Humanity, Pt. 2

As I drew closer to her, my eyes became fixated on the baby sitting upright on her lap. 

The cleft in the baby's lip was wide, and the nipple of the bottle the mother was using to feed him milk disappeared high within it.

The mother sat on a brown burlap sack.  Her legs gathered up underneath her, her face downcast as she stared at the large handwritten sign spread out before her that detailed her need.  Random coins had been thrown down on the sign and lay scattered about.  My mind fixated on the thought for just a moment of what it would be like to have coins literally thrown at me.  Her dirty hand, rough and weathered, held some small bills.  Beside her lay a plastic sack with a "recycled" bottle containing milk for the baby.  A blanket, a wet diaper, and a McDonald's sack lay close by.

The baby, bundled with layers and layers of clothing, had green socks on.  The socks looked as though they had been worn for a million years and had walked on coarse footing for miles upon miles, even though the baby was not yet of walking age.  His raven hair looked dusty and had bits of straw stuck in it.

As I squatted down, the girls alongside me, the baby caught my gaze. 

In all my life, I don't think I will ever forget that moment.

There are those times when events cut deep into our realization, branding themselves into our memories...this was one of those.

He stared right through me. 

His eyes penetrated to my core and he held my stare for what seemed an endless time. 

As I reached out to touch his head, absolutely compelled to touch him...I knew that I was seeing the face of Jesus in this little child's eyes. 

I cannot explain this with any more clarity than to say it was a deeply spiritual moment in which I heard the voice of the HS saying to me, "I am here.  In the need of this child, you see me."

Hastily, in broken Chinese we began to tell this mother that we knew other babies, lots of babies who had cleft lips and palates.  That we had friends who could help him...that we wanted to help him...

I asked, "what does the Doctor say about him?  what needs to be done to repair his lip?" 

She answered, "he has never been to the Doctor."

There it was again...

No money...no treatment...the white coats with their backs turned until a FaPiao was produced.
 (See The Hospital posts, early October)

I told her, "I have friends, we can help him...the surgery he needs...we can help him"

She began to sob.

She wiped bitter tears away forcefully. 

All the while, the baby continued to stare at me.

Now the crowd around us, literally PRESSING/LYING upon our backs to view what was going on, were questioning, muttering, and sometimes loudly interjecting comments at us.  The commotion and the now dozens of faces did nothing to divert the baby's attention.  Every time my eyes came back to him, he looked at no one, but me.  My heart burned within me. 

I know that the Book teaches that when we give so much as a cold drink of water to the least of these...we give it to Him.  We have the opportunity, the privilege to minister to our Lrd directly when we reach out to touch one in need. 

Devotion ablaze within me I realized a young man had come to join our intimate circle.  He introduced himself as a post-graduate college student, and English major, and I immediately conscripted him into service. 

Though the mother, her dialect as thick as I've ever encountered, labored to be understood by my new interpreter...they kept on...he translating my questions, then her answers.

She said the baby had been born some eight months before, and her husband had ultimately left her because of the baby and his special need.  That she'd come to the city to beg, as she had no food to feed them...and no hope for them in their village.  When I asked where she would sleep that night, she told me of a Mei Mei (little sister) in the city who was allowing her to stay there.  She had no phone, but gave a number for her husband. 

As I watched the young man, who we came to know as "Alex,"  scribbling the notes of her tale in my little notebook, I turned to The Bug and said..."see (pointing at Alex), He has sent us an angel to help us in this moment of need."  The Bug, eyes wide said, "this is why we are Here...He wanted us to see her tonight!"

We crossed a different pedestrian bridge last night, one we have never traversed these past few years...the "chance" of that was not lost on The Bug.

Questions in the crowd persisted. 

They began to ask my girls about us...who we were...where we were from...and of course, finally as they registered that Potato (our adopted daughter) was mine...that we had Chinese children.

An older woman, her eyebrows deeply drawn as perfect black lines above her eyes...began to question the mother directly...alternately questioning us as well.

Then I heard Potato gasp.

She was on the other side of the mother from me, so I looked immediately to see what had caused her such alarm...

She said, in whispered horror, "that lady just told the Momma to give you the baby!..."

"...She said that you have Chinese kids.  That you can take care of that baby better than she can...that if she was smart, she would give you the baby right now!"

"No!"  I exhaled in alarm..."No!" "Tell her that I want to help her and her baby.  I do not want to take her baby!  I see that she loves her baby!  I want to help her baby be healthy so that she can take him home again."

The mother sobbed.  I stroked her thin shoulders...and began to pray there...out loud...laying hands on them both and interceding for His mercy to touch them, to guide us...and to allow us the opportunity to repair the boy's lip...to protect us from making any mistakes...to grant us a connection that we could meet his need...to bring peace and comfort to the hopeless mother.

The frenzy around us dissolved as my eyes were locked again on the baby's eyes...

Then I heard Magpie begin to speak...

"I have brothers...one who was born without and eye...one without fingers on his hand...one whose feet are turned in...and they are okay, they are fine, they are loved...your baby will be okay too."

I watched Potato caressing the baby's head and marveled at her tenderness and compassion...she gently picked the straw out of his hair...cooing at him.

Brownie, sitting flat on the pavement, was massaging the baby's feet.  Straightening his pants, tickling his toes, and smiling warmly.

The Bug, fighting to stay upright with all the pressure applied to her back by the crowd, huddled closer to the pair...trying to shield them from the excited onlookers...

Our little ministry team...recognizing our limitations, but agreeing in willingness that whatever He could use us to do...we would do...

After thirty minutes or so, we'd exchanged contact info...sort of...it will be a miracle if we can find each other again...

But, luckily...I've seen an abundance of miracles...

As we stood up, I asked "Alex" to translate one more thing...that "God knows her, loves her and the baby, and that He sent us to help..."

My young translator, mouth agape, said..."Yes, yes...I will tell her..." then flustered, he added, "God bless you!"

"He has blessed me Alex, by sending you...my translating angel to help me in this crucial time...He has used you in a powerful way..."

The tears now welled in his eyes.

A young post-grad student, out on a Friday night...just trying to pass over the pedestrian overpass...when He was thrust into service to show mercy to this mother and baby...

I know that he will never forget this encounter.  I pray that the seeds planted through it will bear much fruit in his life...

There is more...but I must write later...I am so tired and overwhelmed now...please forgive me for carrying this on to another post...but I don't want to miss anything...and there's just only no more energy left at 10:30 tonight...