Haiti-Some Extra Thoughts

Haiti is well....Haiti. This holds especially true in the city of Port Au Prince and the outlying areas. There is the smell of exhaust in air, trash lines the streets and rivers, and well there is the sad reality of poverty. I love this country and yet my heart breaks at what seems to be overwhelming poverty. I love Heartline Ministeries and what they are doing here, but it seems like just drops in the buckets when there needs to be a flood. I went to bed last night and woke up this morning with these thoughts on my mind. I mean I come here to stay for a few days and then leave. I see the poverty but it never really "touches" me, not in a long term way (ie I do not have to live that way day in and day out). I really had some questions for God about why? I know it is not our place to question, but I am human and I do. I do not think any of us understand the suffering of the Haitian people. However, even in these moments God is good.

This morning I woke up and was singing some secular song about "Silly love songs." I was like that is interesting and then picked up my ipod and the first three songs there were about love and God's love and His prodigal grace. So following in the love trend of the morning I decided to read all the verses listed in my Bible's topical index on love for the morning. I found a couple that were just awesome and wonderful. One of them I wrote beside in my Bible "The Haitian People." It is "More than that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." The people of Haiti do suffer and it is largely due to know fault of their own, but I have seen their endurance, charcter and hope this week. It is evident in the sound of their singing priase and worship songs despite what is happening to them. It is evident in the faces of Haitian Christians even when speaking to them. The Lord is good and He is great, this I know, even when I do not understand His ways.