More Questions Than Answers

Questions are a good way to learn. My grandkids have always known the value of well-placed questions. Their vocabulary is rich with why? and  how? Curiosity is a learning tool, and children have no qualms about asking questions about any topic.

At work, my co-workers often say, “I have a question for you.”

I like to reply, “I have answers.” Sometimes, I don’t really have answers, but until proven otherwise, it seems like a good response to the statement.

Then, there’s always the contingent that answers questions with questions. “Where do you want to have dinner?” might be answered, or should we say a non-answer, could be, “Where do you want to eat?”

  

On Sunday, Pastor Jared introduced me to a new concept: praying through questions. By forming prayer as a question, we can focus on what is important to us. It is amazing how easy it is to ask questions—especially for a person like me who has more questions than answers.

Some of the bold questions I have for God—what causes Alzheimer’s disease? Why can’t researchers find a cure for Alzheimer’s?

After all, isn’t research a matter of knowing what questions to ask, and then embarking on a quest to find the answers? Equally important is the wisdom to recognize the answers that are revealed to us.

Knowing how to ask the right questions is a methodical way to find solutions. When researchers try to find a cure for a multifaceted disease, Alzheimer’s, for example,  they ask a series of questions. Some of the brightest minds in the country have ask questions about Alzheimer’s.  

I find it interesting to check health news sources to see what studies and approaches are being used to find treatments or a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. So I search with the question in mind—what is being done about Alzheimer’s?

Painstaking research shows that changes in the brain foreshadow development of Alzheimer’s. These changes can take place a dozen years before any evident symptoms. New imaging technology allows researchers to see these subtle brain changes. In 2013, five drugs will be tested on 1500 individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s. The drugs being studied are designed to prevent Alzheimer’s from ever developing. How can Alzheimer’s be stopped when we don’t really know what causes it?

One researcher, Randall Bateman with Washington University in St. Louis, sees the development of Alzheimer’s disease as being much like the chain reaction that leads up to heart disease. How effective new drug therapies will be is uncertain, but it is certain that new drug therapies are much more likely to help future generations that those with the disease now. Why can’t a cure be found now, for the people who already have Alzheimer’s?

Maybe we need to trust in a higher authority to rid the world of Alzheimer’s once and for all. Pastor Jared’s message reminded me that you must ask, if you want to receive. Without questions, there would be no answers.

Copyright October 2012 by L.S. Fisher

http://earlyonset@hotmail.com