It is November 10, 2020. I’m writing this note from Togo. I love Africa, but I would rather be in France at the moment. I’ve been working at the Hospital of Hope. A friend drove me to the airport to return to Europe, but my COVID-19 test came back positive. So I’m stranded.

Medical Missions Gives Access to Off-Limits Places

Without a negative test, I can’t board the plane. I have no access to France. A medical vocation is like the negative COVID-19 test that I covet at present. It opens doors into mission fields that would otherwise be "off-limits."

I recall some amazing places that medicine has taken me: behind prison bars, inside mortuaries, into the heart of Muslim villages, bush clinics, and through the doors of hospitals and dispensaries.

 

Medical Missions Forges a Path to the Heart

Jesus didn’t need places of healing. He simply reached out and touched people. I believe the gift of medicine grants more than access to restricted locations–it forges a path right into the human heart. Sharing birth, critical illness, surgery, and even death with patients and their loved-ones opens a portal into a very intimate chamber. And from that sacred spot of sorrow or elation, it’s natural to share the compassion of Christ, the hope of the resurrection, the power of prayer, and the grace of God.

To illustrate, I’ll revisit the bedside of several patients I encountered during this trip to Togo. The first patient on our "reminiscent rounds" is a tearful teenager who had an abortion elsewhere and is sad and suffering (from medical complications). The next patient is a young mother who delivered a stillbirth. There are several women in the same ward who were rushed to the operating room for either "fetal distress" or for heavy bleeding after childbirth. Fortunately, they are improving, but the baby boy of the 17-year-old mother will not improve significantly. He suffered some sort of brain injury–yet she tenderly lifts him out of his isolette as if he were more fragile than crystal. It is natural to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice in these settings. Above all, it is consoling to introduce them to the Great Physician.

 

Medical Missions Makes God Visible to People Who Don't Know Him

Medicine is also a means of making God visible to people who envision a very different concept of "God." Some of my favorite patients were Muslim prisoners in a depressing facility in Cameroon. Several of the inmates had lingering problems including HIV. Azizi had a chronic wound that required attention. He hardly ever spoke. Once, however, when the other prisoners were not within earshot, he probed: "Why do you do this for me?" "I give, because God gives," I replied. Then, I told him all about God’s greatest gift. Eventually, Azizi professed salvation. I don’t know if he was sincere–but I know he was touched by kindness.

In the prison environment, it occurred to me that medicine gives hands to the Lord’s heart. He is still the Great Physician, and He uses our hands to accomplish His will. But we must train our members to be of service to Him in that regard. The path is sometimes long and daunting. Not everyone is called to be in the medical field. If, however, He has put a longing in your heart, an interest in your mind, and a willingness in your hands to pursue medical missions–then do it! It’s so rewarding to imitate Him:

God sent Jesus "to preach the gospel to the poor; … to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind…." Is He sending you?