Rick Reflects: April 16, 2011
April 16, 2011
The name Haiti literally means Land of High Mountains in the language of the Taino people who inhabitedHaitibefore the Europeans came. As you fly into Haiti, you see that the country is aptly named. As the plane follows the coastline you seem to see an endless line of rolling hills with little coastal plain. The capital city of Port au Prince is itself built into a mountainside. I have yet to drive to the highest point of Delmas, one of the main streets of the city. It just seems to go up forever. As you drive around the city, it is not unusual to see neighborhoods where the floor of one house is even with the roof of the house in front of it.
The hilltops at the highest part of the city are covered with radio and cell towers. You can drive up there to an overlook that allows you to see most of the city from one vantage point. As you look down at the city, you are higher than the planes flying in to land at the airport. From that vantage point you are looking at an urban area containing 2.5 million people. One in four of the country’s inhabitants live the Port au Prince metropolitan area. As I look down upon the city from that point is it easy to be overwhelmed by the pain and hurting of the people crowded into the city. I think of the woman my wife encountered a while back who was having trouble breastfeeding her twins. The problem turned out to be that she herself only was able to eat every 3rd day. I see the street boys begging or wiping windshields hoping for a few coins. I wonder what kind of future they have to look forward to. I think of my friend’s father-in-law, a pastor, who lives next door to a voodoo temple. A few months ago my friend was visiting his in-laws and watched as a crowd emerged from the temple, dug a hole in the street, and buried a live goat. I’ve driven over that very spot.
As Jesus approached Jerusalem just before that first Easter, I picture him standing at a spot over looking the city ofJerusalem. In Luke 19:41 (NIV) we read:
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it
I thinkHaitihas given me some sense of how Jesus must have felt. It was a lost and hurting people that he saw massed together in that ancient city. What I feel looking down over Port au Prince is nothing new. Jesus has been there before me. But that didn’t stop him. He kept going, experienced the ups and downs that are a part of the journey of life, and stepped into . . . the resurrection. Despair is not the end of the story for His people. Death is not the end of the story for His people. God has a way of using even the difficult things of life, of reshaping them and empowering them for something good. And so even when I am overwhelmed, I realize the challenge is to keep going. I am a child of the resurrection: it strengthens me when I feel weak, gives me hope when despair looms, and helps me to see that even in the midst of lostness and hurting, God is working.
It has been a hard year. I have seen the impact of an earthquake that has been described as the worst natural disaster in recorded history, watched the country real from a hurricane, a cholera epidemic, and political instability. And in the midst of all this, the Free Methodist church in Haiti has grown 50% in one year. To God be the glory.
Rick
Cookie and I are supported in our work in Haitiby people like you. If you would like to be a part of our team and support us financially or prayerfully (both are needed) go to our website at www.servinghaiti.com where you will find links under the “Join Us” tab.
