Chattanooga Medical - Guatemala Trip - Day 3

A tired group of medical professionals woke up this morning as a result of the events last night.  If you missed out, we had the privilege of doing a cesarean section at midnight last night.

Anyway, the day started as planned.  Breakfast, devotions, and then off to work.  By day's end, the team performed 10 surgeries in all.  It was a rather normal day for them.

I ended up spending the day working on pictures and an Animoto presentation for the family of the twins.  It turned out really well, and by 3:00 PM I was able to show the family the video and give them a copy of the pictures and the video.  It was exciting seeing their expressions as they viewed the pictures.

At the end of the day, we sat around and watched Coleman, Anna, Jeanie and Julio play soccer.  They gave us a number of good laughs as they played guys against the girls.  Some went swimming to cool off, while others just relaxed with their feet in the pool.  Eventually we had dinner and talked about glorifying God by doing what we were designed to do for His glory.

After dinner, we strolled into town and had ice cream and walked down to the town square.  It was very relaxing. Eventually we made our way back to the hospital.

Julio and Veronica met me outside and asked me some questions about Dr Rodney leaving, but it was a ruse so the rest of the team could come out with balloons and sing happy birthday.  They threw the balloons at me and then popped them on the ground.  We went inside for cake.  Over all it was a wonderful day.

Thought for the day:  I went to the bank today and exchanged some money.  There were 3 women behind the counter, but only 1 was a teller.  The whole event took about an hour, and by the time I was done, only 1/5th of the money I wanted to exchange actually was exchanged.

Anyway, as I watched the 3 women, one was cleaning, one was the teller (working) and the final one seemed to monitor the other 2.  Each had their position and their place.  Each one did what they were supposed to do.  But it seemed to me that each one knew where they ranked.

Have you ever thought about how often we "rank" people?  You belong above me, you belong below me, I am right here in the middle...  This is actually a normal and healthy way to operate, because people have positions, people have "rankings". 

However, the problem lies in the valuing of a person based on their rank.  Yes, you can honor someone of "lower status" than you.  You can esteem highly those who aren't "equal" with you in the ranking scale.  Jesus did it - He loved everyone.  He didn't reject the system, but he loved everyone within the system.  When we see people as Jesus did, we can do it well too.