, there are so many ways to 16:58 get a hold of us these days. You know, 17:00 I often say I can't wait till when I 17:03 retire. I'm going to take my beeper and 17:06 I'm gonna go out in a boat somewhere and 17:08 I'm just gonna heave that thing into that 17:11 you know ocean deep six it because it's such 17:15 an electronic leash, but how many of us 17:18 have these electronic leashes that are jerking 17:22 us with the urgent, but so often it's a 17:26 telemarketer or something else that's 17:28 not important and it keeps us from the 17:31 important lifestyle changes that we 17:34 really need to make to make progress 17:37 toward health. Absolutely, from the 17:40 perspective of scheduling time and this 17:43 was another thing that I learned. I have a 17:45 four year old daughter and she is a lot of fun, 17:48 but I quickly learned that if I did not put 17:50 family time into my schedule then my 17:53 adorable secretary would put something else 17:57 into that time, so I literally have to 17:59 schedule time to spend with my family or 18:01 schedule time to be physically active and 18:04 that really has been a blessing in my life with 18:08 that, so when a person decides that they have 18:12 clarified what it is that they want to do and 18:16 they begin taking steps towards achieving their 18:20 goal in variably bounce appear in the road 18:24 and we get easily distracted. Yes, I think 18:28 that is one of the devils main ways of 18:32 keeping us from achieving our goals is 18:35 to get us discouraged. Remember when you 18:39 learn to walk and I remember when my boy 18:42 started to walk. They didn't walk perfectly 18:46 from the first step. I'll never forget my 18:49 eldest boy. I had him all set in the chair 18:52 and I want to take a picture of him in this 18:55 cute little chair and I focused the camera and I 18:58 got it all ready and then he disappeared. He 19:00 was only ten months old and I thought where 19:03 could he have gone and there he was walking 19:05 toward me with his arms outstretched. I was so 19:08 excited, I put the camera and didn't get 19:10 the first picture unfortunately, but do 19:13 you think he ever fell after that. Of course 19:15 he did, did I get mad because he fell? No 19:19 I said keep trying, good work and you know 19:22 he can run and jump better than I can now. 19:25 He determined he was gonna be a walker, 19:28 no matter what and when we are making changes 19:32 in our lives it's so important to remember. 19:34 We are human, we will make failures or 19:38 we will have failures. Don't get discouraged, 19:42 there is no reason to. The other thing is 19:45 chose achievable goals. Small steps at first. 19:50 My son didn't say daddy I can walk, but I'll 19:56 never be able to learn to ride a bicycle today 19:59 will I. No, that didn't enter his head although 20:02 he can ride a bicycle now two small steps. 20:06 As we, I often tell my patients let's start 20:10 with just one thing drink water, just 20:14 drink six glasses a day for the next two 20:17 weeks and see what it does for you. That small 20:20 change will make a big difference. Try 20:23 exercising not a half an hour, try ten minutes. 20:27 Try taking the stairs rather than the 20:30 elevator, small changes make a big difference 20:34 in the long term and you can make the 20:37 changes if you will. Sometimes they feel that 20:41 self concept or when spiritual connection 20:47 has a part in this process. What part do 20:52 you think that plays in helping us to chose 20:56 healthy goals and actually stick with it. 20:57 I think that has a big part to play. 21:00 I think of people who come to see me as 21:03 their physician and sometimes I hear these 21:06 words. Well when it's your time it's your 21:10 time. There is nothing you can really do. 21:12 That's what we called fatalistic. You know 21:16 that is not helpful and it's not the truth. 21:20 You can make a difference in your life 21:25 and in your health by the choices you 21:28 make that is so clear. We do not have to be 21:33 fatalistic certainly God knows the number of 21:36 our days, but he has left it to us to some 21:41 degree at least the ability to shorten those 21:44 days much more than he would desire and 21:48 although we may live short or long we can 21:53 always choose to be thrivers to chose to 21:57 make the very best of life even in the worst 22:01 of life. I think of a patient that I attended 22:06 recently she is now deceased. She had a 22:09 genetic liver disorder, alpha-1 antitrypsin 22:14 deficiency, that liver disorder in her and in 22:18 many people will take their life from liver 22:22 disease. Her brother had died of this. 22:25 Her sister had died of this and she knew 22:28 that she would inevitably die of this 22:31 disease. She was admitted to the 22:34 hospital. She was swollen terribly and 22:38 you would think well she will be nearing 22:40 death and she will be dying and not very 22:43 alive. I walked down to the room the first 22:46 time I met her and you know I have never 22:50 seen a more alive person than this woman 22:54 who would go on to live not weeks, not months, 22:59 but merely days. I'll never forget the time; 23:03 it was around Halloween this year. I walked 23:06 into her room and she had one of these 23:09 things on her head. They called them a cone head, 23:12 stuck onto her head and she looked up at me 23:15 with sort of a quizzical look in her eyes and 23:18 she said doctor I have noticed the strange 23:20 swelling. Well, she was swollen all over and 23:24 I said have you been swelling more and 23:27 then she pointed to her head and she said 23:29 yes its here can you help me? And I said 23:31 well sure and I just reached over and 23:33 pulled it off. Her family was there. They had 23:36 a big laugh, you know amazing how alive 23:40 this woman was, it was almost as in her dying 23:44 she was giving life to us all and even in the 23:48 midst of dying or if you are in a prison 23:51 cell if you have a chronic disease, if you have a 23:56 terminal condition. You know, though that 23:59 where terminal condition, none of us 24:01 who are living in Jesus have a terminal 24:06 condition. We have life eternal promise to us 24:10 us and it is worth making changes for 24:14 this life and for the life to come. This 24:18 woman taught me that in any situation I 24:22 can chose to have life and have it more 24:26 abundantly that's part of being human you 24:29 know the ability to make choices, Christ death on 24:34 the cross guaranteed that you can make a 24:39 choice and your choice will be meaningful 24:43 and real. It will make a difference. It's so 24:47 important for us to internalize that truth. 24:51 Our choice is thanks to God's grace make a 24:57 difference. It seems that the choices that 25:00 we make with regard to health are often 25:03 influenced by a persons' philosophy of health. 25:06 Tell me a little bit about that and what 25:09 perhaps your philosophy of health might be. 25:11 Philosophy of health is really the way we 25:15 think about health or a belief system. I have 25:18 mentioned one of them a fatalistic. When it's your 25:21 time, it's your time. There is really nothing 25:23 that you can do about it that's one philosophy. 25:27 Another philosophy is genetic or hi-tech 25:31 it's in my genes. You know they say obesity 25:35 is genetic. I don't know if it is or not, 25:38 but you can sure see it in the genes. Not 25:42 everything is genetic and even those that 25:45 are modifiable with choices and the hi-tech 25:49 oh I'm waiting for a new pill or the new 25:52 treatment just out. Sir William Osler once said 25:56 use a medication while it works. You know 25:59 so many of our medicines seem not to work after a 26:03 while as people lose interest in them, but 26:06 it is important for us to have a good 26:08 philosophy of health. It's not a fatalistic, 26:11 it's not a wait for the latest, it's not what I 26:16 call new age which is just getting tune with 26:20 the harmonies of the universe. Yes, we want 26:22 to be in tune with God, but that God is not a 26:26 non-specific depersonalized force. 26:30 Our God is a personal God. Yes, I believe in 26:34 selflessness, but I do not believe in lack of 26:39 personhood or down plane individuality that 26:44 belongs to God or individual nature in God 26:47 alone. He loves us the way we are and as we see 26:51 how valuable we are to him that gives us the 26:55 wonderful ability to change. If you know you 26:59 are valued you will take care of yourself, well 27:04 just like your car. If you value your car you will 27:08 wax it, you will wash it, you will change the oil, 27:11 you will take good care of it. If you value your 27:15 body it's the same thing. What a wonderful 27:17 gift he has given us in these complex and yet 27:22 simply beautiful bodies. We can be so thankful 27:27 and we need to take care of them. Remember the 27:30 scripture, you are not your own, you are 27:33 bought with the price. Therefore glorify God in 27:37 your body. Yes, we should. We should 27:41 glorify him in what we eat and what we drink 27:44 and in everything we do because our choices 27:48 make a difference both for now and for eternity. 27:54 Our bodies truly are gift from God and a 27:58 Merry Heart Doeth Good Like a Medicine. 28:01 Thank you Dr. Howe for joining us today and 28:03 thank you audience for joining 28:05 us on Wonderfully Made. |
Revised 2014-12-17