Jose y Raquel los peregrinos

In which Jose sees the light

A few weeks ago I received a letter that Donya Nativa passed away.
You will remember that we spent Christmas with her and her family. The day after we left – the 26th of December – she died. Our friend Milagro, her daughter, is now living with a sister in the capital city of Tegucigalpa and will attend a high school there.
That same week, I found myself in two other hopitals thinking of life and death. The first was an afternoon in a bleak city hospital in La Ceiba, where Santitos had brought his father. The emergency room was full of pain and suffering, and the small staff of doctors could do little to relieve it. Santitos almost cried as he said that they could or would not help his father – they would not even talk to him.
But we prayed together with hope, because we knew that God cares for his people, and we knew that even that morning, he had provided miraculously. While Santitos was at the city hospital, I had taken his son Meiner to another hospital a couple of hours away where an American orthopedic surgeon was visiting. This meeting was full of light and joy.
Meiner is four years old, but has never been able to walk. He was also behind in sitting up, picking up language skills, and many other “normal” milestones for children. But his life is full of happiness, and he spreads his joy to those around him. As Rachel and I come over the rise to their house, He screams “Jose! Jose!” as he lies on the ground. His smile fills the air and finally floats to our hearts, where it grows into love.
In fact, the same thing happened at the hospital that morning. The nurses could not resist the smiles of Meiner, and the room was packed during the exam. The doctor and I spoke for some time about his life and his condition, and he finally diagnosed cerebral palsy. My heart fell, but the doctor said that his condition was mild, and that we could work to fight it with exercise and attention.
A nurse brought a child-sized walker in, and showed it to Meiner. He showed some interest after we all practiced with it, and then grabbed it himself. After a moment of imbalance, he took a step, and then another, and then used it to walk across the whole room! He turned and smiled an embarrassed smile at us, and then laughed.
The whole room was teary-eyed as we laughed with him. His first independent steps! The future is not dark, but light! Of course, Meiner knew this all along – he had always smiled. The Kingdom of Heaven is of children such as this.
And so, as Santitos and I prayed together that afternoon in the city hospital, he said “Dios sabe.” - God knows. We live in trust that even as we stand in bleak hospital rooms full of despair, and even as we now hear of Donya Nativa’s death, we know that even this cannot stand against the Kingdom of God.
He is coming in great power and glory, and even now we see Him. “…the lame walk…the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”