Chattanooga Medical - Guatemala Trip - Day 1

Early in the morning we met at the Chattanooga Airport!  5:30 to be exact.  Dee dropped me off and went back home to sleep.  The rest of the team arrived one by one, and by 6:00 everyone was there.  We checked in, went through security, and waited for the plane.   Steve found his way to the counter to see if he could get an exit row seat, and he did.  However, when we boarded the plane, Jonathan and I joined him in the mostly empty exit rows.  We all had an exit row seat AND no one sitting next to us.  Pretty good start.

The funniest part of the morning events was the fact that the same woman who checked us in, made the calls at the gate, checked our tickets before we boarded, and the next thing I knew, she was on the tarmac.  Steve said, "If I see her with a wrench, I am getting off the plane."  One other guy said it wasn't the same lady, she had been cloned.  I was rather impressed, except for the fact that I was helping Bridget take her bag on the plane, and I boarded before her - she realized her boarding pass was in her bag and ran past the gate agent (the same lady from the front counter) when she turned around and came and got her boarding document.  TSA would be extremely upset if they ever knew this happened.  Kinda made me wonder who else was on the plane who shouldn't have been??  On top of that, one guy boarded with his boarding pass from another flight.  We found this out because he sat in the wrong seat.  Anyway, maybe Chattanooga needs to re-think the multi-tasking agent??

The rest of the day went kinda smooth - we had plane trouble in Atlanta, but it only delayed us 45 minutes.  We arrived in Guatemala about 30 minutes late and flew through customs (except Coleman and William [the doctor from Memphis] who had brought a ultra sound unit and declared drugs).  No real delay, just a momentary discussion with the security officer.

Finally we boarded the bus and sat for 6+ hours.  (We stopped at McDonalds and Sarita's on the way).  It really could have been much worse!  It wasn't hot - but it was raining, so much of our luggage got wet -  not bad, but still, who likes wet luggage.

We arrived in Cubulco a little after 7:15 local time (9:15 PM Chattanooga time).  We unloaded, had dinner and did a quick orientation.

Tomorrow they will be qualifying the 52 patients they have lined up - we will see what God has in store for us this week.

Thought for the day:  I had a conversation with Dr. Bill Rodney, one of our team doctors, about medical missions.  It is obvious he has a passion for this.  He wants to see missions and medicine connected on the field where effective, strategic and successful training of doctors would include the necessary training in biblical truth as well.  Medicine held hand in hand with the "Great Healer". He spoke with passion, he shared with conviction.  He longs to see things done better.

My thought was, could you imagine if every believer lived with this same passion in what they do?  How impacting would it be if lawyers practiced law based on the principles of God's word, or politicians made policy based on the guidelines of scripture, or the pizza delivery guy did his job as if God were the one he was delivering the pizza for (and to)??  Each one of us has been given a position in life.  God has us where He does right now so that we could serve Him. 

If you cannot connect what you do with what God says in His word, maybe you need to do something else.  Or, maybe you need someone to help you see the connection.  Because, "whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God!"  It truly is all about Him.