Mike Osborne is currently the Senior Producer of the KNLS English Language Service.  Mike has served the New Life Station since 1984 and was the host of KNLS transmissions for many years.

Has God tapped you on the shoulder lately?

Last fall my wife Karen and I spent a month in the Central American nation of Belize working with a Christian medical team. While there we had an experience we’ll never forget.

We accompanied two Christian surgeons to a local hospital to take photos as they conducted exams on patients they’d operated on days earlier. As I snapped pictures, a young man tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would take a photo for him.

When I asked what he wanted a picture of, the young man explained that his wife had just delivered a stillborn baby in the hospital’s maternity ward. He was hoping for a photo of his wife and dead child as a keepsake. After I told Karen where we were headed and why, the young man led me down the hall to his wife’s room.

I managed to take several good photos, but was so overwhelmed by the family’s loss I couldn’t speak. I gave the young man a hug and squeezed his wife’s hand before heading for the door.

On the way out of the room I was relieved to pass the hospital Chaplain on his way in to comfort the family. I knew he would be able to provide the words of comfort and hope I hadn’t been able to speak.

It turned out that Karen had tracked the Chaplain down while I was taking the photos. She’d explained the situation and sent him to the maternity ward to look for me. We later arranged for the Chaplain to deliver the photo prints so that he would have yet another chance to comfort the family.

Taking pictures of a dead baby and grieving mother isn’t what I planned for my day and certainly isn’t what I would have chosen to do on my own. But God tapped me on the shoulder and sent me off to care for a grieving family. He even led Karen to find a Chaplain who would speak words of comfort, words I couldn’t get past the lump in my throat!

Has God touched your heart recently? My prayer is that we will all listen more closely for God’s call…that we will answer when He taps us on the shoulder. In this world, WE are the hands and feet of God, providing compassionate care to those in need. Partnering with God in this fashion, we bring light and life into our sometimes dark world.

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