Have you ever heard the phrase “I complained that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet?”

Yesterday Jeff Petersen and George Cheek arrived at our retreat site.  After lunch our fearless leader took all of us, indigenous leadership as well, down the road about ½ mile to a place called Home of Hope.  That’s where the above phrase came to mind.

I actually didn’t want to go on that excursion.  I vaguely remembered seeing a video with scenes connected to that facility, and I was quite sure I didn’t want to see those things up close and personal.

Home of Hope was established by an indigenous fellow connected to Campus Crusade.  He is known as Autoraj, because he formerly drove one of those 3-wheeled taxis.  He became burdened for the folks this culture simply throws out on the street, and he began to rescue them.  You can go online to read about this ministry at www.newarkmission.org.  This committed follower of Jesus literally prowls the city looking for people who are left to die in the gutters, if there were such things.

The conditions of the folks Raj rescues make for startling viewing, whether it’s by video or in real life.  I watched the video he was in the process of producing, along with my companions, and at times was almost forced to close my eyes.  You would have to see these things to believe them, and even then you’d find it difficult.

At our meeting site there are gnats, flies, and mosquitoes.  We are not overrun by these insects (or should I say, “overflown”), although they are somewhat of a nuisance.  When a fly invades my home in the States, I hunt it down and kill it – a single fly!  But some of the folks in Autoraj’s video had really suffered at the “hands” of flies, with their wounds becoming breeding grounds with the resulting maggots.  And this man tenderly picks these undesirable people from the streets, literally picks the maggots from their bodies, and administers love and care to bring them to health.

I walked slowly back down the road toward our meeting place in deep contemplation.  Compared to Raj, my concern for people seemed to be only skin-deep.  I said to Luana, “I don’t think I have that much love in my heart.”  I can’t stand flies in my home, he picks their babies out of fellow human beings.

“I complained that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”