I am aware that not everyone can be a connoisseur of the finer things in life such as country music.  There is a song, that like me has gotten much older now, in which the singer refers to his father as having “…dirty hands and a clean soul.” I have always told my children it is my hope that they will remember me in just such a way.  My boys and I obtain the dirty hands honestly.  Years of baseball, gardening, hunting, and fishing tends to leave one with a little grit under his fingernails.  My wife has never understood why we like the smell of marsh mud or allow wet Labrador retrievers to ride in the cab of my old truck.  The nice thing about this type of dirt is that it is easily washed away with soap and warm water. It is the “clean soul” part of the lyric that can seem more difficult to obtain.  Since my children were born, I have tried to teach them good values and lead them by example.  Each day I wake up with the best of intentions but there are still times when I fail.  The Bible makes it clear that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23). Good works are an important part of our Christian walk and should never be treated with contempt, but our justification comes through faith alone.  The inward dirt of our heart, known as sin, is washed clean only by the blood of Jesus.  Christ took God’s wrath against sin upon himself and died a horrific death on a cross to provide all of us with a means by which we can be forgiven of our sins and stand before God uncondemned.  What amazing love, what an awesome God. About two years ago, my staff and I started Trinity Ob/Gyn with hope and prayer that we could be a blessing to our patients.  We were determined to provide better care than one can find in the setting of large corporate medicine.  Dr. David Klein was kind enough to provide us the space we needed for a start and God blessed us with growth beyond our wildest imagination.  It is now time for our practice to take the next step and move to our own building only about a block away from our current location.  This will allow us to continue giving excellent care to our existing patients and grow to serve the needs of many others.  At some point, it will hopefully afford Dr. Beaver the opportunity to get outdoors with his boys again and get some dirt on his hands.  No matter what though, we will continue to answer the question of the old hymn in the same way:  what can wash away my sin? – Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Dr. B