An Anomaly!

Monday morning, February 11, 2008
As some of you know, I am, among other things, an embalmer (my license is almost as old as I am; well, not quite, but it is so old that I no longer have to do continuing education! I guess the lawmakers figure that embalmers as old as I am can make it to the finish line without having to learn something new!).
Having said that, I assume that each of you, especially if you are as old as I am, knows what an anatomical anomaly is but in case you do not, I will tell you: it is simply an abnormality, an irregularity in anatomy. For example, it is normal for your left foot to be on the end of your left leg; however, when your right foot shows up on the end of your left leg you have, well you have an anomaly, not to mention a limp (I guess you can tell from that that anomalies usually cause other problems).
Anyway, since my days at the University of Minnesota ( a lifetime ago!), I have loved the study of human anatomy; in fact, my pathology professor did his very best to get me to continue my studies at the U of M and earn my PhD in anatomy (sometimes I wish I had listened!). To say it succinctly: I marvel at the way God created our amazing earthsuits! To study human anatomy and not to believe in God is an oxymoron--at least! Listen to this embalmer: no one but God could have made these incredible bodies (yes, I know that some seem to look a bit better than others
Strangely, on occasion it seems that He forgot to tighten a screw or to drive a nail all the way in, like when your right foot shows up on your left leg, and these anomalies really do intrigue me! Inevitably, I wonder: "God, why did you do this?" Sometimes, I can figure out the reason but most often I am clueless. I mean, why in the wide-world would The Creator give someone three kidneys or forget to install both ovaries? I do not have a clue and since He is The Creator, I usually don't fuss much over it, not to mention that it is none of my business, nor did He consult me!
Occasionally, in the process of embalming a body, I run across an anomaly and when I do, I find myself wondering how surgeons deal with them; I mean, I am dealing with a dead body and they are dealing with live ones (hopefully!). Think about it: In the process of a surgical procedure, the surgeon makes an incision to open the belly, expecting to find the gall bladder but instead he sees the appendix; trust me, that is one thing for an embalmer but quite another for a surgeon!
Actually, not long ago I stumbled upon an anomaly that would have been a challenge, a real challenge for any surgeon (in light of the fact that their patients are still pumping blood!) and, to be honest, it created somewhat of a problem for me (even in light of the fact that my patient was no longer pumping blood!)—the right jugular vein was about 3 times the normal size and it presented with a bifurcation that I had never, as in NEVER, seen before. Why did God do this? Why did this life-threatening anomaly lie just below the surface of the skin, probably without anyone but God ever knowing of its existence? What kept this vessel from rupturing and bringing instant death? I am clueless.
Anyway, the longer I live the more I realize that there are as many anomalies in Christianity, probably even more, as there are in these earthsuits that God created. All-too-often we fully expect to see the “normal” only to be surprised by the abnormal. Actually, I think I have come to believe that the “abnormal” is actually the “normal” in Christianity. Let me put it this way: I have studied Christianity longer than I have studied anatomy and, consequently, should be able to recognize the “normal” but so often what presents is anything but what I believe is normal. Maybe I just have things upside down, downside up!
To be honest, at this point in my life, I am always looking for the anomaly because I just know that it will present itself—especially in Christianity but also in embalming—and I figure it is wise to be on the lookout for the inevitable. Yesterday, however, I guess I had let my guard down just a bit, and in a moment, what I thought was going to be a “normal” Sunday afternoon proved to be anything but—
Today is another day and life will go on and The Creator is still The Creator, even though He sometimes throws us a curve ball by placing an anomaly in our paths, if for no other reason than to see how we will react to the abnormal (or is it the normal?)! Go figure!