3.1.14
"Stay where you are. Find your
own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where
you are — in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces
and in your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have
the eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people who are unwanted,
unloved, uncared for, just rejected by society—completely forgotten, completely
left alone.”
My last post included that quote. It hit me right in the face the last few
days. I traveled to San Diego, CA to a
conference for anesthesia faculty and was able to bring my family along. While they had a blast visiting with some
local friends, I was struggling with an overwhelming preoccupation with "the
unwanted"... The weather was
wonderful, the waterfront was amazing, downtown was lively and beautiful, but
the unavoidable number of homeless men and women was truly heart breaking.
Homeless people have always been in all
the big cities I visit, but this time I was really affected by it. I was in a posh hotel room and across the
street was a homeless man with a wheel chair… he was sleeping in the
bushes. And there were homeless in the
park, and in the alleys, and on the sidewalks and they were kindly being
ignored by everyone passing by. I
realized that God didn’t want it this way and was urging me to do something for
the "least of these."
I kept thinking about Jesus saying to
Peter, "Feed my sheep… tend my sheep"…so that is what I did. I went to the market and bought peanut butter
and bread. I eat it all the time so I
figured it was a reasonable idea. I
loaded it into my backpack and walked block after block through streets,
sidewalks, and parks, talking with men and women and feeding them and "loving
others." Does it make a difference?
There are so many and you can't help them so why bother? I think it mattered for those few who, for a
moment, had kind interaction with a stranger who offered a sandwich and extended
God's blessings and love.
I shared with Kim what I had done that day while they were out visiting the zoo.
The next evening, my youngest daughter prayed for our meal in a way most Americans do not pray:
"Thank you God that we have food to eat and a place to sleep. Please be with those homeless people, keep
them safe and let them learn about you."
How will they know if they
never hear? Why would they follow if
there is no one to model a different life?
It wasn’t about the sandwich. It
was the message. You never know who will
be listening.
Find the sick,
the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are…
Love,
Mason, Kim, Grace (Maddie), & Emmie McDowell
Psalm 139: 9-10
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys travelling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Chad? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Chad in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez