Costly Love

 

Franklin Graham, the eldest son of Billy Graham, has devoted his life to meeting the needs of people around the world. He serves as President and CEO of Samaritan's Purse.For years, Samaritan’s Purse has done the utmost to follow Christ’s command by going to the aid of the world’s suffering. This in turn earns them an opportunity to share the gospel. Under his leadership, Samaritan's Purse has met the needs of poor, sick, and suffering people in more than 100 countries.  In one such mission Franklin visited Angola and wrote about his experience in his book ‘”Living beyond the Limits”.

I met Dr. Steve Duncan in the early eighties while speaking at a mission conference in Florida. He was a skilled surgeon, earning enough money to buy anybody’s version of the great American dream. Instead all he talked about was taking the gospel to Angola a country that at the time was in the throes of a vicious and ugly civil war. “Franklin” Steve challenged me “when I get to Angola why don’t you come to visit me.” ”Sure” I answered much too quickly for the sake of being polite. As I walked away, the delighted look on his face as he heard my answer tugged at my conscious. I thought “surely he wouldn’t really expect me to go to Angola”.

One morning a year later I found a letter stamped Luanda Angola. I unfolded the letter and with astonishment read “Hi Franklin, I m here. When are you coming to Angola? Do you remember you promised to come?” The letter became heavy as my hand hit the desk and the grin dropped from my face. “He remembered”, I thought. “No way do I want to go to Angola in the midst of civil war”.  Steve’s example of determination and commitment convicted me. Jesus told his disciples to go into the entire world –not just the pleasant places.

I called a pastor friend of mine. “Guy, how about going with me to Angola”. To my surprise he said “sure, I’ll go, when do we leave?” As I began making final preparations, I could not shake the ominous sense that once I left I might never come back. The battle within convinced me to hold out a fleece like Gideon (judges 6:37-39). Lord I prayed “if you don’t want me to go cause the Piedmont Airlines to be late so that I will miss the plane to New York”. I had a very tight connection in New York. If the airline was a few minutes late, it would not be possible for me to catch the next flight.

When the Piedmont Airlines pushed back a few minutes ahead of schedule, I was sure it was the first early departure in their history. As soon as the plane was airborne I prayed “God if it is really not your will for us to go to Angola, let there be bad weather forcing the plane to circle New York, that way we’ll miss our plane to Paris”. We got to New York on time and it was the most stress-less connections I ever made. By now I was really concerned; I figured a third fleece might make a difference.

“Okay lord”, I prayed as our plane crossed the Atlantic “if you don’t want us to go to Angola, send a thick fog so the plane can’t land, we’ll miss the connection at Paris”.At that time of the year Paris could get fogged in. After hours of restlessness a voice came over the speaker saying that we would be landing in Paris soon. I raised the window shade and looked out into the most beautiful, cloudless sky I have ever seen. It finally sank in; I was really on my way to Angola.

We arrived at Angola late in the evening. The presence of military people at the airport only heightened our sense of being on the edge of the abyss. Because the thought of tourists flying into the midst of civil war was ludicrous, the police and soldiers were suspicious of our presence. The language made it impossible to explain our intentions. To make matters worse the United States was supporting the guerilla army in the civil war. I had imagined an accident, a shelling, a land mine, but now I began to ponder what death by torture would be like.  I couldn’t help but wonder if one more fleece would have changed my course.

Out of the darkness came a welcome sound “glad you made it Franklin, I knew you would come.” I looked towards the voice and there stood Dr. Steve like an angel at the midnight hour. Dr. Steve took us to an apartment that belonged to an old missionary couple.  Guy and I were ushered to the master suite. They opened the door and the sight took my breath away, I spotted fifty five gallon drums of gasoline in a corner. Guy fumbled frantically on his airline guide looking for the next flight out. Suddenly machine gun fire ripped the veil of silence and immediately I thought of the gasoline.

 “I am catching the next flight out” Guy said.  “We are scheduled on the next plane out and that plane leaves a week from now” I snapped. The following morning our hosts greeted us with a quick breakfast. “You will catch a flight to Mocamedes and then travel by road the rest of the journey” they told us. At the airport I overheard someone saying “there used to be five planes but this is the only one left, the others got shot down”. The flight was uneventful and rather smooth. Steve was anxious to take me to the hospital where he works 320 Km away.

He sensed my skepticism, “it’ll be okay, a missionary was shot just a few weeks ago, but I think we can make it.”   Think? He was not sure? I looked at him like he was crazy. He tried to make some phone calls to find out if there had been any report of rebels’ activities but all the phone lines had been cut. He looked over at us, waved his hand and said “Let’s go”. We departed at about 10.00 am; Steve conveniently forgot to tell us why it was so crucial we get an early start. We had to frequently slow down to navigate our way around craters left by exploded land mines and suspicious spots. 

Steve’s jaw muscles tightened, his grip clenched the wheel, I could sense his cool demeanor growing tense.  “What is the matter?” I asked. “It’s getting dark; soldiers will shoot at any headlight pointed in their direction”. Dreadful fear that had been in the pit of my stomach the whole trip cut right through me. Steve was reluctant to turn the headlights on, but when the road finally disappeared into the darkness of night, he turned them flick with a sigh.

Every inch of the road seemed like a long drawn-out mile as we pondered our fate and envisioned ourselves at the end of a gun barrel. After a tense ride Steve startled me out of deep thought “there it is” he said. “What?” I asked, “The lights of the hospital”. I began to relax as I realized that more than just enemies’ eyes had watched us along the road. The eyes of the Almighty God had been fixed on our vehicle all the way.

When I looked at the smiling faces of our welcoming committee, I understood why Gods hand had protected us.  These dear Christians had been praying for our safety, God listened and answered. Steve’s strained face broke into a wide grin; he turned the ignition off and slumped back into the seat.  We were tired, hungry, thirsty and immensely thankful to be alive. Steve turned to us and said with a smile “let’s go”.

Was the risk worth it? No question in my mind. This mission hospital needed the help of Samaritan purse. I knew God had led me this way to help those who sacrificially served him in this weary land. Armed with firsthand knowledge of the situation, I was able to explain the needs to our donors. As a result, Samaritan purse got fund to recruit doctors to serve in Angola. One donor stands out in my mind; the late Mary Crowley. After the meeting she asked me what she could do to help.

When I told her about the need for a special truck to transport medicine and items to the mission station, she was a bit skeptical “what is to keep the truck from being destroyed on its first journey?” She asked. Mary, I asked the Africans the same question and they told me “Franklin, if Samaritan purse buys the truck, that will make it Gods truck and He will be responsible for what happens to it”’. Mary laughed and right then and there, she wrote a check for the entire cost of the truck.

Over the years tons of medicine have been transported in this truck which has now logged over half million miles. It has survived many rockets and land mines, because of it needed medicine and supplies have been delivered, enabling doctors to save countless lives, it is still “serving the Lord”. More importantly those faithful physicians were given opportunities to preach the gospel to their patients, fulfilling the great commission.”  

The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) is one of the most well-known parables of Jesus. On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responded “what is written in the Law?” The lawyer answered, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’

You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “and who is my neighbor?” In response Jesus told him the parable of the Good Samaritan. After describing how the Samaritan rescued a hurting man whom others had passed by, Jesus told him “go and do likewise.” In Matthews 22:36-40 Jesus quoted the same scripture the lawyer quoted and said that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The parable of the Good Samaritan gives a clear picture of how to practically obey the second greatest commandments. The Samaritan did not go up to this wounded traveler and say, “Let me give you this gospel tract.” That may be the loving thing to do later. But the man was half dead. Obviously, the loving thing to do first was to bind up the man’s wounds and get him to a place where he could recover. Once his immediate physical needs were met, the man might be open to hearing about his spiritual needs.

Jesus does not tell us what the priest and the Levite were thinking when they passed by, but they both no doubt had reasons why they did not stop to help. Maybe they sent up a quick prayer for the man and kept moving. The Samaritan spent a good deal of effort to help this needy man. He was greatly inconvenienced by this whole episode, but he gave generously of his time and money. The Samaritan could easily have thought, “Let the Jews take care of him. He is not one of my people.” Love shows compassion simply because the other person is a needy human being created in God’s image