What's in a name?

Trying to sort out what to put in this blog has been a bit of a challenge for me as I'm not certain that I have anything of real interest to say about myself. My lovely wife does a fantastic job of discussing our family and her experiences here, GreekGrits, so I don't know that our family life will be a big part of what I share, but there will be some of that. Jon Acuff does phenomenal work discussing Christian life at his three blogs, most notably at StuffChristiansLike, but I am a Believer and my faith will be a part of what I use this space for as well, but that is only part of who I am (a very important part, but one of many). I do a lot of different things, so I suspect that there will be an "eclectic" combination of thoughts and images collected here as we move along together.

As for the title, Pertinent Findings, here is my thought. In medicine, we are taught to use our assessment skills to sort out what is wrong with a patient. This is called "diagnosis". As part of establishing said diagnosis, we often use pertinent positives and negatives to arrive at a differential determination of what may be wrong with someone. For instance, if you tell me that you are having chest pain but no shortness of breath, the pain is a "pertinent positive" and the lack of breathing issues is a "pertinent negative", helping me make a better plan for treating your discomfort. Physical findings, signs and symptoms, educated guesses, and sometimes pure dumb luck help guide the hands of medical people worldwide. Doesn't that inspire confidence?

Didn't expect a medical lecture, did you? I mentioned pertinent findings as an illustration of how I look at the world. I keep an open eye and (relatively) open mind to the things that I encounter and I use the positive and negative aspects of what I see as a way to guide my decisions and to assign value. Sometimes this works to my advantage. Sometimes.

Your results may vary.