I'm in clinic today and I want to tell you about Haile. (It’s not his real name but a lot of people here are called Haile. I have also changed the details to preserve confidentiality.) He came to consult with me about a simple problem; nothing taxing for me as a hackneyed old British GP – I’ve seen tens of thousands of problems like his, literally! Haile is middle aged, and struggled into my room coping with a significant physical deformity. I dealt with his presenting problem and asked him about his deformity.

When he was a small child (around age 2 I think) he had an accident whilst out with his sister. His sister was too frightened to tell their parents so his injury was not seen or treated. It resulted in his current orthopaedic deformity and he has coped with it ever since.

Haile told me he praised God for his injury. When he was a youth he was told by someone that because of his problem they were praying for him. The net result of that was he looked into the Christian faith and became a Christian.

During the communist era in Ethiopia (known as the Derg, which ended in 1991) he was confronted by a man with a gun who was going to shoot him, but when he saw Haile’s physical deformity he decided to let him go.

So Haile rejoices over his injury for two reasons – he survived an otherwise inevitably fatal shooting and more importantly he found his faith in Jesus. He works hard, and is a smiley, happy, engaging man. No complaints. He thanked me for my attention, and told me how good God had been to him in giving him his injury, because without it he wouldn’t have become a Christian and he would have been shot dead over 20 years ago. Smiling broadly he struggled out of my room after telling me his story – and left me with a lump in my throat.

Think about Haile this Christmas. He has a lot to teach us.