I noticed this link on my facebook page today, and I suddenly remembered that I have a blog (sense the sarcasm). I started reading through the most recent entries and got stuck on my post from last spring with pictures of these little guys. Here they are again, stubbornly pushing through the hard earth to make me pause and catch my breath...spring is here and our Father is once again faithful. That made me realize that Easter Sunday is quickly approaching and I have not thought once about what that means. After reading that blog post, specifically the part about Peter of Cyrene, I couldn't help but draw a parallel to Haiti. I know, I am passionate and talk so often about Haiti. I am once again traveling to Port-au-Prince this April. I am excited, nervous, scared, and at peace all at once! Haiti is my chance to carry the cross for Christ! In that post last spring I said that I hoped Peter of Cyrene cherished that horrible memory because he got to serve Jesus like no other human ever will. I cherish all my memories of Haiti, and all the pain, confusion, anger and life-upsetting that it has brought into my life. The person that stepped off that plane in October is not the same as the one who got on in the States. I have been changed. God has used Haiti to teach me so much of His character and also show me how real Satan is in the world today.
Satan doesn't work just by huge, glaringly evil things, but also by the act of a person doing nothing. The suffering in Haiti has been extreme since it's start, but the world had to have an earthquake demolish what little the Haitian people had for us to be called to action. Is this the world that our Father created? One where His children are not all living in Eden? It isn't, but it is the world that He loves so much that He sacrificed His only Son to provide us all a way to Him. He died for us all, so why is there so much injustice? Why do my beautiful, healthy children sleep in comfortable beds, in a more than adequate home, and never cry from hunger? God has blessed me and my family. My husband and I are humbled by what He has provided for us. I constantly ask myself why I was born in the US and not in a place like Haiti?
I have no answers other than His ways are not mine. I would never want to give up one of my children to save others who are selfish, sinful, and not guaranteed to even acknowledge my sacrifice. His ways are not mine! I would rather stay snug and safe at home thinking only about my broken washing machine and what plans I have for the weekend, but I am going to Haiti in April because God has called me there. His ways are not mine! I live the American dream. I have the wonderful marriage to a man that loves me. I have two beautiful, healthy children. I live in a home that is all I could ask for and more. I worship my God with no fear of persecution. I have no question where my next meal will come from, or any meals in the future for that matter. Yet, God has wound the people of Haiti into my DNA. Every time I set food in front of my children, I see the children I held that were nothing but a skeleton with brittle flesh laid over it. Every time I leave my house in my car and just worry about traffic, I think of staying at a house that requires a guard on the gate every hour of the day. Every time I vote, or watch the television and can choose what I see, I think of those in Haiti who have no voice. His ways are not mine...but even without being able to understand them, I can follow the movements of the Holy Spirit in my heart. I can be a voice for those who would never be heard by you if it wasn't for you suffering your way through this really LONG post! Please pray daily for all those who suffer injustice and oppression within our boarders and throughout the globe. They are your brothers and sisters in Christ! Jesus came here for their salvation as well as ours. He is RISEN!!!!!!!!
