Most men are pressured to get their first colonoscopy around age 50. I
had the pleasure of receiving mine about 7 years ago at age 29.
It all started one week when I had some of the best fried chicken and
fried okra from a great barbecue joint down the street. The next day I ate a
large pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars, and the constipation had taken full
effect. This story is already gross, I know, but it gets worse. I bled every
time I went #2 that week.
But instead of telling Stephanie, I just kept on doing what I was doing.
And the second week was quite similar to the first. Tasty, yet excruciatingly
painful. Eventually, though, I let her in on my struggles and she gave me a
thorough tongue-lashing. It was well deserved.
According to medical professionals, you shouldn’t bleed every time you
poop. It is probably a sign of some bad plumbing.
So I went to the doctor and got set up for a colonoscopy, which freaked
me out. But, of course, the actual procedure was not anywhere as frustrating as
the colonblow. You know, the preparatory drink they give you to cleanse your
system that keeps you up all night? It’s the worst.
My problem, evidently, was that I consumed way too much fried food,
pizza and soft drinks, and not enough fiber and water. That, and I had
developed a case of diverticulosis, where small pouches had formed in the wall
of my colon.
The doctor basically gently rebuked me for about 10 minutes about my
poor eating habits and need for greater self-control. At first I felt myself
getting defensive, but then I realized that this man was trying to save me. He
wasn’t against me, he was for me. But in order to be for me, he had to call me
to repentance.
Repentance? From what sin? James
4:17 says, “Therefore, to one who
knows the right thing to do and
does not do it, to him it is sin.” I knew I shouldn’t have been eating that
way, and yet I kept on doing it for so long. Living in a self-destructive way,
all because it made me feel… good?
I was
being a bad steward of the body God gave me and I needed to repent.
2nd Century writing the Shepherd of
Hermas says this about repentance:
Repentance
is great wisdom. For he who has sinned understands that he acted wickedly in
the sight of the Lord. He remembers the actions he has done, and he repents. He
no longer acts wickedly, but he does good generously. He humbles… his soul
because he has sinned. – Hermas 150CE, Volume 2, p. 22
For some reason, our culture has turned repentance
into a negative word. Even large circles of Christianity have cleverly
maneuvered their way around scripture to develop systems of theology that
insinuate that repentance is no longer necessary because of the cross.
