Haiti October 26, 2014

Report by Pastor Jeremy

I’m back!! It’s been a month since I was here in Haiti. When I returned home I was telling my wife, Kristin, and daughter, Miranda, about my experience in Haiti. At one point, feeling that mere words were not adequate, I said, “You’re just going to have to experience yourselves!” We began praying and asking God for His wisdom. All three of us had a strong desire to travel to Haiti and we took comfort in knowing our Father knew our desires. It was up to God. We walk with Him. He leads, not us. We are on His timetable. As He would have it, the opportunity came for us much sooner than I was ever expecting!

We arrived yesterday, and from the moment our feet hit Haitian soil, we’ve not stopped rejoicing. What a joy it is to see Kristin and Miranda experience what I did a month ago: to meet our brothers and sisters in Christ over here, to see the beautiful landscapes, to worship, to play with the kids, and of course, to experience a cold shower!!

I had the joy of preaching this morning in Jerusalem I Church. I preached from Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is being confident of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Walking by faith means we live our life with the understanding that 1) God knows what we don’t know, 2) God can do what we can’t do, so we must abide in Him and depend on His strength, and 3) God sees what we can’t see, so rejoice, not in our circumstances, but in the Lord! Once again, I worshiped with brothers and sisters in Christ who, by American standards, have very little, but yet worship with complete joy and contentment. How refreshing!

Watching Miranda, our 11-year old, interact with the children out on the missions grounds is priceless. Kids are amazing. They don’t need to speak the same language to play games, laugh, and interact. They don’t have the barriers so many adults have built around themselves. There’s no shunning one another because of language differences or different color of skin. It’s not about the American child and the Haitian child. No labels. Children simply want to love and be loved. They don’t sit around and discuss the state of their bank accounts, how their portfolio is performing, lament over the list of things to get done, complain about stress, traffic and politics. No…they just love. Their lives are free from the poisons so many adults ingest everyday: stress, worry, prejudice, self-focus, and lack of faith. I see my daughter smile and laugh, not because she understands fully what the Haitian kids are saying, but because they are communicating in a language God gave us that transcends English, French or Creole: the language of simple love.

Maybe this is what Jesus was on to when He said in order to grasp the Kingdom of God, we must become like little children.