Professionals at your service
03/08/2007 7:31 am
The young woman who stood at the door of the youth centre had a sad history. She had lost her job. She had been deserted by her husband. She had two children in her care, and a vague idea that perhaps there was someone here who could possibly help. Help with direction, help with hope, help with anything! – and yes taking a sewing class would do, she could put her mind and energies towards something productive. Perhaps her children’s futures did not have to be as blank as hers seemed.
Hope had just started to bud once more - then one day, she appeared with the news that she had been diagnosed with cancer.
She found her questions met with compassion, support and encouragement from the youth centre workers. As professionals seeking to model Christ’s love through the provision of holistic care, they ultimately wanted to see this vulnerable young woman whole. Their response is reminiscent of Jesus’ to a widow, “his heart went out to her.” (Luke 7:13)
Their expressions of love were not in vain. Today, the young woman is an assistant in the sewing class. She found that her cancer was curable. She also found Christ - the answer to the questions of life’s meaning she’d been asking.
These professionals work through an organisation which partners with other groups in East Asia to match professional skills to the areas where they are needed – skills from medicine, community development and English teaching to business training,agriculture projects and youth work.
They are part of a network of professionals from around the world involved in advocating the needs of vulnerable people in inland East Asia through their commitments of prayer, resources, time, and mobilization of others to empower neglected peoples.
For these professionals, the demonstration of love to individuals who have been made in God’s image is imperative – they work in recognition of 1 Corinthians 13:3, “if I give all I possess to the poor … but have not love, I gain nothing.”