Another "God Dream"

This morning (Sat.) at 6:30am I was leading praise and worship for a devotional in a place called CEMELUCAS, which is a Christian medical clinic run by Dr. Reyna Duron, a Honduran neurologist. Dr. Ken Holden introduced me to Dr. Reyna a few years ago, and little by little (because we are both very busy in our own spheres), we have become friends. Like the Apostle Paul, Dr. Reyna has worldly credentials of the highest order, and she could be working in a very nice hospital in the USA, making lots of dollars and living the good life. She has a passion, though, which comes straight from the heart of Jesus: making quality medical care available to the poor of Honduras. She sees some of “God’s Littlest Lambs” on a regular basis, free of charge. She says we are “on scholarship.” (smile) As my engineer friend, Elsa, said to me once when I told her that I wished we could pay for all the help she gave us: “You could never afford me anyway.” (another smile) It’s true. We can’t afford the services of Dr. Reyna or Eng. Elsa, but they have the heart of Jesus and help us anyway.

Dr. Reyna has a “God dream”: she wants to build a Christian hospital for the Honduran poor. She has her eyes on a piece of property within stone-throwing distance of the big, chaotic hospital where doctors and nurses are trained (on poor people). Dr. Reyna is a single woman, but she is birthing a huge baby: building a hospital is a tremendous challenge! Now that the baby has been conceived, though, it is beginning to develop and take on a life of its own, so there is no turning back. When Reyna sent me an email describing her vision and inviting me to participate in the special devotionals this month at her clinic to pray, I sensed the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon this dream. During my twenty years here, I have seen plenty of physical suffering. I have walked the halls and spent time in the wards of the public hospital, and I have gone to the funerals of men, women and children whose lives were shortened because of poor medical care. Reyna and I have assisted with countless medical brigades, placing medicines and vitamins in the hands of people who have literally no money to buy them, and even more importantly, sharing with them God’s love. Being treated with dignity and respect is perhaps the most important characteristic of Christian medical care. “The least of these” are exactly that in the eyes of many medical professionals, as evidenced by the comment of the specialist attending our precious Elias H last month: “Oh great! Another Social Services dummy!” Five minutes later he had changed all of Elias’ epilepsy medications, and we had to go to Dr. Reyna to get it straightened out.

Will you join me in praying for Dr. Reyna’s dream? In my reading on the history of Christian mission, I have encountered many similar projects. Apparently God likes building hospitals for poor people! Healing is one of His favorite activities, and with Reyna in charge, patients will be healed in body, mind, soul and spirit, in Jesus’ Name. Beautiful. Selah.