Friday Clinic

Friday, March 22, 2019

“In You, our fathers trusted…

and You delivered them…

they cried out…and we’re not disappointed. Commit yourself to the Lord,

let Him deliver you…

because He delights in you.”

Psalms 22

I am thinking of our Child Safety Initiative this morning as I read Psalms 22. “Cry out to the Lord”, the Psalmist writes, “and be delivered”. He answers every prayer though not always as we expect. Nonetheless, cry out. He will deliver you.

It is a clear, shining day. The past few have been dulled by the smoke of a forest fire just out of town but today, it is clearing.

Our clinic is in the city, a short drive away. Eva tells me, as we pass by Catholic Cathedral, that it was built by the Spaniards for the rich. There is a smaller one a few blocks away, grand in it’s own way, built for the poor.

The church sanctuary is large and airy. There are white banners on the walls. Each one with golden letters spelling a different name of God: Jireh, El Shaddai, El Elyon, Rafa, Jesus. On the altar there is the Arc of the Covenant in miniature. These are powerful reminders of our powerful, trustworthy God.

We are to see the Child Champions this morning, a kind of Big Brother/Big Sister. They are volunteers in each community who have committed to caring for the children. They wear bright shirts of orange that say “I am a ‘Campeon’.

We are short on interpreters so I watch and help as needed. I close my eyes and listen. The combining sounds float like waves. They ebb and flow in undulating crescendos. Like jumping fish, singular voices rise above the rest to resonate clearly: a baby’s anguished cry, the lyrical popping of joyful laughter, a bursting of grateful Spanish, the hush of voices in prayer. This is the symphony of sound that accompanies the splendid coming together of a clinic in unison. If you listen closely enough you might even hear the whirr of angel wings.

The line to wait for an exam begins to lengthen and there are several young children in it. Seeing this, I grab a tennis ball to distract the little ones and soon find out that all ages beam with delight when it is their turn to catch the ball. I transition to having my new found 3 year old friend, Jeremy, toss the ball to each one. It is a marvelous volley of intergenerational connection, for me as well.

A Champion comes in wearing a purple shirt with Juecus 4:9 printed on it. As she sits, back to me, I try to figure out which Bible book it is. I settle upon Judges 4:9 “Surely I will go with you…for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” It talks about how God invited Barak to join Him in blessing Israel but he was too afraid to go. As a result the blessing was given to Deborah, a mighty woman of God. This child Champion is indeed a mighty woman of God. She listened to His call and joined Him in His work. The blessing is hers.

God invites us into His work. He doesn’t need us but He invites so that we might experience first-hand how He works and partake of the blessings. I shared this with her and for the rest of the day whenever I saw her, I called her Mighty Woman of God.

When sweet interpreting Johanna becomes free, I grab the open seat and do a few exams. We see a16 year old girl who is 7 months pregnant. She is smiling and interested in all my teaching. My Mighty Woman of God comes beside her and hugs her in greeting. I pray for her and her baby and, smiling though with tears in her eyes, she goes to vitamins.

Emily tells me later that she prayed for the same girl. The girl told her that she did not consent when the baby was conceived. She has some kind of lawsuit out against the baby’s father but wasn’t willing to give any more details.

I marvel at the news. This young woman seems self assured and well loved and adapting nicely to pregnancy. I pray again, this time for my Mighty Woman of God. I ask that she might join God in His work in the life of this Mama to be. I think back to Psalms 22 and smile remembering that God delights in her and has promised to ‘deliver’ her.

There. Do you hear? Angel wings again.