More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
MTM - Life is Brief and Uncertain
Death catches us all by surprise – even when we think we're prepared for it. In this deeply moving episode, Dr. Robert Jackson opens his heart to share personal encounters with life's brevity that have shaped his perspective on faith and preparedness.
The journey begins with a teenage Dr. Jackson standing in a rural emergency room, watching his physician father battle unsuccessfully to save a crash victim's life. This foreshadows the devastating loss of his own father in a plane crash years later – the last memory being his dad kneeling in prayer over him before departing for a flight that would never return. The recent tragic deaths of his dear friends Philip and Cheryl Porter in similar circumstances reopens these wounds while reinforcing timeless truths about how we should live.
Philip Porter wasn't just a patient but a kindred spirit who used his piloting skills to transport medical patients, pastors, and even rescue victims of sex trafficking. His and Cheryl's lives exemplified genuine Christian service – giving generously of their time, talents and finances to advance God's kingdom. Their sudden departure prompts Dr. Jackson to share crucial wisdom: be ready to meet Jesus at any moment, keep short accounts in relationships, share the gospel with loved ones, and prepare practically for death with wills, insurance, and funeral arrangements.
The episode concludes with the beautiful aviation poem "High Flight," celebrating those who have "slipped the surly bonds of earth" and "touched the face of God." Dr. Jackson's testimony that "Praise God, Philip's gone to glory" echoes the comforting words once shared with him about his own father – a reminder that for believers, death isn't the end but a homecoming. What preparations have you made for your final flight? Are you living so everyone knows where you're headed?
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, dr Robert Jackson, and his wife Carlotta and daughter Hannah Miller. So listen up, because the doctor is in.
Speaker 2:Welcome to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, dr Robert Jackson, bringing to you biblical insights and stories from the country doctors, rusty, dusty scrapbook. Life is brief and uncertain. I was first made aware of the brevity and uncertainty of life as I stood in the corner of the one-room, two-bed emergency room of our rural hospital in Clarendon County in 1971 at age 16, and watched my family doctor, father, desperately attend to a 35-year-old black man that he had personally helped to extract from a Volkswagen Beetle turned upside down on the King Street Highway just an hour earlier. The man's constant screams of agony had made me so nauseous I had to kneel in the waist-high Johnson grass on the side of the road to keep from passing out. A little later, in the emergency room, he was no longer screaming or even breathing as his life ebbed quickly out from internal injuries. There was no EMS or helicopter rescue flights back then by which he could be transported to a larger or regional trauma center. I saw my doctor dad suddenly stop his ministrations, look at the patient, pull out his stethoscope, listen for a heartbeat, shake his head sadly and wave off the nurse. He stripped off his bloody gloves, pulled the sheet over the man's face and I saw him whisper a silent prayer. A moment later he walked into the waiting area, where I heard the family begin to wail and shriek. Once again, I became weak in my knees and had to sit down reek. Once again, I became weak in my knees and had to sit down.
Speaker 2:Seven years later, the brevity and uncertainty of life, the evanescent vapor of life, deeply and personally affected me On the day I left for my second year of medical school. I was pulling out of my neighborhood in Manning, south Carolina, where our family had lived since I was eight years old. My father had left the emergency room one of his favorite places to be and drove into the neighborhood. Seeing me. He flagged me down, jumped out of his car with his usual energy and enthusiasm, bounded over to my car, stuck his hand into grass mine, he kneeled down in the road and said a prayer over me and my next year of school. Then, in a flash, he was gone. That was the last time I ever saw my father. For you see, the next day he was killed when his single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza airplane crashed in a thunderstorm near Alexandria, louisiana, as he was flying to a medical meeting in Texas. His plane was not discovered for three days, I learned that there is but one step between you and me and death. This harsh and unyielding reality hit home again two weeks ago as my very good friend and patient, philip Porter, and his lovely wife Cheryl perished in their twin-engine Beechcraft Baron, crashing near Myrtle Beach, south Carolina, in a thunderstorm. Crashing near Myrtle Beach, south Carolina, in a thunderstorm.
Speaker 2:I flew with Philip on multiple occasions. I knew him to be a very capable, instrument-rated pilot. He dearly loved to fly. One of his passions was angel flights, for whom he provided air transport to medical centers around the United States for seriously ill patients. He transported pastors and evangelists to their evangelistic events and meetings at his own cost, just because he loved the Lord and he loved their ministries. He also flew for Freedom Aviation Network rescuing victims of sex trafficking.
Speaker 2:Philip and Cheryl were among the most giving people I ever met, giving their time and their finances to the Lord and to Christian ministries. When Philip came to see me in my office for medical visits, he always wrecked my schedule because we would get to laughing and sharing the ministry opportunities that God had recently given to each of us, so much so that we often almost forgot His medical issues. It was always a sunshiny day when Philip and Cheryl came to see me or when we frequently met for lunch at Applebee's in Gaffney. But now they are gone to Jesus. I won't be sad for them, only for you and the family and for me, those that are left behind. Now, if you will, let me say a few things to you that I say to all of my patients. You must always be ready to see Jesus at a moment's notice.
Speaker 2:I am confident that Philip and Cheryl were ready and did in fact jump from that beachcraft barren straight into the arms of Jesus. I am confident they trusted in the blood of Jesus and they live like true Christian folks should live. You and I should do the same, and we should do the same kindness for our family and friends that they did for their family and friends, so that when you and I leave this earth, everyone knows that when we leave, that we leap into the arms of Jesus. There's no doubt in anyone's mind that Philip and Cheryl are in the arms of Jesus because they lived their lives in such a way that everyone knew that they were strong believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I should live our lives in the same way that they did. We should trust in the Lord Jesus and we should let everybody know that we trust in Jesus, and the way that we live our lives should give everyone confidence that when we leave this planet that we will be jumping into the arms of Jesus.
Speaker 2:The next thing I would say is that we should keep short accounts. What do I mean by that? This means we have that. We all have to practice saying I'm sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me. I know that's hard to say. Pride always gets in the way, but we have to be willing to say to our family and friends I'm sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me. You never know when you or they will leave here abruptly. You must keep a clear conscience at all times. As the scripture says do not let the sun go down on your wrath. The next thing I would say is there are family and friends who don't know the truth of the gospel. Hell is hot and eternity is a long time. If you love them, you will at least try to explain the truth of the gospel to your family and friends. How they respond is between them and God, but you and I have a responsibility to at least try to explain the truth.
Speaker 2:The next thing I say to my patients is make sure you have a will, make sure you have a life insurance policy and a funeral plot. Don't leave a mess for your children. Plan things in advance. When my father died at age 41, he was prepared in every way. He had his funeral plans written out and in a file folder he had his pallbearers picked out. He had the person that he wanted to preach his funeral picked out. He even had the songs that he wanted sung in his funeral picked out. Did he know that he was going to die in an airplane crash? Of course not, but he was prepared in advance. How about you? Are you prepared? My suggestion is, on New Year's Day every year, you should review your file folder and you should look and see who you've got listed as your pallbearers the pastor who's going to preach your funeral, the songs that you want sung and review it and make sure that it's up to date. And make sure that your life insurance policy is up to date and that your funeral plot has been paid off. And make sure that your will is up to date. Don't leave a mess for your children or your spouse.
Speaker 2:Now, before I leave you, I want to close with a poem that is dear to every pilot. It was dear to my father, who was a pilot. It was dear to Philip, it's dear to me. I'm a private pilot and I love this poem entitled High Flight by John Gillespie McGee Jr. Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings. Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence Hovering there. I've chased the shouting wind along and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air, up up the long, delirious burning blue. I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace, where never lark or even eagle flew. And while, with silent, lifting mind, I've tried the high, untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand and touched the face of God. My dear friend Philip and Miss Cheryl have reached out their hand and touched the face of God. I'm not sad for Philip or for Miss Cheryl, because I'm confident that they're in the presence of God. I'm only sad for those of us who are left behind Now.
Speaker 2:When my father died, everyone who came to visit our home for those days where we did not know where my father's plane had crashed was full of sadness and gloom, except for one. And one day I opened the front door and there was Leroy Phillips, a gentleman who stood beside me in the choir at First Baptist Church in Manning in the tenor section. And when I opened the door he looked at me and he said Praise God, robert has gone to glory. And I knew that was true and in my heart I knew that was the gospel truth and I just needed to hear somebody say that. I just needed to hear somebody affirm that truth. And when Leroy Phillips said it and said, praise God, robert's gone to glory, I fell on his neck and I wept and said Mr Phillips, thank you, thank you. I just needed to hear somebody say that. Well, I want you to know that my friend Philip has gone to glory.
Speaker 2:Praise God, hallelujah, philip's gone to glory. Some things in life are just not fair. Philip has gone to glory ahead of me and I just don't know how that happened. Praise, ye, the Lord, hallelujah. You're listening to More Than Medicine and I'm your host, dr Robert Jackson. If you like what you hear, please follow, like or share or download. Tell your friends We'll be back again next week. Till then, may the Lord bless you real good.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. Also, don't forget to check out Dr Jackson's books that are available on Amazon. Forget to check out Dr Jackson's books that are available on Amazon. The Family Doctor Speaks the Truth About Life in his first book, and the Family Doctor Speaks the Truth About Seed Planting Equipping Believers for Evangelism is his second. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Productions.
