One less orphan

I knew coming to Guatemala that I would get to have lots of cultural experiences. However, I never thought I'd have to experience a Guatemalan funeral. Julio was just a baby when he went on to be with the Lord. We met him at the orphanage. As soon as I met Julio, I knew why he was there. See, Julio was born with a cleft palate, and his mother looking on his physical deformity didn't want him. Reminds me of someone else I know, Isaiah prophesied what the Messiah would look like: He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him (53:2a).

However, his story is more tragic than that, not only did his mother not want him, she took him to the local garbage dump, and left him there. As soon as he was born, he was literally thrown away. The person who was supposed to love him and treasure him, thought of him as garbage. Fortunately, the people at the basurero thought more of him and took him to the orphanage. There he received so much love, from the staff and from several teams. A medical team of doctors from the US had come to Guatemala to do free surgeries. His first surgery went really well. The team had come back for the second surgery and it seemed that all would be well. However, during the night, liquid filled his lungs and he was gone. As I was struggling to find peace with the loss of this precious baby boy the Lord reminded me, that Julio is in a much better place. He will no longer be rejected by men because of what he looks like. Julio never had the opportunity to be loved by a mother and a father here on this earth, but he will forever be in the presence of the Heavenly Father. Julio is no longer an orphan. He is in his Daddy's arms, and will never be hurt by this world again. To be honest, I'm a little bit jealous. The Lord says that He makes all things work out for our good and His glory. Just like God received glory through the death of His Son, I know He will receive glory through the death of this precious child. The medical team that operated on Julio was not a "Christian" medical team. I am praying that through his death they may come to find the One who can give eternal life. 

At some point after the funeral, one of my teammates started singing Beautiful Things by Gungor, I want to share some of the lyrics with you:

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth

Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

That's exactly what the Lord wants to do! What the world sees as garbage, the Lord sees as treasure, and He takes us and refines us and makes us beautiful.

There is now one less orphan on this earth; but Julio never really was an orphan. He may not have been wanted by his biological mother, but he was never forgotten by his Heavenly Father, and neither are we.