Davidson and his Grandmother
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the Dad who came in from shoveling snow and saw his son watching TV. He said to his son “You know, you probably won’t remember what your watching on TV tomorrow, but today you have a chance to do something you will probably remember your whole life. Why don’t you see if you can shovel widow Smith’s driveway and get back home before she knows who did it? The young boy did the job, Mrs. Smith never found out who did it, and both the father and son never forgot that good deed. Neither did God, because he is the one who created that young boy to do that good work!
The other day the bell at our gate rang, and I mentally complained about another interruption to my day. I walked up the stairs to see who it was, and was surprised to see Davidson at the gate. Davidson is a boy about 11 years old who used come and watch us play soccer in our driveway. I had not seen him for several years, but still recognized his features. I asked him what he wanted and he said he would like to go to school, but didn’t have the money to pay for it.
It turns out that he hadn’t gone to school since his father died on Sept. 11, 2008 at 32 years old. He had never learned to read and was just basically wandering around doing nothing all day under the loose supervision of his Aunt. His Mother had two children by another man, and as is often the case in Haitian society, the step-father was not interested in taking care of children his wife had had by another man. So Davidson lived with his grandmother.
I was busy, and of course there are thousands of children just like Davidson in Haiti, but the Holy Spirit prompted me to take this young man over to a local private school and talk to the school director about his situation. I had a good relationship with the teacher, “Mèt Johnny” (Maitre Johnny) since I had given his school some sports equipment. It turns out that Mèt Johnny knew Davidson’s father and was willing to give him a full scholarship for the rest of the school year. All I had to do was purchase a few books and give him some school supplies.
Later, Davidson and his Grandmother came to see me to thank me for helping him get into school. It turns out that she is deaf and does not know sign language, and it was quite comical trying to communicate with her. We laughed a lot, but she has led a very hard life. Out of her 3 children, only one was still alive. Her husband was not around, either due to death or desertion, and now she was raising her grandson. In addition, her house was partly destroyed by the earthquake. She said she would be homeless by now, but she owns her house and land, and so they are living in the one room of her house that is still standing.
She was thrilled that we got her grandson into school, and I realized that this was another “good work” that had been prepared by God for us to do.
This week there have been several other “good deeds”. One was taking a woman and her mother to the airport after their car had broken down on a mountain pass we were on. I had to change my plans for the day, but we got to share some Christian literature with the woman and give her a Bible story book for her children.
Then there was the 10 year old boy who ripped the tip of his toe off playing soccer. I was waiting outside a friend’s house and saw the boy limping and in pain. I sat him up on the back of my pickup and took a look at it. It looked like it needed stitches, so I asked the Haitian workmen who were with me if they knew his house. They said they did, and so we went and talked to his mother. She said she had no money and had to stay at her house and could not take him to a clinic, so we took him with a friend of his, and later found out that the doctor said he did not need stitches. (Possibly because it was in a place where stitches would be very difficult to do.)
So these days I wake up excited about what “Good Deeds” God has prepared for me to do. I know they will most likely be interruptions, but that is OK.
What “Good deeds” do you feel God would have you do today? It could be as simple as making a phone call, or sending an e-mail to encourage someone. It could be stopping to help a stranded motorist. Just be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and see how He leads you. I guarantee it’s a lot more interesting than watching T.V.!
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