Red and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in His Sight - Jesus loves the little children of the world. I can't help but think of that song after spending a night at the bedside of a little boy struggling with a really, really bad asthma exacerbation. I sat there all night long, counting how often his little chest would rise, listening to the sounds he made as he breathed, watching all the muscles he was using to raise and lower his chest, counting all the drips of his IV to make sure he was getting the right amount, giving him breathing treatment after breathing treatment adjusting as determined by his breathing, hoping that the meds I was giving, which was all we had to give, was going to be enough and all the while praying and crying out to God to help him to keep breathing. 
As I was doing that for this one little boy, I was aware that just outside that room, there were 20 other little boys and girls, just in the pediatric ward alone, who had their own health struggles many of which were struggling to survive, just as he was. Some where struggling to breathe, some were fighting infections in their brains, others were malnourished and really really tiny and were trying to gain a little weight to go out and have a fighting chance to survive. Yet, neither I nor any other doctor, was at their bedside helping them through the night. The nurses were on watch over them, the orders written for them hours earlier by the doctors. So why was at the bedside of one little boy and not the others? It is a question that keeps coming up in my mind. I know the answer to part of it, this little boy was the son of one of my colleagues, the only son of a new missionary family, he was a part of my family here. This new missionary family, had left the US just 6 months prior, with questions (that all missionaries ponder prior to leaving) about the health of their son and his breathing troubles, about the expected arrival of their 3rd child and the safety of bringing that child into the world in PNG, but had trusted God to take care of them all. God had seen to the arrival of their 2nd daughter safely into this world 3 months ago, but now their son's breathing troubles had come up. So here I was at his bedside, praying that God would give me the wisdom I needed to see him through the night. Praying that this incident wouldn't weaken the faith of his parents and their sense of calling, but instead strengthen it.
But, as I sat there, forcing my eyes to stay open, I knew that each of those other little boys and girls on the ward, had parents and grandparents who loved them, who too had been praying to God for the lives of their children to be spared. Yet, I wasn't at their bedside seeing them through the night. So the questions came to me, to God is there a difference between the son of a missionary and the son of a family in PNG, is there a difference to God, if they are family or friend, or just someone who came into the ER? The answer is no. Levi is just as precious to God as are Satrick, Jethro, Immanuel, Sonia, MonaLisa, Maria and all the other boys and girls on the pediatric ward. Each one of us is loved by our heavenly Father. We are all cared for by God so much that he willingly sent his Son to die on the cross for each of us, so that we can have a life without pain and suffering and death - not in this world, but in the one to come.
Each of those kids deserves a chance to live through the night, deserves the best medical care that they can get here at Kudjip, not because they are someone's son or daughter, but because of they are children of God. Yet, how do I give all of myself to each one of them, and yet have enough left to see the multitudes the next day? How much of me is there to pour out to others day in and day out? I don't know the answers to those questions, but want to keep giving all I have to serve the Lord and share His love with all the people of PNG - those who are red and yellow, black and white.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. - John 3:16-17
