Hopefully it isn't big headed of me or insensitive to say I get used to it. I get used to new countries and I am no stranger to seeing people not as well off as I am. Haiti was a new experience for me, but new is something I know very well. Having been to so many countries and (three of them third-world countries) before coming to Haiti I wasn't phased by the lack of things and the amount of poverty. The most amazing part of it was how easy it is to get there, honestly.
Something I never want to get used to, and what I love most about my trip to Haiti was the hope of the Lord. Truly without the Lord there would be no motivation, I feel that's obvious. I see a hope in these people that I have not seen in the wealthy and I believe with all my heart these people are better off than I am. Jesus actually meant something when He said that it was harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom than for a camel to fit through the eye of the needle and He actually meant it when He said the poor shall inherit the earth. When we get to Heaven it will be so different from this earth because the worshipers who had nothing but the Lord and rejoiced shall be the ones running the show.
Going to church and singing with the believers and singing at camp I witnessed once again the truth that this world is nothing compared to the glory of the Lord. In Romans 8, Paul writes saying that "the sufferings of this present day are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us." I have always thought this meant when we come in our glorified bodies. I actually still think that's what he meant. However, I believe that there is much glory being revealed by the Holy Spirit through us now. When we smile in the midst of calamity knowing God is in control, when we say "Even so, blessed be Your name." and when acknowledge the victory of Light over dark we reveal the glory of God. Who does this more than the afflicted church? Truly they are the greatest of us all. It's easy to lean back in a lawn chair with your Shiner held high and sigh "God is good." But I want you to know death, mud and the uncertainty of food tomorrow as well as the Haitians and tell me the same.
I was in Haiti for ten days, it was actually more like nine but that's technical. In that time I met a lot of people and a lot of young people who couldn't be in a better place for them spiritually. Jacob's Well is the most exciting place I have been and I've been everywhere, man. There is something happening there that I know the Lord has His hand in. Nothing can be more exciting than that.
Please keep the people of Limbé in your prayers and the missionaries that are there full time and the ones in and out.
Something I never want to get used to, and what I love most about my trip to Haiti was the hope of the Lord. Truly without the Lord there would be no motivation, I feel that's obvious. I see a hope in these people that I have not seen in the wealthy and I believe with all my heart these people are better off than I am. Jesus actually meant something when He said that it was harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom than for a camel to fit through the eye of the needle and He actually meant it when He said the poor shall inherit the earth. When we get to Heaven it will be so different from this earth because the worshipers who had nothing but the Lord and rejoiced shall be the ones running the show.
Going to church and singing with the believers and singing at camp I witnessed once again the truth that this world is nothing compared to the glory of the Lord. In Romans 8, Paul writes saying that "the sufferings of this present day are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us." I have always thought this meant when we come in our glorified bodies. I actually still think that's what he meant. However, I believe that there is much glory being revealed by the Holy Spirit through us now. When we smile in the midst of calamity knowing God is in control, when we say "Even so, blessed be Your name." and when acknowledge the victory of Light over dark we reveal the glory of God. Who does this more than the afflicted church? Truly they are the greatest of us all. It's easy to lean back in a lawn chair with your Shiner held high and sigh "God is good." But I want you to know death, mud and the uncertainty of food tomorrow as well as the Haitians and tell me the same.
I was in Haiti for ten days, it was actually more like nine but that's technical. In that time I met a lot of people and a lot of young people who couldn't be in a better place for them spiritually. Jacob's Well is the most exciting place I have been and I've been everywhere, man. There is something happening there that I know the Lord has His hand in. Nothing can be more exciting than that.
Please keep the people of Limbé in your prayers and the missionaries that are there full time and the ones in and out.
