Rethink the Unthinkable

Historic Subterranean Missile Launch Command Capsule (Oscar One)

My husband and I recently visited Whiteman Air Force Base. On the base you can go down underground and see where they used to have a secret launching pad for the nuclear missiles. They were set up in such a way that it took two separate people to turn a key at once in order to detonate them. They had all sorts of security and secret codes, with needed presidential authorization.  Currently, this particular location has been closed for military operations but open for tours.

What struck me most, though, was the escape hatch. In case war did break out, and these people ended up stuck down there, they were provided a means of escape. They were each given tiny shovels that looked something like this:

After opening a hatch, which weighed enough to crush several men, and is set in a precarious angle. To get out, the must allow several tons of sand to flow into the tiny room in which they would be sitting. In the case they made it through that, they would be lucky if the sand didn't first fill the room, or that the sand did not become a large glass bubble (from the nuclear blast) in which they could only see through - and hope for escape. BUT, let's say that they are lucky. Then they must dig through many feet of gravel, followed by layers of road ties, then six feet again of dirt. They would finally make it to a nice thick asphalt.  You see, because the location of this place was secret, even many military people did not know its location. So, they ended up covering the escape area with a parking lot!
When they shut down the site (which was reopened for viewing purposes) some of the personnel wanted to try the escape...just to see if it would have worked. But they didn't let them.  Want to know why??? Because the escape wasn't necessarily meant to work. It was put there to keep people mentally hopeful, and not thinking about what might happen, should they really have a need to follow through with this. Since there are still similar "exit strategies" around our nation, what would happen should our escape route be nonviable? The people working there would lose hope! That is how precious our hope is! The idea that it is possible, though highly improbable,  can keep us mentally sane. The military knew this force to be true. The idea that one has to dig with a tiny, very sturdy looking (ha ha) shovel, after the narrow escape of being squashed, through sand, glass, gravel, railroad ties, soil and asphalt, seems pretty improbable.  But there is a chance. And that chance creates hope.
So....what does all this have to do with Crohn's? HOPE! I am convinced that we nearly lose our minds when we lose hope. I can say, I have been there. I am not saying this to be unrealistic, by any means. But, find something in your life to give you hope. And here follows my next blog...
I just found my next "hope" for my disease. I've been though many things, hoping they would help but here I go again. I've learned it's not a bad thing.

Wormtherapy.com...look it up. I am in week one, so I don't see any difference really (good or bad). But...there is an invisible difference. And maybe, just maybe, it's the most important one anyway.
More on my treatment to come!

Romans 15:13  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Rachel