Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Should I have a savior?

So yet another three months have gone by without a post. I'd say it feels like three months this time though. A lot has happened: moving to atlanta, getting a crap van-driving job, getting a bad-ass hospital job, and just generally rocking life. What made me think to write a blog this morning was an issue that has recently come up. I'm currently thinking of going on a medical abroad trip. I would say "mission," but usually missions imply carrying a bible around asking if people have accepted Jesus as their savior. Well, frankly, I hate those people. And I don't want to be one of them. Therefore, it's a non-religious medical excursion in a deprived country. Why? Primarily because I think it would help me get into PA school. Is it worth it? Yes. Why? Because it'd be an incredible experience and I wouldn't mind going on a two week vacation doing what I love, which is helping people. Now, I went to my boss, my real boss, the director of the ER, or equivalent, and told her about my plans. I told her I wanted to look at the vacation schedule for next year to see when would be the best time for me to take two weeks off to go on a (and I called it) mission trip. Why? Because we're in the bible belt. Nobody can say anything about anything if it has to do with something doing with God or whatever. Anyways, I asked her if the hospital would be interested in sponsoring me on my trip (so I wouldn't have to pay). She said no. However, she asked me if I was involved with any churches. I told her some line about my brother being a youth minister back home, which is true, mostly. But she told me her church, a Baptist church, does missions all the time in South America and invited me to a service. Now, I've got two options here. I could go to church services WITH MY BOSS and possibly get a free ride to Costa Rica (holla) and get involved with the churchies, or I could fork over the 1-3 GRAND to go on a trip next summer minus the donations I get from family and friends. My question to you, the reader, is: is it unethical to go to a church and "accept christ into my life" for a free ride to Costa Rica? Yes, it sounds bad. However, if I were to go through with this and let them "save me," wouldn't it make a bunch of people happy? So potentially, it could be a win-win. Even a win-win-win, because I'd be helping people whilst I was down there. Allison won't give me a yes or no answer, but I can tell she thinks it's unethical. I somewhat agree. I think my family would frown upon me. So I suppose I won't do it. If I went to the church with my boss though, I'd be GUARANTEED to get those weeks off. What if I told her I liked the service and would like to continue attending, but I still have my own beliefs? Or I could just front the whole thing. I could pray all day long for a trip to Costa Rica.