And it is beautiful
Andrei is closer to my age than I give him credit. Sometimes he acts like an adult, but more often he's a little child. He refuses to slow down his speech; so I simply don't understand what he's saying most of the time. He has a three inch long gash on the underside of his foot. It's visibly infected and at least a centimeter deep.
Nikolai seems to be around 14. I don't think he's new to the center; but I met him for the first time today. His left arm is bandaged tightly, its muscles atrophied from disuse. Maybe it's strained or pulled, or maybe the bone broke a while ago and hasn't recieved medical attention yet.
I'm instanly concerned by their injuries because I can do nothing. While I know what to do and how to do it - I do not have the authority. I cannot storm in and bellow, "I'm a doctor" and treat their aches.
Andrei and Nikolai care deeply for each other. It's clear that Nikolai is like a kid brother to Adnrei. Nikolai carefully applies the bandages to Andrei's foot and Andrei gently re-wraps Nikolai's arm.
Isn't that the church? Isn't that what it SHOULD be? Homeless kids who carry one another's burdens and gently attend to the wounds of others? Aren't we all just the blind leading the blind?
<< So, I wrote this during the day and it made me think a lot. I prayed that I would get a chance to be the church to someone else. As I folded my laundry that I had washed at the center, I realized that I had brought WAY too many clothes with me. I thought about giving some of them away, but I'm not very good at gift giving etiquette. The rules are different here, and they're hard to learn. On my way home one of the people from the center saw me walking and came up to me. Another homeless man had stolen his shirt and shoes while he was sleeping. Luckily, I had my bag of clean laundry and I quickly fished out a shirt to give away. It is good to be the church. >>
No comments:
Post a Comment