Working Man

Proverbs 27:19
As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.

Proverbs 28:14
Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

Jeremiah 33:2
“This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it – the Lord is his name:

2 Timothy 2:3
Endure hardship with us like a soldier of Christ Jesus

Psalm 13:5-6
But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord; because he has delt bountifully with me.

Lamentations 3:39-40
Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.

Proverbs 29:23
A mans pride shall bring him low but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.

Ephesians 5:25-28

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave his life for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and with out blemish. In the same way husbands sould love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Psalm 1:1-2
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:3
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Psalm 100:4-5
Enter his gated with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to his name. for the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

1 Samuel 12:24
But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

Isaiah 41:9
I took you from the ends of the earth; from its farthest corners I called you. I said, “You are my servant; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

Haunting Faces

For weeks after our return the faces of the children remain in my head. Their smiles and beautifully whitened teeth, the way their eyes light up and how innocent they are. The kind gestures they made to us, brushing dirt off of us, buying a sucker, whipping sweat off of our heads, fanning us. The sound of their voices, the way they said our names. The way they sang songs and how their faces looked as they sang. The humble love they showed us. Those sweet little babies… Totally trusting, Totally humble, Totally helpless.

Revelation 7:16-17
Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lord at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Isaiah 45:23
Turn to me and be saved, all you end of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.

Isaiah 35:3-4
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give was; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”

Isaiah 35:5
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Isaiah 33:22
For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King; it is he who will save us.

Isaiah 30:18
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

Isaiah 29:24
Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.

Isaiah 16:5
In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it – one from the house of David – one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

1 John 4:7-13
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God shows his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. Dear friends, since God so loved use we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

"We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes. So when you and I hear staggering numbers and statistics about the poor and needy around us and around the world, we have a choice. We can switch the channels on our mega-TVs and continue our comfortable, untroubled, ordinary, churchgoing lives as if the global poor don’t exist. We can let these numbers remain cold, distant, and almost imaginary. Or we can open our eyes and our lives to the realities that surround us and begin considering the faces that are represented by these numbers. I think about mass of kids and their parents in the slums of Delhi, India. Families with three, four, five, or more children living in eight-by-twelve-foot shacks. We dodged piles of human feces that littered the ground as we walked on the outskirts of the community. Water was limited, food was scarce, and the urban slum continued for what seemed like miles with no end.
These are the images that come to my mind when I consider what it means to live on less than a dollar or two per day. These are the faces I see when I envision twenty-six thousand children dying today of starvation or preventable diseases. As I see their faces, I realize that I have a choice. You and I both have a choice. We can start with the starving or with the overfed.
We can identify with poor Lazarus on his way to heaven or with the rich man on his way to hell. We can embrace Jesus while we give away our wealth, or we can walk away from Jesus while we hoard our wealth.” ~Radical by David Platt

The Great Haitian Tennis Ball Retreat/Giveway of 2010

After lunch we headed up the coast to an orphanage closer to the mountains. As we drove I noticed the farther from the coast we got the worse the conditions were. The crowds of people were less but the conditions of the homes, clothing, water supply and health were much worse.

A 45 minute drive ended up being a 2 ½ hour drive. We finally turn onto a dirt road filled with pot holes the size of a plastic kiddy pool. Rice fields as far as the eye could see, lined with mountains and blue sky. As we travel dawn the dirt road the holes get bigger and deeper. I think the pot holes were made to act as gullies to drain onto the fields. Occasionally workers would walk by, men and women, with machetes. Comforting, I know.

After travelling 10 or 15 minutes, we stop at a pond of mud puddles and all of the Haitian guys with us get out. We all sit in the van wondering what is going on. When our translator comes back we bombard him with Why?’s. He tells us that the drivers are worried we won’t be able to drive through the mud. Besides getting stuck, car repairs in Haiti are harder to do than in America. There are no tow trucks and tires and parts are scarce. Carefully, dodging the larger holes we make it through but the road doesn’t get much better. Shortly we stop again and the drivers get out checking another questionable path. The driver decides the conditions are too bad for us to drive through. The orphanage was not far and we had come so close. This is what we came for. This is what we traveled days and miles for. This is what we left families and jobs to experience. We were not about to stop just miles short. So we’ll walk. We all pile out of the van to start our journey as people from the community begin to gather. Our team leader notices most of us had flip flops on and questioned the safety of walking through the mud and was it “not far” American or Haiti “not far”? By this time, more people had ventured out and surrounded us.

Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem; and in all Judea; and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We had packed some things to give to the children at the church and orphanage. We thought it was a good idea. We thought they would love it. As the crowd grew, Alice decides we stop here. We can give the stuff to the people crowded around us then we’ll leave. Just like that, the next few minutes turned into the most dangerous memory we had all week…. Not one of us thought back to Wick telling us, just the day before, not to give things out. We had been handing stuff out all week at VBS. Sometimes you have to get burned before you learn the lesson.

Isaiah 25:9
In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord; we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation”.

As I stood with Alice contemplating what was best for the group, I felt a body over my left shoulder. Slowly I turn to look behind me and it was as if time stood still. Three things popped into my head.

· A short conversation I had with a friend before I left the states, “If I don’t come back, use your skills to get me out.” There was no way anyone would find us out here.
· I am cornered between the van, brush that surrounds the village and the mob of people that had now surrounded us.
· No Haitian security guy anywhere nearby. They couldn’t even see me over the crowd of people.

“Oh, crap.” As I turn, I see a giant. Ripped, 8 pack Haitian guy with no shirt and his pants so low I can see the entire 8 pack. I could feel my eyes scream a hundred “HOLY CRAP”’s. The worst part, his eyes… and that he was WAY too close. His eyes were piercingly hateful. The most hateful eyes I have ever seen. A gun would have been more comforting than that guys eyes. I don’t know if Alice saw the guy or just felt the vibe. She tells me in the most momma bear way “Get in the van NOW”. She tells the rest of the group to get in the van but some had already been over powered handing out stuff. Tennis balls. They were about to mob us over tennis balls.
To sum it up… we all live to laugh about “The Great Haitian Tennis Ball Retreat/Giveaway of 2010”, but we would all agree we were scared to death.

John 14:1
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

8 pack guy walked to the front of the van and glared in. We would roll forward a few inches and he would move to the front and glare in. He did this for what felt like forever but was only about 5 or 10 minutes while we waited on the pastor of the church to meet us. So many faces I have forgotten but 8 pack guy, his face will take a little longer.