Medicine is an amalgamation of science and art. There is a time and place for facts, numbers, statistics and protocols. But in my personal as in my professional life, things of science are often tempered (if not overrun) by things of sensitivity.

These past few weeks have taken me out of my comfort zone in many ways, but perhaps none more so than the intense focus on data points. Like a broker banking on the Dow, my spirit rises and falls by Callen’s “numbers”.

By last night, I was nearing emotional bankruptcy. And then, a faithful friend and colleague sent me the following:

“Cold, hard facts can be stubborn irritants that drain our resolve and weaken our confidence.

But faith does not deny the facts or distort reality.

It forces us to trust God’s control because we realize He alone can move mountains and calm seas.”

Amen.