” Mis, please, I need to tell you sorry.” I nodded absent mindedly as I continued to apply pressure to his abcess.
“Mis,I lied to you.” I looked up, slightly more interested, “About what did you lie?” ” I told you I was a Christian, but I am not.” I put my gauze down on the chuck pad and leaned on the counter, this could be interesting.
Michael (the abscess man) came to our clinic about 6 weeks ago with a small but deep abscess on his right posterior side. Kate took very good care of him for 2 weeks. Instead of healing it was starting to open up. We were getting worried, Doc. Felix thought we should put him on a round of Cephtraxone. After a week it still wasn’t closing up properly. Kate felt uncomfortable about it so we sent him Tit Guave.
Two weeks ago I walk into the clinic and he is standing there grinning. I was happy to see him and thought he was coming to show us his healed abscess. Turns out it wasn’t quite healed yet. It looked a lot better but it still needed care. This is were the above story comes in.
“Mis, I am a very wicked man, I have always done everything I feel like doing. I have a lot of girlfriends and I live my life the way I love. I got sick about 3 months ago. I did not want to come to your clinic because I knew it was Christian so I went to Tit Guave, then on to PAP. My fever never left me.I still refused to come to your clinic. After a while an abscess broke on my side and people told me that this clinic was the best for wound care. I came, but every day I felt convicted as you nurses smiled and loved and prayed. I wanted to get better so I could leave. When Mis Katie told me to go to Tit Guave I was happy I could leave and not be in that Christian environment anymore. After a couple weeks the Tit Guave hospital went on strike so they sent me back here. I didn’t want to have to face Jesus again but I had too.”
By that time my eyes were starting to water and I didn’t know what to say. I talked with him and told him that today is the day of salvation. Choose Jesus NOW!!! As I went back to work I had to wipe tears from my eyes.
As soon as he was gone I ran to Rho and Whit and told them. Their faces lost the sadness from our Alexi case and broke out in happy smiles.
Friday morning he walked in with the biggest grin ever. “Nurses, I choose Jesus!!!!” He is so happy and you can clearly see already the changes God has brought into his life.
Sometimes we wonder if we even do touch peoples hearts for eternity. Sometimes we get tired of talking about Jesus to people that nod their heads in a stupid lie and say “Wi” to everything we ask, Sometimes we feel like being impatient with negligent patients…..but this story of Michael has lifted our spirits and helped us remember the purpose of our being here. To help them physically but also for Eternity.
