If I can’t relate, am I really effective?

Hope and I have seen some challenging things in this trip. We discuss eternal issues daily. Yet I didn’t expect to encounter something this past week that would cause such a massive jolt of reflection that would ripple through all the compartments of my life. While serving with Walk in the Light ministries outside of Pietermaritzburg, we met, served, and prayed with a woman very sick with AIDS. I’ve never interacted so closely with anyone truly suffering from one of the most dreaded diseases of this generation. She sat in a simple, worn-out den chair outside her mother’s shack in Haniville Township. Her family called an ambulance around six that morning because she was in so much pain but by the time we arrived at around ten they hadn’t seen any help. A new staff from the UK, Dave, explained that many AIDS victims’ legs swell due to their failing lymphoids, and they’re unable to walk — that’s the state she was in. Before we began the process of moving her, Dave led us in prayer. Then we carefully lifted her from the chair and laid her in a stretcher as gently as we possibly could. As I helped to carry her to the Land Rover, I reflected on how light she was while praying that I wouldn’t slip on the gravel. Getting her into the Land Rover smoothly & gently was a challenge but we did our best (picture shows us contemplating the task). Her sister, who is HIV-positive yet still fairly healthy, joined us as we transported her to the nearby hospital. As we drove, I attempted to comfort her with my arm around her… praying the whole time for her to sense Christ’s presence and peace. Once at the hospital, we lifted her gently into a wheelchair. Afterwards she insisted by motioning her hands that we not leave her there to spend the night so we told her sister to phone us when they were ready to go home again. This experience began the ripple-effect, but it wasn’t until the next day that I felt the jolt. Phindile, the “secretary” of Walk in the Light, invited us to join her for medical “rounds” in Haniville in which she visits clients daily to “make sure” they take their medication for AIDS and TB. (She explained that if she doesn’t check daily they will neglect to take it.) As we began our walk with her, I asked her about the woman we helped the day before. Without hesitation or any noticeable remorse, she responded, “She died.” Deaths from AIDS are so common that Bruce, the Director of Walk in the Light (family picture), facilitated 73 funerals last year, just in his part of that one community… However, our encounter with this woman hit us in two profound new ways: she was the first, visibly suffering, AIDS victim that we’ve interacted closely with, and she was the first person we know directly to die from AIDS. I began reflecting on this as I walked down the steep hill that cuts through the township. While wrapped in my thoughts, I saw a young boy about 10 years old with torn shirt, dirty, mis-matched pants and sweater, and no shoes walking up the hill. As we passed him, Phindile greeted him as she had to all those we passed along the way. He looked familiar and Phindile shared with us that he was this same woman’s son. I looked back at him and as he turned toward me I saw her in his eyes, his broad cheek bones and his full lips. He had a distant look of shock, loss and aimless disbelief. I wanted to go hug him but he probably wouldn’t have known what to think of this white female stranger hugging on him. Tears filled my eyes as the ripples of reflection invaded my thoughts, memories and heart. Another experience that rippled through my heart, mind and soul was this last week while rather spontaneously serving a small inner city program for the homeless of Durban called Isinkwa Setheku. (We didn’t even know the name of the program as we drove with our new friend George, Karien’s brother, into the dark, prostitute-filled, inner-city streets of Durban. All we knew was that the program began at 7 pm.) George left us in the care of Paul, the current coordinator of the ministry, who put us into a group with Phil & Gus. Paul led everyone in a prayer and then sent us out to shelters around the Durban city centre. As we drove with Phil & Gus, we received a very quick orientation on Durban’s homeless shelter “business” and what the Isinkwa Setheku was all about. Being the warmest city in South Africa, many homeless flock to Durban; unfortunately, though, “shelters” began to spring up, charging about 20 rand (US$3) a night for a bed & shower. This inner city ministry Isinkwa Setheku is trying to raise support & find accommodation for a shelter ministry, but they have met challenges and not been successful yet. Neither Hope nor I had directly ministered to the homeless so we didn’t know what to expect that night. After observing Phil minister to a woman he obviously knew from other times ministering on the streets, my attention turned to Lynda, a 30-year old male who had been on the streets for only about 3 months and felt that his past was unforgivable. Our time was blessed with honest conversation and prayer focused on God’s unconditional love for him. It seemed his situation reflected the prodigal son. I don’t know if he took my advice to return home but that is what God put on my heart to tell him. While encouraging my trust in an all-knowing God, these ripples of reflection permeated through my conscious thought, but they have also made me question my effectiveness in these brief visits with ministries around the world. This trip is all about trusting God’s design in that we don’t know where we will stay day to day but I'm learning to let go of my will and let God guide us in His sovereignty. I am learning to really trust my heavenly Father with my own steps so I must translate this trust to His meta-narrative design of all of life. I cannot yet fully grasp the reasoning of His call to this unique adventure but I can trust in His love and design. I must close with thanks to Hank Keating, a colleague of my father’s, who connected us to two incredible men of faith — Dave Peters (picture at the Valley of a Thousand Hills) and Bruce Taylor. From our introduction last Monday night, Hope & I were both blessed by their display of faith, their trust in God’s provision, their words of wisdom & encouragement, and their nurturing spirits of brotherly & fatherly love. African Enterprise and Walk in the Light are both holistic Christ-centered ministries bearing amazing fruit for God’s glory. Also a thanks to our generous, new friends, George & Minette Murray, who shared their limited space with us in Durban and opened their hearts to us like family.