Come…quickly!

“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”      

Revelation 22:20                       

Yesterday I sat in the home of Mauricio. He is a husband and father who had been in a motorcycle accident. His sister, Alba, is our friend and Spanish teacher, and since we were traveling up to his town, Guastatoya, to visit families she asked if we could visit him as well.

He was returning from Guatemala City when he took a nasty spill on his motorcycle. The bike fell on his leg and he slid some distance. He was taken by ambulance to the national hospital in GC where they told him that they couldn’t X-ray or examine him because his leg was too swollen. (Are you kidding me?) So, he was sent home and told to return in three weeks when the swelling was down. (This has to be a joke, right? Sorry, but it’s not.) I walked in the room and took one look at his severely swollen leg and knew he had trouble. I placed my hand gently on it and he winced in pain as I felt the heat radiating off his leg.

After talking it over with his family, we decided to pay for him to go to a local private hospital for X-rays and an exam. Alba was with us, so she arranged for she and her parents to take him for the exam while we visited other families. They did so, and a little while later I received a text message from Alba explaining that he had a severe infection in his leg and needed to be hospitalized for two days so they could administer intravenous antibiotics. The cost? Q.2000.00 (about $265) plus an additional Q.500.00 ($66.00) for medicine. His entire family works hard and is struggling to survive. No one had that kind of money. Further, I didn’t have that much available to me, which meant I would need to make the three hour trip back on Friday and bring funds with me. (I had withdrawn Q.2000 from a cash machine to take care of the sponsored needs in the town. That is my daily ATM limit, so I could not withdraw more and my bank didn’t have a branch anywhere near the town.) In addition, this is not a budgeted expense, so we just don’t have the funds for it.

I sat and struggled with all these thoughts, along with others. When I thought about the necessary return to town two days later I was reminded of the Good Samaritan who cared for his neighbor, getting him help, and then coming back later to pay the balance, and I realized that we needed to do what was necessary to help.

So, we arranged for him to be admitted. Praise God, Ron and Melanie Ecklebarger were traveling with me and they were able to withdraw and loan me the money for the hospital (along with the assistance and support of Ron’s dad, Bob, back home in Pastores), saving us another expensive trip on Friday. I have since received word that the antibiotics are working and he is improving already.

I keep thinking, what if he had followed the instructions of the doctor at the national hospital? If he had waited, he would have suffered greatly and possibly faced an amputation. Of course, if left unchecked, it could have been fatal. I shake my head often at the medical system here. So many people die and suffer needlessly. A combination of incompetence in some doctors and a flood of needs that overwhelm the good doctors has created an ugly and very dangerous situation.

After that, we visited Carmen and her two daughters, Manuela and Marsela. When we arrived, we saw a lock on the outside of the metal hut. My first thought was the the landlord had evicted them since she is over a year behind on her rent. (She pays a king’s ransom of $45 a month for a tiny metal oven. A rip-off by Guatemalan standards and an unobtainable total for this single mom who has to stay at home to care for her two daughters with special needs.) However, we found out from a neighbor that she had just gone to gather firewood and had locked one of the daughters inside to keep her from wandering away. My heart broke as I thought of this young lady locked inside the metal shack on a 90 degree plus day. She spoke to us through a crack between the door and the wall and stuck her fingers through so we could touch her.

Please don’t jump to conclusions and assume this is an abusive and neglectful mom. She is not. She cares for her daughters and is doing her best. But imagine that you are an elderly mother and have to walk two kilometers for firewood that you need for cooking. You have two daughters that cannot be left alone outside because they might wander off. One of those daughters is difficult to control without having a hand free to hold her hand. How do you do it? How do you carry a heavy load of firewood while keeping her from wandering away or stepping out into the street in front of a car? I can honestly say that I don’t know how I would do it as a healthy, reasonably strong man. I certainly don’t know how a sickly 65 year old could do it.

And so, she did the only thing she knew to do. She locked her daughter in to keep her as safe as possible and hurried away to gather firewood as fast as possible. She isn’t a monster, she is a mother in the worst of circumstances.

Soon she and her daughters will be evicted. She owes $630 in back rent plus the $45 a month rent just to keep up. She can’t work because she has to care for her daughters. Soon, if her health continues to decline, she will die and leave Manuela and Marsela alone. If they are fortunate, they will be sent to a state-run institution (as opposed to being left alone to die). But if that happens, you and I do not want to see their future.

As I contemplated all of this, I was overwhelmed with sadness and desperation. I honestly don’t know what to do to help them. And, as I shed some tears, I said a simple prayer. “Lord Jesus, come quickly!”

There will come a day when suffering and oppression will end. Selfishness and materialism will be obliterated and replaced with love. There will be no need for doctors and crappy hospitals. There will be no more single moms struggling to care for their children. No more metal shacks on a hot sunny day with a young lady locked inside. No more disabilities. No more death. No more pain. No more oppression.

And so, this is my prayer:

Jesus, I really want that day to come soon! In fact, yesterday would be a great day for it to happen! But until that day, please help me be a little taste of Your Kingdom. Let me be Your love. Let me be Your justice. Let me be Your hope. Let me be Your healing and peace and mercy and hands and feet and so much more. And, please, let me do it in such a way that points to You and gives You all the glory. Because, after all, You are the King and it is Your Kingdom!

Amen and blessings from San Antonio Aguas Calientes.

Daryl, Wanda and the Crew