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Saturday, March 22, 2008

What kind of King.................

God could have ridden in on a buff white stallion with an army to redeem his people and kingdom by force. Instead he rode on a donkey, alone, and died to do it. What kind of king is that?

When Jesus was arrested and brought to trial he knew everything but said nothing. He had more power available to him than any other man to ever walk this earth, yet he was whipped and beaten, undefended. What kind of king is that?

And this rescue plan of his? He stakes everything by paying for my sin with his death and gives me the free will to choose or reject him (and to ignore him is to reject him). What kind of king is that?

God announces forgiveness in advance and allows continuous and repetitive forgiveness. What an incredible risk! I wonder if my sin hurts just as much as the beatings and crucifixion he endured. Maybe even more? What kind of king is that?

When I'm challenged to do thing that I know I can, I do it. I'm more than eager to prove a point. Not Jesus. When he hung on the cross near death he was challenged: "Come down from the cross if you are the son of God." He stayed there. What kind of king is that?

What kind of king walks around homeless for three years teaching that we are to serve to be great? Doesn't he know that's not exactly how we measure success here in the United States? And where is this kingdom he talked about? Author Rick McKinley argues that this kingdom is breaking in all around us. I recommend his book titled "This Beautiful Mess"

Friday, March 21, 2008

"Good" Friday

Good for me. Painful for you Jesus. I believe that, as you hung on the cross and asked "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?" you were, in that moment, completely separated from the Father. I believe in that moment, every sin I have and will commit flowed through you, or rested on you somehow. And since God is holy and can not sin, you were keenly aware of being separated from the Father....................so I wouldn't be.

So what can I offer you in return? To know that I can't adequately repay you is actually freeing. It takes the pressure to perform off.

That's what a gift is all about.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

On The Verge

In Numbers 14 the Israelites were on the verge. They had just spent the last 40 days in the desert. Just 40 DAYS before this they had seen all the plagues God sent against Egypt for their rescue. They saw the ark of the covenant made. They saw God in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They saw a dry path appear in the middle of the sea. They saw their pursuers drown in that sea. They made a cast idol, worshipped it, were given the ten commandments, drank water from a rock, ate manna for free, complained about the manna and were given quail till they got tired of that, and kept right on grumbling. All in 40 days!

Then Moses sends out a group of leaders on a spy mission. They were to go to the promised land, check it out, and report back. After just 40 days the nation of Israel is camped out on the edge of this land. A land flowing with milk and honey the Bible says. It's the land of their destiny. And the spies come back and report that this land is indeed awesome. Except for one problem. All but two of them (Joshua and Caleb) say the people living there are too big and powerful to depose. Joshua and Caleb's disagreement with this assessment nearly got them stoned to death. And the whole community starts grumbling again.

So instead of taking possession of their destiny on day 41 this community of believers/doubters/grumblers/rebels began another journey. One that would last 40 YEARS and see everyone over 20 years of age die in the desert, except for the two nearly stoned to death, Caleb and Joshua.

Israel was on the verge, but fear replaced faith. What are you on the verge of? What might it cost if fear or sin or ego get in the way?

God is writing an epic story.............and we're in it.

Friday, March 14, 2008

La Catacumbas

Last Friday I toured The Monastery San Francisco in the historical district of Lima, Peru. It was built in the 16th century for the Franciscan friary. I saw paintings from 1691, Sevillian tiles dating from 1621 and books as old as 1571. I was amazed to find the library holding these books to be open, without any climate control, and natural sunlight pouring in from the windows and skylights. The paintings were on a portico area on the outside of the building......just hanging there. Incredible.


The catacombs were amazing. Discovered in 1943, they are believed to hold some 25,000 bodies. It was the burial grounds until the first cemetery was opened outside Lima in 1808. It also had crypts where wealthy benefactors are buried. They are just like something you see on TV. Skulls and femurs everywhere ( they are the most dense and take the longest to decay ) and most North Americans are too tall to fit, so I had to hunch over for most of this part of the tour. If you would like to take a virtual tour go to http://www.museocatacumbas.com/

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The Church

Last weeks mission to Peru with the Malone College nursing students was over the top for me. We had planned and tried to plan this trip to go to Ecuador for over two months. We prayed and asked God to open that door but it didn't happen. We were all disappointed but decided to follow God to Peru. There is no doubt this was His plan.

We did 3 solo clincs at which we saw over 250 patients. We plugged into one clinic with the Ministry of Health and probably saw 100 patients at that one alone. Many lives were touched, some were changed (right Alyssa, Stephanie, Jon, Rachel, Rebecca, Jess, Breadyn, Brannyn, Ashley and Elisabeth?).

On Wednesday the governments of Ecuador and Columbia were talking war, and we were glad we were not in Ecuador. But Monday, day three of the trip, was God's reason for changing our venue to Peru. That day we met Luis. He's the six year old boy with the soon to be fixed colostomy. We committed to getting this surgery taken care of for him and these nurses have apparently been talking about him alot. Ashley's friend from work is donating, Elisabeth has some friends interested, Brannyn's mom has a work associate donating, Stephanie's aunt already sent a check.

I am starting to wonder if Luis will be a healthcare worker someday, caring and curing the people of Peru. All because a group of twentysomething world changers took spring break to the gutter where people are hurting. It was a privilege watching God work through them. Way to BE the church!

Friday, March 7, 2008

Organized

Today we will battle another day of sunny and 80 in Peru. My heart goes out to my family and friends in Ohio who will battle yet another winter storm this weekend. We are hoping it does not delay our arrival back home.

We plan to visit a local nursing school and tour a hospital today. The nurses are pretty tired and I'm not sure we could handle another neighborhood clinic today.

Yesterday's clinic was another great day but started out questionably as our bus broke down on the way. Our bus driver, Americo, showed me we had thrown a belt and then he immediately got to work fixing it. Success after only about 15 minutes and we were on our way to Hogar de Ninos orphange for our clinic for the neighborhood of Pape Leon. We planned on two doctors...............and we got one. Our concern melted as we soon realized we were dealing with a very organized, effecient la doctora. We are also getting good at this and soon had all our stations set up.

Station # 1: Triage and vitals.
Station # 2: Doctor
Station # 3: Pharmacy and injections
Station # 4: Free clothes

It turns out that we served more people than any previous clinic: 127. We had no major surprises but did see a little boy with six toes. We see a lot of kids with worms and parasites according to our doctors. As our time here in Peru winds down I am so honored to be here with these world changers from Malone College. I am convinced that each and every one they served will come up to them in heaven to say "gracias" one more time.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

La Pharmaica

Yesterday the group spent the day doing odd jobs at Hannah's Home. It is getting soooo close to opening. We played with the kids at Hogar de Ninos Orphanage in the afternoon and then came back for dinner. We went to Norky's for the best fire broasted chicken in the world. No kidding.
Then off to church at El Shalom in Villa El Salvador. I wanted the team to see the hospital there so we stopped by so they could take a few photos. It's in the median of the street and is made from cargo shipping containers. Very unique and resourceful. Church rocked. Really rocked. The team was up in front dancing by the end of the service.

The best part of my day was a trip with Felix and Diana to the pharmacy. We needed more supplies for today's clinic. We bought a lot and and as our clerk began boxing up our supplies the rest of the employees gathered around to see what all this was for. After Diana explained what we were doing they started bringing out stuff to give us. And not just one token donation.........lots of stuff. We spent about $220 on our list of medine. Diana, my translator and also a nursing student ( how appropriate ) estimates they gave us about $150 worth in free meds.

God is good.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

UNchaos

Well, almost. Clinic # 2 was a lot better organized. We had 2 doctors (thanks to Dr. Steve Lohr) and we saw about 70 people today. We had 2 triage stations with a doctor and nurses. Another station was la botica ( a pharmacy ) where more nurses were stationed to dispense the vitamins and medicine. After the the doctor was done our patients then went to the final station to get some free clothing. The kids smiled, the moms were thankful, one woman cried.



Our little friend Luis came to see us again today. He is the little guy with the colon on the outside of his body. His mom had a diaper wrapped around it today. There was excrememt all over his belly. It was amazing to watch Brannyn and Ashley clean him with kid gloves, like he was there own son. We bought colostomy bags and showed his mom how to apply them and clean the area. And then we had the honor of telling her that the surgery he needs to fix all this will be paid for.

I'm pretty sure Luis is at least one of the reasons this group is in Peru. If we had gone to Ecuador we would never have met Luis. But God has plans for this little life. Wouldn't it be cool if he grew up and worked in healthcare?

God is good. All the time.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Chaos

The clinic today was one of the most unorganized, chaotic beautiful days ever. We had one doctor with us and we set up in the house of a resident of Lomas de Marchan. The house had a dirt floor with roosters in the back. Not the most sterile environment. Welcome to Peru. We served about 60 patients. I thought we would just give some basic, easy medical care. Not so.

We had a little girl come in named Andrea who was about three years old. She had burns all over her chest. A couple of the nurses debrided her scabs. That means they scraped them with a knife. Yikes! We expected her to scream. Instead she just wathed. I thought that was amazing. But we learned if the burns are second degree the chance is she didn't even feel it. She was alone. No parent came with her. Very sad.

Later in the day we met Luis. Luis is a six year old boy. Part of his colon was on the outside of his stomach. He had a colostomy but the family could not afford the bags needed. His mother had a t-shirt tied around him to catch his waste as it exited his body. We are going to purchase some of the bags he needs. For about $1,000.00 he can get an operation to fix his condition. So the nursing students decided they wanted to use the extra few hundred dollars from their trip money to help pay for Luis' operation. Tomorrow we will be able to tell his mother the operation will paid for. We need to raise a few hundred dollars to close the loop on this need.

So today Ashley, Braedyn, Stephanie, Jon, Alyssa, Brannyn, Rebecca, Jess, Elisabeth and Rachel just changed the world.

What an awesome day.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Friday I had an interesting conversation in the Houston airport. We were at our gate waiting to depart from Peru. So I sat down next to a guy and his wife. He is from Peru, which is no surprise as the plane we were both about to board was bound for there. But as our conversation continued it got pretty interesting. Turns out he (Batista) was raised in Pucusanah. It's a fishing village very close to where Hannnah's Home and Hope is being built in Chilca. We talked about what my group of nursing students was going to do in Peru and we were both pretty amazed that he used to live very close to our propety in Chilca.

But it gets better.

Batista talked about knowing Chilca and said his mother lives in a neighborhood in Chilca called Papa Leon. That's where our property is.

But it gets better.

His mother lives on the exact same street as our property. He said his mother had told him about the orphanage that ChildReach is building. He is going to visit us this Wednesday.

Saturday's clinic went well for the group. We were able to plug right into a clinic the government (Ministeria de Salud) was doing and the nurses did everything from blood pressure reading to injections.

Today we went to church and experienced a 2 hour service. In the small towns of Peru you are unable to leave without greeting every single person. Today's service was no different. Everyone hugged everyone. After our sermon each children's Sunday school class went up front and told the church what they learned. When the oldest ones were done we thought the service was over.

Nope.

The adults ( all of us ) had to go up front and be quizzed by Pastor Jorge about what we learned while the kids watched. It wasn't too bad actually.

Tomorrow is another clinic in the village of Lomas Marchan.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Arrived

Last night I stood in the longest customs line I have ever seen in the Lima, Peru airport. It took us two hours from the time we exited the plane to get through and claim our equipaje and get on the road. We arrived at Ola Grande at about 2:30AM...........umm........today I guess. And we hit the ground running soon with a clinic in Chilca at 9:00 am. I woke up around 6:30 so I'm "running" on about 3.5 hours of sleep. But all in all the travel day went well. All flights were fine and on time despite a good bit of snow in Cleveland.

Thank you God.