Haitian Reflections
I just got back from a six-day adventure in both urban and rural Haiti. I’m not sure if you’ve ever had an experience like this before, but it was information-overload to the max. Or, more like See-What-God-Is-Up-To-Overload to the max. So much going on, so much to see. So many ministries and organizations and people invested in the lives and well-being of the Haitian people.
And then you come home.
And then you try and figure out what to do with everything you experienced, and how to process it all.
And then you hit a brick wall trying to figure that out.
I got to see the fruits of moms and children in Maternity Centers, hundreds of kids in Christian education, teen moms and their newly born babies protected from the realities of life of Port au Prince, sustainable agricultural programs, road developments, physical and Living water restored to communities, houses being built, people being healed, women taught skills to create opportunities and income for their families, church [buildings] constructed and church [the people] empowered, all in the name of Jesus Christ. In less than a week….
What to do….what to do….with all this information. All these sights and smells and conversations and experiences….What’s next?
And it’s got me thinking: Good News is Good News, and we’re called to be messengers of Good News to the corners of the earth. The least, then, that I can do is share some of the Good News to you in hopes that you, too, like alot of the people I got to know the past week, can catch the fire and let it burn, baby, burn…
My thoughts:
(1) The Pharisees walked all over the people, but Jesus walked with the people. I’ve seen the horrors of corrupted leadership and government down there (don’t have to go too far for that, I suppose), but Jesus Christ set a new standard of leadership–of walking with His people. And that type of leadership works. Teaching women how to cook, showing farmers sustainable ways to bring in abundant harvests, educating students in the ways of God…..it’s about walking with people.
(2) I’m simply stealing this from John, leader of Heartline Ministries, when I say this–our mission is seeing. Our mission is not loving or serving or giving or responding or….our mission is first seeing. Seeing the world as Jesus sees the world–not with physical eyes, but with the heart. Because, you see, once you see as Jesus sees, your eyes are open to the heart and will of God our Father.
(3) Pray works. Enough said.
(4) Christian community development, and the life of a follower of Christ, should be less about five-year plans and business models and more about relationships with those around you. This doesn’t mean don’t practice good and Biblically sound principles–rather, understand that good and Biblically sound principles stem from the heart of Jesus’ commandment to love God and love others.
These insights were as good of a reminder to me as anybody else. As things with Ace continue to get busier (and I imagine your lives are probably busy as well), it’s been refreshing to be reminded again of this timeless truth–to put into persepective what matters and what really shouldn’t, and to humbly seek His will and His eyes for our lives.
First see, then do. Keep pressing on….