Majestic mountains lined our views on the bumpy trek back to the mission grounds after a long day in the field. The sky created a peach-blue haze around the peaks, like a watercolor painting hanging over the isolated villages in Zacapa.
I suppose there’s a juxtaposition there. I was taken aback by the beauty of the landscape after hours in the dense Guatemalan heat rescuing malnourished babies, transporting them to Esperanza de Vida’s nutrition center for care and saving them from the ill fate that awaited them had we not made it in time.
God’s creation had a restored significance under the emotional burden of child rescues. Suddenly, overlooked scenery became art to be appreciated — and the mountains against the sun were breathtaking. They were the backdrop while listening to Carlos Vargas, Director of Esperanza de Vida, recount his first rescue 25 years ago. The rescue that launched this life-changing ministry.
“I was looking for an old man when I heard a baby crying and we went to see,” Carlos said. “The mother had killed her oldest son and left Jose to die. She had mental problems. Jose was a year and a half old, eating rotten beans from a bowl and sitting on the floor. The beans had a layer of foam over them and smelled horrible,” Carlos described. “He cried all the way to the hospital, and in his eyes, God spoke to me. I’m not an emotional fanatic, but I believe that is how God speaks to me – through children. Little babies. I believe that’s the way God talks to me.”
Carlos has a very matter-of-fact personality. He tells it like it is and stands by his convictions, “I can’t tell you I’ve had a dream and God told me this and that. No. I’ve always had my feet on the ground. I think it would scare me to death to hear a voice from heaven.” Yet, Carlos had the faith to recognize Christ’s voice in Jose’s cries.
Carlos adopted Jose. Now, at 25, Jose the first rescue in Zacapa is a rescuer alongside his father, saving starving children from the same mountains he was pulled out of. A full-circle miracle.
I was so moved by this story for various reasons. Mainly, the detail in Christ’s call. We serve a God that not only knows who we are enough to tailor his voice to the ways in which we would hear him, but a God who knows what we can be and addresses us accordingly.
God’s unique call sprung Carlos into action and into a commitment to serve the poor in his country. It was a checkpoint for my personal walk with Christ and my purpose as a believer. What is he saying? How is he saying it? And am I listening?
I make sure to look for him, to listen for him, in the small things. In the lyrics of a song, the fog right before the rain, the gentle smile on a stranger’s face or the open opportunities to be a light in the darkness of someone’s life. The details are so important that I find myself in awe of his presence everywhere.
I’m still new to South Florida, and the ocean is my favorite poem authored by him. Grandeur and simplicity wrapped in one element; he’s so creative. My amazement turns into praise and it continually shapes and molds my faithfulness.
I guess it’s easy to feel compelled after facing the life or death of an innocent infant in a poverty-stricken, forgotten society in the mountains of a developing country. But purpose can get lost in the shuffle when we come back to the office, back to our routines and the return to first world problems.
“I believe many times we get to a place where we can’t find or see a solution. We need someone to take us by the hand and help us,” Carlos said. “That’s how we hear God’s voice, through people saying ‘help me’.”
I remember this and know that God is always talking; I just have to keep listening.
-Carla S.