Fighting Lions

“I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.” – 1 Samuel 17:35

Whenever Greg and I hike with a friend, we can’t help but bring up the recent story of a hiker who barehandedly strangled a mountain lion that attacked him. Greg jokes that he always wanted to do that first, that it would have made a great story. Our own experience with lions is limited to two very tame young lions we met in Zambia, and the big male cat rolled over in boredom so that I could rub his belly. But I have been thinking more and more of the story of David these days. I always thought that David used his sling to slay the bear and lion at a safe distance from his flock – how did I miss the fact that he singlehandedly fought lions and bears? And he was such a youth that he didn’t fit into a man’s armor or merit the respect of his older brother. Yet he grabbed his sheep from a lion’s mouth, grasped the lion’s mane, and struck it to death. Wow. Another part of the story that was just piecing itself together for me was the fact that Samuel had already anointed David king of Israel. Was he confident to reach out and fight lions because he trusted God’s promise to the extent that he was certain he would make it to become king some day? Did he bound toward the lion as a type of self-testing, knowing that he would someday command troops in battle? I would have to be pretty certain of God’s promises to me to attempt that, pretty confident in the importance of my mission. Ah, but I do believe God has given me mission and vision, I believe that this is a calling and I believe that He will provide. I’ll be praying that God will not bring real lions across my path that I have to literally wrestle, but I hope that the example of David makes me a bit more confident when it comes to the more metaphorical beasts. Spiritual warfare, cultural shock, financial challenges, burdens that I try to shoulder alongside my friends – they all seem so insurmountable on certain days, certain late nights. But if God’s promises and provision could give a shepherd boy the confidence to grab a lion by the hair and kill it, then I think I can do better trusting and stepping out in faith and confidence.

Homecoming

For we who are in this tent groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from Heaven. – 2 Cor 5:4

I advised the medical student as he removed pieces of old gauze from within the patient’s wound. Our patient, I’ll call him George, had dropped by Cornerstone Community Health Free Clinic after the church service and food pantry outreach at 3rd Street in San Bernardino. He had been to the local emergency room the weekend before to have his wound opened and drained. He didn’t return when the doctor instructed the next day, which became a problem because so much gauze had been left inside his wound. What aided healing on the first few days had become a big infection risk by the fourth and fifth days. So we cleaned out his wound and left it so it could easily heal in a way that better fit his lifestyle. He said his son could check the wound from time to time and that he would return to the doctor if he felt pain or drainage. As he left, we affirmed George’s excellent care of his high blood pressure, encouraged him to eat plenty of vegetables and drink lots of water, answered his health concerns of a more personal nature, and prayed for God to bless him as he went on his way, bag of groceries in hand.

After 2 ½ years, it was surreal to just jump back in, seeing patients at the Free Clinic Greg and I incorporated half a decade ago. We celebrate along with our physical therapy colleagues when wheelchair-confined patients start to walk again, and we sign in relief that patients without insurance can access health resources reliably. We praise God that He raised up leaders to take over the administrative aspects and the medical leadership, but we see the strain of hours and the stress of adding on this work on top of already full schedules. Even from the start, we knew we would leave San Bernardino and start serving as missionaries in other countries. But there is still such a sense of comfort being home, being back among the people who share our heart and our ministries back home. Oh, if only we could be in both places, if only we could help alleviate our friends burdens that they have shouldered ever since we left. We’ll do what we can to encourage and equip them while we are back. And we’ll pray that God will raise up new leaders to help carry on the work. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest.”

Back on the Homefront: Greg and Christina Miller’s Update February 14, 2019

The couple, still in their teens, expected their first child in 4 months. She had a urinary infection since last year, back when she had m

With the current Cornerstone Free Clinic leadership in San Bernardino

edical insurance, but she feared the prescribed medication would hurt her baby. Now her condition was much worse. She had moved to San Bernardino, had no access to medical care, and now had chest, stomach, and back pain. Her partner looked like the healthy one at first, but his young lungs already showed wheezes from a decade of smoking and his blood pressure was too high – he’d need daily medication before age 20 if something didn’t change. These two came to Cornerstone Community Health Free Clinic on 3rd Street after the evening church service and warm meal. They sent their bags of groceries home with his mom and settled in to talk to the team. Volunteers, a mix of nurses, physical therapists, a pharmacist, and the students they mentored welcomed the couple and started caring for them.

Greg and I established this clinic as a partnership for the 3rd street church and its food pantry outreaches. With lots of help, we incorporated it as a nonprofit in 2013, and administered it for four years before going to Malawi. Now our colleagues are tirelessly carrying on the work to make sure that healing is available right where the most vulnerable city residents come for food each week. Last night, there were 30 medical and pre-medical volunteers, outnumbering the patients on that rainy night. For the couple we met, the Free Clinic was a place to receive affirmation, safe medication, reassurance, preventive advice, and prayer for their future. For the student volunteers, it could be the beginning of a calling into service, as it had been for the cohorts of students who came before them. And for me and Greg, Cornerstone Free Clinic was the beginning of partnership in ministry as a couple.

Even now, as I work from a distance to apply for grants to improve community well-being in Nkhoma, I use skills I learned from grant writing at the Free Clinic. Leadership on 3rd Street taught me how to mentor and coordinate volunteers, skills that are already allowing me to help plan for the future in my new position at the hospital. And Greg and I are now connecting with leaders of Community Health Evangelism (CHE) programs in Malawi, trying to solidify a vision for how pastors can bring sustainable health improvements and spiritual renewal to their villages, just like Cornerstone Free Clinic improved the health of the church in San Bernardino. It feels like we’re living on two continents. We would be overwhelmed by the need and work to be done if not for those of you standing beside us. Just like a big team is needed to continue the work at the Free Clinic, so partners like you are essential in creating the foundation for God’s work of healing in Malawi. We thank all of you for your partnership as you pray for us and equip us to carry out good works that we’d never have the strength to do on our own. This month, please join us in prayer:

- That Thoko and Nixon will be able to attend and gain vision from the CHE training in Zomba

- That Ishmael will be able to find a new place to safely keep our dogs

- That God will continue to raise up partners to fund our return to Malawi and ministries there

Thank you for your support,

Greg and Christina