This is a longer post but the whole story needs to be told.
"Jesus please guide me, I'm in over my head." I whispered to myself. It's dark I don't know where to go or what to do but Claudia needs help.
I woke up on Tuesday, June 21st like any other day, somewhat tired but excited to start the day. We were running late to breakfast, which has seemed to become the norm, so in my rush I didn't even have time to stop and think. Out the door we went. Trailing behind I was making my general morning small talk when it was interrupted by a few of the group members surrounding a woman laying in the street. I was caught off guard "what could possibly be going on?" As I drew near it became evident everything was not ok, this woman in the middle of the street was having a seizure, and we were the only ones interested in helping. So we kneeled beside her trying to figure out what to do, how to help, how to possibly save her life. The hospital didn't seem interested in coming to help even after talking to them about what was going on. In the mean time we began to pray for it was all we knew to do at that point. "Let my faith be enough for her, please Lord let my faith be enough" I whispered to myself over and over. To say I felt weak and helpless in the situation is a severe understatement. The only information we had about her is what we could get out of the locals. Her name is Claudia, she has no family, she walks the streets alone, and has seizures often. She was alone and we seemed to be all she had. After what felt like an eternity, in reality about twenty minutes, an ambulance agreed to come and get her. Breakfast was quiet as we were all in shock and bewilderment of the lack of help her own people offered, how can no one care?
The day went on, we painted and continued in our work at the church, but our minds were with Claudia. Had she stopped seizing? Was she alive? Did they help her at all? We went back to where we were staying for the evening. With about 45 minutes till dinner I was sitting on my bed trying to read my bible but simply could not, my mind could not transfer what my eyes were seeing into cognitive thought. I look up at Dalton and said would you like to go on an adventure? "I'm always up for an adventure!" He replied. "Let's go see if we can find Claudia, I want to know she is ok." So off we went. We stopped at a small store on the way to get a snack, well Dalton did. "This boy never stops eating!" I thought to myself but on the way out we saw Abby. Abby is a member of the peace core. We only met in passing, as she also stopped to help Claudia. We greeted her with an excited hello and the question of "where is Claudia?" She pointed us to the nearby hospital with a smile. After talking for about ten minutes we learned Abby was from Ohio, and was very excited about the recent win in basketball. The small talk seemed to go in one ear and out the other as I was anxiously awaiting greeting Claudia. Finally With a big smile, a warm goodbye and a "good luck" the search continued.
We entered this gated courtyard, we see about five people standing around. Dalton begins to speak to them, Daltons Spanish is far greater than mine so I can only assume he is asking where Claudia has gone. With a point of a finger we look over and there she is sitting a few feet away. I suddenly felt a peace that she was alive, a peace that didn't last long. After exchanging words with the doctors, Dalton looks at me with a panicked look in his eyes, "They want us to take her home, they say she can't stay here." "How can we take her home?!" I wondered. We have no clue where she lives, does she even have a home? She is pretty much unresponsive, she can barely walk or stand , we cant even ask her where she lives, she just stares off into the distance as if she is fixated on something. So here we stand holding Claudia up outside the now closed courtyard gates, just as lost and confused as she is. It is now fairly dark, neither of us know what to do so we start walking. "Jesus please guide me, I'm in over my head." I whispered to myself. It's dark I don't know where to go or what to do but Claudia needs help. We asked some locals if they had any idea of where she could live and kept getting mixed responses, so we kept desperately mumbling our prayers as we ran into a local who spoke English. Never before had I been so excited to hear words in English, it was like a sweet Symphony to my Spanish riddled ears. He pointed us to what felt like the right way, the first time I felt this way since beginning this adventure. We are barely holding her up as she is tripping over the cobblestone road. I look down at her bare, bleeding, beaten feet and just look at her and say "Oh how I wish I could tell you how much Jesus loves you." We look up and see the spot where we found her that morning. Calling over some locals, Dalton rambles something off in spanish and they go back and forth for just a few moments. They tell Dalton that she lives in a village more than an hour drive away, let alone walking. I have never felt weaker and more out of control of a situation than in this moment, where to even start. We don't know what village, where, or how to get there. Its dark, we are late to dinner, we are worried, but we are praying. We look up and see the local pastor of the church, the same church we were painting that day. "Pastor Julio!" We cried. "We need some help." We went into the spiel of what has happened thus far, the look of hurt filled his eyes, the look of a hurt heart that has loved much. He helps us sit her down on a bench nearby and Julio started to pray. Afterwards we went to dinner and rested, my mind was elsewhere however.
"Would you like to do a prayer walk tomorrow morning?" Dalton asked me. After all that had happened that night I loved the sound of that. I took a deep breath of fresh morning air as we walked out the door early the next morning. It was during that time of prayer I was reminded that God is good and His love is enough. He will provide for Claudia even though I was unable to, through that peace I continue on.
Little is much when God is in it.
With the love of Christ,
Adam W. Roe.
"Jesus please guide me, I'm in over my head." I whispered to myself. It's dark I don't know where to go or what to do but Claudia needs help.
I woke up on Tuesday, June 21st like any other day, somewhat tired but excited to start the day. We were running late to breakfast, which has seemed to become the norm, so in my rush I didn't even have time to stop and think. Out the door we went. Trailing behind I was making my general morning small talk when it was interrupted by a few of the group members surrounding a woman laying in the street. I was caught off guard "what could possibly be going on?" As I drew near it became evident everything was not ok, this woman in the middle of the street was having a seizure, and we were the only ones interested in helping. So we kneeled beside her trying to figure out what to do, how to help, how to possibly save her life. The hospital didn't seem interested in coming to help even after talking to them about what was going on. In the mean time we began to pray for it was all we knew to do at that point. "Let my faith be enough for her, please Lord let my faith be enough" I whispered to myself over and over. To say I felt weak and helpless in the situation is a severe understatement. The only information we had about her is what we could get out of the locals. Her name is Claudia, she has no family, she walks the streets alone, and has seizures often. She was alone and we seemed to be all she had. After what felt like an eternity, in reality about twenty minutes, an ambulance agreed to come and get her. Breakfast was quiet as we were all in shock and bewilderment of the lack of help her own people offered, how can no one care?
The day went on, we painted and continued in our work at the church, but our minds were with Claudia. Had she stopped seizing? Was she alive? Did they help her at all? We went back to where we were staying for the evening. With about 45 minutes till dinner I was sitting on my bed trying to read my bible but simply could not, my mind could not transfer what my eyes were seeing into cognitive thought. I look up at Dalton and said would you like to go on an adventure? "I'm always up for an adventure!" He replied. "Let's go see if we can find Claudia, I want to know she is ok." So off we went. We stopped at a small store on the way to get a snack, well Dalton did. "This boy never stops eating!" I thought to myself but on the way out we saw Abby. Abby is a member of the peace core. We only met in passing, as she also stopped to help Claudia. We greeted her with an excited hello and the question of "where is Claudia?" She pointed us to the nearby hospital with a smile. After talking for about ten minutes we learned Abby was from Ohio, and was very excited about the recent win in basketball. The small talk seemed to go in one ear and out the other as I was anxiously awaiting greeting Claudia. Finally With a big smile, a warm goodbye and a "good luck" the search continued.
We entered this gated courtyard, we see about five people standing around. Dalton begins to speak to them, Daltons Spanish is far greater than mine so I can only assume he is asking where Claudia has gone. With a point of a finger we look over and there she is sitting a few feet away. I suddenly felt a peace that she was alive, a peace that didn't last long. After exchanging words with the doctors, Dalton looks at me with a panicked look in his eyes, "They want us to take her home, they say she can't stay here." "How can we take her home?!" I wondered. We have no clue where she lives, does she even have a home? She is pretty much unresponsive, she can barely walk or stand , we cant even ask her where she lives, she just stares off into the distance as if she is fixated on something. So here we stand holding Claudia up outside the now closed courtyard gates, just as lost and confused as she is. It is now fairly dark, neither of us know what to do so we start walking. "Jesus please guide me, I'm in over my head." I whispered to myself. It's dark I don't know where to go or what to do but Claudia needs help. We asked some locals if they had any idea of where she could live and kept getting mixed responses, so we kept desperately mumbling our prayers as we ran into a local who spoke English. Never before had I been so excited to hear words in English, it was like a sweet Symphony to my Spanish riddled ears. He pointed us to what felt like the right way, the first time I felt this way since beginning this adventure. We are barely holding her up as she is tripping over the cobblestone road. I look down at her bare, bleeding, beaten feet and just look at her and say "Oh how I wish I could tell you how much Jesus loves you." We look up and see the spot where we found her that morning. Calling over some locals, Dalton rambles something off in spanish and they go back and forth for just a few moments. They tell Dalton that she lives in a village more than an hour drive away, let alone walking. I have never felt weaker and more out of control of a situation than in this moment, where to even start. We don't know what village, where, or how to get there. Its dark, we are late to dinner, we are worried, but we are praying. We look up and see the local pastor of the church, the same church we were painting that day. "Pastor Julio!" We cried. "We need some help." We went into the spiel of what has happened thus far, the look of hurt filled his eyes, the look of a hurt heart that has loved much. He helps us sit her down on a bench nearby and Julio started to pray. Afterwards we went to dinner and rested, my mind was elsewhere however.
"Would you like to do a prayer walk tomorrow morning?" Dalton asked me. After all that had happened that night I loved the sound of that. I took a deep breath of fresh morning air as we walked out the door early the next morning. It was during that time of prayer I was reminded that God is good and His love is enough. He will provide for Claudia even though I was unable to, through that peace I continue on.
Little is much when God is in it.
With the love of Christ,
Adam W. Roe.
I've read this through four times now Adam. This is such a difficult situation. You've captured the uneasy tension so well that I felt in that moment and feel even more so now. There is pain in the world that I can not solve. I don't like that, and I find it difficult to trust the grace of God. My human heart wants the pain to stop now, but this world is not as God planned. It is broken. May we continue to walk in the light of reconciliation.
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