"Go."

Today is the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. Since that tragic day, 365 days ago, so much progress has been made, so much aid has been shipped, so much love has been shown. But, there is still so far to go.

I actually wrote this post while in Haiti. Each night before bed, my five sisters and I would climb in our bunk beds and journal about our days while we took turns in the tarantula-infested shower and bathroom. Sometimes my journaling would get redirected into "blogging on paper," and the heart of this post is the result of one of those evenings. Basically, I've just typed up what I had written while there - adding only the last few paragraphs where I had left off.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Such a simple, two-letter word. But ever notice how frequently we use it? Every. single. day. Go get this... or that. Go team! Go to bed. Go to the store. Go ask your father. Green means go. You get the idea.

Part of our goal in coming to Haiti this week is found in Jesus's declaration in Matthew 28:19-20. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Since arriving here on the mainland, we have been doing a LOT of 'going.' From Port au Prince to Chantal and Cayes to Port Salut, we've gone many places and in many, many ways.

When Dudu met us at the airport shortly after landing in Port au Prince, we loaded all our luggage into a Haitian-style bus. Nice, air conditioned and about as smooth a ride as you'll get going through the streets of Haiti.

Until today, each time we've gone somewhere - either to the church at Chantal or the beach at Port Salut - it has been in our beloved yellow school bus. I don't think I've mentioned before that it has no air conditioning and is missing a couple of windows, but I'm pretty sure that's what makes it ours.

You might have seen where our bus really got going, stopping just short of nailing a tree. Well, yesterday as we were going back to the guest house in Cayes, they back right tire (yes, this would be the one spinning and smoking during the tree incident) blew out - very, very flat. As you might have guessed, our going stopped rather abruptly in the middle of a crowded Haitian street.

However, nothing takes our God by surprise. And as He would have it, Pastor Louis was only about a mile ahead of us in his white pickup truck. In a matter of mere minutes, our team was loaded into the bed of his truck with the rest of his family and we were all going on our way once again. Twenty-two people in the back of a pickup...
only in Haiti.

Another of our more unconventional methods of going to Chantal and back has been a white 15 passenger bus - except we carry as many as 17 passengers at once. See, the real adventure in this vehicle is best understood when considered in conjunction with the roads on which we've been going. We're talking pot holes the size of dump truck tires all over the road. Then you've got to consider that the road itself isn't paved and runs right through the middle of rice fields... lots and lots of rice fields. Add into the equation the fact that the city of Cayes has only three stoplights - all in the middle of a traffic circle - and that our driver could take a full length school bus from 0 to 50 and back again in 10 seconds flat and you might have some idea of a typical journey in Haiti. Guess that might be why it took us almost an hour and a half to go about nine miles one way to the little church in Chantal every day.

Every morning after the bus blew a tire, we would wake up hoping that a new one would be found. And every morning, we discovered that one hadn't. As we were later told, a huge number of the neighboring towns and villages had been searched, but apparently there were no bus tires to be found outside of Port au Prince. Therefore, for the remaining 3 days of the trip, our team of 11 piled into the van with our driver, tools, and a couple of Haitian friends - bringing the total to 17.

I think Mary probably described it best when she said riding in the very back of this now 17 passenger chariot was comparable to a really springy diving board. The last day we went out to Chantal, we also had the added cargo of duffel bags filled with school supplies and clothes. No wonder our heads met the ceiling with nearly every bump in the road.

Definitely a new way to go out into the world. However, I don't think any of us would have wanted it any other way.

Having now been back in the states for almost 6 months, the last day that we set out for Chantal, August 2nd, is probably the day that I will remember forever. While we sat in the same seats, with the same people, on the same roads, with essentially the same goal, aside from Pastor Mike, I don't think any of us had any idea what it would be like leaving these awe-inspiring people for the last time - or how radically they would change our lives in the following days, months, and years. What a privilege it was to go and what a blessing it has been to have gone.

all your needs

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." - Paul, Philippians 4:19

Paul. I just love Paul. I think it is because he and I seem to have a lot of things in common. I mean, God had to get this guy chained up in prison just so he'd sit still long enough to write most of the New Testament. Paul loved to be going and doing. Me too. I'm just hoping it won't take physical chains or a prison to keep me still enough to accomplish whatever God has planned for me.

And that is why I find myself sitting on my unmade bed, looking out the window at the snowy and icey yard, just being still. Okay, so maybe the TV is quietly on a sports channel in the background, but that's not the point. There's something about the stillness and peacefulness that comes with the snow. And so I've found myself reflecting on that verse from Philippians.

I think Paul got it, like really got it. This guys had been through it all. For years he had been a spiritual giant, though more on the Pharisaical side of it. He knew all the rules and was proud of his religion. But, after a bout of blindness, he also knew the reality that is Jesus. He really lived it, just saying. In 2 Corinthians, Paul boasts in his sufferings for Christ - not so that he could lift himself up, but rather so that He might be lifted up and and others encouraged to stand firm.

Just 7 verses before, in Philippians 4:12, Paul reveals that he knows what it is like to live in plenty and to live in want. He shares that he has learned the secret to being content in any and every situation.

Now, I'm definitely NOT a theologian. In fact, I can barely even spell it without a dictionary. But I would venture to say that Paul was all over this one. I imagine sitting down across the table from him, let's say at Subway, with the conversation going something like this...

Me: "So, Paul, I see here in Philippians that you seem to think you've discovered the secret to being content in life. Is that really even possible?"

Paul: "Without a doubt it's possible. Remember Luke 18:27, nothing is impossible with God."

Me: "Okay, so hypothetically speaking, just what IS this secret?"

Paul: "I'd say it comes down to one word. Jesus. That He is who He says He is. That He loves like He says He loves. That He saves like He says He can save. That He keeps promises and supplies needs, just like He says He will."

So, just a few days after the new year, I can't help but think about all the ways He has more than exceeded all of my needs... A perfect Savior. Loving family. Best friends. Warm house. Abundant food. Clean air and water. Church body.

Then, there are those things I like to say are "just because He can." Free school. Chick-fil-a. College football. Texting. Snow days. A best friend who is content simply to sit with this sister missing her brother. The list goes on and on and on.

So today, I will choose to trust. And in trusting, I hope to be able to say, like Paul, that I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. For surely, if He can clothe the lilies of the field and feed the birds of the air (Matthew 6), He can be just what I need, just when I need it.