Samaritan Health Center: Durham, NC http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog Stretching A Small Faith http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/stretching-a-small-faith Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:10:00 -0400 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/stretching-a-small-faith By this time it was late in the day, so the disciples came to him.  "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late.  Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages!  Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"
"How many loaves do you have?" he asked.  "Go and see."
When they found out, they said, "Five--and two fish."

Mark 6: 35-38

I was reading the Gospel of Mark last week and was struck by how clueless Jesus' disciples were. They were with Him every day: watching Him compassionately heal a sick woman and raise a dead child to life, going out at His command to preach repentance and drive out demons, listening to His parables.  When I got to Chapter 6, I impatiently thought, what SMALL faith these 12 had!  They stated the obvious shortage of food and resisted helping from their own resources; Jesus took what was available and fed the crowd.  Yet when He walked on water soon after, "They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened." (6:51b-52)  Wow, I evaluated, these guys really didn't get it. 

Today I realized my own small faith: dwelling on a need instead of asking, but especially trusting, God to provide.  My Sunday school lesson yesterday was on the Holy Spirit empowering Peter's faith and words at Pentecost--and that He empowers Christ's other followers as well!

]]> Sparrows and Strength http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/sparrows-and-strength Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:10:00 -0500 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/sparrows-and-strength “To whom will you compare me?
   Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
   Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
   and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
   not one of them is missing.

Why do you complain, Jacob?
   Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
   my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
   and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
   and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:25-31

I am often tempted to rely on my own strength.  When I do that, it encourages me to work harder and harder.  This passage reminds me that God's understanding and strength is far beyond any human's.  Christians have the privilege to be a part of His work in the world (at SHC, that is sharing His love through health care), but it's not because we have the innate strength and skill to do so.  I hope Isaiah's words encourage you both in GOD's power and ability, and in His intimate concern for His creation.  "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." (Luke 12:7)  These truths are our hope, and the hope we offer to our patients.

]]> Rooted and Established http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/rooted-and-established Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:35:00 -0500 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/rooted-and-established I didn't realize it had been this long since we'd blogged--there is a lot to say!  Thank you to so many who have given financially and in prayer in recent weeks, and to all who are taking part in the exciting expansion to our second clinic.  We are certainly encouraged by the Lord's provision.

I've also been struck lately by the number of sick patients, of new patients, we are seeing, and of the depth of need.  SHC's name comes from the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, reminding us that all of us are broken and in need of a Savior.  When I have wrestled with fatigue, discouragement, or impatience, Paul's prayer for the Ephesians (3:16-21) has challenged me in this continuing work:   

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

We all need this love--and as the Lord's holy people are filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, I pray we offer, we live, this same transforming love to others.  To Him be glory.

]]> Whatever You Do http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/whatever-you-do Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:45:00 -0500 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/whatever-you-do We "lost" a friend two weeks ago.  Mr. Walter Cole, a partner of ours from the Durham Rescue Mission, passed away after a battle with cancer.  Watching this battle was a vivid reminder of God's grace and of our call as Christians to finish well.  Mr. Cole had a wonderful testimony of God's merciful hand on his life, and of how God used him to touch others.

I heard a sermon recently about success and suffering.  The pastor pointed out that the gospel means credentials don't matter.  Degrees, accolades, and salaries don't earn us closeness to God.  Rich or poor, successful or suffering, we are all in need of a Savior. 

At Samaritan Health Center, each one of us serves in a different role.  Every role is a special opportunity to be used by God to touch lives--and to be touched ourselves, in His great mercy.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."
Colossians 3:23-24

]]> Faithfulness http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/faithfulness Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:59:00 -0400 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/faithfulness "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  Lamentations 3:22-23

It has already been a very busy fall at Samaritan Health Center.  We've welcomed new volunteers and new patients, and we continue to move toward the opening of a second clinic location.  We also held our second annual fall fundraising dinner at the American Tobacco Campus in September (check out the pictures on Facebook).  

New people mean new stories.  We've had both patients and volunteers successfully secure employment.  We've gotten to know some of our international patients better.  We have spent time in prayer for very difficult financial and health situations. 

I was reminded this week that God is faithful in crises and in the everyday commitments of life.  He never fails.  We need never doubt His love.  These are truths every one of us desperately needs, and that we want to share at Samaritan Health Center.  May God meet you wherever you are today.

“We do not need the grace of God to stand crises, human nature and pride are sufficient, we can face the strain magnificently; but it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.”
-Oswald Chambers via Os Guinness (The Call)

]]> Strangers http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/strangers Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/strangers "But the Church in America must confront the uncomfortable challenge of being endowed with an abundance of blessings in an extremely poor world." -Richard Stearns

Today the Summit Church hosted a full-day health clinic at Samaritan Health Center.  They organized transportation, food, and volunteers in order to offer medical and dental care to 50 patients from three different countries.

Years ago, when I was deciding whether to move overseas, a friend told me that it would likely grow me in empathy because I would be walking in others' shoes as a foreigner, a stranger building a life in a different land.  His words came back to me today as I got a tiny but eye opening glimpse of navigating American health care when you come from a very different culture and language.   

In Matthew 25, Jesus says, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me [...] Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." (vv. 35, 36, 40)

We plan to follow up with many of these patients who would like continued health support.  It is a natural response to the mercy and hope we have experienced because Christ came to our world as a stranger.

Huge thanks go to Chris Evans and the entire Summit team--it's a joy to see the skills of different members of the Body of Christ coming together on days like today (Romans 12:4-6a).

]]> On Burdens http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/on-burdens Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/on-burdens Sometimes the brokenness and darkness in the world seems overwhelming.  These are tough times for many at Samaritan Health Center.  I've been thinking recently about burdens--mine and others'--and how to handle them.  Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). But also come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29, emphasis mine). Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens (Psalm 68:19). Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Philippians 4:6, emphasis mine). It is a joy to be part of God's work in this world, but we are not God.  One of our Board members reminded me recently of a Hudson Taylor statement that "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply".  I am learning afresh to depend on God and to thank Him for His provision.

]]> Conference Reflections, Part 2 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/conference-reflections--part-2 Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/conference-reflections--part-2 I am just back from the Christian Community Health Fellowship annual conference in Nashville. It was great to be at a social justice meeting that was so focused on Christ, on submitting to Him, on our inadequacy without Him, AND on poverty, justice, and great health care. There were centers that have been doing this for 30 years, people with as-yet-unfulfilled dreams to start a Christian health center, and clinics like ours somewhere in the middle. I attended some really practical and encouraging workshops and toured a Nashville health center with interpreters for multiple languages and flags from its patients' countries.

Personally, one of the MOST special parts of the conference was the music by Matthew Smith and Indelible Grace. I vividly remember listening to "Jesus Everlasting King" in a Boston apartment, hearing "Jesus I am Resting Resting" on Rwanda jogs, and clinging to "The Lord Will Provide" during a time of transition.

Here are some relevant lyrics from one of the "new" songs we learned:

Through the love of God our Savior, all will be well
Free and changeless is his favor, all is well
Precious is the blood that healed us
Perfect is the grace that sealed us
Strong the hand stretched out to shield us
All must be well

We expect a bright tomorrow; all will be well
Faith can sing through days of sorrow, all is well
On our Father's love relying
Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living or in dying
All must be well

Life is hard.  This work is hard.  But there is reason to hope!

]]> Conference Reflections http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/conference-reflections Mon, 06 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/conference-reflections In Durham, Christians are engaged in providing health care to the poor at Samaritan Health Center.  Others are doing this work in Chicago, Nashville, Memphis, Los Angeles, Lancaster, Jellico, Orlando, San Antonio, Portland, Philadelphia and Bloomington.  Elizabeth Brill and I just got back from a CCHF (Christian Community Health Fellowship) annual conference where we personally met people from each of these places and heard about still more.  It was a good time of comparing notes and renewing vision. 

Jesus heals broken people.  Broken people like us know this from firsthand experience.  Staff and volunteers, when you work at SHC, he works through your hands and minds and words to bring healing to brokenness.  Thank you for being used in this way.  The work we are doing together at SHC is more powerful than our strength and more life giving than our best medicine would be alone.  Thank you for being a part of the work here at Samaritan Health Center. 

]]> Learning to Trust http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/learning-to-trust Fri, 27 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.samaritanhealthcenter.org/about/blog/post/learning-to-trust Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Matthew 6:26-27

We serve patients who have nowhere else to go--whether it's offering a routine physical and labwork after years of no care, extracting teeth for folks in extreme pain, or listening and encouraging during times of trial.  We are learning the same lessons of God's provision!  Last night at clinic we needed one Spanish-speaking volunteer and unexpectedly had two; a doctor spent lots of quality time with her first patient and then had a second patient cancel so was no longer behind; and our request for volunteers to help with an admin project produced multiple offers to help in the office or take work home.  As people on this earth we are all in need, and we all have the chance to know the source of hope, the One who promises to provide for His children.  I am grateful.     

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