What could have been…
Thanksgiving is for.. who?
A story by Bill Becknell, M.D., the founder of Agape Unlimited
(THANKSGIVING DAY 1994)
I was invited by a Russian doctor in Respiratory Disease section of the hospital where I was working to go with her the next day to a isolated village outside Moscow. She wanted me go with her to visit a kindergarten, but since it was on Thanksgiving Day, I declined, thanked her for the invitation, and started walking towards home.
As I was walking I was remembering what she said about the kindergarten. I could not get it out of my mind, nor could I think about enjoying Thanksgiving. The Kindergarten was very poor and had about 20 children. The children had been sick and had no medicines.
About 1/2 way home from the hospital, the Holy Spirit began to convict me that I was being selfish with my Thanksgiving day, and maybe I should think about someone else less fortunate than me, and give them a reason to be thankful!!
I sighed. I had looked forward to Thanksgiving day for weeks, thinking about resting, relaxing, and just reading my Bible. I was tired. But, now, I understood.
Immediately, I turned around, and walked back to the hospital, found the doctor, and agreed to meet her at the village train station outside of Moscow at 10:00 AM on Thanksgiving Day. It was an ambivalent feeling. I would have to leave home “very early” to be there by 10:00 am.
First, I had to go home, find some medicines, and pack them. I was up until 1:00 AM! The next morning when I got up early I was already tired. But, I grabbed my 2 bags of medicines, headed to the metro, then to the suburban train station in Moscow, buy a ticket, get on the right train and travel to this village, by myself. It was not easy for someone who speaks almost no Russian, and who was tired.
If the police stopped me with all these medicines, I would not be able to explain it. They would think I was a dope dealer and probably arrest me!
When we obey God, He watches over us. I bought the correct ticket, found the correct train, and no police bothered me.
I was early, and so was the Russian doctor, and we had to wait for my translator who would go with us.
She walk over to a van that has been provided by the local govt. and travel about an hour to this distant village. It really is in the country! I am amazed that such poor people live this close to Moscow.
We treat a couple of kids at a medical clinic which has no doctor, a few Russian medicines, but no Antibiotics. I leave nearly 1/2 of my medicines here and we go to a kindergarten where the kids are all taking a nap. Children are so innocent, especially when they are taking a nap.
The Kindergarten is quiet, clean and warm. My Russian doctor friend checks one child and we visit with a lady whose leg was amputated.
She offered us tea, and then took us on a tour of a resort that a famous Russian doctor was building. He was providing migrant workers with a "room" where their family can live while they work at his resort.
During our tour, the workers found out I was an American doctor and asked me to visit one migrant family who had a really sick child with a cough and high temperature.
This family of 5 lives, cooks, eats, and sleeps, in a small 9x12 room. About the size of a common rug in most peoples homes in the west.
On a small table was a one burner “hot plate” on which the mother prepared the meals for this family of 5. The bed was on one side of the room, a couch in the middle, and the kitchen table near the hot plate. It was a sad depressing scene and I was living in what could easily be called a ghetto apartment in Moscow!
The temperature outside was -10 C and the room was very cold. You could see your breath.
I examined the small child. She was weak, frail and weakly coughing, and blue around the lips. The diagnosis was easy even without a chest x-ray, all you needed was listen to her chest. She had severe pneumonia!
I told the mother I had left antibiotics with the lady in charge of the clinic, and she could get the medicine from her. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand how valuable antibiotics are in Russia. At that point, the mother produced a small “baby food jar” with some powder in it. She had been to the local medical clinic where I had been earlier in the day. They gave her some of the medicine by pouring it into the baby food jar.
This was the same "Amoxicillin" that I had left at the clinic!
But, it was not nearly enough to treat this pneumonia. There was only a couple of doses in the jar, and the child needed a lot more than this.
Antibiotics are so scarce that they "ration" what they have so that every one will get some. Unfortunately, this kind of medical treatment does not work. It is sort of like “peeing” in the ocean, and this child will probably die without the correct dosage of antibiotics.
Interestingly, the mother was thankful to get even a few doses!!
I still had some medicines in my bag, and was able to give this child what it needed. I gave strict instructions to the mother about what to do and explained how important it was not to “ration” the antibiotic, and what to do if the child did not improve.
We also gave the family vitamins, some tootsie rolls (which they thought was medicine), aspirin, Tylenol, in fact I gave her almost everything I had in the bag! I felt so blessed to be healthy and able to get adequate antibiotics.
This was an important lesson for me.
Learning to “hear” God’s voice is NOT hard, learning to “obey” when you have other plans, or “don’t feel like it” is harder. We often put “ourselves” before God and the needs of others. Have you ever noticed that God’s plans seem to interrupt what we have planned?
Later, I felt so selfish for not planning to come, and very probably, this poor child could have died without the antibiotics I had brought.
I was glad God “convicted” me of my selfishness for “Thanksgiving Day”, and because I choose to obey, when the day was finished, a small child’s life had been saved.
It was a “joy” to serve others, and I felt like my Heavenly Father was pleased with my obedience that day.
There is no greater JOY than following God, and our obedience allows the Almighty Eternal God to fellowship with “His Holy Spirit” that lives within us. When this happens, we KNOW it, and our hearts are filled with “joy”, no matter how difficult the physical circumstances. Jesus, Paul and all the apostles knew this. We have to learn it.
I could imagine, that the creator God of the Universe, was “happy” this day, because I choose to obey Him. I was actually able to do “something” for my Lord and Saviour and He was pleased. Even though the circumstances were difficult.
If I had not heard God’s voice and obeyed, a very sick child would have died. Although, I would never have known it! But, God would!
One day when we kneel before Him, He will show us “what could have been”. Both the good and the bad. I hope that on that day, I will see more times when I choose to obey, instead of disobey. Today, I am thankful that on this particular Thanksgiving Day, I “did” choose to obey Him.
