The Pros and the Cons

I set up another weblog so that I could rant about ethanol exclusively, since it is an issue that is very important to me. However, there are plenty of websites available online that can provide more official information. Someone clicked on this weblog after looking for a station in Washington state that sells E-85. I couldn't pretend to be able to keep up with that information. I would refer that person to E85 Fuel. It has the most up-to-date lising of stations and vehicle models I've seen. While this is the most current resource for finding information about new stations or new models of automobiles, there is breaking news every day. Not surprisingly it takes those folks some time to keep up with it all.

Ethanol seems to be catching-on. The number of stations here in Indiana that carry E-85 has quadrupled in just the last few months. It was probably due in large part to the demonstration they gave at the state fair.

Finally, the notion that ethanol production and use wastes fossil fuels is simply wrong. Of all the dozens of studies to the contrary, there has only been one that has shown ethanol production to be wasteful in terms of net energy production. Certainly farmers will consume fuel and tires and other such resources in farming and ultimately processing the corn into ethanol, the bottom line is that the fuel yielded is 65% greater than the energy expended to produce that fuel. That's like putting $100 in the bank and getting back $165.

Tonight is one of those nights when I question everything. I wonder if I made the right decision pursuing a career in healthcare. In less than a year, God willing, I'll be an RN. Sometimes I wonder why I chose to inflict myself this way.

Tonight I've been taking care of a patient who's primary problem is a history of drug abuse. She can't make it to the bedside commode without help. Sometimes she can't make it at all. She's wet the bed three times. Once it was more than just wet. Another time I had to take away her sandwich because she had fallen asleep with it in her mouth.

Sometimes a simple history of drug abuse doesn't give the whole picture. Sometimes there are patients who have lifelong chronic illnesses for which they self-medicate. Some folks have support systems and healthy coping mechanisms, like a strong family and a healthy relationship with God. Other folks choose to self medicate with alcohol or drugs. This lack of effective coping skills is a valid nursing diagnosis, but there are interventions available.

This is seen in healthcare frequently, unfortunately. Another patient I remember had cardiomegaly so bad her stroke volume was around 20% of normal. Naturally she was on a ventilator. It was all a direct result of her history of cocaine abuse.

We all go through rough patches in our lives. I went through a very difficult time right after I graduated from high school, and then again when I graduated from Purdue. Once those support mechanisms and friendships were gone, it was difficult to adjust to those changes and find my place. Someone else who is very close to me was in that same situation and tried to commit suicide. But the need for compassion is universal at some point in everyone's lives.

Some people are easy to care for. Some people make my job easy. You should have seen me in clinical caring for a one-week-old infant. I had never held a baby before, but you would have thought I was an old pro. How can one not love a baby? Especially one that was all but abandoned by its family.

However, it's times like tonight when it is hard to remember that God wants me to care for the sick, especially those whose wounds are self-inflicted.

Luke 4:40 (New International Version)

40When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one(emphasis mine), he healed them.

I've been getting a lot of hits from people searching for information about ethanol and E-85, and I have to tell you I'm very pleased about that.

I've started another weblog that is dedicated to the advancement of the use of ethanol for automobiles. E-85 is an 85% blend of ethanol with 15% gasoline. It is much less polluting, costs less, and is produced right here in the United States.

You see, I believe that we are all stewards of God's creation. It is incumbent upon all of us to show our gratitude to God for the abounding blessings we enjoy here on this beautiful planet. To that end, it is our spiritual act of worship to do all we can to conserve the beauty of our planet by reducing waste.

Ethanol reduces the amount of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other greenhouse gasses that are released into the atmosphere. Partly due to the chemical nature of ethanol, and partly because it is composed of agricultural products that would have degraded anyway, returning carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Additionally, ethanol production benefits Indiana farmers.

Anyway, that other website is Fueling the Future. There you will find links to other websites that are equally enlightening.

This is text from my 23rd blog. I posted it on Thursday, September 08, 2005 and it is titled "Presidential Super-Friends"

"I've heard conjecture that President Bush is the world's first Evil Genius Villian, like Lex Luthor in the Superman comic books."

This is an exercise I learned about from Restoration Station

Have you ever read the story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? You can read about it in the Bible in the book of Daniel, chapter 3.

This is an amazing story. There were these three guys who served the king. The served him pretty well, even though the king was kind of a freak. He had built a statue and insisted that everyone worship it. But these three guys refused. Instead they worshipped their own God.

I won't bore you with my interpretation of the details; you really should read the story yourself. However, I will say that the thing that impresses me the most in this story is what they said to the king when he threatened to kill them if they didn't worship his statue. They said, in Daniel 2:16 "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

So what does one take from this story? I think it is an important illustration about faith. A lot of people have been asking "Why do you believe?" or even "Why should I believe?" It's especially difficult in the health care field. "How can you believe in a God that allows people to suffer?"

I think the answer is there in the words of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They believed in God because they believed He had the power to save them. But what is less obvious is that they believed in God because they knew they were already saved.

Luke 15:8 (New International Version)

The Parable of the Lost Coin
8"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

Today I picked up a coin I saw in the parking lot of the hospital. It was a penny. I don't know why I picked it up, but for some reason it seemed urgent that I do.

I know what my wife would say about that, "You picked up a penny you found in the parking lot of the hospital?" She's very concerned about germs.

I thought about it for a minute and I realized as I was walking into work that that penny was once worth something. Years ago, you could actually buy something for a penny. Years ago, that penny was once worth something to someone.

It brought to mind a conflict I've recently had about my role as a care giver and whether I actually do any good. Some of these patients are really sick, and it's hard sometimes to feel like anything I do for them does any good. Some of those patients are demented and will never recover. Some of them have lost their family, through time and distance. And yet, they still need to be fed and bathed and cared-for.

So what is that penny worth? What lesson did I learn about picking up a dirty penny I found in a parking lot? Even if it isn't worth anything to anyone else on the face of the planet, that "penny" is pretty valuable to God.

Matthew 6:20 (New International Version)

20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.