| I Saw God's Kingdom At El Refugio |
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There was a little woman that had made it to the doorway of one of the rooms. She was shaky and shuffled her feet as she clenched the walker in front of her to stay upright. There was a step out of her room that separated her from all of the activity outside. Luisa sat in her wheelchair next to the doorway and Olga stood close by. They chattered back and forth to each other and to me and to the woman inside that I was there to help her make this passage. I could see we had an obstacle. I wanted to help but wasn't sure what to do. Suddenly Olga left on a mision. To my surprise, she came back with a wheelchair. That was helpful! She parked it in front of the door and I continued to stand by ready to assist but also watching and learning.
Luisa and Olga chatterd some more and then Olga disappeared again. She was searching for something. It was a blessing to observe this team strategize and work to free this woman from the confines of her dark room. I watched as Olga found a wadded up napkin on the dirty ground under a table. She grabbed it and hurried back to wipe the wet spot off the seat of the wheelchair so the woman could sit in it. This kind gesture was really beautiful. It was amazing to see people who have so little care for one another with such love and repect. By the appearance of the woman in the doorway, I didn't think a wet spot on the wheelchair would make a difference, but I was taught a valuable lesson. We did het her into the wheelchair! Olga then wheeled her into a place in the sun and pulled up a chair to sit next to her.
After everyone was served lunch, Frank very enthusiastically took us behind some buildings. He had been talking about something he wanted to show us since we got there. I was eager to see whatever it was because he was so excited to show us. It was as if we were about to behold something quite spectacular. I was surprised to see a very small patch of rocky ground that quickly descended. There was a bunch of trash around and we were pretty much on the edge of a cliff. We all had to watch our footing. Once there, he procalimed this was the site of the new ICU. I imagine Walt Disney sharing his vision for a family theme park in the swampland of Florida. I was thinking, "We can hardly stand back here and there's going to be an ICU?!" He passionately shared his heart about providing a place for those about to die - separate from everyone else. He already had plans for how it would be built. Oh, to have Frank's faith! I thought of my life and the painful, rocky, places and thought someday there could be an ICU here!
The Lord taught me so much at El Refugio! It's a place to learn about living by faith and not by sight. It's a place to learn about being grateful, having hope and loving one another. It's a place to see everything as God's even when all you have are rags, rocky ground, an old broken van, dirty napkins, and trash. I saw God's kingdom at El Refuio in Tijuana. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:3) Just becasue a person is poor doesn't necessarily mean they are poor in spirit or that a rich person is not poor in spirit, but I do think there is something to be learned from being with the poor about what this verse means.
Before we left, a woman outfitted in purple came and held my hand. She had short gray hair, no teeth and no one could understand her but she had a lot to say to me. She smiled from ear to ear. She held my hand for a long time. I was thanking God that someone wanted to hold my hand that day. Maybe she was an angel. She was definitely blessed.
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