Waiting for a new day...

Many people lose the chance to have eternal life because they have no vision. May 16th will forever be engraved in our minds as the day of our accident in Haiti. For this young man, Judenel, he feels it is also engraved in his legs as an everyday reminder. I remember as we approached the end of the drivable road and parked our truck I told everyone to get out and grab a few boxes of MRE's and start walking. I grabbed two boxes, placed them on my head and led the way, back through fields of bananas and past donkeys and goats in the path. I didn't know Judenel well but had met him a couple of times. I remember he grabbed several boxes and in a few, long, burly strides had caught up with me and was leading the way, chatting as he went.

Little did I know how well I would come to know this young man. In the accident the truck had actually landed on his legs and the leg of his friends. Both had one leg amputated below the knee. I remember his cheery disposition managed to carry through to the full, makeshift, outdoor emergency room filled with all of our accident victims. Even when I went to see him in the cool recovery area after his leg had been amputated, he greeted me with that huge smile.



You can see that his other leg was in bad shape also. It has taken a long time for it to heal. He was in the hospital the longest of anyone. He wasn't released from the hospital until September 16th, four months after the accident.

We took him first to his home. It was a real struggle for this young, active 23 year old to now be sitting in a wheel chair, waiting for people to help him. Of course, in his parents small home there was no room to roll around in a wheel chair. Going outside to get a breath of fresh air was a huge ordeal. The ground was uneven and it was a real hassle to get to where his friends were. Some of them came to see him but they only discouraged him more. Wilckly stopped by to see him taking food for the family (his mom and sister were also severely injured in the accident), and Judenel's medicine to fight infection. He knew he had to get him out of that situation.

In a couple days we went to pick him up to bring him to live with us. He hasn't stopped thanking us since. He is back to his cheerful self. He wants to learn computers. He is also handy with tools. He has enjoyed tinkering with our generator when it has problems. He is very motivated. He doesn't feel sorry for himself. While his friends are saying if God loves you so much, why did he ruin your life like this. His answer is that if God spared his life in an accident where everyone should have been dead then that is a loving and powerful God that he will serve with his life. Even his own mom was talking to him like this. He said, "Mom, when I had both legs, you didn't know where I went, what I did or what kind of trouble I was getting into. This may be God's way of keeping my life from going down the wrong path."

He was measured two months ago for a prosthesis. Wilckly called yesterday and said that he took him to Port-au-Prince and he came home with a new leg. He is a new man. He is walking with a cane or crutches until he can strengthen the other leg that was also badly injured. Judenel was smiling from ear to ear as he said, "Thank you preacher, thank you God! It's a NEW DAY! Please pray for this young man that he would gain strength and that he would be strengthened in his commitment to the Lord!