Following my reading of The Body, A Guide for Occupants written by Bill Bryson as shared in the 13th October issue of the News, in spite of my enthusiasm for it, I sensed there was a missing note in that fine book. This note I discovered in another volume delivered to me electronically, FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY, The MARVEL of BEARING GOD’S IMAGE, DR. PAUL BRAND and PHILIP YANCEY updated and combined edition[1]. Philip Yancey may be known to some of you through his books, such as, The Jesus I Never Knew, 1995, and What’s  So Amazing About Grace? 1997. He has written many more.

   Dr. Paul Wilson Brand, CBE, was a pioneer in developing tendon transfer techniques for use in the hands of those with leprosy. He wrote a book in praise of pain, yes! he did! Pain the Gift Nobody Wants 1982, revised in 1997 with Philip Yancey. This is one tribute to that writing: A WORLD WITHOUT PAIN? Can such a place exist? It not only can—it does. But it’s no utopia. It’s a colony for leprosy patients: a world where people literally feel no pain, and reap horrifying consequences. His work with leprosy patients in India and the United States convinced Dr. Paul Brand that pain truly is one of God’s great gifts to us. In this inspiring story of his fifty-year career as a healer, Dr. Brand probes the mystery of pain and reveals its importance. As an indicator that lets us know something is wrong, pain has a value that becomes clearest in its absence. The Gift of Pain looks at what pain is and why we need it. Together, (speaking of the 1997 edition),       the renowned surgeon and award-winning writer Philip Yancey shed fresh light on a gift that none of us want and none of us can do without.

  Dr Brand also wrote an earlier version of Fearfully and Wonderfully. In it the wonder of what it means to be made in the image of God holds its fascinating insights and facts about our bodies and more, together as an act of praise.

This awe Philip Yancey continues in his revision of the book (Dr. Brand died in 2003). So if you want a book to complete one’s wonder about being fearfully and wonderfully made, add this to the other! Blessed Christmas tide reading!                                 Louis van Laar