Ego Trip

I am struggling to get my head and heart around the events that took place on a trip to Guatemala with a medical team. With all the reels of unedited footage still spinning in my head and the uncensored emotions still churning in my stomach, I hardly know where to begin. I can’t believe a two and a half hour plane ride away that there is another world so different from the one to which I’m accustomed. It seems that the people, the culture, and the language are all so different, yet somehow the same. The yellow bus I rode to school as a child I now rode to Patzun. Actually, it might be the very same bus…for this is a place where new life is given to things we discard. At Patzun, a small town high in the mountains, two hours west of Guatemala City (probably only 30 miles) the Franciscan Nuns run an orphanage and clinic. Here we spent our time. While the medical team engaged in a marathon of surgery, saving lives, I kept busy fixing things that to me seemed to be insignificant and mundane. Repairing the articulated hospital beds, installing an antenna for the orphanage’s new TV (“new” meaning new to them) and securing all manner of things with duct tape. Duct tape was even used to secure a garden hose to the shower and to a small water heater which was plumbed to nowhere. Then Voila ! “Instant Hot Shower”. This simple feat was heralded with such thankful jubilation and praise that I had to let out the adjustment on my ball cap.
The children were like paper clips attracted to a magnet when the TV blinked and came to life. I rotated the antenna until the picture sharpened. Cheers of joy and glee rang out as the less than perfect picture rolled across the screen. The small room was filled with smiling faces with all eyes fixed on the screen. The excitement of all these children brought a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye.
Then I was summoned to the OR for a full fledged emergency. The oxygen line had developed a leak. Donning full dress “scrubs”, I sprang into action, duct tape in hand. Oh! It was just a loose fitting at the wall connection…nothing a ¼ turn with my trusty multi-tool couldn’t fix. What excitement! I can see how rock stars and famous people can get addicted to their own self importance. But it’s time to return home. Back to my self centered world, back to taking things for granted, going back to try to pick up where I left off. With a bit of luck I will be able to take a lesson from all of this and make some sense of who I am and what I am doing…or supposed to be doing. Hopefully I’m not just taking up space on this planet; especially a space where only 10% of the people live with 90% of the planet’s wealth.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving me a glimpse of another part of Your world.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for helping me understand that this world doesn’t revolve around me.
And please, Lord, keep me keenly aware of the fact that this is Your world and it runs on Your rules. Amen.


11/9/2007