The walk

I want to tell you about the Walk of Lions.

I want to convey a few words about a journey that changed lives between June and July, this year.

And I want you to put those "shoes" on just for a minute while you read this.

This story isn't about China. It's not about the longest year of my life... which started right after deciding to participate in this crazy race I read about in TIME. A year during which, after starting a brand new job, I had to find a balance living two very different lives. Late afternoons, early mornings, midnight treks, and long weekends spent on beautiful hikes, runs, and climbs... culminating in a race on the other side of the world.

My loved ones... the Walk of Lions happened in Zambia.

Last month I mentioned a small story about Lawrence Mambwe, the patient Stan and his family have been caring for in Stan's home.  Lawrence was found in May withering away in a church, his extended family in the area having abandoned him.  He was chronically ill with several diseases, and Stan and Keisha took him back to Stan's home, where Lawrence's life changed.

On the week of June 21st, as I was flying to the Gobi, Stan took a healthier Lawrence back to his original home on Chilubi Island, and together they found Lawrence's close family, who had all but presumed they would never see him again.

For days, they rode a bus to the other side of Zambia, Lawrence's health stable but weak as he battled a stomach cancer, possibly lymphoma.  Strangers took note of the sacrifice happening before them and did what they could to accommodate these two men as comfortably as possible.  These acts of human kindness extended to the slow ferry Lawrence and Stan took to the island itself.  And to have been there in Chalubi to see the expressions of Lawrence’s mother and sisters when they saw him again!  After such a long period of no communication, the entire Chilubi village was floating when they found Lawrence!  They celebrated the return of their long lost brother, and absolutely could not stop thanking Stan for being able to leave his own family to bring Lawrence home.  They praised and worshiped the Lord for what Stan and CAM had done by taking him in and spending every waking hour at home caring for him.

The next day they took Lawrence to a nearby government clinic to continue him on TB medication and discuss an HIV treatment strategy. Stan taught Lawrence's mother and three sisters how to care for him and administer the medication.  Then Stan returned home.

On July 7th, just a week after the long "walk" to be reunited with his village, Lawrence died with his family at his side, succumbing to the abdominal swelling caused by his ever worsening cancer. His family buried him on the 9th.  And in the words of an exhausted Stan, "May his soul rest in the eternal peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We will find him when our Lord calls us in heaven!"

Lawrence smiled for the first time anyone in Kitwe can remember when Stan and Keisha picked him up off the floor and carried him on their backs to Stan's family two months ago.  They cleaned him, treated his diseases, fed him and nurtured his spirit, and his last week on this earth was spent enveloped in the embraces of the most loved people in his life.  A soul completely healed.

The Walk of Lions happened in Zambia.