MissionDocs.org

#61 Shanksteps

“Are you Jesus?”

As you read this, think about what you would do!

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in
Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of
time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases,
one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display
of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they
all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.

ALL BUT ONE! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings,
and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had
been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them
to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his
taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples
were all over the terminal floor.

He was glad he did.

The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running
down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for
her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no
one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them
back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he
noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set
aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here,
please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?” She nodded
through her tears. He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day
too badly.”

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out
to him, “Mister….” He paused and turned to look back into those blind
eyes. She continued, “Are you Jesus?”

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to
catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his
soul: “Are you Jesus?”
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so
much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and
interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing
Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually
living the Word as life unfolds day to day.

You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a
fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called
Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

I hope that you are touched by this story as I was. Pray that we become
more like Jesus and represent Him accurately to the people here in Koza.
In His Service, Shanks

#60 Shanksteps
3-31-07

It is HOT! We are now reaching 112deg F in the daytime and down to 85 at
night. We sweat, feel light headed, and have general fatigue. Fortunately
the last bout of malaria or dysentery for our family was 3-4 weeks ago. So
other than the heat we are doing well. We are praying for an early rainy
season.
The hospital has an average of about 35 patients right now. Mostly malaria,
typhoid, dysentery, pneumonia, meningitis, burns, abscesses, neonatal
infection. Recent surgeries include Fournier’s gangrene debredement,
Cesarean section, tube for pneumothorax, patellar reconstruction after
trauma. We have started showing the “Jesus” or “Gods Story” to the patients
weekly. We have also started praying with and for each patient very day.
We know that God is healing them.
Donations recently have helped us:
1- Build an awning over our worship/meeting area of the hospital to protect
us from the sun and rain and provide a larger area for patient education
2- Purchase medications in larger quantities in Yaounde in hopes that we
will obtain more self-sufficiency when a larger benefit is made.
3- Obtain a more useable laboratory system in which more exams will be
available to us and the agents used in the lab would last up to 2 years
rather than ONE month after opening them. I understand that it will be here
in mid-April.
Thank you so much for your generosity and prayers for “our” hospital here in
the bush. It has greatly helped.

“He was stabbed in the chest” (translated from French). “A crazy man
came and speared him.” I ran into the hospital wondering if he had a
tension pneumothorax or was bleeding profusely or whether or not he would be
alive when I got there. When I arrived, he had labored breathing and a tip
of a spear lying beside him. They had pulled it out before arriving at the
hospital. It was a piece of metal about 10 inches long with barbs all the
way down and a flare at the base for a stick to enter for
the handle of the spear. He said it had entered about 4 inches. The wound
was in his right chest about the level of his diaphragm. Only slight breath
sounds were heard on that side. Blood pressure was normal and neck veins
not distended. I took him right to the operating room. After numbing up
the chest I placed a chest tube. We only have old chest tubes and I feared
of the sterility of the package, but all were the same. I swathed it with
betadine after removing the “sterile” packaging,
at least to appease my conscious before putting it in him. He needed it and
I had no better options. He immediately started breathing better. After
exploring the stab wound it was found to only enter his chest. He is
recovering well but does have a wound infection after removing the chest
tube.
As I mentioned above we are very grateful for all your prayers and
support. Please pray specifically for our meningitis patients as the
bacteria seem much more resistant to our antibiotics this year as compared
to last year. Please pray that we remain always faithful to our calling and
most of all, faithful to God. He has given so much for us; I have
essentially nothing to offer Him, other than myself. Have you completely
given your ambitions, your interests, your house, your family, your
finances,
your time, YOURSELF to Him? It is the most important thing we can do in
life for here and eternity. I pray for those of you who haven’t or who have
wandered after doing so. Shanks

# 58 Shanksteps- Greg March 9, 2007
The Real Reason We Are Here!

Oh what a wonderful day this has been for me, mainly because of one patient. I have always thought that the reason this hospital was created was to minister not only to physical needs but also to spiritual needs of our patients, as the founders thought back in 1953.

Last night I was called to see a patient that had consumed the poison used in the cotton fields as insecticide. She was in an altered state of consciousness. We put down a nasogastric tube(NGT) and evacuated the substance from her stomach and gave her charcoal and another medication. Unfortunately this is all we can do for poisonings; then we just treat the symptoms as they occur. She did well through the night. This morning when I was doing rounds she asked to have the NGT out. I have made
it a habit to counsel all the patients with suicide attempts before letting them go hoping that they will not repeat the error. So I told her I would take it out after she talked to me in my office.

After rounds I found her waiting outside my office. First I wanted to know what her religious beliefs were to give me a base to start from. She was “pagan” as it was translated to me. Meaning animist. So I chose to tell her of my beliefs. “I believe in a God who cares about each one of us. He has called each one of us His children. And I believe my God was very sad last night when this happened to you and when you drank the poison. I believe my God cried! I believe my God is sad because He
sent His only Son to die that we could be with Him someday. He died for our sins! He loves you whether you believe in Him or not.” I paused for a minute. She let a tear or two fall, then said “If there is a God who loves me then I want to become a Christian.” I was overjoyed. I led her in a simple prayer to accept God into her life. I don’t know if you are at that point in your life. If so pray this prayer as she did.
“God, I don’t know anything about you, except that you love me. Please come into my life and help me to follow you. I accept that Jesus died for me. I want to follow you. Please help me.” I am again overjoyed thinking about God using me to reach someone for Him.

Please pray that I/we would have more confidence to reach out more directly to lead people to God.

A CALL FOR HELP!!!

This is to inform all of you that we need help at our hospital. We are going on furlough from June 18 to August 13, 2007. We desperately need physician coverage during this time frame at the Koza Hospital. If you are a physician or know one who may be interested in helping, please contact us. We can offer our house to stay in i.e.(a clean place to stay with running water, a rural environment, and an experience of a lifetime). Please help us help the people of Koza with their medical needs.
Shanks