For nearly 10 years the focus of my life was working with urban poor people. In one of those experiences essentially 10 of us were in the midst of overwhelming human need. The number of meaningful things that needed to be done was endless. I couldn’t begin to count how many times people would come up and say: “Pastor, someone needs to do something about . . .” With every identified problem, there was a recommended program, service or ministry that needed to be started.
After studying nearly four thousand children, two Dutch physicians concluded that 88% of children with acute ear infections never needed antibiotics. This startling discovery occurred after testing fluid samples taken from the child’s ear. In all 88% no traces of bacteria were found, therefore, making it impossible for antibiotics to have any effect. When was the last time you saw a child with an earache get tested for bacteria?
