SK

i hope SK doesn't mind me posting this.

no, i'm not talking about my Granddad, although his initials are SK (Sidney Kermit - what a great name). in this case, SK are the initials of a friend i received an email from tonight. i say "friend," but i've never met this person. in fact, i know almost nothing about her. but SK did something for me tonight, and i can't think of any better way that it could have been done. but all she did was ask me a question. one simple little question.

the one thing i know about SK is that she is a God-fearing person. i know this because she wrote me an email asking for directions to a church in Antigua, Guatemala.

i don't know who SK is, or where she is from, or what she is doing in Guatemala. but she is in Antigua and she desperately wants a group of believers to worship with on Sunday. she found my blog from april 30, 2005 reflecting on the Body of Christ during my time in Antigua. she found it by doing a google search for "Antigua English Worship Service" and she wrote to me asking where she could find the church, because she had nowhere to go last week.

SK, thank you for reminding me of the lessons God has taught me in the past. thank you for reminding me of what it means to be a part of the Body of Christ. as i read back over those reflections from april, i thought about where i am now. what have i done lately that shows me to be "the righteousness of God"? who have i turned away from the grace of God by my hypocrisy and self-centeredness? how am i to live out my faith in my current situation as a medical student? what lonely, desperate child of God have i brushed off unknowingly because i wasn't paying attention to the people around me?

i learned so much during my time in Antigua - about independence, about loneliness, about the Church, about living as Jesus lived, about dependence (i learned a little Spanish, too). but so many of those lessons i have forgotten. even the ones i wrote down, i have failed to keep them in my mind.

so tonight, i am praying for you, SK. i pray that even though the email i sent you was pretty late, you might find a group of Christians to worship with tomorrow. i pray also for the friends i made in Antigua who weren't Christians - that someone would be the hands and feet of Christ to bring them the good news of the grace of God, wherever they are now.

thank you, SK. i needed the reminder.

and thank you, God, for SK. bless her.

Que Dios les bendiga a ustedes este noche.