The Making of a Christian Physician is an informational testimony or what I like to call an "infomony." I firmly believe Christian physicians are called to their profession. I received that summons as a junior in high school. The journey to becoming a physician is a very difficult one involving the standard twelve years of primary and secondary school, four years of college, four years of medical school, and anywhere from three to six years of residency. It involves a tremendous amount of fortitude and willingness to accept delayed gratification. During that period, our lives are influenced by family, friends, teachers, professors, and mentors who deserve a tremendous amount of credit.

Early on, I chose 1 Samuel 7:12 as my life's verse: "Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped me." This dependence on God is the cornerstone of a Christian physician's development. Equally critical is cultivating humility and mercy. I believe a good physician succeeds only by recognizing his or her dependence on him, relinquishing foolish pride, and extending mercy to others. The God-orchestrated trials over my sixty-six years of training and practice instilled these virtues in me.

Once a physician begins practice, he or she is subjected to a tremendous number of competing forces that include: marriage, family, church, chronic fatigue, maintenance of integrity, maintenance of sanity, time constraints, numerous regulatory bodies, threat of malpractice, unrealistic patient and societal expectations, electronic health record, quotas, ethical dilemmas, and the all too real specter of burnout.

The following is my story that starts with my birth and ends with my retirement after thirty-seven years of family practice. My hope is by the end of this book, you will see God's faithfulness, even when I failed, and the humility and mercy that I learned along my journey.