What is Valuable?

African dentistry

     I have good friends in Kenya on a dentistry mission, right at the time of a huge hostage standoff in a Nairobi Mall.  Thank God for the modern phone system so I know they are safe, but there is still an overwhelming fear for them.  I look at what they are doing and at the same time my life.  Is it worth it?  As Jesus said (Matt 26:11) "you will always have the poor among you,"  in other words, there will always be another toothache.  Is the work we see in the picture worth the risk.
       I actually wasn't even aware of why I felt down until I looked at my list of thoughts for this post, all of them were about one or two people living their lives for an obscure cause or group of people, all in Africa.  I've been absolutely riveted to the series the Long Way Down, where Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman travel by motorcycle from Scotland to Cape Town.  It wasn't about the bikes for sure, I've seen way too many horrific accidents among my friends.  It is all about the small stories of the people they met.
 years.  To raise one adult black rhino. One.  How do you measure the worth of your days?

waiting line for the dentist

      One of the men was part of a two man team that were raising a baby black rhino.  It's mom was blind, so could not care for the baby.  They worked toe and toe shifts, sleeping right next to the baby rhino, feeding it a bottle every 3 hours.  The care would continue for 4-7
       Later there was the story of the two HIV positive parents who followed the protocol and gave birth to an HIV negative child.  Do you mourn for the dead who only go to the witch doctor or rejoice for the living child?
      Then the well spoken woman who took care of HIV orphans, teaching the origin of the disease and how to avoid it.  She looked very satisfied with her life and sure it was a good thing to do.
     All of these things are important and valuable and remind us that beauty and grace are in all of the small moments in life, not in the Nobel Peace Prize or being awarded a TED talk.  Are they worth the danger?  If it's my life, I always say sure.  When it is my friend's life that I have no control over, well, that's a much harder proposition.  Good thing they make their own decisions.  God Bless to all