What a Terrific Problem!

Wow!  What a blessing Monday and Tuesday were in Ishaka!  We have hosted 2 medical camps in Ishaka in the past, both in Ishaka Community Church.  The church building continues to grow.  When we first came in 2014, the church was a temporary structure.  Now, there is a large building and the church is now requiring 3 worship services on Sundays.

When we arrived, similar to our previous visits, we were greeted by large lines of people that had showed up early to seek medical care.  

Because of our eye emphasis, there seemed to be more older people than most clinics that we have seen in the past.  Over the 2 days of clinic, we saw 500 patients in total.  I don’t have an accurate number from Tuesday, but on Monday, we witnessed 69 people receive Christ!  Of these 69, 3 of them were previously Muslim. 

Our team was delighted to see Crispus come into the church building.

She is a young girl with burns on her foot that we have seen and gotten treatment for on our previous trips to Ishaka.  She is growing and seems to be doing well.  She has a little bit of tightening in the burn scar on her leg, so we will be getting her another evaluation for possible burn treatment/surgery.

Through our treating of these 500 patients, we came across 7 patients that will need a higher level of care.  Three of these are children that will likely need heart surgery.  They all have murmurs and slowed growth.  Two of these are 18 months old and have received some work up in the past but have not been able to afford the surgery (they will need to go to Kampala and Mulago Hospital).

The third we have initiated the work up to diagnose his problem.  From our experience in the past, most of these heart surgeries will carry a price tag of about $1,500 USD. 

Two are patients with burns that will require burn scar treatment.  One is a 1 year old that pulled some hot porridge onto himself 4 months ago.

He has some contractures in the fingers of his R hand and down his R leg.  The other is an 18 year old who has burns to her L hand that are causing some scarring of the back of her hand that restrict her movement.  We will be arranging for their transport to a hospital that has done tremendous work with our friends Kevin and Shakib.

One of the remaining patients caught my eye because of his presenting problem and his name.  His name is Josam, which is suspiciously close to my Uncle Joe Sam.  His presenting problem is a facial swelling, for 6 months, that reminds me of our friend Joseph that we helped get treatment in 2012.

Joseph showed great improvement with chemotherapy treatment for a tumor in his face/sinuses.  He later passed away from an infection due to his decreased immune system after the chemo.  Josam will be sent for a CT scan to evaluate his facial swelling for a possible tumor.

This clinic proved to be a great clinic for teaching.  Ishaka is home to a medical school and many of their students helped us in the clinic.  In addition, Jayne, Kylee, Anna Catherine, Zach, Jared, and Jake are all planning on careers in medicine.

I was able to squeeze in some time to look at some x-rays and review some interesting patients that provided great conversation and debate.  We also got to see our friend Hilary who dropped by to help us both days.

Our new team members, Zach and Kylee, jumped in right away.  Zach helped in pharmacy and Kylee was our lab director!

After all of this, we do have a good problem.  We have 8 days of clinic scheduled prior to our eye surgeries.  The last 4 of these are eye care only.  Eye care only clinics have proven to be more productive of eye surgery patients in our experience.  But after ¼ of the clinics, we have 38 patients signed up for eye surgeries to start on June 5^th!  That is a pace to have 152 eye surgery patients, even if the pace in our last 4 clinics does not increase.  So, this is a blessing and an issue at the same time.  We are not sure how many people that we can bring into the eye hospital at one time.  We may have to stagger the patients somehow or even add a week of surgeries, at a later date, that would need to be overseen by our Ugandan team, after we are back in the USA.  With each of these patients, there will be the $55 cost of taking care of their eye surgery.  Please pray with us that we will find a good resolution to this terrific problem.

Today, Wednesday, we had a day off.  There is a small mountain across the street from our hotel.  To get some exercise and training, we all walked to the top, and some of our team made the trip up 3 times.

Jill with the Rocky pose at the top.

We have clinics closer to our hotel on Thursday and Friday and a safari trip planned on Saturday.

Please continue to pray for our team and that God be glorified through all that we do.

If you would like to help financially with any of the special cases I have mentioned, please email me at DueUnto@gmail.com and we could communicate on how to do this or you can give via paypal at DueUnto@gmail.com.

Due-ing what we Due,

Jay

It's Great to Be Back!

It has been 18 months since we hosted a medical camp (clinic) in Uganda.  In some ways it seems like forever, and yet, at other times, it seems like yesterday.  One thing is for sure, we all were excited to hit the road again today.  We packed our trunks and loaded our van and took off for Mbarara this morning (Sunday).  We will be hosting camps in Ishaka each of the next two days.  I wanted to make use of the 5 hours in the ministry machine to catch you up on our trip so far.

The time since we left Dallas on Wednesday morning has been a blur.  We flew to Dubai and had an incredible time in the desert and absorbing some of the local culture.  We rode in vehicles “bashing” the dunes and then some of us sledded or surfed the sand.  Some of us, well me, just fell down while trying to surf the sand.  We then went to a dinner where we were treated to some camel rides, as well as, local food, customs and dances. 

By the time the 15 hour flight and the desert tour were over, we collapsed into our hotel beds on Thursday night.

On Friday, we got up and flew from Dubai to Uganda, where we were greeted by our Ugandan friends and family.  We talked through our mission plans over dinner and then headed to our guest house in Gaba.  Once we arrived in Gaba, we ran into our friends Jesse and Cate and caught up with Jamil (just arriving from his home in Palissa) before we even reached our guest house.

On Saturday, we headed up to Wentz Medical Center to pack our trunks for our 3 week swing through SW Uganda.  When we arrived at Wentz, guess who we ran into!  Our friends Kevin and Nicholas.  It was such a blessing to reunite with these precious boys and their mothers.

Kevin, you may remember, is a young boy that had been severely burned when we ran into him in 2013 in Rushere.  He has undergone multiple surgeries and is doing remarkably well.  He was able to run and play soccer and seemed to be in good spirits.  He was in town because he was supposed to have a plastic surgery done by a visiting American surgeon, but he was found to have Malaria, so he was instead sent to Wentz for treatment.  His next surgery has now been rescheduled to May 23^rd.  Due Unto Others supporters have been so gracious to sponsor Kevin’s medical treatment to this point.  Kevin is old enough for school now, so we would like to raise money for his school fees and for continued medical care.

Nicholas is a young man that we met in Itara in 2013.  He had a chronically broken left tibia (shin bone).  We were concerned that he might have osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease).  I think it has been proven that he does not have this disease.  His leg has healed.  It is not completely straight, but he runs and plays like his peers!  Due Unto Others donors have supplied his medical care and God has healed him to a point that he should be able to lead a normal life.

Sunday morning, we attended worship at Gaba Community Church and then returned to our guest house to load up our van to head to Mbarara.  As we were loading our van, I heard a familiar voice saying “Dr. Jay.  Dr. Jay”.  I finally realized it was coming from the other side of the compound gate.  It WAS a familiar voice, it was our good friend Shakib with his sister (Bushira) and his mother (Teddy).  They had come to pay us a visit.  They also brought with them some fresh fruit that they graciously gave to our team. It was good to see them and to see how well Shakib has recovered from his burns that we found him with in 2012.  He is getting tall, is in 1^st grade, has great use of his left hand and has a smile that brings joy to those that see it.  We regretted that we were not able to spend more time with them today, but we hope that we can visit with them again before we head home in 5 weeks.

It is great to be back in the ministry machine chugging down the roads of Uganda again. I has been even greater to see God’s handiwork in the healing of the 4 boys we have seen so far (Jamil, Nicholas, Kevin and Shakib).  Please join us in praying that God be glorified in our clinics this week and that we can identify “that one person” that we can make a difference for.

This is what we Due!

Jay

Exciting Opportunity

We are excited as we make our final preparations for our upcoming mission to Uganda.  There are just 3 weeks until we take off.  We will be hosting multiple clinics, treating a multitude of medical problems and looking for older Ugandans with cataracts.  Following these clinics, we will host a week at the eye hospital to allow the patients with cataracts to get them removed.

We are also more than excited to tell you about an awesome opportunity for Due Unto Others and our projects in Uganda.  There is a donor to Due Unto Others that has offered us a tremendous opportunity to expand our efforts and to be good stewards of the blessings that God has given us.  This anonymous donor will match all contributions to Due Unto Others between now and when we leave for our trip, May 17.

So any donation will go twice as far!  $55 for one eye surgery turns into two.  $250 for one trunk of medications turns into two trunks of medicine.  $2 for a pair of reading glasses turns into two pair of glasses.  If you have ever considered giving to our mission projects, this is a great time. 

As another piece of good news, our paypal account for Due Unto Others is now working.  You can make a tax deductible donation by paypal by directing it to DueUnto @gmail.com or by following the support link on our website www.DueUnto.com.  (please leave your address for tax receipt)  You can make a donation by check to:

Due Unto Others

3418 Robert Dr

Duncan, Ok 73533

Please pray for our upcoming trip!  Please pray for lives to be changed and God to be glorified.

Jay

How will we be known?

First of all, I apologize for not making an entry to this blog in the past 14 months.  I have been out of the blog business, since we haven’t made a trip to Uganda in about that time frame.  We are going to Uganda in May and I will tell you more about that later.

This week has brought back many memories and has been a bit emotional for me.  One night last week, my parents, siblings and various other family members met at my grandmother’s house to clean out her attic and storage building.  My Granny Due moved to an assisted living in 2016 and we are preparing to sell the house that she and my Grampus bought in 1980.  My Grampus died in May of 1987, but my Granny continued to live there alone since then.  Many things in the attic and storage building had pretty much gone untouched since 1987.  It is hard to believe that it has been almost 30 years.

Garage in the middle of clean out.

We found some really cool stuff in the clean out.  Like recruiting letters written to my Uncle Terry Due, asking him to play basketball at different universities.  One was from Army and Assistant Coach Bob Knight.  Another from Oklahoma State and Coach Henry Iba.  Terry eventually made the “correct” choice and played basketball at OU.  We found home crafted telescopes, antique tools, and small desk top cannon, in case we ever need one.  The junk in the attic was carried to the curb and to dumpsters.  The awesome treasures were taken to family homes to pour over or display on a prominent shelf.  This unearthing of these cool family artifacts had me thinking about my grandfather (Elmer Due) and Due Unto Others.  I was also contemplating how I might lead the latter to be more like the former.  As I think about my grandfather, it is easy to see that I need more Due in me and more Due in Due Unto Others.

The great American philosopher and comedian, Ron White, once said that his grandfather always said that his grandson “Had a whole lot of quit in him”.  To tell you the truth, I would like to have less quit and more Due in me.  To bring this point home, let me describe some of the memories and qualities, of my grandfather, that came back to me this week.

He was patient.  Oh my goodness was he patient.  I never saw him lose his temper once in my 16 years with him.  I think this quality may have fed into many of the other great qualities.

He was gentle.  He was former military and a machinist, but very gentle.  I remember one time that he sat with his dying friend and held his hand for hours.  His friend twisted Grampus’ watch around so many times that he had a big scab wound on his wrist.

He was a hard worker.  He worked for 30 years and retired from Halliburton.  On his off time, he made arts and crafts to sell, coached baseball, taught Sunday school, sang in the choir, kept a big garden, played multiple musical instruments and led music/bible study at local nursing homes.  When his work mates at Halliburton went on strike, he could not put is family at risk, so he crossed the picket lines (enduring insults and injury) to keep working.  He would sneak his paycheck home in his lunchbox so that the people on the picket line would not see it.

 

Teaching my brother Jack about hard work.

Setting up his crafts.

Grampus and Granny playing music.

He was honest.  I remember one time that I was telling him the story about my trip to Burger King.  I had bought my meal, and somehow, the cashier made a mistake in counting back my money.  I was celebrating my windfall, but he gently pointed out to me that me taking that money was not right.  That weighed heavy on my mind.  He would probably be disappointed to know, but as a high school student, I was too embarrassed to go back to Burger King and give back the $5.36.  So there you have it, Burger King, I owe you $5.36 from 1986.

He was innovative.  I mentioned the homemade telescope and cannon earlier.  He could make anything out of nothing + junk.

He had a unique approach to things.  One time while my parents were out of town, we were staying with my grandparents.  He thought it would be a good idea, at 5 years old, for me to try his chewing tobacco.  I still remember how mad my mom got at him, but after I got done throwing up all over his backyard, I had formed my negative opinion about tobacco.

He was kind, he was generous, he was a friend to everyone, he was loving, and on and on and on.

Our church is in the middle of a message series entitled “This is what we do.”  We are reviewing some of the things that we do as Christians. 

Matthew 7:16 says, “By their fruits you will recognize them.”  Our fruits are our actions.

Colossians 3:23-24 says, “...don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance.

I am in the process of deciding what our theme will be for our upcoming Uganda mission trip.  I am thinking about “borrowing” the title from our church message series and making it our own.  This is what we “Due”.  Being kind-Being Generous-Working hard-Being Honest-Being Patient-Loving Others…..This is what we Due.

Please lift our team up in your prayers.  We are leaving for Uganda on May 17 and we will be returning home on June 28.  We will be hosting general medical clinics, as well as finding people with cataracts and helping them get them removed.  At every clinic, patients see Jesus in the team and hear the Gospel presented.  Please pray that God be glorified in all of our activities.  If you would like to donate towards the medical clinics and cataract surgeries, you can send a tax deductible check to:

Due Unto Others

3418 Robert Dr

Duncan, OK 73533

My life is often cluttered with things that need to be cleaned out of the attic and dragged to the curb.  But buried in there are things that are important.  Once I remove the clutter and then dust off the things in my life that matter, I want to place those things on a prominent shelf.  I want to Due more for others.  I want to be more patient, kind, hard-working, loving, gentle and kind.  I want God to recognize me because, those things are what I Due.

This is what we Due!

Jay

Matthew 7:16

PS:  My research tells me that $5.36 in 1986 is now worth $11.84.  So I will be donating that money to Due Unto Others this week.

Ghost Busters

It is not uncommon for us to have “ghosts” that tend to haunt us in life.  I am not talking about spirits or paranormal beings.  I am talking about things that we would rather not be a part of our lives, but tend to be lurking in the shadows or around the corner to “haunt” us.  For some it could be a bad habit or lack of discipline, for others it might be a bad relationship or the guilt of things in our past.  I want tell you about a ghost that I got rid of for good today.

Many of you know that we have some cows on our ranch.  We are not cowboys, nor do we even have a horse.  We do have a small corral and a squeeze chute that allows us to hold the cattle to tag them or give them shots.  Almost all of our cattle are docile enough to get them to go into our corral by following a feed bucket and then we can sort them into the squeeze chute or down a different chute to put them in a trailer.  We have a few cows that are tame enough to hug, pet, or eat out of your hand.  We also have a few that are wild enough that it is VERY difficult to get them into the corral at all. 

When our cows have a baby calf, we usually will take the young cattle to the market to sell when they are about 6 months old.  The only exception to that is when we decide to keep a girl calf (heifer) to raise up and replace one of our older momma cows.  So other than our herd bull, it is rare for a male calf to be on our property past about 6 months of age.  Well, over the past 18 months, I have been trying to catch a steer that is as wild as a rodeo bull.  He was born in January………of 2014.  That’s right, he is 2 years old and still running around our ranch, eating hay and never getting close to the corral.  I started calling him Ghost, because he was so elusive. 

Last spring, I put a bounty on this steer’s head.  When this happened, Jared, Jamil, and Jayne decided that they would “round him up”.  They took our rhino atv and chased Ghost until he was exhausted and then, somehow, Jared got a rope around his neck.  This rope was tied around the roll bar of the atv.  As Ghost started to buck and protest, the rope found its way around the passenger seat and the seat was “removed” from the atv.  Ghost got away and the 2 seat atv became a 1 seater.  Ghost 1, Gregstons 0.

After we returned from Uganda, in July, I opened up the corral and allowed the cows to get in to eat down some of the grass.  One day, while I was out doing some things outside, I noticed that Ghost had wandered into the corral with some other cows while no people were around.  I “sprinted” (my kids say I run at the speed of smell) and I got to the gate before Ghost.  Finally!  I had captured Ghost.  This was a Monday and planned to take him to the stockyards on Wednesday (the only day that they receive animals).  On Wednesday, I met with an electrician to solve a problem with power to our barn.  The breaker box is near the corral and while we were looking at this, Ghost got “spooked” and ran with the intent of jumping the 6 foot fence of the corral.  He did not make it over, but he did break the panel and with a second attempt he sprung himself free.  UGGGGHH!  So now Ghost was again eating the grass and he had broken my corral.  Ghost 2, Gregstons 0.

Over the fall, I tried a few times to get all of the cows to follow my pick up into the corral by honking and making noise.  Most of them know that I will be feeding them when I do this.  Each time I did this, I got all but about 3 of the cattle to come in.  Ghost never came even close.  I decided that as long as there was grass for him to eat, I might never catch him. 

It was a blessing that our grass lasted until after Christmas this year.  This was related to the mild and wet summer.  I mapped out a plan that when I started feeding hay, I would put the hay feeder in the corral and if the cows wanted to eat, they’d have to come into the corral.  I wanted to time this where I could try to catch Ghost on a Wednesday, put him directly in the trailer and go to the stockyards.  Due to my work and travel schedule, I had not had a Wednesday free until now.  So this past Sunday, I put the hay feeder in the corral and opened the gate wide open.  I would only go around to put a new bale of hay in each day. 

This morning (Wednesday), I got home from working overnight in the ER, and I was hoping to see all of the cattle in the corral.  I was pleased to see the corral was full of cattle.  I was going to drive around to the close the gate and then see if I had caught the Ghost.  As I drove around the house heading to the corral.  I saw Ghost out in the pasture hanging out with Sadie our Great Pyrenees livestock dog.  UGGHHH.  So late morning, I fired up my tractor, picked up a bale of hay and made a big circle around the pasture to make sure all of the cattle saw me with it.  Then I pulled into the corral and placed it in the feeder.  I parked the tractor and went to hide behind a shed to watch.  Slowly the wilder cattle started to filter in.  Then finally, I saw Ghost walk in.  He was on alert and not eating.  I kid you not, I got down on my knees and pulled my brown hoodie over my head and started crawling to get across the 50 yards of open space to make it to the gate.  I caught him!  I got Jared to help me and we started trying to get Ghost in the loading chute.  After we accomplished this, Ghost tried 3 times to jump the fence and each time he fell back and he got up more angry than the time before.  The last time, his nose was bloody and he was staring at me like he remembered the day that I put a tight rubber band around a certain part of his anatomy that changed him from a bull to a steer.  We got the trailer ready and Jared hid beside the trailer and held the inner gate where he could release it if I got the steer to go into the trailer.  After a 5 minute standoff, Ghost decided he wanted to run down the loading chute.  He took off and I chased behind him.  I chased him all the way up into the trailer.  Jared released the gate and I jumped in the trailer behind the Ghost and latched the gate.  He was ANGRY and I thought he would tear up my trailer.  I loaded an older cow in the back of the trailer and took off for the stockyards. 

It took me about 90 minutes to drive to the stockyards.  As I pulled up to the unload area, the man working there asked me if I wanted the two “cows” pregnancy checked.  I told him that one of them was a steer.  The lady filling out the form said “that is a steer?”  “He is so big, I thought he was a cow”.  “How old is he?”  We had a good laugh and I advised them to find him a pen that had high walls.  As I drove away, I stopped to take this photo.  

I won the final and deciding round, but he was still giving me the stink eye!

Now that I have gotten rid of this ghost, I think that I will concentrate on putting more of God’s word into my mind and fewer calories into my body.  Fewer calories…..that can wait, tonight I am going to celebrate the win with a good steak!!!

I hope you enjoyed me retelling my misadventures and I hope that you can take your ghost to the stockyards.

Grace is enough!

I’ve heard it said that it is darkest right before the dawn.  I am not sure if that is true.  It seems like dark is dark.  I think that the saying is true for a woman, in Uganda, that we had told you about previously.  Grace is an incredibly strong woman.  She is the wife of a pastor that was recently (September) struck by lightning and died.  She was left with 10 children that she is taking care of.  Some of them are hers by birth, some of them she has taken in.  They range in age from 13-17. 

 

That seems like a high hurdle to clear.  But it gets darker.

 

We had known about Grace and her plight for a few weeks.  We had mentioned her in this blog.  We had arranged for our friend Cate to come to Mbarara, while we were there, to help us minister to Grace.  We felt that Cate was uniquely qualified as her husband was a preacher before he passed away, at a young age, leaving Cate with 2 young children.  When we arrived in Mbarara on Friday, we found out that Grace was in………PRISON.  That’s right.  The woman that God had laid on our hearts was in prison.  What could the widowed preacher’s wife done to deserve prison?  It seems that Grace and her husband had joined with several people to take out a group loan.  Grace was slowly making her payments and still owed 20,000 shillings (about 6 dollars).  The group, however, still owed 6 million shillings ($2,000) and some in the group were not making their payments.  The whole group was responsible for the loan, so since the group was in default, they all were arrested last Monday (December 7^th). 

 

 

So Grace was not only widowed and trying to raise 10 children, she had now been in jail with her kids at home for 5 days.  Our friend, Pastor Joseph, was able to inquire about Grace and was told that it would take 2 million shillings (about $650) to gain her release, even though she only owed 20,000 shillings.  Even this could not be done until Monday the 14^th.  We were heart-broken for this lady.  Just when things seemed dark, it seemed like this blow could leave her without hope. 

 

This whole situation was heavy on my heart all weekend.  I woke up very early on Sunday morning thinking about this lady and her situation.  It seemed like God gave me the word “pilgrim” in my heart.  I was not sure what that meant, but I was sure that God had placed it on my heart about Grace and her situation.  As I did some research, I came up with several definitions, but wondered how they applied.

 

On Monday, Pastor Joseph was able to hire an attorney and gain her freedom without paying the entire 2 million shillings.  Today, Tuesday, Jill and Cate were able to go and visit Grace and her family at their home.  As they talked with her, they found out that Grace had not lost hope.  She had taken the “opportunity” of being in jail to be an evangelist to the other women there.  Despite her circumstances and despite the dark valley she was traveling through, she was preaching the love of Jesus.  Wow!  We had come with intent of ministering to her and she had given us a great example of ministering to others.  With this information, my “pilgrim revelation” seemed to make more sense.  One definition of pilgrim is a person that is traveling in a foreign place.  I think prison was a foreign place for Grace.  The people there were not like her. 

 

As I had stated in the previous blog, we had hoped to raise enough money to help the widow with school fees for her children, potentially buying a plot of land and constructing a house.  We had started towards that goal, but we had to use some of the funds to get her out of prison.  The next set back was that she has many more children than the 3 that we thought she was caring for.  Even though the project has become bigger, we feel that God can use us to help this amazing Grace in her time of need. 

 

So we are still fund raising with the following goals in mind:

 

1.)    Raising funds for school fees for those children still attending school.  We will post pictures, names and a link to how you could sponsor one of these children for their school fees.

 

2.)    Raising funds to purchase a plot of land.  The way we understand it at this time, we can find a small plot of land for about $2,000 (that is US dollars).  We have been made aware of a plot of land that is 2 acres in size and already has a “plantation” of banana trees on it for about $9,000.  This is obviously a big amount of money, but it would be something that could provide some sustainable income.

3.)    Raising funds to help in the construction of a home.  This might be less than my original estimate of $5,000.  Some local churches and pastors might be able to donate labor and supplies to help with the construction.  The family also does already have a few construction supplies and metal sheets to make a roof. 

 

Please continue to pray for Grace and her family.   If you would like to give toward any of these projects specifically or towards the eye projects, please contact me:  DueUnto@gmail.com

 

Due Unto Others

3418 Robert Dr

Duncan, OK 73533

 

Thanks

 

Jay

All of the work could be purposeless.

We have started into our eye clinics in Southwestern Uganda.  

On our first day we saw 160+ people and found 18 patients in need of an eye surgery.  We treated many others with reading glasses, eye drops and allergy medicines.  We traveled with 9 people on our team and were joined by about that many more from the local church in Kabale.  Much work was done and many people were treated, but was our toil purposeless?

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem:  2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Uttery meaningless!  Everything is meaningless."  3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?  4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.  5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.  6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.  7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.  To the place the streams come from, there they return again.  8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say.  The eye never has enough seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.  9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;  there is nothing new under the sun.  10 Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"?  It was there already, long ago; it was here before our time.  11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

How is that for a pick me up blog?  The writer of Ecclesiastes is lamenting how everything is meaningless.............. without God giving us purpose.  So our work that we have done, is not in vain.  It has everlasting purpose.  Through our clinic on Tuesday, about 20 people came to know Christ (I am not sure of the exact number as the Pastor kept the list).  Each one of those souls gives us purpose. 

Next week, 18 of these patients will receive surgery to restore or preserve their sight.  Imagine the display of God’s love to these precious people, to their family and to their village with this change.  That has purpose. 

Almost anything you do or that I do can have purpose, if we know Jesus and we work to bring him glory.

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.

Trying to find purpose in your life?  His name is Jesus!

If you'd like to give towards the eye surgeries that will occur next week, you can give a tax deductible donation to:

Due Unto Others

3418 Robert Dr

Duncan, OK 73533

Each eye surgery and surrounding care costs about $50.00.

Pushing forward with Purpose,

Jay