How did our day end? After a nice lunch with the hospital staff, we returned to wade back through the mud of “no man’s land” and into the Kafkaesque Israeli terminal. Since absolutely no one else was passing through, the bored soldiers entertained themselves by making me (Maurine) go three times through the x-ray machine (a weird glass booth with air current whooshing around and a large warning that no one on a pacemaker is to step inside!). I stood on the yellow foot prints with hands in the air, proceeded to a chamber between two electronically locked doors, then was sent back to stand on the footprints again with hands at my side. Back to the locked chamber, then back again to the glass booth where I was told to take a sort of yoga position with one hand and one foot forward and the other back. Then into the anteroom of the locked chamber where I was told there was something in my pants – having already produced my passport from my pockets, I finally turned and raised by shirt to show I wasn’t hiding anything. Then the magic doors unlocked and I was allowed out to join Bob – I guess we know which of us looks like a terrorist!
Were we afraid? Not at all, but mainly because we were traveling in an Ahli Hospital vehicle. The place we ate lunch was chosen because it was secure; our friends never leave home after dark (of course, there are no street lights). And they basically move only between home and work. How do they live this way? It is a miracle of faith and commitment that is an inspiration to us. The most common expression in Arabic is “insh’allah”/God willing.
It is clear that those who work at Ahli Hospital trust in God’s love and power to continue what they do each day. When we left late in the afternoon, we felt a great reluctance to leave. Those who continue to serve all of God’s children who are in any kind of pain or need without question and in spite of their own suffering are living in the Gospel in a way that challenges and inspires us. Thanks be to God!
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