What was he doing there? Well… he was there for his sister-in-law. She’d been admitted to the hospital and he had been anxious to visit her. He hadn’t planned on playing Good Samaritan.
But there he was, just the same speeding out of that hospital, trying to fight for a stranger’s life. A stranger he hadn’t laid eyes on before that day.
He hadn’t asked for that man to come rushing with a slashed stomach. He hadn’t asked for the hospital where his sister-in-law was confined at to have such an unfeeling policy as to require a thousand peso deposit before attending to emergency cases. He hadn’t asked for all that – yet he argued and pleaded for that stranger’s behalf. Failing, he’d borrowed his brother-in-law’s jeep and sped out of there only to be refused by the nearest public hospital due to budget cuts resulting in severe understaffing.
He didn’t ask for that man to come bounding into that hospital corridor and disrupting his schedule for the day. But he fought for that life just the same.
And lost. Bro. Eddie had just met – face to face – with the harsh reality of life…
He later organized a massive demonstration with other young activists protesting inhumane hospital policies seemingly tailor-made against the poor, the marginalized and the neglected… and therefore paved the way for justice and reform.
And this was all before Bro. Eddie came to know Christ. So, when he met – face to face – with God’s abounding love… his compassion for other people couldn’t help but grow even more.
That same compassion has been carried on and replicated over and over again. With that same passion and with that same burden to help the sick, the needy and the hurting… We came out of that leadership. From that leadership, we grew from a Bible study of about fifteen, to being dubbed “the church without a roof,” due to our phenomenal growth despite not having an exclusive edifice to house us.
We are that same godly community who, in practice, for all intents and purposes, is ´the church as a roof” because we serve as shelter for the sick, the needy and the hurting…
One ungodly man and with his compassion, he changed an entire system that capitalized on the poor and needy.
One godly man and with his passion for God and his fellow man, he helped establish a church that now spans 50 nations.
There is nothing special about that man. He is as ordinary as you and me. He has the same God standing behind you and me. The difference? He just doesn’t care and leaves it there. He acts on it. And moves other people in his passion to act alongside him.
Now, think of the impact YOU could make… to the 300,000 homeless casualties of typhoon Pablo… or to the families of the victims in the recent Cavite shooting rampage… or to those children you meet every day on the streets, begging for your spare coin… or to your neighbor who’s been stricken by a disease… or to your friend who’s just lost his job, with nothing to feed his family of four.
We will continue to meet, face to face, with the harsh realities of life. The question is, like our Savior who fought for our lives in that cursed Cross of Calvary, will we fight for others as well?
We are God’s hands, His arms and His feet… His ambassadors. The question is, will you fight alongside Him?