POST 27/2025: I have a bookmark titled, In The Palm of Your Hand.” It quotes the Old Testament book of Isaiah, 49:15: “I will not forget you . . . I have held you in the palm of my hand.”
The image of being held in God’s palm makes me think of my brother-in-law, Gerald, whose birthday we celebrated recently. He resides in healthcare in Westfield, Indiana. Gerald has held many people in the palm of his hand during his medical career and in retirement. Just as yesterdays, today and tomorrow he remains in God’s hand. s
Country roads on the three-hour drive to Westfield showed maturing corn and soybean crops, cities, towns and burgs, road construction, cemeteries, an area of wind turbines, and, in Westfield, unending developments replacing corn and bean fields.
People who live in healthcare settings often may be forgotten, but not Gerald. I read some of the letters and emails friends and former patients sent after reading the book, Making The Rounds: Memoirs of a Small-Town Doctor, (2015), that he and daughter Shari wrote, and One Hundred Camels, an account of the year the family spent at a mission hospital in Somalia. I shed a few tears for the sincere appreciation people shared–the letters expressing my own gratitude for the privilege and joy of close relationship with the family for more than 50 years.
From the prophet Iasiah I quote chapter 49:13-18, the section the Contemporary English Version calls, “The Lord’s Mercy”:
Tell the heavens and the earth to celebrate and sing; command every mountain to join the song. The Lord’s people have suffered, but he has shown mercy and given them comfort.
The people of Zion said, “The Lord has turned away and forgotten us.”
The Lord answered, “Could a mother forget a child who nurses at her breast? Could she fail to love an infant who came from her own body? Even if a mother could forget, I will never forget you. A picture of your city is drawn on my hand. You are always in my thoughts!
Your city will be built faster than it was destroyed–those who attacked it will retreat and leave. Look around! You will see your people coming home. As surely as I live, I, the Lord, promise that your city with its people will be as lovely as a bride wearing her jewelry.”
Isaiah, speaking for the Lord, notes that captivity will end. In a preamble to the book the commentators note: “But the Lord offered his people hope for the future, if they turned back to him and trusted him to protect the nation.”
That’s a partial glimpse of the prophet’s incisive forthtelling (not foretelling as one of my seminary professors clarified). Forthtelling what God promises to deliver for his people.
The three parts of Isaiah, the latter including people from all nations, are promises, the commentators note, “that allow a glimpse into a future time when the Lord will create a new world of joy and free from suffering.” 65:17-19
Recent walks
I’ve not kept up my schedule of more or less weekly posts. Getting a new computer up and running has been one factor in the delay. I’d love to blame the weather for getting in the way, too. Perish the thought. I will not blame the weather for being too hot, too cold, too rainy, not rainy enough, not more predictable as it mostly once was. We’ve adjusted the time and distance we get out for a walk, including shopping for groceries with backpacks as occasion allows. Just a few modest steps to keep care of the earth in mind.
May unexpected joy be your lot as a new world presents itself.
-John
It's About Now 
I remember reading Gerald’s book when he was a doctor. Many interesting details of being a doctor in Somalia. Very rewarding for him and patients alike. I’ve had to adjust my walks too. Some days no walk due to the heat. Slowly getting back to a few steps and much needed movement.
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