Romans 15 and Haiti

Romans 15:19-20

"And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, 

lest I should build on another man’s foundation, but as it is written: 

      “ To whom He was not announced, they shall see;

      And those who have not heard shall understand.”

On January 3rd I am going to Haiti with a Hand full of friends to minister to the Haitian people through a kids' camp. I have never been to Haiti before and know a very small something about it. I do know the heart of God though and I look forward to this trip with much seriousness, expectation and joy. This is a moment for God to shine and my hope is simply to be a lantern of the Light and be a tool of glory for my Lord Jesus Christ's name sake.
We're going into a culture that wasn't raised on Veggie Tales, "In God We Trust" or in towns with multiple churches on the same street. We're not going into a world we can relate to. We're going into a world where the name of the creator of the world, the name of Jesus has no previous connotations. This has been a calling to me, if not of the Lord of my own heart. I desire so much to share the Truth of Jesus Christ with those who have never known how much they need Him. There is nothing more than this.

Father Abraham

Reading through Romans always brings something to me. I never know what it's going to be but it's going to happen. This time it happened in chapter four. Paul writes about Abraham and it is always sort of my zone out point. You know if I wanted to hear about Abraham I'd go to Genesis! But there is a reason (as there always is) that God has him spoken of in Romans. I'm not saying I know it but this is what I see: Abraham had faith. This we all know because that's what Paul writes about. He's comparing the faith of Abraham to the faith of the modern Christian. They are the same, despite thousands of years of change, faith in the unchanging God hasn't changed.
What stuck me this read through was verse 21. I don't think you should really extract any sections of sentences from texts and the fact that we do that with the Bible more than anything is frightening but I won't make you read the whole text. "...and being fully convinced that what [God] had promised He was also able to perform."
How often are we truly, honestly and practically convinced that God would do what He promised? How often do we take His Word for it? How often do we hear what He has to say and then act on it, knowing He'll follow through?


"I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”


"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"


“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”


And then when He calls on us to do hard things, things we honestly just don't have the will to do, will you do it? If we fear, will we forget what Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah knew? Will we forget what all the disciples were convinced of? Stephen, Paul, Jan Hus, Nate Saint and all the men of faith that were convinced of the Truth of the Word of God.

Michael the Turtle

Now I don't know how common it is but in my circles of friends I have found myself in interesting discussions. Sitting around, hanging out and talking about if we were animals, what animals would we be?  I enjoy this game, I almost enjoy it as much as the "what element-benders would we be?" but that's for another day.
Often I am compared to a bird, some sort of bird but oddly enough, I am consistently a turtle. I have a few friends, friends who don't know each other, who have said that I'm a turtle. Never really knew how to take that. I mean turtles are cool, don't get me wrong, but birds just seemed a little more generally attractive. But today, I was in class discussing culture and turtles came up. (Really you should take this class, we talk about everything. This was just a little before power rangers came up.) My professor talked about how turtles were see in the eastern world as wise, self-efficient beings. They may be slow but they are tough and–what I thought was coolest– they carry their homes with them. That became quite interesting to me, knowing me and how those few people saw turtle in me.
Last night my friend was telling me about how she was looking forward to sleeping in her own bed tonight because she was going home. I didn't say anything really but my thoughts went to the fact that I don't have my own bed anymore, just the one I bought when I moved to college. I don't really mind all that much, it just came back to being a turtle. I guess I am a turtle. When I'm in Texas I'm a European, when I'm in Slovakia I'm a Texan, I carry the only home I know with me and that's the Kingdom of God.

One thing.

Here I sit leaning against a pillar on Blinn College Campus. It's almost nine and no one seems to be here. I know that's not true because many classes are still in session. I'm watching Merlin and it is a fine night out. I stop and wonder how much glory and beautiful goes unnoticed.
The proud Texas flag waves on the autumn breeze, the moth dances around the lamp post, crickets, distant cars, and very little else. Most of all the full moon is glowing with the sun's light. We spend so much time in cars, inside, online, using phones. Me more than any. I so wish I stopped to admire the moment. I see every moment as a passing thing that will be here no more and what will be lost? And thinking farther out into the night sky I think of all the stars, the planets, galaxies we've never seen! So much we're missing! Of course there is beauty and glory to come but this moment is just for this time. Comes and goes. Just that simple but means so much now, here in Bryan, Texas this October night.
There's comfort in two things right now. The first being the knowledge of the coming Kingdom. God will receive more glory then than this world has ever been capable of. Second I know that creation its self also brings glory to God, whether I acknowledge it or not. That's a comforting thing, though I know He doesn't need my praise. We though, being the final work of creation, being made in God's image, are called to a higher calling of worship.
God was perfectly fine before I ever came along but I know He want's my praise and I know He deserves glory and most of all I want to worship. It's my aim to find all the little things worth praising God's name for.


         One thing I have desired of the LORD,
         That will I seek:
         That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
         All the days of my life,
         To behold the beauty of the LORD,
         And to inquire in His temple.


This is it. This is the call that David felt and wrote on in Psalm 27 and that is what I have felt. I desire to seek the Truth of God in His Word and know Him. To see His beauty. To chase the rainbows.