Just one Touch
Pastor's Corner
Ken Wilson
Edgerton Christian Church
And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.” Mark 5:34 (NASB)
In this age of technology, it is hard to argue the convenience and speed of communications. No longer do parents and spouses with loved ones deployed around the world or away at college or living across the country have to wait for days or weeks for a letter to arrive. Today we have email, Twitter, Facebook and FaceTime at our fingertips. All of this is fine and good however there is one big problem, at least it is with me: remembering my password. I have passwords for work, church and home, and even when I write them down I have trouble remembering where I put them for safe keeping.
Good news, help is coming! Very soon you will not have to be concerned about forgetting a password and secret codes. Soon you will be able to access your accounts with the touch of a fingerprint. It’s called fingerprint biometrics, and it’s coming to an ATM near you! Electronic sensors detect the ridges and valleys unique to every fingerprint, guaranteeing accurate access simply through the touching a screen with your thumb or forefinger.
The passage in Mark’s gospel gives us a biblical parallel to this modern age technology. When the discouraged, bleeding woman was able to gain access to Jesus simply with the slightest touch of her finger to the hem of his garment. You see for years she had been suffering from her affliction and the doctors had taken her last penny without any hope of healing her. She knew that Jesus was coming and she knew that he could help her. Approaching the Great Physician, she reached out and touched the hem of his robe. A flash of healing power left Him and entered her body, instantly healing her.
Just as Jesus healed then he continues to heal today. If you find yourself struggling today to find meaning to life’s problems - if you need encouragement - just reach out in faith and touch the hem of his garment and his grace is for the taking. Listen to the words of Birdie Bell in her song “Just One Touch”:
Just one touch as he moves along, pushed and pressed by the jostling throng, just one touch and the weak was strong, cured by the Healer divine.
Just one touch as he passes by, he will list to the faintest cry, come and be saved while the Lord is nigh, Christ is the Healer divine.
Just one touch and he makes me whole, speaks sweet peace to my sin sick soul, at his feet all my burdens roll, cured by the Healer divine.
Just one touch and the work is done, I am saved by the blessed Son, I will sing while the ages run, cured by the Healer divine
Just one touch and he turns to me, Oh, the love in his eyes I see! I am his, for he hears my plea, cured by the Healer divine.
Just one touch by his mighty power he can heal thee this blessed hour, thou canst hear though the tempests lower, cured by the Healer divine
Just one touch. Praise God.
Two bands really are better than one
Most readers will remember all the talk a few months ago when the Platte County band program announced it was going to a two marching band format. This format, which resulted from an extensive survey and discussion process conducted at the end of the 2010 season, features a competitive and non-competitive band. The two bands which emerged were the “Traditions” and the “Pride” marching bands. The “Traditions” Band is the open enrollment band for all students who would like to participate in the band program and the “Pride” Band is the auditioned group which focuses on contemporary field marching.
Now that the season is over the question to be asked is … was it successful?
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PCBS receives three-year accreditation
Contributed Report
CARF International announced that Platte County Board of Services for the Developmentally Disabled has been accredited for a period of three years for its group living, supported living, day habilitation program, service coordination and supported employment programs for persons with developmental disabilities. The latest accreditation is the seventh consecutive three-year accreditation outcome that the international accrediting commission has awarded to Platte County Board of Services. This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows the organization’s substantial conformance to the standards established by CARF. An organization receiving a Three-Year Accreditation outcome has put itself through a rigorous peer review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs are of the highest quality, measurable, and accountable.
The crimes of youth — exposed
Sara Lovelace
Citizen Assistant Editor
What happens when a juvenile commits a crime? That was the question answered in Platte County R-3’s middle school classroom of Mikki Johnston Nov. 3.
“We’re getting ready to read Monster,” Johnston said. “It’s a book about a child that is on trial for felony murder. It gives them background before they read the book.”
The Platte County Juvenile Court Services Chief Deputy Juvenile Officer Susan Carey, along with program coordinator Barbara Lemons, took the students on a journey with a juvenile named Joe. The videos were filmed in the early 2000s, and feature a well-known Platte County judiciary member: the honorable Platte County juvenile judge Owen Hull.
The students learned several different things, including what type of offenses juveniles can face including status offenses, which are crimes that would not normally be crimes if they were adults – such as curfew breaks – and delinquency offenses, which are crimes that have an adult equivalence, such as assault, property damage and other types of offenses – like murder. They also learned about the different phases of the process and the consequences of disobeying things such as curfews.
“This was good,” Platte County R-3 middle schooler Crestil Carpenter, 13, said. “I learned a record is not expunged; it’s just sealed away (when you become an adult).”
The students also learned specific things about their own county and state when it comes to the juvenile court system. For example, Platte County does not have a juvenile detention facility — they have an agreement with Clay County to use the Liberty facility. “The first 24 hours, you would be confined to your cell,” Carey explained. “In detention, the staff use the first 24 hours as time to assess safety and see if it you can be let out in the population.”
While there are some differences between the juvenile court system here in Missouri and that in the book — Monster takes place in New York — the presentation presented the ugly truth of what happens to juveniles who break the law and, in Joe’s case, keep violating the law. The fate of a juvenile is decided by a single judge, Carey explained.
“The teacher wanted them to be more experienced with the juvenile system so they understand what is going on in the book,” Carey said.
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Smile wide, Belize
Local dentist and her sons give dental care, more to needy children
In the northern-most Central American country of Belize, the tourist areas are luxurious. Most of the country runs on tourism, and where the locals live, it is like somewhere in Platte County, technologically: cell phones, wifi, Internet access abound.
However, in Belize, there is a large disparity between those with and those without ... and much of the country is so without that running water and a single meal every day is considered a luxury. So is dental care, which is why earlier this year, Platte City dentist Dr. Staci Blaha and her two sons traveled down south to this country of extremes to donate time and dentistry to those who could otherwise not afford it.
“I was approached in 2008 by a dentist in Belize, and I saved his e-mail all this time,” Blaha said. “He was so thankful I contacted him. He made all the arrangements.”
The Belize-based dentist from Minnesota, Dr. Mark Johnson, set up Blaha and her family at the dental clinic in the Holy Cross School in San Mateo, Belize, an island off the coast of the country proper. What the family found at San Mateo surprised them.
“The school is built on garbage — on a landfill,” Blaha said. “It is really interesting to wade through garbage to get to the school.”
In addition to being built on a landfill, the school also extends out into the water. Every time trash is added to the landfill, it creates more “land” to build on, and it is free due to the hazardous conditions associated with it. To move between buildings, students and staff walk on planks.
But more surprising than that was the day Blaha found out that many students only received food and drinking water at the school — their families could not afford to provide these necessities.
“They have large families of six to 10 kids,” Blaha said. “It’s a hierarchy. The older kids eat because they go out to support the family. The little kids go to school where they are fed.”
The realization came when they were providing dental care to the students. Because there was clean water in the clinic, the Blahas used that as an incentive to bring the children into the unit. While working, one of Blaha’s sons entertained the students outside, but one little girl would not stop crying for water. Her son requested, despite her not being next in line, to move her through the line, Blaha recalled.
The trio did not understand at the time the little girl named Cindy, her skin covered in dirty mud water that day, had not had a sip of drinking water over the weekend. When she was given water, she drank almost 12 Dixie cups.
“She came back every day for water,” Blaha said.
At the time the Blahas went to Belize, the dentistry was about repairing and making sure the Belize children’s dental health was sound. Now, Blaha is planning a second trip to Belize some time in the next year, in order to establish routine cleanings and preventative dentistry.
“The next step is to reassess their needs and talk about cleanings, home care and diet,” Blaha said. “The focus has been so long on getting healthy.”
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