All week I’ve been attempting to process my trip to Haiti but there’s one thing that still resounds just a strong as it did from the first day I was there
We went to women’s bible study that first night and after spending the day walking around the town we were in, visiting tent cities I felt to say the least overwhelmed.
At that point I was just struggling to process it all.
But before the bible study one of the girls on my team and I were trying to put together a few main points we wanted to share at the bible study to “encourage” these women
Well we got there and to say the least it worked in reverse
I sat there amazed out of my mind as this group of 40 or so women shared their testimonies both before and after the earthquake
Stories of loss, healing, depression, suffering, recovery, and sickness.
I went to Haiti expecting people to be depressed at the loss of their country and the things they’d experience individually.
What I found was the opposite.
I found people who although had gone through more tragic things than I had ever known or could imagine who…
Had hope.
Had joy.
Knew faith.
That night at the bible study I looked at these women with absolute awe and my heart sunk as
They told me to NEVER stop praying, to never stop hoping. And to
ALWAYS REJOICE.
I guess that’s what Paul was talking about when he says “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Faith like a child.
Gustavon.
This is the to the little boy 12 years old who stole my heart and ever since I can’t stop thinking about him
I met him at an orphanage in Carrefour, Haiti march 16th 2011.
From the moment I first saw him I couldn’t help but see there was something different about him not just physically
but emotionally too
He sat as the other kids sang songs for a while but gradually he made his way over to where we sat
I sat and watched as he played on touch screen camera
That’s all he needed was the chance to explore
As I held him he clung to me, no words were exchanged
I just held and he clung
I will never forget those eyes. The way he raised his arms
Not with a eagerness or abounding leaps begging to be picked up
But simple humbleness
I stood as he looked at me with those eyes and just held his arms with nothing to offer but as if just to say hold me
It was in this moment that he a 12 year old boy at an orphanage taught me what faith is
In the words eyes he may have nothing to offer being mute and not having grown for years
But when I looked in those eyes
He reminded me of life thought God’s eyes looks like
We are at best beggars
All our righteousness measures up to is dirty rags
But in the arms of Christ we sacred
Treasured.
His.
Our worth, our hope is not found in the world but Him alone.
And as I held this boy I couldn’t help but be reminded of my own walk with God
As I took him and my arms and we begin to spin in circles like all kids love to do and the faster we spun the tighter he held on, he didn’t cry and complain that we stop when he got to too scared.
He held on.
And laughed.
I would give anything to be back in that moment with his arms wrapped around me, just to hear him laugh and to see his smile
And all I can say is thank you to this little boy who taught me what child-like faith looks like.
Just like when we spun faster he hung on tighter, when life gets crazy, when I feel scared or afraid I should cling to God.
Let Him be my shelter
There’s safety in the arms of Christ.
"Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."—Mark 10:13-16
This is the to the little boy 12 years old who stole my heart and ever since I can’t stop thinking about him
I met him at an orphanage in Carrefour, Haiti march 16th 2011.
From the moment I first saw him I couldn’t help but see there was something different about him not just physically
but emotionally too
He sat as the other kids sang songs for a while but gradually he made his way over to where we sat
I sat and watched as he played on touch screen camera
That’s all he needed was the chance to explore
As I held him he clung to me, no words were exchanged
I just held and he clung
I will never forget those eyes. The way he raised his arms
Not with a eagerness or abounding leaps begging to be picked up
But simple humbleness
I stood as he looked at me with those eyes and just held his arms with nothing to offer but as if just to say hold me
It was in this moment that he a 12 year old boy at an orphanage taught me what faith is
In the words eyes he may have nothing to offer being mute and not having grown for years
But when I looked in those eyes
He reminded me of life thought God’s eyes looks like
We are at best beggars
All our righteousness measures up to is dirty rags
But in the arms of Christ we sacred
Treasured.
His.
Our worth, our hope is not found in the world but Him alone.
And as I held this boy I couldn’t help but be reminded of my own walk with God
As I took him and my arms and we begin to spin in circles like all kids love to do and the faster we spun the tighter he held on, he didn’t cry and complain that we stop when he got to too scared.
He held on.
And laughed.
I would give anything to be back in that moment with his arms wrapped around me, just to hear him laugh and to see his smile
And all I can say is thank you to this little boy who taught me what child-like faith looks like.
Just like when we spun faster he hung on tighter, when life gets crazy, when I feel scared or afraid I should cling to God.
Let Him be my shelter
There’s safety in the arms of Christ.
"Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."—Mark 10:13-16
Friday, February 25, 2011
motives.
Love will find you where you are...
God’s love knew everything
And still came
Conditions.
I love people with them.
That as long as they don’t mess up, leave, or fail in anyway we’re good to go
I love things as long as it won’t cost too much
I’ll spend money on that new car, plane ticket, or job opportunity as long as they do what they say their going too.
I “love” things.
I love snow until it gets too cold or winters been to long then I complain and want summer
My love is so fickle.
So broken and changing,
I say I love so many things but when it comes down to dying for them I’d much rather give them up
Obviously love has been something I have thought about reading 1 Corinthians 13
Thinking about sharing with others…Haiti in 15 days
I was thinking about when I was saved this morning, going back to that church camp in fifth grade when I knew that there was something about how others there were living
What drew me to them?
Aside from the 3 or 4 people I had come up the mountain with from home, I really didn’t know anyone there.
Yet in that place God spoke to my heart and lead me to his home.
Love without knowing…
I’m going to Haiti in 15 days and so many times I think of going on trips like this as an easy way to share my faith because no one knows me there.
It could in all reality be a drop and go service,
I show up tell them the gospel in 5 easy points and check out, come home to living my own little life again right?
But Why???
What’s the point in that?
The people who honestly have shown me love never leave; they have seen me at my absolute worst and still accept me. They welcome me day by day no matter how inadequate I feel and regardless of the choices I’ve made.
Going to Haiti and dropping a few lines is the last thing I want to do
What is the gospel in my life if I refuse to live it daily?
I can say all the rights, I can claim belief in something so strong I could move mountains; I can give everything I own and empty my bank account…
What is it worth without love?
What is it worth without God who is love?
Let no debt remaining outstanding except your obligation to love
How do I share with others who I have no idea what they’re past or present circumstances are? What if they’re worse than me?
The point it all this being
I want love; I want meaning in my relationships
I long to show others love by allowing the love of God in my life
By how I treat them
I long to live the gospel
To show that I live loving only because I was first loved
If God who is perfect and sinless can love me fully knowing every wrong move I’d make and how stubborn I’d be…
Let love be my motivation to love others.
For we know and rely on the love God has for us
God’s love knew everything
And still came
Conditions.
I love people with them.
That as long as they don’t mess up, leave, or fail in anyway we’re good to go
I love things as long as it won’t cost too much
I’ll spend money on that new car, plane ticket, or job opportunity as long as they do what they say their going too.
I “love” things.
I love snow until it gets too cold or winters been to long then I complain and want summer
My love is so fickle.
So broken and changing,
I say I love so many things but when it comes down to dying for them I’d much rather give them up
Obviously love has been something I have thought about reading 1 Corinthians 13
Thinking about sharing with others…Haiti in 15 days
I was thinking about when I was saved this morning, going back to that church camp in fifth grade when I knew that there was something about how others there were living
What drew me to them?
Aside from the 3 or 4 people I had come up the mountain with from home, I really didn’t know anyone there.
Yet in that place God spoke to my heart and lead me to his home.
Love without knowing…
I’m going to Haiti in 15 days and so many times I think of going on trips like this as an easy way to share my faith because no one knows me there.
It could in all reality be a drop and go service,
I show up tell them the gospel in 5 easy points and check out, come home to living my own little life again right?
But Why???
What’s the point in that?
The people who honestly have shown me love never leave; they have seen me at my absolute worst and still accept me. They welcome me day by day no matter how inadequate I feel and regardless of the choices I’ve made.
Going to Haiti and dropping a few lines is the last thing I want to do
What is the gospel in my life if I refuse to live it daily?
I can say all the rights, I can claim belief in something so strong I could move mountains; I can give everything I own and empty my bank account…
What is it worth without love?
What is it worth without God who is love?
Let no debt remaining outstanding except your obligation to love
How do I share with others who I have no idea what they’re past or present circumstances are? What if they’re worse than me?
The point it all this being
I want love; I want meaning in my relationships
I long to show others love by allowing the love of God in my life
By how I treat them
I long to live the gospel
To show that I live loving only because I was first loved
If God who is perfect and sinless can love me fully knowing every wrong move I’d make and how stubborn I’d be…
Let love be my motivation to love others.
For we know and rely on the love God has for us
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