A U.S. Volunteer Nurse Does What She Can In Haiti After an Earthquake
John Wesley had this for his rule of life:
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
We are the living, breathing representatives of Christ in this world. We are Jesus in the flesh. We must do as He would do. We must serve as He served. We must love as He loved.
Heidi McCoy came home last weekend and went to church. Here is what she said: How could I leave these people here? I know that other groups will be coming and that someone will pick up where I left off but I knew these people now and I knew their story. I went to bed that night and for the first time did not fall asleep when my head hit the pillow. I replayed all the horrible graphic pictures in my head and I saw their faces. I wanted to load them all up and take them home with me. I could get them medical care at home. I could get them specialists. I could feed them. And then I remembered what another nurse said to me earlier in the week. If we were not here they would be dead. Even though I did so little and the job was not done, they were alive.
I am home safe. Today I got to worship with my congregation and I couldn’t stop crying. The images and stories from my experience in Haiti will forever be with me.
Edward Everett Hale is quoted as saying, “I am only one, but I am one. I can’t do everything, but I can do something. And what I can do, that I ought to do. And what I ought to do, by the grace of God I shall do.”
From a sermon by Steve Shepherd, "In The Face of Human Suffering," 2/3/2010