HAITI - Part I

So, I am going to share the public (ie: less personal & private) aspects of my "processsing" from my recent travels in Haiti.

This way to the Matthew 28 orphanage

 I visited Haiti for 9 days, working with a local ministry there (Bohoc, Haiti), Matthew 28. It was started & is currently facilitated by two American men, but all day-to-day operations are overseen by an entirely Haitian staff. Matthew 28 has two purposes - 1) Share the gospel & glory of Christ with all in the Central Plateau of Haiti, & 2) To care for orphans in the area. And to my best understanding their priorities - although closely knitted together - do go in that order. If they are caring for orphans & the community at large without sharing the gospel, then they have become obsolete (I don't think thats too harsh a statement). I would say their priorities are right on target. They are involved in a number of tangible means of ministry, two dominant ones are the orphanage housing 69 children, and supporting 13 feeding center's which provide 50 children (ages 6 & under) with 4 meals a week. Each center is connected and lead by a local pastor, so the gospel and good news of Christ is intrinsically interwoven into each feeding centers operations. Another ministry avenue (which is where I am involved) is producing tilapia to provide much needed protein supplementation to the children at the orphanage & families in particular need.  So, thats Matthew 28.

A desolated landscape, reflecting a desolated people

Lesson I

Don't ever under-estimate God. If you know me, then you know my "health situation" ... that I have Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, and am the recipient of a double lung transplant 7+ years ago. These impact my daily life in seemingly meager ways, because God has provided for me to be supernaturally healthy on this side of transplant, for which I am continuously grateful. As such, He has provided me with opportunities to live and travel internationally in the last 1 & 1/2 years. This is  bit surprising since I am also immunocompromised (ie: I deliberately suppress my immune system because of my transplant), thus (supposedly) being more susceptible to sickness. Remember, supernaturally healthy!

In light of that, I have to be mindful of what I expose myself to in diligent efforts to be a good steward of my physical gift of life. So, upon learning that my doctors gave me approval to Haiti for this trip, I was thrilled. I told them about the living condition, the disease exposure, etc ... They replied, "Take some extra water purification tablets." That was it, a major shock to me.

SIDE NOTE - I don't worry about my health, a gracious outpouring from the Lord. I simply am not concerned, because I know the Lord is sovereign over my life. So, I am responsible with my lungs, but I am also going to go - without hesitation - to any location I am certain the Lord is calling me to. He made it very certain that I was to be in Haiti, another story for another time. So I went, with great expectations & huge anticipation & with a sense of grand adventure, for God Almighty is full of wildness and adventure!!!

I arrived in Haiti on Saturday the 26th of March. After a conversation that night about the reality & presence of diseases (malaria, typhoid, cholera, etc) in the area & in all of Haiti, I grew a bit reserved and contemplative. Come Sunday, I was actually fairly freaked out. My thoughts went a bit like this, "O what have I done? Have I made a mistake, acted foolishly, following my hard-to-wrangle sense of adventure? Did I mistake generosity for an act of God? Did I fail to adequately describe this to my doctors? I cannot get sick! I cannot go home to Meredith or my family sick! What the hell?" ... It was a jumbled diarrhea thought process.

This is the first time I have been legitimately concerned about my health and what risks I was exposing myself to. And I am well aware that my life does not only affect me. In God's providence, many many folks from all over the Southeast and from different parts of the world have been a part of my life. If I do something foolish, to result in sickness/death then it affects all of them too. Thats a big responsibility to carry! Like they say, there is a first time from everything. I did not like this first.

Notice the clouds 

Before I knew what I had done, I had second guessed God's good & gracious providential hand. I had under-estimated His power, might, and sovereignty. Going into this I knew (& know now) that He had absolutely ordained this trip in my life. No question! And all of a sudden, with a subtle lie - which I believed - I had undercut God & His faithfulness. The Bible is clear about God's faithfulness, "Your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds" (Ps 108:4), which is to say, His faithfulness knows no end!

And in His faithfulness, prior to leaving He had given me Colossians 3 to meditate on throughout my trip to Haiti. As I referenced back to chapter 3 (which I highly recommend) I read verse 3, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Nothing else needed to be said or explained. Christ had dealt a death blow to my doubt and faithlessness. As He has said, "It is finished." It was finished again - not the same thing - but my doubt & concern was laid waste. As it was slain & fell dead as a vitally wounded beast, it gave way to the light of life, the power of God, the power of Christ who has defeated death at His resurrection never to taste death again, having once and for all tasted death for all who shall call upon His name.

New life flooded my being.

Not only was I at peace, but I was exuding confidence. I was at peace if I contracted an illness; but more so I was confident that since God had seen me to Haiti in the ways He did, that He would - in Christ - see me home to Meredith, my family, and friends to report upon His goodness, the deep despair of Haiti, and the Hope of nations, the Hope of Haiti, CHRIST JESUS! Because my life is hidden with Christ in God nothing can touch me - even death has no stake or claim upon me, or any other who has been dipped in the precious blood of the Lion & the Lamb. Psalm 91 says, "A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you," which is shortly followed by my life verse, "For He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways." (vv7 & 11).

So, did I encounter God in Haiti? O hell yeah I did, in ways I never expected, this being the first of them. So I rejoice to share this with you. I commend to you my Gd, the Almighty whose faithfulness reaches to the clouds ... and with my commendation, I offer my greatest gratitude and praise to the Lord, for I have tasted afresh His presence and love.