Why Doesn't Somebody Do Something?
The Story of Rosemary
by Gene Easley
From our second story apartment, we had a clear view of everything that happened below. Three streets intersected at the corner where our apartment building stood. A family dwelling was on the first floor, occupied by the landlord, while three small apartments on the second floor and a small unattached house behind the main structure provided added rental income for this fatherless household. For Guatemala it was a nice place to live. The neighborhood was composed mainly of upper class citizens, with only a few shacks of the less fortunate found here and there.
It was our home for that year on the mission field. Although its furnishings were very modest, we were happy for a fairly comfortable little refuge from the hustle and bustle of Guatemalan life. It had plenty of windows to let in the beautiful Guatemalan sun and allow us to watch the local people as they passed by going to and fro. It was what we saw from those windows that began the following story about a girl named Rosemary and her aged grandmother.
Signs of poverty are visible almost
everywhere in Guatemala. Even in the wealthier neighborhoods one can see small
shacks where the very poor live. Those who live a day-to-day existence can
be seen throughout the country. Americans, especially, are constantly aware of
the horror of poverty's grip on the villages, cities and all of the
nation. Not far from our nice, upstairs apartment was a community built on the
side of a steep mountain, where some of the poorest people of Guatemala lived.
In one of those clapboard shacks in that community lived Rosemary and her
grandmother.
One day as I looked out the living room window, I noticed a young girl followed by an elderly woman. They walked down one street in front of our apartment, turned the corner, and went down another street and out of sight. A while later, out of the same window, I saw the pair returning. This time the girl had a bundle of sticks on her head. It was firewood. They had evidently gone to a nearby hillside and spent considerable time gathering enough wood to make it through another day or so.
The girl particularly caught my eye because of her physical condition. She looked undernourished, very weak in her body, and, in reality, at the very point of collapsing. My wife, Jean, noticed them also and made mention of how sad their situation appeared.
As time passed, we often saw those two passing by our corner, and their appearance was always the same. Though the elderly woman was thin and frail, too, the little girl seemed to be struggling for life. One day as I glanced out the window, there she was again.
Rosemary (we learned her name later) was returning with the elderly woman (we later knew her as the grandmother). Though Rosemary had the usual bundle of sticks on her head, she seemed even weaker than before! She was almost stumbling as she walked. She looked ill, and I seriously wondered if she would survive. Her little arms and legs were so thin that no one had to ask if she was eating right. It was apparent that the girl was suffering from a serious case of malnutrition.
As I looked out that window, I felt my heart gripped with compassion and maybe a little anger at the same time. I thought to myself, "Why doesn't somebody do something? Surely, somebody can see what I am seeing! Doesn't she have any relatives or close friends who can see that the little girl has great health problems and needs help?"
But as I stood there asking myself that question, "Why doesn't somebody do something?", I seemed to receive a very quick reply from the Lord. He presented me with another question, one that would bring a change to the situation. His question was simple and direct. The Spirit of God spoke so clearly to me, "Why don't you do something?"
This is the condition of much of the church world. We are sitting, looking out the windows of our nice churches, seeing the pitiful sights of a world in turmoil; and we are asking the question, "Why doesn't somebody do something?" And God is trying to speak to us and motivate us. He wants us to be active in the harvest fields. No child of God was meant to be just an on-looker. When God shows us the need, we become responsible for that part of the harvest.
A Scripture came to my heart as I stood there with the Spirit of God speaking strongly to me: "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" (1 John 3:17). The words, "How dwelleth the love of God in him?", rang through my heart. Can a missionary be void of the love of God? Can he close up his bowels of compassion as if he doesn't see the need? The thought would not leave me alone.
The church needs once more to be moved with the compassion that Christ had. Without the love and compassion of Christ in our hearts, our mission becomes meaningless and fruitless. May the church again be moved for souls, moved for the desperate. May God wake us up!
I was so burdened by that experience at the window that the next afternoon I knew I could no longer ignore it. Action was demanded. I put other things aside and spent the afternoon in prayer, praying for just one thing: for God to help me know how to help little Rosemary and her grandmother in their great need. The Spirit of God literally kept me on my knees that afternoon, interceding for that need and for God's direction and wisdom and blessing as we would obey Him.
Jean had been on an errand that afternoon, and I had been left alone to pray. She did not know how I was spending my afternoon. When she returned, I was amazed by the first words she uttered as she entered the apartment: "Gene, what are we going to do about that woman and little girl that we see passing by here, who look so needy?"
I knew then without doubt that God was speaking to both of our hearts, and He wanted us to act. We dropped everything. We knew the first step would be to buy food. Their desperate need was nourishment for their bodies. We drove directly to the supermarket and purchased several bags of groceries. We were already being blessed as we were trying to decide what would be the best things to buy for them in their desperate situation. We bought the basic beans, rice, sugar, salt, and other common items. Then we added a few special things such as strawberry preserves, Tang and some candies. These were things that they could never afford for themselves. We put it all in the car and started back to our apartment.
On the way home, we realized we did not know where they lived. We saw them pass our place and go down the road and out of sight, but we didn't know for sure where their home was. So we prayed together, "Lord, help us now to find where these people live, that we may give this food to them and be able to help in their lives."
