Over the summer Jake got a wood chip stuck in his foot after stepping on it outside. He took his pocketknife and (with help) cut open the skin so he could take it out before the area became infected (yes, mom, it grossed me out). That was 4 months ago.

Last night before bed, he was holding his foot saying that the spot where the wood chip was had a bump, and it hurt. I asked him if this all just started, and Jake replied that no, it’s been hurting for quite some time. Hmmm, sounded like an infection to me.

We went to see the doctor this afternoon. She took one look at it and declared, “it’s a wart”. Knowing this was a possibility, I did explain my wart history to Jake on the way to see the doc. I told him what the treatment was for my warts, and that he could expect the same if that bump on his foot was a wart.  Not so.

Today, medical knowledge is expanding at lightning speed. Brilliant ideas are discovered. There’s so much technology these days, you know.

The doctor prescribed OTC wart medicine with duct tape. I laughed, but it’s been written about in medical journals as being the most successful treatment for warts. Apparently, you can even buy the tape in all sorts of colors (maybe for this very reason?). So tonight, Jake went to bed with duct tape wrapped on his foot. And for now, it’s the industrial gray variety.

Allow me share a couple of noteworthy things that have come out of this: after reading the wart medicine package, Jake looked up the active ingredient in the Merck Index. Yes, you read that right. The boy has been reading out of the Merck Index during his down time. He told me something I don’t understand about the acid that’s in the medicine, so I just smiled and nodded. He’s getting smart with that science stuff!

Also, as we were talking in the car on the way home, I was commenting to Jake on how neat it is that he’s so interested in the elements and chemicals (refer to previous post). We talked about the possibility of him becoming a doctor, since doctors study lots of science (and Merck Indexes).

Then he asked, “Mom, how can doctors be useful in ministry?” 

This led into a conversation about all sorts of great things missionary doctors do for people around the world, including the U.S. We talked about how great it is when a doctor heals a person’s body, but how much greater it is when that doctor also tells a person about Jesus Christ, the only One who can heal a person’s soul.

Whatever course Jake and his brothers take in life, it is my prayer that they will truly serve God with everything they are and have. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23).