It’s been almost a week since I returned from my two-week visit to Southeast Asia, and I keep thinking about what Karen, one of CBF’s field personnel, told me as I visited with her on the medical boat. She said that she never thought she would be serving as a “missionary.” In fact, she was quite resistant when her pastor suggested that she consider mission service through CBF.

Karen, who now travels up and down the river ministering to villagers as a nurse practitioner, feels very much called by God to the work she is doing. She, however, just never saw herself fitting into the traditional missionary box. Her story is one that most Christians can identify with. The truth is that while Karen may not see herself fitting in certain categories, she is most certainly living in a way that incarnates the presence of Christ. She is a missional Christian. Karen loves what she is doing, and it is so obvious! Karen is willing to go out of her way to care for those who need medical attention, a caring touch, and the love of Christ.

The day that I visited the medical boat was a slow one – not many people in the waiting room. So, in the afternoon, we made a “house call.” We took a small, motorized water taxi from the boat into the back streams of the river to visit an elderly woman who had developed an infection on her arm almost a year ago. When we got near to the house, we quickly realized that we would not be able to approach the house. We could either wade through the river or transfer to another smaller boat that could pass under wooden footpaths built to allow for walking between houses during the rainy season. We opted for the smaller boat! The entire village was there to greet us and watch the process from land.

We made our way into the wooden home, which was built on stilts and furnished with very little. There were cracks between the floorboards from which the river below could be seen. The windows were open to allow an occasional breeze to ease the sweltering heat of this tropical location. We were quickly led to the sick woman, who was lying on the floor under several blankets and her arm propped up on a soiled pillow. Karen was in complete amazement over the healing process that had taken place over the past year. In fact, Karen had fully expected the woman’s arm to be amputated after she had first seen it and sent the woman on to a local hospital for assessment. Here now new layers of fresh skin were unfolding on this woman’s arm, which was once covered in an infection that had turned her skin black. Karen and a member of the medical boat crew offered several medicines to the woman, including pain medication and other antibiotic skin ointments. She provided recommendations for reducing the swelling in her fingers, as well as encouraged her to do some exercises with her legs to relieve the pain which had set into her knees due to inactivity over the past year. While much medical advice was given during our visit, I felt that much more happened that day in that simple house in the back streams of Southeast Asia. We shared in a holy moment of human spirit caring for human spirit. Thanks be to God for Karen and her ministry!