Author: Dr. Michael Johnson

She was bent over at about 60ﾟ leaning forward on a walker. Simultaneously trying to hold open the swinging door, not spill her hot cup of coffee nor lose the barrette in her graying hair. The tremors in her hand made this negotiation even more difficult. I got up from my chair. My Mama was watching.

Truthfully speaking my mom was nowhere to be found. She was hundreds of miles away and yet as near as this elderly woman trying to avoid falling and breaking her hip and burning herself with this hot coffee.

O thank you so much young man, she explained. Your mom must have taught you well. I answered her. Yes indeed she did. And she’s watching now.

I wonder how many boys and girls now become Men and women have ever had the kind of instruction and moral guidance that follows them to always do the right thing.

My mama taught me to always love, always forgive and always do my best especiall for those whom I felt deserve it the least. She still lives by these words.

This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
Matthew 5:43‭-‬47 MSG

Like many young men I did not have a father to give me these values. But I did have a mama. She taught me that higher authority rests with my Creator. She taught me that ultimately I would have to answer to my Father in heaven, even if I had no earthly father for an example.

Let me get that door for you. Let me steady your walker. You hold onto your coffee and I will look for the barrette.

Even if you don’t have a mama or daddy remember that God is watching.

My mama told me God is watching and if He missed it, she didn’t.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Exodus 20:12 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/exo.20.12.KJV

A little thrill
Not a habit
It could kill
Gotta have it

Just a taste
Where’s the harm
He’s passed out
Should alarm

A tiny bit
A little snort
Take the chance
Life is short

Feels so good
Escape what’s real
Gotta have it
It did kill

CDC 2017 cites over 70,000 drug related deaths.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
John 10:10‭-‬11 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jhn.10.10-11.KJV

Care is the operative word, the prefix. Health should be the suffix. If we don’t really care, we cannot improve on any of the parameters of health. Metropolitan Philadelphia is home to 6 medical schools and dozens of institutions of higher medical education. Despite that, it ranks near the bottom of every single health parameter in the nation.

Philadelphia serves as both the model of scientific medical advances and the gutter of providing care for the disadvantaged. A community’s health is directly impacted by the institutional and individual provider’s motives to care for those most vulnerable and who are seen as ‘least desirable’ within our community. If we don’t care for the ‘least worthy’, we will fall short of providing for those we deem as ‘most deserving’. It is the least worthy that serve as a portal for the illnesses for the most deserving. Illnesses and diseases tend to ‘drift upwards’.

Drug addiction once tormented and tortured the disadvantaged. Now, the least vulnerable bear an unexpected and unmet burden of cocaine, heroin and other addictions. Hepatitis C was once considered the disease of the less privileged, less worthy of the citizens of inner-city America. It now ranks as one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in both rural America and urban white America.

Gang and gun violence have rendered urban neighborhoods as unsafe for police. Now suburban malls and upscale schools go on lockdown as people of color are locked up disproportionately.

Single parent homes with low wage single mothers were common denominators in determining the life chances of children in low income households in urban communities. Looking to the rural regions the statistics are just as bleak.

These realities can be directly causally related to the lack of care for the disadvantaged people of color. If we don’t care for one sector of our community, ultimately this lack of care spills over to those of other sectors. Care is the operative word. Without care, we don’t have healthcare.

Miriam Medical Clinics (MMC) puts the word ‘care’ as the prefix. We provide care for the health of those whom we serve, without regard for their color, culture, spiritual conviction or country of origin. MMC serves in concert with many other organizations providing material and professional resources to the most vulnerable residents of the Philadelphia community. MMC cares because caring is the only way to meet the persistent disparity of health parameters. Philadelphia doesn’t need more institutions of research, more clinical trials, more medical professionals or even more money to meet the needs of its poorest citizens. What Philadelphia needs is more caring from those who claim to have the answers to be the providers of health resources.

MMC has served in the North Philadelphia community for over 5 years. Our professional staff of volunteers have provided dental, podiatric, nursing, medical and counseling services as well as clinical pharmacologists. These services include both in office and house call visits by appointment and urgent care as deemed appropriate.

We care. Caring is the sole motive of MMC. Our services are self-funded and restricted only by the limitations imposed by personal and financial resources of the volunteers. Hence, MMC is always on the search for people who have the motivation to care. MMC seeks to expand from its present single site in North Philadelphia to several sites in the metropolitan area.

We invite you to be a part of our caring for the health of others so that we can help them make the best decisions for their health. Help us improve the parameters of health for metropolitan Philadelphia and its surrounding community. Join us at Miriam Medical Clinics. For more information, write or call us at the contacts below.

info@miriammedical.org
www.miriammedical.org
215-644-8745

We know you care and that is why we ask.

I come in defense of the devil. Too much power has been ascribed to Satan and his minions. He gets blamed for everything. He gets blamed for the ills and bad habits I have. He is accused of starting wars and fomenting family problems.

I can see Satan in hell pleading his case. I had nothing to do with Michael’s lust, greed, envy or anger. Michael did that on his own.

I admit, dear devil. You are right.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
James 1:14‭-‬15 KJV

My bride has many lovers
Gives in easily to distraction
I died so she discovers
I must be her one attraction

She seeks and hungers for affection
Not just meeting daily needs
The world gives misdirection
And fleshly appetites it feeds

I have called her to repentance
To redeem and sanctify
I expected her resistance
And so I had to die

My bride will reflect my essence
And my Father will take delight
When I bring her to His presence
She will bring people to His light

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Revelation 21:2 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/rev.21.2.KJV

The world is in constant chaos
Mankind is indeed overwhelmed
I’m troubled by who holds the rudder
I focus on who is at the helm

Crime and corruption are unceasing
Evil men rein in this realm
Steering the world to greater conflict
Remember who is at the helm

My personal life seems out of control
Heartbreak disappointment overwhelms
I don’t give up let go of the rudder
I surrender to the Master at the helm

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Mark 4:39 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mrk.4.39.KJV

I read the bad news
What’s true and what ain’t
Wars, starvation and strife
All I have is complaints

My carpet, wrong color
Doesn’t match the wall paint
People living in shelters
I have complaints

My suit out of style
My tie has a small taint
People are naked and hungry
I have complaints

I pretend sensitivity
I am a wanna be saint
I tell God please listen
I have complaints

Exodus 16:8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

She Noticed My Dimples

She smiled at me. ‘You have nice dimples’ she said. I didn’t even know I had dimples so her compliment to this 6-year-old boy in Kindergarten that meant a whole lot. Her smile resonates with me to this day.

It always feels good to be noticed and complimented. This is even truer nowadays as the young are constantly assaulted with social media which berates and belittles them. As adults we need to take every opportunity to notice the dimples, smiles and whatever is positive about the young lives that come our way. My dimples have long been replaced by wrinkles and moles. I still remember the compliment.

Compliment a child today. Notice the best in them, just like Christ notices the best in you.

Matthew 18:5 KJV And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

I assaulted the Muslim
The African and Jew
You ignored these attacks
Next I am coming for you

The Buddhist and Mormon
The Jehovah witness too
I attacked you said nothing
Next I am coming for you

The sexually confused
Redefining what’s true
Don’t agree but protect
Next I am coming for you

I am the enemy of all
Not just a select few
Keep ignoring their pain
Next I am coming for you

Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Psalms 82:3 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.82.3.KJV

I have decided to give God nothing. Let me rephrase that. I am going to give God nothing that requires any inconvenience on my part.

That does not mean I won’t put things in the offering plate on Sunday. It does not mean I won’t donate to good causes and charity. It does not mean I won’t give of my tithes as the Bible says I should.

What it does mean is I won’t feel or notice my gift. My giving will not impact my lifestyle. My giving will not make a difference in what I purchase, what I eat, what I wear, where I travel and what I do. I will give God just enough to make me feel good about giving.

The significant part of this mindset is that when my giving does so little to change my life, it also does little to change the life of those to whom it is given.

I don’t like the stress. Giving and sorting out who deserves my gift is an added stress. I have enough stressors, like leaving home without my phone charger, running low on gas in the middle of a traffic jam and trying to find the right tie to match my new pair of shoes.

I don’t need the stress of the dirty, smelly man standing at my car window claiming to be a homeless veteran from every war since Viet Nam. I just roll down my window and drop a dollar in his cup. I won’t miss the dollar. This is not giving of significance.

The Bible records that King David refused to give the Lord anything that did not cost him something. There are two instances that document this. In 2 Samuel 24:24 David is intent on building an altar to the Lord in order to avert a plague. He intended to purchase the site where he would build from a man called Araunah. However, Araunah felt it would to let King David have the site for free. The king refused stating “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

If a gift to God costs nothing, it is worth nothing. If my gift is of no value to me, it is no value to the recipient.

This poor woman gave all that she had.

Just then he looked up and saw the rich people dropping offerings in the collection plate. Then he saw a poor widow put in two pennies. He said, “The plain truth is that this widow has given by far the largest offering today. All these others made offerings that they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all!”
Luke 21:1‭-‬4 MSG

And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 1:8 KJV

Leviticus 22:20 But whatsoever hat a blemish , that shall ye not offer, for it shall not be acceptable for you.

I give God nothing unless it is my best. It must be sacrificial or it is not a gift. It is like giving God nothing.