The Author
James J. Elist, M.D.
A surgeon's career shaped by science, responsibility, innovation, and faith.
Surgeon · Inventor · Author
Dr. James J. Elist is a urologist, surgeon, inventor, and author whose medical career spans more than four decades.
His professional life has been dedicated to surgery and men's health, including the development of medical innovations within his field.
But alongside the clinical milestones was another journey.
Throughout his career, Dr. Elist experienced events that challenged him to consider the role of faith within medicine and within his own life.
The operating room is a place of preparation and precision, but also humility. No physician controls every outcome. For Dr. Elist, that reality deepened his awareness of faith, prayer, responsibility, and divine providence.
Over time, the experiences accumulated.
Some involved patients.
Others involved family, colleagues, unexpected encounters, or circumstances whose meaning only became clear later.
He began recording these experiences so they would not be forgotten.
Those reflections eventually became Operating With God.
Why This Book
Stories worth preserving.
Lessons worth sharing.
The purpose of Operating With God is not to convince readers that every unexpected event is a miracle.
Instead, Dr. Elist asks readers to remain open to the possibility that life sometimes speaks to us in ways that are easy to overlook.
His stories reflect a simple idea:
Faith does not require abandoning reason.
And professional achievement does not require leaving spirituality behind.
For Dr. Elist, the two became increasingly connected.
Medicine and Faith