It is at those times in our life when the light begins to fade and our vision dims that God sends a glimmer of light, a star to light our way, in the form of individuals whose integrity and resolute determination to achieve that task which has been given them inspires all. Such was the case for me today in the form of Dr.Towlan at the CMDA’s monthly luncheon at Quillen. Once a medical student, he went into medical school with the desire to serve in Africa. Almost a quarter of a century later, he stood in front of me and my colleagues recounting 15 years of memories and a richly-lived life of service as a medical missionary.
What a travesty it is that the majority of our population will never experience such a life. Barraged by thousands of images each day promoting our American deities of “Affluence” and “Academia,” many attempt to satiate the God-shaped chasm in their lives by paying homage to these through materialism and knowledge. What the dollar can’t satisfy, we satisfy by our pride in the number of degrees we hold or the knowledge that at least we know more about Michigan water snakes’ kinesiology than our neighbor; therefore, giving our lives meaning and an immortal quality through our contribution to some soon-to-be-outdated textbook. How sad, too, that some robe themselves with the title of “Christian,” living in a squalor of ignorant piety and spending time debating moot issues of doctrine and forgetting to ascribe to the actual meaning of the Bible such as loving the homeless strung-out guy that sits on the marble church steps every morning or showing compassion to the elderly babushka on the cold streets of Russia.
As Dr.Towlan recounted story after story of the relationships he had formed through his medical service, my mind wandered from the cold, blanched classroom to the warm, verdant scenes of Guatemala and Honduras and to all the memories inscribed on my heart such as the one above, a 5 year old who shared a home and his life with me this past summer in Guatemala. Cognizant of the realization that I could pursue a career here in the States for six digit + income, Dr.Towlan’s talk reminded me of my real purpose here, to serve my fellow man and to impart on him the hope which has bestowed on me a life richly blessed in memories, relationships, and glimpses of true humanity which many will never open their eyes to see.
While some of my colleagues may attempt to shovel the material of their titles and salaries into that God-shaped chasm, I will fill mine with the perfect shaped God and rejoice in the delight He gives me through compassion-shaped windows that display all of His wonderfully made creations, my patients and fellow man. So I may never have a hospital ward and a staff to wait on me hand and foot nor the salary to buy that cozy little hut in Maui, but I will have a lifetime full of priceless memories and experience and a wealth of knowledge and contentment in knowing that my life was lived with purpose.
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