DNGILB: Trust me, I'm a doctor.

So our Catholic hospital has nuns. They are for the most part a quiet people. Short and small in stature. They must have some discriminatory prerequisitions to exclude the tall women from becoming nuns. The habits too costly, perhaps? Maybe it saves on health insurance? the tall die earlier you know. Anyways... I ran into one of the sisters at Office Depot near the hospital. She didn't recognize me. Much like Clark Kent, if I don't have my cape (white doctor coat) on, I transform into a regular person and nobody recognizes me for the superhero Dr. Gilbert. (My magical power is healing... and disimpaction.) Second anyways... She wandered into the checkout line in the "upstream current" and cuts in front of the next person behind me. Though she bought nothing, she usurped the reigns of the line! I looked to the lady who should have been next to see what she would do. Would she call out this nun in habit? The answer... No. I think it must be REALLY hard to get mad at a n

I stayed up late the past two nights... past midnight. Yet, I woke before my alarm... approximately 6:30. God called me to the couch... "Get out of bed, David. Spend a little time with me." "I'll pray from bed, God..." I replied. "You'll just fall back to sleep." said He. I got up and made it to the couch after a little teeth cleaning and face washing. The time I spent was attempt at a quiet prayer... just repeat the name of Jesus when your mind starts to wander into unimportant things. The first morning, I felt God wanted me to remember that his ways are higher. It's okay that I don't understand them, and He doesn't need to explain them. I just need to trust them, and He is worthy of my trust." Though my day had quite violent storms, I remained at peace... in trust. The second day (today), I didn't really get anything in the quiet prayer time. But I concluded the quiet time by opening the Bible randomly. The pages fell open to

The following is an excerpt from CS Lewis' "The Problem of Pain" ...we actually are, at present, creatures whose character must be, in some respects, a horror to God, as it is, when we really see it, a horror to ourselves. This I believe to be a fact: and I notice that the holier a man is, the more fully he is aware of that fact. Perhaps you have imagined that this humility in the saints is a pious illusion at which God smiles. That is a most dangerous error. It is theoretically dangerous, because it makes you identify a virtue (i.e., a perfection0 with an illusion (i.e., an imperfection), which must be nonsense. It is practically dangerous because it encourages a man to mistake his first insights into his own corruption for the first beginnings of a halo round his own silly head. No, depend upon it; when the saints say that they - even they - are vile, they are recording truth with scientific accuracy. I love Clive. David

Confession of a sin is critical. Why? Well, if you want God to give you his power to be triumphant against sin... don't expect him to do it, unless He gets all of the glory. God is very concerned about being glorified. This would take a very long time to explain why the greatest thing we can do is glorify God, but it is. Just read John Piper if you want the long explanation. Now, if a sin remains a secret, and there is victory, nobody would know that God is the reason for the victory... because you kept it a secret! If that's the case, why would He aid you in victory? He does want to aid you in the victory! But he wants you to confess the sin first, and give him the credit and glory for the victory once it is won. That way, others will see the victory, know it was due to God's love and seek out his love for their own deliverance from sin. Simple. Profound. Disclaimer: God gets all the glory for this revelation because it is not wisdom derived from yours truly, but truth giv

For years, I have heard of those to whom the Holy Spirit's voice was loud and fairly clear. No, not necessarily an audible voice, but whose promptings were unmistakable. I desired to have that, though it seemed impossible. To me, the voice of the Holy Spirit was the sound of pale voice being spoken though a dense pillow in the middle of an Oklahoma wind storm! This wasn't the fault of the Spirit. This was a result of my disobedience. I always knew and agreed with the idea that it was important to spend time in God's word, yet I didn't do it. I did pray, but how much got through? When I Eric Browning invited many people to read through the Bible in the 365 days of 2010, I accepted the challenge. It really wasn't very long before the voice of the Holy Spirit started coming in a little clearer. Some of the text I read was very pertinent to the dark valley in which I found myself, but much of it was not. I do think, however, that a connection between myself and the crea

The Double Shot is my beloved coffee shop. It's more than a coffee shop. It's a community. It's also more than just "coffee" its some of the best coffee you can find anywhere. Brian the proprietor isn't interested in becoming rich. He's interested in making the best coffee. Exploring coffee and every facet within that realm. It comes down to science and art. Around Tulsa and probably outside of Tulsa he has a reputation as a "coffee Nazi" taking reference from the infamous Seinfeld TV episode "the Soup Nazi". Many people at the mention of the name "Double Shot" react with a visceral "that guy is rude!" or "the coffee Nazi??!! I won't go there!" Brian is actually a really fun guy and I've enjoyed getting to know him better. He does have a warm and compassionate heart. He raises money for the children of the Columbian and Costa Rican villages where the small and large coffee plantations are from w

Even though I have pain. I am experiencing Joy. I am walking in God's will for my life. I sense something... God is moving. I believe he will heal my wife. The process is under way... dngilb md.

Doubt asks for proof. But when it comes to matters of the Trinity. Proof is experiential. My past weekend I kept finding myself saying, "It's just so real! its Just SO REAL!!" over and over in my head. I have no tangible proof to show you. One could rationalize it all away. But to me, it was completely REAL. I pray you too have such an experience. dngilb md

We were provided with an excellent opportunity to practice our new task of "praising God for the pain" which still sounds a bit crazy. But after we saw it played out, it wasn't crazy. It was quite beautiful. Vanessa fell alseep on the couch, it was only 8pm. So, I woke her to help her move to the bedroom, because I thought that was the right thing to do. When I did wake her, she was experiencing abdominal pain. How unfortunate that I woke her I thought. I quickly embraced my new task of giving praise to God in the pain and prayed. I thanked God for the pain and for all the wonderful things he has done in my heart and in Vanessa's life that couldn't have been accomplished without the pain. I then prayed that he would help this pain to pass and sleep to come. Her pain decreased a bit. But Vanessa asked, "how am I to give praise when it hurts this bad?" We eventually made it past the worst of the pain and we started to sing to Jesus. Very simple

Around one month ago, I walked into a patient's room at the hospital. This time was different than most. This was a divine appointment. I wrote about this a few blogs ago. Anyhow, I sent this gentleman a Christmas card and informed him that I wanted to visit his church. I wanted my wife to meet him. He and his wife sent back a wonderful letter and invited us to spend the night with them and go to church with them in the morning. Mind you I've only known this gentleman for a total of 20 minutes. My first inclination was to say, "well thank you, but I we will show up at church and maybe we can go to lunch afterwards." But as I thought about it, I felt a nudge. This man had a fire and love for Jesus that I haven't seen in many people. When we talked for 20 minutes I was blessed by meeting him, and he was blessed by meeting me. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. We each heard what we needed to hear as a conviction and gentle correction/affirmation of wh