In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. He existed before time and holds all our days. He is the Alpha and Omega, breathed life into man, and each day gives us new breath. This is our God. He is eternal! Yet through yesterday, today and tomorrow, we live in the bounds of time, in the control of God who is outside of time. He is and was and always will be.
Yet, on earth time is something we measure, anticipate, hold on to, or waste - years, days, hours, minutes. Young or old, we have ideas of what a full life will look like or how long it will be, yet this is an aspect of time that is outside our control. This month, we saw new birth and we saw death; a reminder of time and that our days are numbered. We met those teetering between and both results. Babies and men who have neither birth certificates nor death, know not their birthday or age.
We met Peter who had been sick for weeks, his sons, his wife, and spent time sitting around the fire in their house. Pastor visited with them, as did other men in the church. Yet, on an early morning walk we heard the house cry start. In the night, Peter went to be with His Savior.
We met Moses, whose family accompanied him from Aminawa, and admitted him. Linda stood over him with his four sons holding IV bottles, Sam and Blumen visited with the whole family, and we explained medicines. Moses passed away within the week, but not until after all of his sons went to Blumen's house to ask more questions about the Gospel.
We met Atanapi who has pneumonia and was in respiratory distress. Daily we have been able to walk to her house to also give her injections and breathing treatments. Sharing stories around the fire and meeting all the family members and neighbors who stop by was a joy. She is slowly recovering.
We met Elizabeth and Tomson who had a premature baby and walked for three days to reach us. Their precious little girl was already six weeks old and only three pounds. Everyone was in awe; we at her size and survival thus far, and mom that we had a little cap to fit her. The tiny little one went home to stay with family nearby, and eleven days later went to be with her forever Father in heaven.
We met Mary's baby who has lost weight for the past month due to infection and malnutrition. She was admitted and stabilized. Mary, who has not known a stable or loving home, is now left to raise her little one alone. Her baby is two months old and under five pounds, and we are still waiting for her to gain strength to learn to suck.
We met Raychel's baby who was also losing weight from malnutrition; he was four months old and only five pounds. Like many others, they came to the clinic asking for vaccines which gave us a chance to see the need was even greater. He also has stabilized but has a long road to go of slowly gaining and growing.
These are the days and patients that remind us of the fragility of life and reality of death. Some we will see again, and for others we continue to pray for their families. In their cases, illness brought them to the clinic - a simple fever, shortness of breath, stomach aches or fatigue. Yet, while that sickness interrupts our physical lives, we pray that in time - they may hear and see the hope and love of Christ.
It seems some days that there is not enough time; we have recently seen more patients the past two months, averaging 95 patients daily. Other patients are so sick that they spend a great amount of time with us. Vila was burned in a house fire and won all of our hearts during the two weeks that she spent here, while Tara also spent more than a week healing from being burned with boiling water. Rose has been visiting weekly to weigh her twins as they grow; Nolan is recovering from severe anemia, sepsis, and kwashikior. Sadly, Daiana and Nela left before they had fully recovered. And we have had more malaria patients in February than all the last 6 months combined.
Reading through None Like Him, by Jen Wilkin, this month was a graceful reminder that God's timing in our lives is far beyond what we can see. Not for one minute has He turned His head or forgotten; He has not lost track of the time, nor is He surprised. And what He is working in the hearts and lives of others, we may never fully see or know in this life. Jen wrote, "We can readily acknowledge that there is an appropriate time for everything, but we have a fairly formed opinion on when those times should be. The time to heal is any time someone is sick. The time to be silent is when I am done speaking my mind. The time to die is at the end of a full life, not a moment before. But we see all around us that tragedy and comedy, birth and death, mourning and dancing present themselves seemingly whatever time they choose. … We read the promise that God makes everything beautiful in its time, and we look the unresolved sorrows and hurts of our lives and the lives of others …. We look around at the times and seasons and ask 'Where is the beauty God is bringing forth in this?' we expect Him to make everything beautiful in our time. But the One who determines the beginning from the end does not operate according to our timelines. He will work all things according to his purposes. Every sorrow or harm we suffer will be redeemed for good."
This is the time we have been given. In the temporal. daily little responsibilities, in each patient's cough, in the 115 tuberculosis patients visits returning each month, in each English club, in every house visit, in the hours sitting on the porch with John Mark translating, in walks back and forth to market, in talks in between church services, in times doing homework in Pisin, in times that are fleeting - may we remember eternity, and spend less time counting the days and consider more how we are using them.
It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will take it to heart. Ecclesiastes 7:2