IT'S A LOVE HAITI RELATIONSHIP

I've touched on this before, but this journey has revealed some things to us.

First, we're wanderers.  But, not all who wander are lost.  In many ways, we've never felt more found.

Second, life feels icky when it's all about you.  When you are without a community to share your life, and to invest in their lives, becoming self-absorbed is a natural consequence.

Third, before embarking on this trip -- living/traveling/schooling/working in an RV -- I thought it ridiculous.  I wondered if it would result in one additional reason my kids would one day wind up on a psychiatrist's couch.  But the idea kept landing on our minds, and after much prayer, our hearts swelled with excitement at the thought of the adventure.  Now, I'm insanely thankful for the TIME to explore our country together as a family.  It has afforded us the opportunity to shape our family in a unique way this year.  Absolutely none of the things we've seen and experienced this year would've been possible without this gift called "time."  Over the course of this journey, I keep thinking about how we're spending our time.   

TIME.  It's the most precious commodity. 

God has laid something else on my heart about this topic . . . 

Ephesians 5: 15-16 --(NIV) -- Be very careful, then, how you live -- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

God is reminding me to be very intentional with my time.  When these verses speak about the "days being evil", immediately I think of the most common trap in American culture:  busyness.  In my own life, I've noticed that busyness usually doesn't equal meaning or importance.  It is so easy to be robbed of a life of meaning, not because we aren't committed, but because we're over-committed.  Mr. Fix-It and I have been praying about this.  Our culture will fill our schedules with lots of "good" things.  However, not allowing the time to be responsive to the Lord's will is foolish.  We've been asking for wisdom and courage to say "no" to many good things so that we'll have margin with our time to say "yes" to the wise things.  Our culture will drag us away from the things we say matter most.  Realizing how easy it can be to get sucked into a margin-less and meaningless lifestyle, we've felt very convicted to be more deliberate with our time. 

We have an itinerary this year.  It is packed beyond capacity with "must-see" places.  We made a schedule.  We had a plan.

But, God burdened our hearts with an unexpected use of our time.  The suffering people in Haiti.

I'm so very thankful for the flexibility in our schedule.  How blessed we've been by the margin in our time to be able to say "no" to some good things on our itinerary, so that we could respond to God's promptings to serve in Haiti!

For the past seven years, we've been following an organization called Northwest Haiti Christian Mission.  Click here to check them out.  God clearly pressed on our hearts that a portion of our precious time on our "Tour-de-America", was supposed to include a diversion to Haiti.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  The Northwest corner, Mole Saint Nicolas, is the poorest in Haiti.  Northwest Haiti Christian Mission (NWHCM) has several campuses where their first objective is to teach the Haitians about the redeeming love of Jesus Christ.  The mission establishes a church, pastored by a Haitian.  The mission then organizes an orphanage, which employs Haitian women to care for the children.  They have medical clinics which also employ Haitians in the areas of food prep, maintenance, translators, cleaning crews, etc.  They have countless other projects designed to equip the indigenous peoples with the resources to transition each project from a NWHCM-led program, to a Haitian led program.

Mr. Fix-It spent a week in Mole Saint Nicolas, Haiti, in January, while I stayed back with the kids.  Then, I spent a week there in February while he watched the kiddos.

Mr. Fix-It spent his time doing construction projects.  He helped put together picnic tables for the cafeteria on the mission property, finished construction and wiring on a school for the orphans, and he helped build a swing set at the orphanage.

The new playground at the orphanage.

I spent my time in sewing classes for the Haitian women.  I had the opportunity to speak at a women's bible study, to help on a few projects with the orphans, and to love, sing, and cry with these remarkable people.

Mary Ange, a lady in our sewing class.

The things we witnessed are etched in our brains.  In some ways, we're troubled to the core by what we learned.  In other ways, we're grateful beyond expression at the opportunity for awareness.

Now we're aware . . .  what will we do about it?

Preskul, Haiti.

Three airplane flights, and a boat ride took us to this small fishing village.  Upon arrival, it is truly a National Geographic moment.  There is no corner market.  No toilet paper.  No medicine cabinet for the infirmed.  No school.  No government assistance.  The children are naked and malnourished.  However, the resolve of these people pervades their circumstances.  The grass huts, while rudimentary at best, are also hurricane proof.  The Haitians sang with us, and one by one they stepped up and asked us to lay hands on them and pray.

They bloom where they are planted.  I wonder, do I?          

Downsizing to 300 square feet has certainly showed us areas of excess in our lives.  We've been shaken by that revelation!  We're still wondering how we got so far removed from the distinction between needs and wants.  I pray that as we assimilate back into our lives in South Carolina, that we'll be able to cling to the lessons we've learned on the road, and in Haiti.

the hands

"Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours.  Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now."  -- Saint Teresa of Avila



Philippians 2:3-7--  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the
interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very
nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.


 

the feet

Matthew 20:28 --  . . . just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve . . .


I pray that we use all of our resources to live as wise, and not as unwise.

I pray that I won't clutter my time with so much that I lack the margin to respond to the promptings on my heart.

I pray that I'll have the wisdom and courage to hold life with an open palm.