A Three Hour Tour

“By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.  Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.  And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.  Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him, And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”  1 John 3:19-24By the miraculous power of the Spirit we are here in Haiti.  I can hardly believe I am typing those words out.We are here in Haiti, abiding in God’s love.What a glorious God we serve, that by design, HE has CHOSEN to use our hands and feet to GO and be HIS hands and feet.  It is an overwhelming goodness that over the last two days Toby and I have experienced in a way I didn’t even know was possible.  It is a humbling, soul un-doing kind of going, that will liberate your heart and stir your spiritual aggression to run harder and faster towards Jesus than you ever imagined running.  Strength has been negotiated from depths I didn’t even know existed within my body.  A capacity to love and offer and pour out so liberally from a Love that never fails has increased from my very own being that is spilling forth to a precious people like a gushing rolling river.  My senses have been awakened and we, my sweet friends and family, by the abundance of God’s grace, are in Haiti.Haiti.Finding the words to fit within the framework of an 1100 word document to then copy into a blog post about our first moments in Haiti is honestly ludicrous.  Anyone that has gone to a third world country, specifically Haiti, will understand from the depths of their being why that is a daunting task to say the least.  But to consider holding back sharing is even more insane.  So I have chosen that while we have access to the internet in this brief moment to stumble through a few thoughts from our first two days.When we arrived in Port-Au- Prince we emerged into the galley of nearby onlookers.  Cars rushed passed in what seemed to be organized chaos and the sounds, smells and people of Haiti arrived into my life forever.  After finding our Compassion International Tour and Visits Specialist, Jeannot Chataigne, eating a brief lunch at a local hotel restaurant we loaded back into our vans and began our estimated three hour van ride to Les Cayes.As we circled around a center of Port-Au-Prince before beginning our travel adventure we passed a large medal structure formed into a globe with three hands holding it up.  As our van circled around it Jeannot expressed his thoughts on the structure.“That is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit holding the whole world in His hands.”God knew that we all needed to hear that before we experienced the next five hours.  God has the whole world of Haiti in His mighty and able hands and for such a time as this our God has extended His hands to equip his saints to come to cultivate the harvest.  To work the fields.  And the fields in Haiti are white for harvest, sweet friends.Enter tent city.  Enter the heart of Port-Au-Prince.  Little sentences do it proper literary justice.  Pictures merely capture an image, hard to think they would provoke the same emotion we felt as we saw the same picture in 3D.  Moving, breathing, eyes begging……”show me Hope.  Show me there is another way.  Show me the Love I so desperately know exists, but need to SEE towards ME, towards my suffering, towards my struggle for survival.”The miles of roads were filled with children created by God, for God, reaching out to scream with empty eyes, “Be more than words to me.  Be more than merely prayers.  Be Jesus.”Miles and miles of rugged road stretched on.  Three hours came and went. People lined the streets with enthusiastic waves and against all odds with smiles, welcoming smiles.  As we emerged to the country side the poverty didn’t subside.  There was no relief as we drove on, and on, and on.  The rock riddled roads bumped on.Those of us in the van began to get restless in need of a change of scenery, a change of the constant ruggedness of the road we were traveling.  We were beginning, as most travelers do, to weary from the trip.  It was longer than expected and seemed to be continuing to stretch on for miles more.  And yet our amazing van driver with the navigation of our tour specialist Jeannot kept us driving down the rugged road towards our hotel.  A place to lay our heads and rest as we served the next couple of days would surely be at the end of this extremely long trip.And that was true.  We made it safe and sound to our area of ministry for a couple of days.As we traveled a thought keep rising up in my mind.  While we were driving I dosed off and on and every time I woke up I was reminded I was in Haiti.  I would look out the window and see the most glorious country side….I would also see poverty like I’ve never known poverty.  Miles and miles of poverty.  I shared with the group last night that in America we might have blocks of poverty, but if you simply drive to the next city section you can be transported to a completely different dimension of living.Not in Haiti.  It is a deep poverty amongst a beautiful people.  There is hope lining the streets in their smiles, but it is indeed a long road.  To be found worthy to be called to come and work among these people and walk, even a short distance, along the road together with them is an incredible honor.  The road will lead to God’s deliverance and development of a resilient people, but the road is indeed winding on for some ways.  Many more will need to come along to help walk.  The power of the Spirit is moving someone to bravely act on a “GO” kind of love.  Are you willing?  The people who need you to be more than just words are waiting.  The road of poverty is lasting longer than expected and they are weary, but together we add strength and endurance for the joining.  Thank you for joining Toby and I, as well as the Compassion team, while we walk together down the road in Haiti this week. The Spirit of a Living and very Active God is sure to reveal treasure-able freedom to our hearts as we walk in His power, under His grace and in step with His anointing releasing children from poverty in Jesus Name.“Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not!  Behold, your God will come and save you!’  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.  For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert…..And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isaiah 35:3-4; 5-6; 10**So SAD!  None of my pictures are uploading for me, ugh!  As soon as we are able to fix the problem we will attach pictures to this post.**