Tim Derner

I related to the mother's anguish and marveled at her faith. And I am so happy her son survived. I had a problem, though, with her apparent lack of respect for or suspicion of people who were "other" to her. I actually cringed as I read about the incident with the hospital chaplain, (referred to by Smith as shaman) who believed in Native American faith healing. As a mother myself, I would have welcomed any and all prayers to help my son. If God is as powerful and wonderful as we believe, isn't it possible that he would be capable of presenting himself ito different cultures in ways that make sense to them? Faith is faith, and I was hoping she would have shown more respect for a religion other than Christianity. She also seemed to make derogatory remarks about the doctor with the heavy accent. Whenever I hear people complaining about not understanding heavily accented English, I always want to ask them, "How many languages do YOU speak?" Good story, but I was disappointed in some behavior that didn't seem so Christian.