Day 4--How will we tell them of the Hope?

8:17 pm

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Today we worked at the Good Shepherd Clinic. This clinic is a ministry of the local church with whom we've partnered. We arrived to find over 100 people waiting for us. Some lined up before 6am for a chance to see the doctor. Some have appointments, some come without an appointment--only a hope they that too will be seen. We worked all day until we saw all of them, with one break of about 15 minutes.

I worked in the pharmacy all day. I worked alongside Haitian students from the church. They are real pros in the pharmacy. We filled orders for antibiotics, anti-malaria medications, and the like for most of the day. Then we got an order for an HIV test on a three-year-old a girl. The students didn't seem to flinch.

I took pause as I looked into the eyes of our young patient. She was so tiny and so frail. I wanted to take her home and give her a place at my house to live her last days. I thought she deserved a chance for dignity for what may lay before her.

Well, the test was negative. She does not have HIV. But that moment lingered in my heart. Children suffer at no fault of their own and it breaks my heart. And I ask, "What am I doing for those at home?" I've said that hope for Haiti will come through the Church. The same is true of those in the U.S. True Hope for them will only come through the Church. The Church that follows the Spirit as she should will be the one to bring Hope around the world.

Lord, how am I to be that message of hope? How am I to the be one who is obedient to the Spirit? How am I to bring hope to my children and the children who suffer?