Meet Jayzee……5 lbs. 6 oz. of cucumber-like cool…..at five days old.
He made just enough of a fuss entering this world for me to know he was healthy. And meeting each other, at all, was as unlikely as it was magical. Some days are destined to be unforgettable, though.
Last Thursday morning, like every morning in Manila, I was ready to get into a van headed to the local squatters (slums) to feed hungry kids. A couple of minutes before we were scheduled to depart, another volunteer I had worked with earlier in the month approached me and asked me to help at our ministry’s pregnancy center. She told me I would be weighing expectant mothers and maybe taking their blood pressure. It seemed hard to mess those up, so I agreed.
When we arrived at the center, there was much more than that to be done. In less than an hour, I was moved from taking weights and measurements to monitoring fetal heart rates and measuring babies in-utero. I thought this day had already taken a major turn, but it was only getting started. The center’s doctor said one of the moms was in labor and would probably deliver that afternoon. She asked if I and another volunteer, Gail, wanted to help. Instinctively, I said yes. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I was all-in from the start.
At one o’clock, Gail and I met the doctor at the pregnancy clinic. Together, we walked a short distance on the dirt path through the village and then wound our way through a maze of squatters shacks, through alleys barely wider than my shoulders, past dogs and cats and diaper-less toddlers, to Jayzee’s home. The doctor said it was almost time, but now we had to wait. So, I sat cross-legged on the floor and began to pray.
I can’t explain to you how it felt to be there. I don’t even have the words to do it justice. All I know is, the Holy Spirit was in that place. There was an unexplainable calm over every woman in that room, including the mother. We had no back-up plan. If anything had gone wrong, I don’t know how we could have gotten mom and baby to a doctor in time to save them. If we did get there in time, I don’t know where the money would have come from to pay for care. There were no high-tech machines and very few sterile supplies. The mother laid on the concrete floor of her 7×7 living room, on nothing more than a sheet of plastic, and brought a vibrant life into this world. I am sure I have never seen anything more daring or beautiful in all my life.
After taking care of mom and baby, we left the two, plus grandmother and big sister, to rest and settle into their new normal. Today, we saw them for a check-up at the clinic. Both are healthy and happy. Please pray for Jayzee……that he would grow strong in body and mind, and choose Jesus’ offer of salvation and plans for his life at just the right time.
Thank you for sending me to be the hands and feet of Jesus around the world. I couldn’t do it without you!
