Report by Brittany Savage
My heart is overwhelmed and I don’t even know where to begin. Before coming here I thought a lot about the voodoo religion that is practiced in Haiti. I found it so strange that they could worship a false god. What’s the point? How can you hold on to something that’s not real…that brings you no joy or satisfaction, no hope. It’s crazy. Since I’ve been here, I’ve realized that there are so many more false gods in America than in Haiti. I watched our Christian brothers and sisters here truly worship King Jesus. What do we worship? What does my family worship? What do I worship? I love Jesus, but do I love Him as much as my iPhone? My car and my house? My comfort? Do I love Jesus more than my husband and kids? I say I do, but do I? I don’t want the world anymore. I don’t want to live one foot in, one foot out. I want God.
“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits himself.’ ” – Luke 9:23-25
Here we are on God’s time. Church starts about 9:00 a.m., and it may last 20 minutes or 3 hours. There is no 5-minute countdown to start. And the Haitians pray and pray and pray. I watched an ex-voodoo priest lifting his hands, praising the creator of the heavens and the earth. I was told that after he accepted Christ, the next day he sent all of his voodoo stuff to be burned. He came to God just the way he was and Jesus changed his heart. We have everything so backward in America – it just doesn’t make sense. The love the Haitian people have is amazing. There is no loneliness here. All day long I have children who hold me and call me friend. They want to color with me and hold my hand…they are desperate for it.
I see now that my family is probably desperate for that, too. Why do I so freely give here and at home I don’t, and I’m lonely. When we greet each other after church here, it’s not that awkward shuffle of weirdly shaking the hands of people you don’t know. Here you have joy and excitement to grab each person and pull them in for a kiss. I felt desperate to squeeze and kiss every sweaty person in that church. My heart was just overwhelmed with love. I keep wishing my family was here to experience this with me. I pray for you all that you may have the joy and hope the Haitians have – the joy of Jesus!
