We Are All Beggars

"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked the blind beggar Bartimaeus.
The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." (Mark 10:51)

Fellow team mate Karl and I stood next to the baggage carousel in Tegucigalpa watching the same four bags go round and round. Try as we might, we could not will any of these unclaimed bags to be the three we were waiting to see. Somewhere on the journey from Grand Forks to Minneapolis to Chicago to Guatemala City to San Salvador to Tegucigalpa, three of our team's bags had gone missing. Gone were one of the cases of eyeglasses and Karl's and my personal luggage.

Forms were filled out and promises made. Karl and I had our doubts that we would ever see our bags again and I was regretting that for the first time I had not packed a change of clothing in my carry-on. At the team's scheduled stop at the grocery store, I picked up a change of clothes, a towel, and a toothbrush.

Yet, all was not lost. The generosity of my team mates was immediate and abundant. By the next day I was set for a week in Honduras. Evan lent me his flip-flops, Ed gave me a bottle of hand sanitizer, Mary Anne had packed an entire bag of extra toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash and body wash) in the event her bags got lost (smart woman, that Mary Anne), Twila had packed two pairs of Pj's and two different dresses for church. Sunscreen was easily borrowed, as were bug repellent and toothpaste. I had nothing; and yet I had everything I needed.

In the devotional booklets I had prepared for the trip -- and which were in my lost luggage -- the first day's reflection was based on Mark 10:46-52, the story of Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus. We had come to Honduras to do a vision clinic -- to give people the gift of sight. Yet, we had also come to see things in a new way ourselves. One question I had written in the missing devotional booklets was "in what way do we come to Honduras as beggars?" I was literally begging for all I needed and found the quick generosity of my team mates to be an incredible blessing. In my luggage-less state I was even more aware of the many other ways that I had come as a beggar: dependent upon the hotel for food and shelter, dependent upon our leaders to provide us clean drinking water, dependent upon the very grace of God to live each day. And, of course, it was a vivid reminder that in the face of God we are all beggars (to quote Dr. Luther). And God's abundant generosity is a life-giving blessing.

The bags did arrive on Tuesday. But, by then I no longer needed them (although Evan was missing his flip-flops and Ed had been borrowing hand sanitizer from others). Surrounded by a generous community and a gracious God, I had all I needed.