Bruised and Broken by the Fall

July 23, 2012

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and Love your neighbor as yourself."
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
But he wanted Jesus to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
                Luke 10: 25-37

I think about the little things that slowed us down that night. I didn't pack enough plastic spoons, so we ended up using more real spoons, which took longer for cleanup. At the last minute I ended up riding with Chris when every other Sunday night after church I'd ridden with Mary. On the way back Marisol told us she needed to pick up clothes from her house when normally we wouldn't have driven down that road.

Every Sunday after church we load up all our stuff in a trailer and drive back to the Granberrys to unload. Everything was loaded, but Mary's car was full so I ran with Ann Marie and Amy to jump in with Chris and Marisol. For some reason or another we started talking about the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, quoting it and laughing. Marisol said she needed to stop by her house, so we made the turn. It was dark outside by now, but in the headlights I could see a lady in the middle of the road waving us down. Chris pulled over. He opened his door, and I could hear the woman crying hysterically. Looking at her you could tell she had been beaten pretty badly, fingers broken, bruises on her face. She got in our car and immediately I smelled the alcohol on her breath. She told us she was running away from "her man" that was beating her and needed to get out of there quick. She asked us to call her grandma, so we did. Her grandma wouldn't take her in, probably because the woman's son stays with the grandma and she didn't want the child to see his mom like this. So instead we drove her about twenty minutes over to White Swan. On the ride down she kept saying how if we hadn't shown up, she'd be dead.

She recognized us as Sacred Road, we had worked on her aunt's house a couple of years ago. She said something like, 'if you guys weren't here, there'd be nothing.' The ministry is called Sacred Road because Jesus is the sacred road, the only way, to heaven.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14: 6
I like to think she was recognizing the hope that Christ brings. Without that, there'd be nothing.
We dropped her off and now all we can do is pray. Will we see her again? Will this encounter lead her to Christ? I don't know and maybe we never will.

It was hard to see this firsthand. It's something you hear about, that the kids and teenagers here live in these situations, they hear their mom getting beat up or how they're affected by alcoholism. To actually see it, well, I got a better glimpse into their lives. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in the darkness. I want to run as far from this place as I can, yet simultaneously not wanting to leave. Why am I here? Why do I keep coming back? Because I've seen light in the darkness. God is here working and while the last few things I've written about focus on the brokenness, I want all of you to know there's beauty here too.

I opened this entry with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Who are we in the story? No, not the good Samaritan, we're the ones that are beat up, left for dead in the middle of the road. Jesus is the one that steps in to care for us when everyone else would have walked right by. We don't deserve it, but being the merciful God that He is, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

Hope is a word that has continually crept into my mind this summer, that assurance of future salvation. No matter how bad things here on earth seem, I know there's something better. All the pain I see, it's not supposed to be like this. We're waiting for the return of our Savior and the day when he will make all things new.

My home church was here this past week. It was great to see all the familiar faces and have them see what's happening on the rez. One of my favorite parts was at "say so" when I got to hear all my friends from home praying for all my friends here.