After the death of their mother, Pedro and his brothers lived off the streets, sometimes with help from extended family, but he knew that survival depended upon himself. He guided his younger brother and they suffered together. They were helped by a missionary and grew to be a part of his church. Through this ministry they learned the trade of carpentry and the brothers joined together in business making wooden furniture. He bought land and built a home. After Pedro married, he left his Tijuana home in the care of his younger brother and he crossed into the US with his wife and settled in Chicago. His older brother lived there and helped him get oriented. As a strong leader and hard worker, he made more money than he could have dreamed growing up as an orphan in Tijuana. He saved lots of money and even bought a home. He dedicated himself to his work and excelled. He remembers being ministered to by the Moody Bible Church and growing in faith along with having his own family grow as his two children were born in Chicago.
During this time of plenty, Pedro longed to see his home in Tijuana again, and against the advice of his family and friends, he returned there. When he arrived, he found his home occupied by drug addicts and badly abused. Shortly after arriving, his health failed. His kidneys stopped functioning, and he began to loose his eyesight. He discovered, only now in his early 30’s, that he has advanced diabetes and his kidneys and eyes had suffered permanent and irreversible damage. He was told he would die soon, and to make it worse, he felt so badly physically that he wanted to die. The bad news did not stop there, however. The dear church that had given him so much as a troubled youth was now in disarray, with no more than a dozen intermittent attendees.
After months in Tijuana, he then had a disturbing phone call from his older brother in Chicago. He had left his house in Chicago under his brother’s care that lived in the home. It had been divided to make two rental units, the rent from which more than paid for the monthly mortgage and insurance payments. Pedro had even left his brother cash sufficient to cover three months of mortgage payments as a cushion. The bad news was that this Chicago brother had squandered the money, failed to pay the mortgage, and the home was in foreclosure.
I first met Pedro about this time in his life. I did not know the back-story, of course. That has all been filled in later. Pedro was down, to put it mildly. Forsaken by his brothers and from his perspective by his God, Pedro was in deep depression and despondent. Because he was blind and I was struggling with Spanish language, we did not communicate much. His wife would help him out of the house and he would warm himself in the sun sitting on the curb in front of his house. Passers by would greet him, but he mostly just felt sorry for himself. His kidneys no longer functioned and so he required dialysis treatments 3 times every week. His life savings were quickly depleted and he found himself being a drain and requiring provision from his family rather than being the provider.
In the midst of this tailspin, Pedro began to reflect on what was really important in life. He remembered the time in Chicago when money was plentiful but that he had devoted himself to his work, and then selfishly dislocated his family to satisfy his whims. During dialysis treatments he had lots of time to talk with people with similar problems. He describes the mood at the clinic as one of death, full of sadness, and filled with people whose situation was even more grave and whose family had deserted them. Their physical uselessness had become a liability for their families who had now cast them off, or only provided for minimal needs.
God used this to show Pedro His goodness. Pedro’s faithful and caring wife, Judith, joyfully served at Pedro’s side, driving him to appointments, and striving to meet the needs for her family without a single complaint. He began to cherish each moment with his children desperately trying to invest in their lives though his darkened world. He realized that he had received the opportunity to ‘live’ again.
Glorify God and enjoy Him forever. This is the meaning of life. Pedro’s rededication was personal. He now knew that his illness and troubles were blessings that God had brought forth so that he would know true life and that his family would know it as well.
Life remains very difficult for Pedro. He has health crises frequently and his health complications continue to mount up as is typical with long-term dialysis patients. Yet Pedro continues in his quest to serve God with the best he can give. Dialysis appointments are no longer about him, they are ministry opportunities! Sitting on the curb is now street evangelism. He initiated a small group and opened his home to host the weekly group. He spends his free time visiting and encouraging other dialysis patients. A few months ago, he decided that with the help of his sister and wife, he could open a café. The goal of the café would be to provide an income for his family, but most importantly, it would be a place of refuge and peace where the Gospel would be at work to encourage all who entered.
Life is very difficult for Pedro’s family. They frequently have to decide between dialysis and food. However, he lives so completely dependant upon God’s provision and God’s perfection in whatever provision that comes that some people misunderstand Pedro. Some think he has hidden riches! Well, he does, of course, but they are thinking in material terms. Moreover, they see the sweetness in his family – the love and selfless care provided by Judith, and his dear sweet children who are star students, adored by their teachers and everyone who knows them. Some have begun to be jealous of the blessing Pedro has received. They resent the authenticity of the love in his family and they resent Pedro’s thankful attitude for the abundant blessings he has received from God. In one sense, it is almost comical to think of Pedro’s life as enviable. By the world’s standards, he has lost it all – eyesight, career, savings, general health, and even has been deeply disappointed by his brothers. Yet, that others can smell in Pedro’s life the presence of Christ – and hate it because to them it is the smell of death (2 Cor 2:16), is a testimony to Pedro’s faithfulness. Nevertheless, Pedro’s family now suffers persecution from those who hate what his life represents. The children are ridiculed at school because their father is blind, others gossip about Judith and others have tried to get her to leave her husband up to the point of suggesting potential new husbands with whom to have affairs. He represents the new life in Christ. They represent enslavement to sin and death. His is a life of victory in the power of Jesus Christ over everything bad and evil in this world.
Eph 2:1-5
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) NKJV
