Construction of the Revolution Hospital in the Dominican Republic: June 2017

Sunday, June 11, 2017

“Who Will We Be While We Wait”

If you are a member of Second Presbyterian, my church in Roanoke, hopefully this message rings a bell, because I stole the line from Rachel’s sermon of May 28th and it is just the message I needed to hear today and really almost all days! Stacy and I are a week or two behind our church family when it comes to sermons – we enjoy hearing the recordings when they become available on the church website. For those who put the effort into creating and sharing these recording, please know they are appreciated by many.

Waiting – it is a constant theme here in the Dominican Republic, it is a part of the culture here that perhaps is something the Dominicans have come to terms with and are very comfortable with. The Dominicans might be ahead of our American culture when it comes to this ability, and in reality it is something our “more developed” country might have lost as we “developed” into a first world country and pushed one another for instant results and immediate answers.

Our church, many members, and many of you have supported the Revolution, and I can tell you one of the main difficulties during my time here has been the waiting. Waiting for quotes from suppliers, waiting on technical information necessary to continue the construction, waiting for work to resume after the many Monday holidays, waiting for contracts and agreements, waiting for responses to emails, waiting until we have the information we need so work can occur efficiently, waiting for the electricity to come back on, waiting for God. Yes, God knows my frustrations with His timing, God and I have had many conversations about this and I know I need to wait for His timing, but boy is that a hard thing to do! I fully appreciate how the apostles could witness Jesus walking on the water one day and yet question who he really is the next day, we just cannot simply live a life of complete faith.

So it is wonderful to hear Rachel’s message, to read, the morning after a frustrating day, Richard Rohr discuss the issues with anxiety and the need for waiting, to have God’s presence and power be laid out in front of me - things might not be happening as I wish, but the real message is being presented to me in many ways – that only through faith can we come to terms and understand God’s timing. I don’t know if I will ever give up my ego’s want to be in control, but what a beautiful condition it would be.

And so in spite of my continual struggle with this concept, the construction is moving along. God has partnered us with wonderful engineers who are helping oversee the project – of course this only one of many “timing issues” during the course of this project that occurred when it was the right time, not my time, and many more wonderful things have happened at the right time in spite of my wish that they would have happened sooner.

The first section of the building will be ready for paint by the end of this week, and it is exciting that we are now looking at ceramic tile, paint colors, windows and doors. It is coming together … it is a huge undertaking but hundreds of you all have put your faith into this project and it is becoming a reality. In another four weeks about one-half of the building will be “under roof” leading to the ability to proceed finishing-out these areas.

So “Who will we be while we wait”? I am trying to live and do what I hope is following God’s path, working with you all to help fulfill a dream that will make a difference to so many people in this region of the DR for generations to come.

So many good things happen regularly, so many God-instances occur - it is so exciting and a great deal of work … and waiting. Thanks for your prayers.

Early on in this project, Stacy made a wonderful sign for me that hangs over our front door – it says “tranquilo”. I need to remember to look up as I head to the project every day.