Children's hospitals and God

Hello Everyone,

There is no universe that contains both a just and loving God, and children's hospitals. They are exclusive of each other.

I don't know whether there is a God, but I know children's hospitals exist, so that kind of rules it out. At least, the just and loving part.

One morning recently, the munchkin started vomiting after every feeding, and kept doing it through the day. I thought it was just part of the normal range of baby behaviour, but thankfully her mother has better instincts and we went to CHEO at 2 am. The doctor said she had a stomach bug and had become dehydrated, which can get serious very quickly. She was put on an IV and underwent a barrage of tests. At the time, we expected to be out in a day or two, but due to a series of complications, it ended up being two weeks.

The munchkin is thankfully recovered, but it was an extraordinarily stressful experience. And yet, as bad as it was, it was just a flicker of the trauma seen in a place like that. Cancer, burns, accidents, these hospitals see terrible things. Ours

was like a glance from the devil: it did not last long, but it shakes you to your core.

There are no atheists in foxholes, they say, and when you are in the hospital, you'll pray to whomever will make your child healthy again. But no loving deity would countenance the existence of this place. I didn't need a brush with terror to make me appreciate my time with my kid. Being there was simply suffering, and there was no supernatural cavalry coming to the rescue.

The children's hospital is, however, a monument to humanity at its finest. There may be no God on our side, but we've collectively pooled our resources to provide for the care of the most vulnerable. It has both technological marvels, and smart, dedicated people who work very hard to help patients get better.

Without a just and loving God, the universe is a cold and uncaring place. But in that one corner, we've built ourselves a shelter from its storms.

Wes

Wristband from the club you don't want to be in. The yellow indicates we were in an isolation ward. I got a new sticker each day.