Life and death

, ​Living our lives sneaks up on us sometimes.  Sometimes I feel like I get regular reminders of the following:

1. One does not know what the day will bring.
2. Everything is fine, until it isn’t. 

 
It is hard to prepare yourself sometimes given those axioms, but it is possible…to some extent.  I find that in praying, and in being mindful of the things I take for granted (well, as many as I can remember) and in practicing flexibility, it helps.  You might notice I am proclaiming, while also leaving myself an out.  We will get back to that.
 
In the past couple of weeks, there has been quite a bit going on around the mission.  The good news is…I can’t possibly cover it all in one blog post.  The better news is that I won’t even try.
 
One of the cool things was seeing 65 people come for a seminar on leadership and evangelism.  It was especially cool because the Church we work with next door let us use their building to do it, an organization provided the funding to get the trainer (Bring Good News), Walk through the Bible did the teaching, and we had The Milk Projects and several different Churches represented.  Bringing that all together was definitely a God thing.  And the good news is that we have a follow-up conference also to come on the same topic coming in November. 
 
One thing we had not really planned on, was sending Alexis from Cantarranas to help pastor Manuel in Talanga.  Having recently completed his pastoral studies up North, we have been watching to see how God might use Alexis going forward, and in seeing the need to help Manuel and try to find ways to add members to the Church, especially men and families…sending him there for a couple months to help do home Bible studies seemed like a pretty good idea. 
 
It was a normal weekday morning when I got a phone call from Maria.  And it was around 7:30, before she goes into work.  Odd I thought, I better interrupt my running and take this call, it could be urgent.  Maria had come across someone in our neighborhood who had apparently fallen in the ditch the night before, when it was raining, and had been convulsing.  She did not know her other than seeing her in the neighborhood trying to sell soap or find recyclables she could sell.  The public ambulance system had been advised, but would not take her to the hospital, as they could not lift her.  I wasn’t clear on what our official ambulance policy was as a mission/clinic, but I did not really need a policy fresh in mind to tell us what to do.  Jorge took the guys getting ready to do construction, went in the ambulance, and they got her to the hospital.  I was glad we had an ambulance that day (thanks again to FAME and IDES) and staff to not only drive it but provide care along the way (one of our nurses goes with the patient.) 
 
It is often said that good deeds are their own reward, and in this case, after everyone sprang into action, I said a prayer for healing, and went on with our day…without a way to follow up, it would be hard to know who she was, and what happened.  It was not long though before Maria had visitors, it turns out that the woman died the next day after being taken to the hospital, but her daughters specifically came back to give thanks for the help provided.  Good deeds can indeed be their own reward…in this case though, we had no idea when providing the minimum of help we thought we could provide would be seen or appreciated by anyone else. 
 
The same day, Maria saw Mariza’s mother, who lives just down the block from the Milk Project, and she was very sick, and had not been able to go to the bathroom for over a week.  (Mariza attends the Milk Project.)  As the ambulance was gone…she found her another ride to the hospital.  Unfortunately, though, her condition was too advanced and she died by the next morning.  For a time, the family was asking Maria to be the one to break the news to Mariza.  Her father though was able to get there, and they did it together, but for a few hours it was tough to figure out what was going to happen, and how to best go about everything related to that. 

---

​Life, living, growth…death, depression, illness.  Some days it can be one way, the other…or even both.  I wouldn’t think I would need reminders of that to appreciate what I have, what is now, and the many gifts I have.  But even in praying and trying to remember, there is a problem.  And it is me.  God is faithful, good, and has a perfect plan.  But I forget that routinely, can’t see enough of that plan to always trust like I should, and just plain get scared sometimes with what I can see all around me. 
 
Most days…in big ways, small ways, or just every way, I need the reminder that “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”