Peach Pie

Duane and I like to build memories involving pie, and pie requires fruit. For this I was really grateful for the people of Chiminisijuan at clinic on Tuesday. We got two bags of peaches and a bunch of bananas from a couple of the ladies, and today I got peach pie from Rachel and Leslie. Life is good.

Really, I've always been bothered by how I so easily measure life as good or bad depending on my circumstances. For example: Pie= life is good; Flat tire= life is bad. This kind of outlook honestly makes everything seem pretty crazy, life pretty meaningless, and emotions like a roller coaster. That's when I remember that God never changes, and that He tells us in the book of James to pray to Him without doubting. He says, "Don't be a wave on the sea tossed back and forth by the wind (circumstances). Trust me."
We had some pretty bad circumstances yesterday. While we were at clinic receiving our gifts of fruit, Duane was picking up the man from the City whom he had taken to the hospital a few days before. I didn't realized how bad the situation was. Duane said that this young man (early 30's) from a small isolated village in the Zona Reina had fallen off his horse and broken his back. Some of the community members pitched in to help the man make the trip (they offered Duane $50 for the trip which is a huge deal for them). Surgery didn't help much though, so the man is paralyzed from the chest down. Additionally, Duane said the guy is skin and bones. Even after praying with the man it was just hard to see him go not knowing what kind of care awaited him back in his home. Duane took it really hard.

Later that afternoon, Duane made another emergency flight. Late in the afternoon the ambulance from the "health center" in town (staffed by a couple local nurses and a doctor, all Guatemalan) showed up at our gate. They wanted oxygen for a newborn who wasn't breathing and had aspirated (breathed in) myconium (amniotic fluid tainted with the baby's feces) during delivery. This happens when the baby gasps for air too soon because of distress during delivery. Anyway, Leslie and I ended up rushing to the health center behind the ambulance with suction, oxygen, and a pulse/ox machine. Leslie helped work on the baby for several minutes as that was her specialty in the States, but the most we ever got was a faint heartbeat. Duane flew the little girl, a nurse who was breathing for the baby, and the dad to Quiche, but upon arriving in the ER they pronounced the baby dead. I don't think I need to say a whole lot more. It was just a terrible situation. Upon entering the room in the health center we recognized the mom and dad from clinic. Just three days before I had said hi to the dad as Leslie or Kaite did his wife's ultrasound. Again, we prayed with them and contiue to pray.

It's hard to move forward when tragedy comes, and it's easy to think everything's great when you're eating peach pie! At any moment in time there is probably someone enjoying peach pie, and someone else at deaths door. God alone is unchanging and a fail-safe in this life. That's why I want to know Him better. Now, I know every good and perfect gift comes from God, so I'll keep enjoying my peach pie, but the state of my heart and mind is dependent upon God alone. He says that he loves me, and I believe him. His Word the Bible tells me what he's like along with all the promises of the good he has prepared for his children. I hope I can always remember that if my confidence is in anything other than God, then the wave I'm riding could crash at any moment. Wherever you are, I hope you can make a decision with me to rely upon God who is always there for us.