Every child who has ever attended Vacation Bible School has heard the story of the friends of a paralyzed man who lowered him down through the roof of a home to be healed by Jesus. That story echoes in our halls this week! We saw it when a mom carried in her Down Syndrome child who from a fall had a disfigured knee and couldn’t walk. Her simple request, “Would you happen to have a wheel barrow we could have?” Imagine her delight when instead she received a wheelchair built for daughter! I think I can still hear them giggling as they headed for home! Again, this ancient story came to life when a wheelchair was made for a 9-year-old little girl who was a Zika baby and now lives with Microcephaly. Her older brother, cradling her in his arms, knows what it means to care for someone, whatever the cost. The simple gift of fitting her with a wheelchair will give the family some respite. It will truly change their life. It has already changed ours. The note in my bible next to this story from Mark chapter 2 reads as follows:
As we look back these 2,000 years and see these energetic and determined men lowering their paralyzed friend through a hole in the roof in a crowded Palestinian house, Mark’s concern is that we would see something significant about the reign of God breaking into our lives- that we would see Jesus as the first ray of light in the dawn of God’s Kingdom. – Eugene Peterson
Imagine being a 21-year-old young woman whose face has been disfigured by a scar from forehead to chin which has also left you unable to hear after being hit by a bus…
Imagine being hit by a truck on the way to give blood, and now you have no livelihood because you can’t walk…
Imagine no one able to assist you with a complicated birth, leaving your child with a brain injury…
Imagine having no hope…
These are just a few of the patient stories we see each day in the clinic. But it’s not where the story ends! Faith and Practice was formed on the belief that it is God who ultimately heals and each member of the village medical clinics and surgery teams are the hands called to serve. And for this, we are humbled and grateful to be part of God’s story!
Julie Eberly, Volunteer and Blogger
