But When Did We Give You a Cup of Water?

"And I will say to them, What you did for the least of these, my brothers, you have done it to me?"
So when is the last time you had ice in your drink? What do you think it would be like to have never had ice in your drink? Now, Africa is changing some and advances in the last 5 years like electricity and refrigeration have made cold drinks available, yet still expensive. Imagine 15-20 years ago, as a little kid playing outside all day what you would really want more than anything.

Meet Felix. He was such a blessing to get to know this summer. He is 23 years old, the same as me, and had just finished nursing school. We got the chance to talk about length several times about the reality of growing up in Africa, the problems facing Africa now, and how we can both give our lives however separately to accomplishing the same thing.

Felix was just like every other kid in Nalerigu. His father died at a young age, when Felix was only 9, and his mother was forced to work hours away in a mine because she had no education. During all this, Felix like most of the kids in town would spend time hanging around the missionaries' houses, playing soccer on the only open areas of grass, etc. One thing that stuck out in Felix's mind was how much it impacted his life to simply go to the missionaries' house because they had cold water. Not only did they have cold water, they had open hearts. They had children's songs that teach the truth, the had bible stories that built a foundation. Felix's story is like so many children's-he was exposed to the Gospel as a child through songs and storytime, but grew up in a hostile family. For Felix, his father was dead which had it's own set of problems, but did give him the freedom to decide for himself. So often children growing up in different family traditions, can make decisions about what they believe when they get away for secondary school or university.

Felix has gone on to overcome unbelievable circumstances, financial and health problems, to finish nursing school. Now he has turned down more lucrative jobs because he believes his own village, his people, need him. Felix is standing at brink of an incredible generation about to bring some changes in Africa and he loves Jesus like crazy. Because of some cups of water and kids songs, countless children have stepped from darkness into light. Because of open hands and willing feet people have been loved, and that love will last forever.

So, know anyone who is thirsty?

Don't Waste Your Life

Before I ever left for Ghana, I saw this picture of a man named Tommy Harrison on the BMC blog site. He had a genuine smile on his face and dirt houses in the background and I thought to myself "That guy is loving life, I can't wait to meet him." When I got to Ghana, my first day I traveled with Tommy out to a more remote village for church on Sunday morning. In all my time with Tommy I was never disappointed. He is loving life, I am so glad to have met him.



Tommy is a retired man from Alabama. A good ol' boy who used to be a mechanic, farmed for fun and had little to no theological training apart from years of laymen service. Over the course of his life, he and his wife traveled to Ghana with the IMB for short term projects of 3-6 months at a time doing various maintenance tasks and what not. Sadly, ten years ago, Tommy's wife died of cancer. Rather than spend his life drowning in front of a television and mediocre time fillers he moved to Ghana full time with a whole new sense of purpose and direction.

These days Tommy simply lives in Nalerigu. Locals describe him as "Ghanian" and he can speak Mampruli with anybody. Tommy lives in a decent house with some comforts of home, but spends most of his nights on the roof open to the starry night and Malaria ridden mosquitoes. He spends his days working on several acres of farm land using his John Deere tractor to greatly enhance the food production for anyone that is willing to help. He travels back and forth to the Bible college a few hours away and helps with training native pastors and evangelists. He travels out to about 8-10 remote villages leading church services under the trees, counseling people, giving rides in his truck, delivering food. All this on the retirement that might not be enough here in the States.

Right or wrong is for your heart to tell. You want to know the absolutely happiest retired person I have ever met, well here is your answer. You want to know the safest, well don't talk to Tommy about how many times he gets Malaria every year. We aren't finding any better ways to save our lives here in America, we simply find new ways to die-Cancer, stroke, heart disease. Death is coming for us all. But Jesus promised a life that is truly life. A life found in loving him, that holds life in proper perspective and loves people while we still have the chance to do anything that will truly last. You want to understand the Gospel in a whole new light? Talk with Tommy for 10 minutes. You want all the answers, well keep looking. The answers to everything are not made in nice little packages. Each person is endowed by God with incredible ways to press into Him and trust as we step out into the darkness of uncertainty that following requires. When it comes down to it, what would you rather present to God with the last 20 years of your life-a sweet golf handicap, or hundreds of people that would have had NO other opportunity to hear the Gospel? Simple question with a million God-glorifying applications in between...

Keep pushin' Tommy.

Some stories need to be told

I am so thankful, and quite shocked, at all the people who have told me that they have read this blog over the summer. I have been home now for three weeks, started school, and found life running at a 100 miles per hour and trying to find some way to live all this in light of my experiences this summer.

To finish the blog out, I feel that there are just a few stories that need to be told. Stories that may be funny, many serious, things to make you think and hopefully put faces to cliches that we hear all the time pertaining to developing countries. Thank you so much for finding your way here, again or for the first time.

Rainbow Garden Village

So after our extremely long day riding in our trusty bush taxi we get to Kumasi, a city in central Accra. I had booked us a cool little hostel thanks to hostelworld.com thinking it was somewhere close to the city since that is what the website says. Turns out, it is an hour and half outside the city in the middle of nowhere, even for Africa. So here we are late are night in a city that we know no one and we are being driven out to the middle of nowhere because people keep giving our driver directions in a language we don't understand. I was trying to act like I knew what we were doing, Josh was just hungry, and Leah was on the verge of tears as we rode in this huge van incredibly off road. We pulled up to this guesthouse place and we think it is the most sketch place in the world. We are the only visitors to come in a week and the huge picture of Bob Marley makes us wonder a little bit about what is going on.We go to sleep and laugh off the adventures of the day. When I woke up I quickly realized that it was all worth it. What we couldn't see in the pitch black dark was that there was a huge lake and beautiful little mountains all around. We were in the middle of a tropical paradise and didn't even know it. Turns out this was Lake Botsowomu (or something like that) the youngest crater lake in the world.


There were fishermen out on the lake paddling long pieces of wood like kayaks. It was just flat out beautiful. That morning we had a great little breakfast with some Tracy Chapman playing in the background and just got a great chance to be quiet and soak in life for a while.


Rainbow Garden Village was a great place to be still and just know that God is God. In light of all the events of this summer, it was a much welcomed time of rest. Too bad it only lasted for a morning. Of course the taxi that took 4 hours to actually come and pick us up forced us to have some extra quality time at RGV but hey, "it's Africa."

Now to the back again

It is good to be back home. It has been quite a week, traveling non-stop, first on the ultimate Ghanian road trip and then surviving 6 flights and three different airlines to try and get home.
I am going to try and keep updating the blog with pictures and stories, thoughts and reflections. Stay tuned if you would like.

So...we left the BMC on Wednesday the 11th of July, to travel from the northeastern corner of Ghana to the far southwestern corner and then back to the east to Accra the capital. Sounds like fun. Too bad we were riding in these things:

Imagine a the oldest 15 passenger van you have ever ridden in with 22 people crammed into it. Nothing leaves on schedule either. Basically you just show up, pay, and then sit and wait for the bus to fill up. That is only half the adventure. Once the bus gets going there is really no hope for a bathroom break. You basically just sit with your knees pressed against the seat in front of you and try to appreciate the fact that you are being pretty "african." It is nice when the van breaks down and you can get out to stretch your legs. Of course then you see it drive away with all your stuff in it, not entirely sure if you will ever see it again.

The best way to forget how little feeling you still have in your legs is to look outside and see the wonder of the world passing by at 60 km/hr. Mile after mile and village after village, it is all the same. Dirt houses here, trash over there, little stores with embarrassing Christian names (e.g. Pentecostal Fire Aluminum and Metal Works), and people everwhere. People that are people. Not just random faces, but people. Folks that have loved ones, wives, husbands, children. People that are known and loved by God, ordained from before the foundation of the world to play some part in the story of redemptive history.

Life just keeps on going and sometimes we pass by without even knowing. It is good to take the times to soak it in every once and while.

I probably should have done this sooner

Just in case you care, here is a picture of the entrance to the hospital. It doesn't really give you the proper perspective of the size and capabilities of the hospital, but maybe you can imagine the rest until I get home.

Go Tigers

If any of you were an MS1 this year, you might have learned who I was because I was that guy in the orange scrubs. Well for all you Tiger fans out there, I rocked the orange scrubs proudly for two months during Anatomy, but now I think they have found a new home. Chini, better known as "Hallelujah" works on the compound. He is quite a character, yelling "Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!, Amen" at any given moment. Man, he is just fun. He prays for Dr. Faile and his wife every morning, only problem is he does it in a mixture of Mamprulli, Kukomba, and English with nothing actually resembling real sentences. Good thing God doesn't really care I imagine. He always ends with "and the Power, name of Jesus, Spirit, something something, Amen, Uh-huh!" He was very excited about the scrubs. He gave me a big hug (which we do often) but this time he gave me a kiss on the cheek (which we do not do so often). I can just hear the Tiger Rag now...C-L-E-M-S-O-N!!!

This Guy was just TOO funny

So if you want some seriousness, scroll on down, you aren't going to find it here. This guy came in a few weeks ago to the clinic. He popped his little hat off and I kinda chuckled at his bump on his head. He paid for the removal procedure and came back this week to get it cut off. This was Wednesday, about hour 11 at the hospital, so I was kinda tired. I figured I would have some fun. We still aren't sure exactly was the mass was in his scalp, but that doesn't mean you can't still have a good time. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

No Wonder You Have Diarrhea

So there is this really cool "restaurant" here in Nalerigu that has become a kind of Sunday afternoon tradition. I don't think words can really describe the experience, but the pictures might help a little.

I made this post the other night but the Internet was not working so I couldn't post it. Then the title was just a joke, now it is a cruel reality. Two words "voluminous diarrhea" Boy that can really mess up a day. I feel like I have been run over by a truck right now. Well better yet, turned inside out and drained. WAWA

There is no word in the vocabulary

Imagine it. In the languages up here, there is no word for mercy. I noticed it the other night when I was listening to the translator during one of my talks, and I was talking with a missionary about it yesterday. There is no word for mercy, no concept of mercy in this language. Imagine living in a culture where the idea was so foreign that there was no need for a word to be developed. You can describe it in a sentence, but how do you even do that in English? Our God is a God of ...

Can You Get HIV from Deep Kissing?

"Why because you like some of that deep kissing?" One of my goals here in Ghana has been to give talks, 10 in all, to the adolescents at various churches, mosques, and a school on Abstinence, HIV/AIDS, and stigma. So how do you translate John Piper into Mampruli? Well, I haven't tried that yet, but I wish I could. Last Sunday night I got to speak over 100 people that all came back to church that night to hear what the Salmindo had to say.
The talk has evolved and I think improved each time. So much that I wish that I could do the first few over again. Funny thing is that the talks never start less than an hour after they are scheduled because well, it is Africa.
I love getting the chance to speak and trying to paint a better image for these students of why they should save themselves for marriage. For me the greatest messages on this have been John Piper's "Sex and the Supremacy of Christ." But how do you even begin to translate that, or even harder really believe it? I begin with making it clear the sex is not a bad thing, in fact it is created by God for our pleasure. I emphasize that sex causes two to become one flesh and use some of those good ol' illustrations from Worth the Wait back in the day. Some talk about Christ and the Church and the great mystery of loving someone for ever then leads into discussion about the very real threats of unwanted pregnancy (huge problems/death) and HIV. Following that is a plea to love people and to end the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. I use John 8, the story of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus pointed out the sin of the woman, but also pointed out the sin in the hearts of her accusers. You know the story, do we really KNOW it though?
We have seen a few young girls in the hospital who had unwanted pregnancies. The lack of hope that exists for them is enough to keep me giving these talks. If one girl is spared of that burden to carry a child, it will all be worth. Here an abortion is a death sentence, for both mother and child. When I say abortion I mean, we found gravel in a woman's vagina, or puncture wounds from sticking objects inside, burns from harsh chemicals...should I go on?
I don't think I am really changing the world, but hopefully I am helping to spark the conversation. I do think that accountablity partners are a new idea to many of these young people. I hope that will give them the strength to stay safe, to love God more passionately. To have a good marriage, because it is a great mystery, the mystery of Christ and the Church.

There is a Snake In the Kitchen

Ok, so this was just a joke, but it is a REAL 6 ft. python! One of our watchmen killed this snake outside my house the other night. It is strange that it almost feels like no big deal. The snake was still moving some and had muscle tone even though its head was cut off. We then went and put in on Dr. Peter's (young Dr. from Belgium that works at a hospital an hour away who was visiting to work at BMC for the week) porch to scare him in the morning. It didn't scare him at all because he just thought it was too weird, but a lady coming to bring bananas to his house saw it, threw all her bananas on the ground and went to find some men to kill it. Priceless. After that we placed it here in the kitchen to scare our guys that cook for us. It didn't scare them either. Too bad. Good thing was that the snake sure did taste good. No kidding. You should try it.

A few more points about snakes:
1) They make me pee in my pants.
2) In the course of a week we saw a carpet viper, a 5ft cobra, and this big python all with in 100 yards of my house. Yeah, that is pee your pants worthy.
3) Did I mention that carpet vipers after malaria and surgeries are probably the 3rd leading cause of hospital emission. They stop your blood from being able to clot, but it is not a huge problem because we have Anti-Snake venom in the hospital.
4) Oh yeah did I mention that we were OUT of ASV in the hospital this past week. ASV is controlled by the gov't and given out for free but rationed to each hospital. Long story short, BMC gets way more than its fair share of snake bites. So much so that the gov't doesn't trust that we actually use it because other hospitals have been known for getting it for free and selling it on the black market. Meaning that we get less than our proper share of ASV for all the snake bites that we treat. We were finally able to get some more, almost just in time before anyone had to be denied lifesaving treatment.
5) So apparently, no volunteer has ever been bitten by a snake, but I am not so sure I believe that.

There is Hope

There is a phrase used here amongst the missionaries-"WAWA" which stands for "West Africa Wins Again." You use it at times when someone gets malaria, the rolling power outage happens when you were supposed to speak at church, when your desert recipe doesn't turn out just right because you couldn't get all the ingredients that you needed. You get the point.
Well, this is not one of those cases. One of the men who was suffering from necrotizing fasciitis mentioned in a previous blog is pictured above. In the picture he is getting a skin graft. Thanks to bed rest, antibiotics, removing dying tissue, the dedication of good doctors and nurses, West Africa does not win. Hope wins. Opportunity wins. The chance to say "I do this because Jesus loves you" wins again. The earth is not some cold dead place, Nalerigu is not some cold dead place. It is a place brimming with life from the only source that is truly life. Get you some of that necrotizing fasciitis.

This is What it is All About

Something happened today that totally illuminated what doctoring in a community means. Real ministry is very far from the in and out ambush trips that are more about adventure and exposure than dedicated serving. They are not inherently wrong, but boy are they missing out.
Today I had a first, and I hope to have many more of these. We went on a hike today up in the hills surrounding and overlooking Nalerigu soaking in all we could and finding some time to rest. On our way back we walked through the town and were speaking the little Mampruli that we can and waving at everyone yelling out "Saming-doa" (white man).
As we were walking through the market we saw a familiar face. It was a little boy Ibrahim Abubakari who had surgery last week. It was SUCH a joy to see someone you know, someone you had seen sad and hurting, someone who was now smiling. That is what it is all about. You don't do medicine, you don't do ministry, you don't do life from far away. The Christian life is about serving the people you see on the street. It is about loving them with a love that is not capable of being wrought on your own. Man what if every time we went out we saw someone that we had actively loved. What if simply going to the market (mall) was a joyful experience because in each familiar face there was an image of Jesus, of hope, of redemption? What if we were actively involved in the struggle to love people properly to such an extent that there were specific names and faces that we were striving for? What if you saw that person and it all felt worth it?
Doctors get a special experience of this because we get an unique view into each patient's life, (I mean seriously, who else tells you to get naked and you actually listen. Case in point.) but all of us have the opportunity. Ministry is not something people with degrees do, it is a lifestyle. It is how you breathe, it is what we do because Jesus Christ taught us to do.

Poverty is Embarrassing

Bono was right when he said this past year "poverty is embarrassing." Poverty is a spotlight that shines a light on every corner of our hearts. You want to feel the weight of The Fall? Look into this child's eyes. Spend one morning on the wards and the drastic nature of the expulsion from the Garden will have a whole new stinging sensation. In America, I rarely feel that life is really all that bad. The immense exile that has been placed on the human race very well hidden in my daily life. I have to almost convince myself that this is not the way life was meant to be. Sin has this light feeling in the States. Here in the clinic the suffering of every human heart is displayed in the open.
For some reason God is uniquely concerned about the poor. Over and over again in the Old Testament he rebukes Israel for oppressing the poor and needy, for trampling them underfoot. God even says that the ultimate reason that Sodom was destroyed was for their neglect and injustice towards the poor. This prideful attitude led to their debauchery which we so often hear about, but Ezekiel lets us know that there is something deeper going on here.
In all that I have been exposed to over the last few years, all the sermons, all the books I have not had a very good answer for why God is so focused on the poor. Why are righteousness and justice for the poor so unrelentingly linked in the whole unity of the Bible?
Why does God focus so much on the poor? Because there we see our need for him more clearly. Today I saw a man with a parotid tumor that had distorted his face far beyond comfortable viewing. There you see the weight of the Fall. There you see our race's own propensity to rob God of his glory and take for ourselves what is not rightly ours. When you see the sick and oppressed completely incapable of saving themselves you see much more clearly your status before God apart from Christ. Jesus said "blessed are the poor in spirit" but we are so middle class in spirit, blind to our total depravity thinking that there is something good in us that actually did deserve redeeming. God never says become poor and then you will be more righteous, that would not be true. God says if you are poor, trust in me. If you are not, you will show your righteousness by your love. Jesus promised that the poor would always be with us. He is not about ending poverty necessarily. God knows we need the poor. He is not unjust in sustaining the poor because He knows this is life is but a vapor and the treasures that lay in store for those who love him are far beyond any of the fleeting pleasures of this time. Do I really know that? God knows we need the poor to show us more of Himself, more of ourselves, more of where we have been, more of where we are going. One the day when every tear is washed away and this too shall be made right.

Happiest Future Amputee I Have Ever Seen

So this guy came in today, smiling and happy, but with a bit of a limp. When he unwrapped his foot the aroma wafting out of the necrotic tissue filled the room with that oh so pleasant yet unforgettable smell. He said that it has been infected for THREE YEARS NOW. Three years and he has done nothing about it. I will checking up on this guy the next few days, but his leg seems pretty well involved with infection. It didn't hurt him very much, which when you are that inflamed is not a good thing.

This Little Piggy Went to Where!?

So there is this strange thing that occurs in tropical environments where people walk around barefooted all the time. It is called Ainhum and no one really knows what causes it. It is defined as a mysterious constricture at the base of usually the 5th toe. Basically your pinky toe is just about ready to fall off. Stinks huh?

Who knew Job was a social activist?

I cannot believe that in the past year, in all the sermons that I have listened to and all the books or articles that I have read about social justice, serving the poor, being authentic, no one ever pointed at the clearest and best passage regarding serving the poor in the whole Bible. Because of my time here in Ghana, I have been doing a survey in the Bible to look at every time the Word says "poor." We so easily get caught up in the idea that Jesus was either a poor marginalized hippie or a staunch right wing preacher that thrust what we think the "correct" Christian life should be into these two opposing camps which are impossible for any of us to actually live out i.e. Perfectly Just Sacrifice or Perfect Self-Righteousness.
The story of Job has always bothered me. Yeah it is a great theological and literary work about the Sovereignty of God, but in the end he gets rich again. I was so troubled because the moral of the story always seemed to be "Just stick it out during the suffering and God will bless you in the end, don't you worry." That was until I came across this passage the other night.
In the passage below Job is justifying himself before his friends and God Himself. He is describing why he was so respected in his community, why men looked up to him, why people loved him, why he knew that he was above the reproach of his adversaries and he says:

11When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
15I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
17I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

Job heard the cry of the oppressed, he did not turn a deaf ear. I was shocked when Job said that he searched out the cause of him whom he did not know. It is so hard to defend the causes that are right in front of your face. What does it mean to clothe yourself in righteousness, to wear justice like a robe? It is to seek out the causes of the oppressed, to deliver the poor, to love the fatherless, care for the helpless.
Only this man, when he lost absolutely everything, could fall down and worship God. Only this man could stand up to his wife when she tempted him with a Prosperity Gospel. Only this man could truly be above reproach when his friends accused him of unrighteousness. No wonder Satan wanted to test Job. Job was breaking his fangs and snatching prey from his teeth. No wonder God had so much faith in Job. He knew him, he knew his heart. He gave him the grace to be merciful. Praise God that he restored Job's finances, so that Job could continue to liberate that which Satan had wrongfully taken hold of. Thank God for this passage, thank God for Job.

Does something seem a little out of place here?

Africa is so strange. As the world becomes smaller thanks to technology the opportunity to access the world becomes a lot easier. I guess that development is a good thing, but I definitely question most of it. Thanks to good ol' capitalism and consumerism we can now export all our crap all over the world and make people think they need it. Things have changed drastically here the last 5 or so years with the implementation of electricity, cell phones, satellites, DVD's, stereos, motorcycles, you name it. Rather than Africans just finding new better ways to grow crops, build houses, or just get by they find new things to spend their limited resources on. I guess that it does help the economy because now someone can sell the stuff, and someone can work as a mechanic for all the motos, but seriously a satellite? Does he mail his monthly bill in by check or does he just send a few chickens down the road? I hope these kids are eating.

This Ought to be Interesting

So the other day this young girl came in and she was just obviously uncomfortable. She felt horrible and just seemed to be feeling awful. Dr. Faile felt her stomach and asked her to lay on the table. He turned to me and said, "This ought to be interesting." I felt her stomach and thought "Oh no, is that her spleen that large" thinking some kind of splenatomegaly, then I felt all the bumps and thought, "Oh no, this girl has cancer and this is a huge tumor in her abdomen." Luckily it was not nearly that serious. What this girl had was a serious case of constipation. She had eaten a TON of these seeds that are pictured above and here colon was so packed and backed up that you could feel them in her abdomen with very little effort. Imagine that. Dr. Faile got as many out by hand (Yum...) as he could, but the girl should be okay after a few enemas and some super poopin'. Just another day in the clinic.

A Day in the Life

Just in case you guys were wondering this is how things kinda work over here in Ghana:
There are two doctors here and a few native medical assistants (comparable to PA's). Rounds start at 7:30 AM with around 80-100 people to be seen. That usually goes until about 9 AM and you see a ton of kids with malaria, several snake bites a day, lots of babies being born, malnourished children, people recovering from surgery, and several exotic diseases (Guilliane-Barre, typhoid perpherations, etc.) By that time there is a crowd of people in the waiting area being triaged and what not. One doctor here saw 97 patients Monday and 69 Wednesday, the other doctor doesn't keep count because it is just too ridiculous. For those of you who don't know for a doctor to see 30 patients a day is pretty good in the States. After that is all over, there are procedures to do. For instance Wednesday after seeing patients, Dr. Faile had a C-Section, Keyloid fibroma removal, Lipoma removal, granuloma evaluation, and a laprotomy, that was 8 PM. I went home and Dr. Faile came back and did another laprotomy and some other procedure I didn't write down. He had a C-section this morning on Thursday at 7 AM before rounds. Tuesdays and Thursdays are procedure days, so today was a Bilateral Tubal Ligation, 6 hernia repairs, and handling whatever critical cases came in needing to be admitted, plus rounds.
12-14 hour days, call every other night, limited resources, less glory--all for the sake of the poor, all to the glory of God.

There Are Some Things You Can't Take Pictures Of...

Have you ever seen a man who had been tortured? Back in October a man came here to the BMC after suffering from a stroke. He was diagnosed and sent home because there is not a whole that they could do for him here. He returned a few days ago with horrible infections all over his legs and scrotum, a very scared, damaged look in his eyes, and necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating disease caused by infection with a few different bacteria). Over the last few months the man had been treated by a local "healer" trying to restore function to his wasting limbs as a result of the stroke. The "treatment" for paralysis is lots of small cuts and boiling water. There is a sick system of darkness and tradition that binds some of the villagers here to seek traditional medicine that I have yet to hear anything good about. The debridement for this man's infection (cleaning out the dead tissue) was one of the most difficult things I have been through in my brief yet decently exposed medical career. I held his legs as he writhed in pain, groaning in a way that is felt more than it is heard. The pain and injustice of the world was glaring me in the face and it was not pretty. We went back later to visit him and other patients in similar situations, just to hold their hands, say the few words that I know in Mampruli, and fan flies away. This man had a tear come down his face as we spoke with him. I don't know if it was because of the pain or if he was just satisfied to be treated like a human being.
I can not help but think that the groanings of this man was what Paul had in mind when he wrote that "all creation groans awaiting the day of redemption." Does our sin break the heart of God the way that mine was broken? Are our attempts at righteousness as absurd and frustrating to God as this local healer's methods? The suffering here is a living metaphor for the revolting nature of my own sin.
Is it possible that beneath our facade of what we think is skin there is actually death and decay? Are there things that we can hide from the world but really they are dying underneath? The call to discipleship is a call to come and die, to admit the death that is occuring and ask God to clean out the dying tissue and replace it with life. In our suffering and pain God is holding our legs and breaking His heart, I can see how those coincide more clearly now. Today as I pondered the audacity of our American book titles I felt very strongly the question, "You want your best life now?-Then come and die." That is the answer Jesus gives. It is not a call to destitution and poverty, we miss the point and somehow neuter the Gospel when we make it simply about money. The call to discipleship is a call to follow Christ, to ask the serious questions- What oppression am I apart of, Do I love enough, Do I hear the cry of those in pain? The call to Christ is not a call to Africa, it is a call to transformation of mind and regenerated sense of purpose. I hate that I had to see this man suffer in order for me to see that in a new light.

Story of Redemption

The 50 year history of the Baptist Medical Center here in Nalerigu is an incredible example of how God can use mission and medicine in particular to actually change a city. While sin is still abundant here, there is hope in the darkness. The BMC is a bright spot in a difficult world here in West Africa. 50 years ago, right around the time that Ghana was becoming independent God called Dr. Faile senior to Ghana from Nigeria. Back then Nalerigu was an vastly underserved area and deeply in need of medical services and the Gospel. In this traditional Muslim area, the IMB planted a hospital that would grow to become superior to government programs and serve people from incredible distances.
When Dr. Faile started the hospital 50 years ago Nalerigu was a remote village of 3,000 people. The clinic was three-quarters of a mile outside of anything resembling town, and there were essentially no Christians. Now there are 15,000 people in Nalerigu and the BMC is an integral part of life here. There are 10 churches now in town, each filling up about the largest structure you can make out here. The 10 churches have an impressive sense of unity and seem to be doing well. Because of the missionary efforts in Nalerigu the Christians do not face as much persecution here as in other villages in this region simply because of the strength in numbers.
Dr. Faile Jr. and numerous doctors throughout the years have served here and still are. Dr. Faile and Dr. Hewitt work incredible loads seeing hundreds of patients a day, doing surgeries, taking call EVERY night. There is no glamour, there is little adventure, but there is an image of Christ and it is worth it in the end. These men here make scripture come alive. When Jesus consoles his disciples telling them that anyone who has given up home and family to follow him will be richly blessed, he had these men in mind.
God is in the business of bringing glimpses of redemption on Earth now. Here the Baptists have joined him in that. It is incredible to see, and great to be a part of.

In Ghana

I suppose the first post should be the mandatory-"I am here and OK" I have now been in Ghana a week and half and realizing that sending out emails is just way too time consuming.
As for some of the facts: I am working at the Baptist Medical Centre, an IMB hospital that is very impressive in it's level of comprehensive care on an African scale yet at the same time unbelievable by American standards. The town is incredible, the people live in mud houses, but have cell phones. Much more to follow, but here goes the first post!

The picture above is Nalerigu taken from a hill above the city. If you look closely you can see the tin roofs and cell tower-incredible