As I watch the news broadcasts from Haiti and hear the people of America respond I continually hear these comments among many others crossing the lips of the people I am surrounded by....
“Why would God allow this?”
“Turn the channel it is too much for me”
“Maybe God is punishing them”
“What can we do to help?”
“How will Haiti ever come out of this?”
To all of these questions I do not have an answer, but I do know this...
Exactly 11 months ago I was entering into my 2nd month on The World Race in the country of Haiti. My team was staying in an orphanage called Canaan, not too far out of Port Au Prince. Although my team and I were blessed beyond measure if you were to ask me what my least favorite country was on the race, “Haiti” would be at the top of my list. From being surrounded by great people and being treated like a queen, there was really no explanation for the feelings I had towards this country and quite frankly it wasn’t fair. I found myself asking God “Why do I feel this way?” but I never felt like I got an answer until now....
The moment I heard there had been an earthquake in Haiti my mind immediately started flooding with memories from my time spent there, and the memories have not stopped. I have memories of precious children that I loved dearly, I have memories of walking into a low funded smelly hospital and basically having to walk around puddles of blood so that I could pray over some sick person who was covered in flies, the first thing I noticed upon arrival were the trucks covered in witchcraft symbols, I remember watching out my window at the people with their candles lit selling goods amidst the night life and chaos of Port Au Prince and being so happy I was not in the back of the truck.
As I reminisce the reasons for my feelings become so obvious to me. As Americans we have good health systems, safety, money, churches on every corner and much more. As Haitians, they do not have any of the above.... Talk about being uncomfortable... I was stepping into a sea of uncomfortableness and I did not know how to handle it so I shut down. Now 11 months later as I look at a country I never wanted to enter into again, My heart breaks for them and I can’t help but want to be there. The reality is that God did not call us to be comfortable. As a matter of fact everything He asks me to do is very uncomfortable, but that is what you are called to by being a follower of Christ! It is time for us as the church to find out what role we play as individuals in the big picture.. If you shut down, the enemy wins!. People are going to be hard to love, but LOVE THEM ANYWAY! He may call you to a foreign land where the spiritual climate is wack, suck it up... You may live in the Bible belt, but that’s not the rest of the world. THIS WORLD NEEDS JESUS, BOTTOM LINE!! So lets get off our butts and go do something about it instead of judging and instead of being scared of the unknown. God set YOU apart before you were born for a specific purpose.... What would the world look like if we all found our purpose?
I am not God and I do not claim to have all of the answers but did anyone ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe stuff like this happens to wake up the church? Not Haiti.....
