My time at Nucleus has been a privileged one. I have learnt much, grown and developed. I thank God for the experience gained and I will take much away with me. Perhaps one of the biggest privileges came at the recent ICMDA Congress in South Africa. There we met students from all over the world, made friends and shared ideas and experiences, whilst receiving challenging teaching. For me as Nucleus editor, there was something more: I got to meet some of the international readership.
For a long while I’ve known that Nucleus is sent to many countries; I’ve read and quoted the statistics. But at ICMDA, those statistics came alive. No longer were they numbers on a mailing list; they were people, friends. I experienced some of the enthusiasm with which Nucleus is received, meeting students who read it again and again before passing it on to others. It was humbling, yet deeply encouraging, to see some of what God has accomplished through this journal. When I saw the great things done by some students with few resources, it made me consider again how little we achieve with the vast resources we have in the UK and western nations.
We hope that readers around the globe will not be disappointed with this issue. We tackle the crucial global problem of developing world debt and its relevance to health, questioning our own practices as well as those of governments. Aromatherapy is looked at in detail, and there is a warning about the role of medical training in the aetiology of spiritual disease. As always, there is the reporting and analysis of current subjects that impinge upon us as Christian medical students. Read Nucleus, consider it, act on what is there. Finally, write to us: we want to know what our readership thinks, and we can’t read minds.
We have a lot to be thankful for. God has given us a marvellous salvation and a firm foundation for our faith. As Christian doctors, we have the only sound basis from which to work in an ethical manner: all true ethics come from God and are worthless without him. When we are unsure how to act, or confused by conflicting messages, there is usually an answer, even if we don’t know it. It is up to us to make sure that we do what we can to search out the truth, then live according to it.
‘Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.’ (Psalm 119:98-99)
