Supplemental

    A friend of mine tells a hilarious story about an acquaintance whose dog threw up, what the perplexed pet parent believed to be, its own guts. The owner thought the cure for this condition was to try to force back into the dog's throat, what turned out to be, a pair of nylons. Admittedly, I have no veterinary training, but I'm pretty sure you cannot replace any innards by stuffing them down the esophagus. Otherwise, organ transplantation would be a simple matter of ramming the new parts in via the stomach. 

    I sometimes feel like that is what health providers are trying to do with medications and supplements. I am blessed to live in a time of abundant treatment options. My younger brother would not have survived without blood transfusions as a newborn. My sister would have died in childbirth if Caesareans were not an option. And I would have suffered a slow, painful death from a hyperactive thyroid without radiation treatment, or been a cripple in my 50's before knee replacements. Many of my friends and family would be dead without modern medicine. But I am afraid this has persuaded people, even Christians, to believe that we, by diet, exercise and medication, control what only God really can. Our time of death is appointed before we are born (Ps. 139:16) and, despite our best efforts, only God is sovereign over illness and accidents.

   Television is full of ads telling us to ask our doctor for new, (aka) expensive medications. And everywhere I look, ads for supplements promise to do what God Himself only did twice--turn back time. With the right medications, they claim we can regrow hair, rebuild muscles, lower blood pressure, raise sex drive, sleep more, weigh less, pep up, calm down, preserve our memories, eyesight, etc. And all those things are important for the longer lifespan they also attempt to provide. 

    Naturally, no one wants a stroke, heart attack, or incapacitating illness if there is a way to prevent it. But aging is not a disease to be cured, and most of the deficits they are trying to replace with supplements are a natural part of the God ordained aging process. There may be ways to look and feel a little better for a little longer, but our body clock cannot be rewound. We cannot supplement our way out of God's sovereignty. And I don't believe doctors should prescribe 10 medications to make an 80 year old have the BP, BMI, cholesterol, hormones etc. of a 30 year old, because it often takes another 10 medications to counteract the side effects of the first 10. Growing old is a privilege not a plague, much less a preventable one. And death is not a penalty for not taking care of ourselves, a destination we should delay as long as possible. The supplement saints most need to remember to stuff in is--death is our doorway to heaven.