The struggle continues

This is the phrase that ends all exams at Christ School. Luke is in the midst of “mock exams”, the trial run of 19 half-day exams (!!) he will take for real in October/November. So literally, he is in a time of testing.

And it pretty much sums up our life as well. Another week of testing. I led my weekly Bible Study discipleship time with health center staff this morning, a series we’ve been doing on the Lord’s Prayer. Today we looked at “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” As an opener we discussed: do you see life as a journey, or a battle, and how? Hmm, I should have realized that in Uganda a journey and a battle are both full of danger and struggle! We looked at some great Scriptures that tell us we will suffer in this world, even if we follow God’s will perfectly, as Jesus did, right to the cross. This is not a prayer to take us out of the world but to bring us through testing, ultimately victorious. I found it very encouraging.

Our staff meetings occur on a porch right by the operating theatre, where 12 hours prior a literal battle had taken place as Scott and Jonah performed a C section together to save the life of a mother and baby. Nearby is the new pediatric ward, another battle ground of life vs. death, healing vs. destruction. I think it helps the staff to get a vision of the big picture reality, to see their continuing struggle in the context of God’s moving into the world, reversing the curse, redeeming the fall. Well, even if it doesn’t help them, it helps me. The soul-iron I’ve been needing comes from hours like this. Yesterday for team meeting I had prepared a study of “Birth, Babies, and Danger”, a look at this theme through the span of Scripture from Creation to New Heavens and Earth, which also inspired me to see our little efforts as participatory in the ongoing struggle against the same enemy which tried to wipe out the Israelite babies in Egypt or the Jewish babies around Bethlehem.

And as we continue to struggle, there are moments of grace. One of my Kwashiorkor patients played peek-a-boo with me this morning, smiling behind her hands, for the first time. Another baby who had languished with severe malaria and no available blood transfusion revived, pulled back from the brink to live for a while longer. Two days ago I was thrilled to see one of my AIDS patients laughing, walking, and a normal weight for the first time in his three sad years of life, after being on anti-retroviral drugs for the last few months. His grandmother is truly one of my heroes, a frail little lady who belongs at the end of the Hebrews 11 hall of fame.

And so the struggle continues, advocating, praying, thinking, touching, confronting . . . Looking onward to the end.