X-ray vision

When I was a young boy, like most of my peers, I loved comic books. Television was in its infancy, and the most popular kid’s program was Howdy Doody. Most boys want to be entertained by more adventurous programs than Howdy Doody. Fortunately, at one of the local movie theaters on Saturday afternoon I could watch a double feature of westerns for the admission price of six RC Cola bottle caps. To this day that was the best bargain for entertainment ever! 

So comic books provided most of the entertainment for 8-12 year old boys while I was growing up. My two favorite comic books were Superman and Mighty Mouse—two superheroes. Mighty Mouse started coming on TV on Saturday mornings and no longer was Howdy Doody the King of kid’s TV.

One of the things I like best about Mighty Mouse and Superman was that both of them possessed X-ray vision. I was so intrigued with this superpower. Cereal boxes and special offers on the back of comic books offered promotions on “real X-ray glasses.” Yes, I fell for them, and, yes, I was totally disappointed with the product.

X-ray vision meant that you could see through something or someone. I was reminded of all this while I was waiting for my proton treatment today. Surprising what all goes through your mind when you are about to be zapped with a daily dose of radiation.

I could have had all my radiation treatments in Rome, Georgia, and slept in my bed every night if I had chosen the traditional external beam radiation therapy. Those beams are measured doses of photons that go through your body. Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, are responsible for discovering this medical procedure over 100 years ago. Treating tumors and cancer cells with proton beam therapy is only a couple decades old.  

Traditional x-ray treatments are more of a blast that goes through your body just like Superman’s x-ray vision. Proton therapy is more like a laser that stops at its target. Therefore, with protons less damage is done to tissues, organs and other vital functions that may be near the radiation. 

God doesn’t want to see through us like traditional x-rays. God’s gaze on our hearts is more like proton beams. His gaze does not see through the heart; he looks inside the heart. He just wants to cast His holy eyes into our body and focus his examination on our heart.

The condition of my heart is critical to my walk with the Lord.