From Jonathan, a worker in Africa
“Sadly, I have attended funerals of three students—very emotionally draining. One in particular, Monamu’s, was heart-breaking, as he literally died from an infection! He died on a dirty bed in a dirty hospital corridor. I traveled hours by public transport to his funeral. Continue reading
From a worker in East Asia
“Now doc, don’t be afraid to tell me if I’m gonna die soon,” my 76-year-old patient with severe heart failure was telling me last week as we talked in his home in a nearby village. Three months earlier he was in the hospital. Now, because of the unusually cold winter weather, he was hesitant to come to the clinic and I’d been seeing him at home every few weeks since to adjust his medicines. Continue reading
From a worker in South Asia
The passing of Pari* has reminded me just how short and fragile life is.
To each of us opportunities are given to grasp what can be known of the Great Almighty God and respond to what He shows and asks us.
Do we ever really know what transpires in anyone’s last moments here on earth, or just exactly how God might speak to an individual’s heart and what the response might be? Of course we want to believe that dying souls say “yes” to Christ and escape eternal torment, but this remains unknown to us at this time. Our understanding is incomplete. Continue reading
From a worker in East Asia
Many mornings my wife and I awaken to the doleful droning of the suona, an incredibly loud horn used at funerals. Our fifth-floor apartment is next to the hospital, and we can see the morgue behind the hospital from our bedroom window. The suona players come to accompany the body as it is carried from the morgue back to the village for funeral and burial. Back in the village mourners wrap their heads in strips of white cloth and don ragged white clothing—white is the color of sorrow. Some wail and faint, having to be carried, as they walk along with the bier. It’s quite a vivid visual and auditory picture of loss and hopelessness. Continue reading
