I was giving myself a shot the other day near the location of an agonizing pain in my hip and left side, one that just never seems to go away. It's the lingering residue of an accident 20 years ago when I was electrocuted. Long story. But the idea was for this high-powered medicine to go directly to the damaged nerves and calm them down.

It didn't work. Not much seems to, these days. The shot hurt. My left side hurt.

"This must be part of Dr. Winslow's 'pain loves company' school of treatment," I thought.

But the moment allowed me to reflect on my friendship with "Doctor Bob," and his unrelenting attempts to treat my condition over the years, even if this particular experiment wasn't working.

I literally owe the man my life.

America is intrigued, even obsessed, with health and medicine. Doctors and the medical profession are alternately idolized or vilified, worshiped or demonized. And yet we're in the midst of a health care crisis that has failed to be solved by HMOs and government regulations.

The media has provided plenty of model physicians to compare the real ones to, from Marcus Welby to Dr. Spock; from Hawkeye Pearce to Star Trek's "Bones"; from ER to eternity (sorry). Not to mention Dr. Kinkead, Dr. Livingston, Doc Holiday, Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Laura, Doctari!, E. L. Doctorow, and don't forget Dr. Dre.

But Dr. Winslow is among the small coterie of physicians who consider medicine a ministry rather than a profession. His solution to the country's healthcare crisis is simply to serve his patients.

Normally, people have plenty of reason to be suspicious when it comes to doctors. You've heard the jokes:

Patient: "Please doctor, am I getting any better?"

Doctor: "I think so. But just to make sure, let me check your wallet."

Uh...haven't they paid off that medical school tuition by now? And the Porsche?

Too many doctors view their patients with aloofness, pride and detatchment. No wonder the Talmud proclaims, "The best among doctors deserve Gehenna."

The Bible has only a few references to the medical profession. Luke the physician, of course, is a positive Gospel player. But then there's the woman who suffered much at the hands of physicians and "spent all her substance." (Mark 5:26). She got ripped off.

Christ is the ultimate measure of any healer. That picture is perhaps what the old Deist Voltaire was thinking of when he said, "Men who are occupied in the restoration of health to other men, by the joint exertion of skill and humanity, are above all the great of the earth. They even partake of divinity, since to preserve and renew is almost as noble as to create."

I don't know if Dr. Winslow partakes of divinity or not, but when he is focusing on healing his patients, he reminds me of the Great Physician.

J. Robert Winslow was a product of the small town of Wingo, Ky. He earned a doctor of osteopathy degree in 1956, and despite practicing medicine mostly in metropolitan Dallas area, has retained the easy-going manner of a country doctor. A specialist in natural healing procedures and therapies, Dr. Winslow at 74 looks like he's only 50. And he has the strongest hands of anyone I know.

His patients have included people from all walks of life – attorneys, developers, Dallas Cowboys athletes and missionaries as well as housewives and laborers. Even members of the Saudi royal family have sought out his help. We've gotten to know him as the unofficial "house doctor" for our Dallas Project folks. For more than 20 years he has tirelessly treated the homeless and indigent people the foundation has taken in. I added it up recently, and it comes to at least $1 million in free medical care. ( I've said for years that we're a "very sick group of people," but I never guessed...).

But we're not his only concern. As a member of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Dr. Winslow established a medical clinic in Monterey, Mexico, and traveled there one weekend a month for years, treating thousands, including the residents of a nearby children's home. He also managed to get a fully equiped dental clinic established there.

Several years ago he heard about the pitiful condition of a village hospital in Ghana, from a missionary who had recently returned from that West African country. Dr. Winslow wept when he heard of a hospital with no bandages and only one stethescope, and the image haunted him for several days. Then he went into action. He arranged for three large shipping crates to be filled with medical supplies and paid to have them sent, along with the missionary, on a plane back to Ghana.

The refreshing and marvelous aspect of all these good deeds is that only a few people know about them, and he has never asked for a tax write-off. (!)

Of course, the good doctor isn't perfect by any means. In fact, his impish humor has caused immeasurable torment to me personally. For years, he would schedule my appointments to coincide with patients he knew were supporters of televangelist Robert Tilton. Then he would sit back and watch with glee as I was publicly excoriated in his waiting room once they realized I was the fellow causing their dear pastor all that trouble.

(And if you've ever been excoriated, you know how painful that can be.)

He stopped doing that after one woman physically attacked me. Also, by then the Tilton supporters were starting to thin out.

The most amazing thing about Dr. Bob is almost a cliche. He makes house calls. Many times I've been unable to get out of bed in excruciating pain and he's literally saved my life by driving across town to treat me.

It's for people like Dr. Winslow that the Talmud tempers it's first judgment about doctors with a second opinion, "Whoever visits the sick will deliver his soul from Gehenna."

Thank you for a lifetime of service, Dr. Bob. And may your tribe increase.