Through The Rubbish Dump

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

2Corinthians 4:7

I observed a young Almajiri (apprentice Muslim youth) as he rummaged through the rubbish dump looking for anything of value. He would pick up this item or that, look at it for a moment or two, and toss it back. "Not Worthy", his seal of disapproval. "How in the world does he expect to find anything useful in this filth?" I wondered. But he plodded right on with hope in his eyes and anticipation in his attitude. He was determined to salvage something out of this royal mess.

In this world where immorality is on the increase and wickedness is rampant, is it not a wonder that God still finds anything or anyone worth saving? He must have a hard time looking at the earth. The Bible says, "The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good" (Prov 15:3). What an onerous and unpleasant task, having to take in both the bad and the good. Imagine eating good food that has gone bad. Even the thought is noxious. But He does it in the hope that He will find something good, something worthy of being saved.

But the joyous part of it all is that it really is not about us. He does all the saving. We know that it is by grace that we are saved, through faith. It has nothing to do with ourselves, the way we are. It's not about how we look, how nice we are, or how pleasant is our speech. It's His loving gift all the way, such that none of us can boast about it (Eph 2:8,9). It's no wonder then, that He still finds people to save everyday. He's looking diligently and His task is not yet finished.

As I looked on, the young boy found an old tin can. He looked at it for a moment, turned it over and, with a smile, tossed it into his old rucksack along with the other stuff he had already collected. I observed that as he looked at that can, he was indeed seeing it not as it was but as it could be. Oh, what a wonder! Indeed God sees at once both what I am and what I could be. Is it not that much easier to see why He would choose to save me? Now what I am is not worth much at all. But what I could be! … Well, that's a whole different story.

With love, Doosuur.

Say "Cheese"

A cheerful look brings joy to the heart.

Proverbs 15:30

I was waiting in line at the barbershop today for a haircut when I noticed a young man looking in my direction, with a transistor radio to his ear, and smiling quite sheepishly. I looked away for a while and when I looked again, he was still there. He seemed to be looking at me and his smile seemed pretty silly by now. I did the natural thing and turned away and then, very cautiously, looked again out of the corner of my eye. There he was, staring. This time I looked him full in the face, deliberate and unblinking. He seemed even more amused and even chuckled this time. "What in the world is he looking at?" I wondered as I looked around myself. Was it my clothes? My bald head? Maybe the fact that I was eating aya (I'm out of practice)?

But then I noticed the transistor radio to his ear. He was amused by what he was hearing, not by what he was seeing. As a matter of fact, he may have been looking quite alright, but he wasn't seeing at all. My presence there was of no consequence to him. His smiling countenance was determined not by what he could see but by the unseen - the voice in his ear.

I think that's the way we must be as Christians. Our countenance must be determined by the unseen - the voice in our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says "Be joyful always." That's admittedly a tall order and seems absolutely impossible until we begin to learn that our circumstances must not determine our joy. Certainly we cannot always be happy. Life's just not that way. A friend once taught me that happiness is just that - happenness. It's dependent on the good things that happen to us and goes out the window when bad things happen. But joy is an entirely different proposition. It does not depend on anything that happens outside of us. It's based entirely on what's going on inside.

I find it easiest to be joyful by assuring myself, quite truthfully, that regardless of my circumstance all things will work for my good, according to God's promise (Romans 8). And I have the benefit of experience to fall back on. And then there's the peace that comes with just knowing God and being assured that He's intimately concerned with what happens to me.

But I believe we must go the extra step beyond just being joyful to showing joy. Take a look at yourself. Does your face bring a smile or a frown to the next person? How does the way you look reflect the way you feel on the inside? Remember, joy is infectious, so don't just have joy. Show it.

Put a smile on your face and watch your joy spread to others around you. In the Proverbs the teacher seems to suggest that our countenance will directly affect the way we feel and how joyful we are. So why don't we go ahead and try to put a smile on everything and give ourselves a better day.

With love, Doosuur.

When Easy Gets Hard

...Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.

Matthew 6:32,33

Please forgive all the technical jargon. A prostatectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the prostate, a ball of flesh surrounding the outlet of the urinary bladder that tends to enlarge in elderly men, causing urinary obstruction.

A catheter is a rubber tube used to drain fluid from the bladder.

It's three-quarters of an hour beyond midnight and I just got out of the operating theatre. It began simply enough at about 8 p.m. as we took the elderly man in for his operation. Everything seemed to be going according to the script. He cooperated, the anesthesia worked, the incisions were perfect and, best of all, blood loss was minimal. My chief, the surgeon even toyed with the idea of not packing the wound with adrenaline-soaked gauze (which is used to minimize bleeding). "Better do it for what it's worth," I encouraged him. The surgery went very well, much better than most of our previous prostatectomies. Even the perennially uncooperative catheter worked this time.

We finished in record time, and as he stitched the skin and I packed up the instruments for the decontamination soak, we congratulated ourselves on the success. But then, he noticed that the catheter was draining bloodied fluid. No surprise there, but it gradually got redder and redder. We tried every maneuver in the book - and a few outside - to stop the bleeding without having to re-enter, but to no avail. So we had to open up again - remove all the stitches, enter the bladder and find the source of bleeding. We managed to isolate the bleeders and closed up again. By now exasperation was growing and we cautiously cast furtive glances at the catheter. Right on cue, as he was stitching the skin, the fluid turned red again.

Then I did the sensible thing. I prayed. One of those arrow prayers that went, "God, please just put your finger where this bleeding is and stop it so we can get out of here."

"I'm going to open up again" said the chief.

"No, just wait a minute" I said, as I tried to exercise my faith. And true enough, the fluid cleared. Whew! "Thank you Lord."

Hardly had I expressed my gratitude than the blood came flowing again.

So in we went for the third time. By now everything was coming undone. Instruments slipped to the floor, ligatures came loose, sutures got entangled and even a needle-stick injury. Frustration increased as surgical consumables got exhausted and hunger kicked in, but the bleeding wouldn't stop. We eventually managed to control it and the chief asked my advice, "Can I close up?"

I looked at him with pursed lips. He wasn't going to get a "yes" from me. So we waited. And sure enough, it started again. Blood oozing from just about everywhere. I don't know how we eventually got ourselves out of there but it wasn't without more than a little desperation.

What had started out as a relatively simple procedure had turned into, by his own admission, my chief's most difficult prostatectomy yet. But we finished. I guess that's the bottom line. We finished and thank God for that. It just goes to show that nothing in life is a given. The things we take for granted can take a turn for the worse at a moment's notice and our lives all become complicated by the simple things. But through it all, God remains faithful and He gives us the grace to thrash them out. And for that I'm grateful.

With love, Doosuur.