Rick Reflects: May 18, 2011

I would guess that most of you don’t know what this is a picture of.  Here in Haiti electricity is a problem.  Rarely does it work for 24 straight hours.  Often we feel fortunate if it works for 10 to 12 hours a day.  When it does work it often doesn’t come in full strength.  This is where this device comes into play.  It is an inverter.  It is connected to a bank of 12 deep cycle batteries.  When the electric is working, the batteries are charged.  When the electric stops working, or works poorly, the inverter uses energy stored to the batteries to give us usable electric.  Mostly, this works fine.  Sometimes though, the electric will be out for more than 24 hours.  At that point I must fire up the diesel generator that provides back-up power.  The thought of electricity is rarely far from my thinking.  When I walk in the house I look at the gauge that tells me how much charge is in my battery bank.  I frequently look at the indicator light that tells me if the city electric is working or not.  I always have a couple of back-up 5 gallon cans of diesel fuel for the generator stored away.

Before I came to Haiti, I didn’t pay much attention to the electricity.  I just assumed it would work and it mostly did.  Outages were rare and newsworthy (they are not newsworthy here).  The end result is that I pretty much took electricity for granted.  When things are going along relatively smoothly, it is easy to take them for granted.  I wonder sometimes if life in the US has gotten so easy that it is easy to take God for granted.  We asked a Haitian friend once what he thought of his first visit to the United States.   His reply stunned me.  “I feel sorry for Americans.  You have so much you don’t see God.  In Haiti we often don’t know where the next meal is coming from and we watch God provide every day.”  Here in Haiti, Christianity is not something you do, it is something you are.  I wonder sometimes how Haitian people can keep going in such harsh circumstances but they find incredible strength in the God who walks with them every day.  They don’t have the opportunity to take God for granted.  It shows.

As many of you who follow our journey already know, my 83 year old Mom passed away last week.  If I am brutally honest, I think I have taken her for granted a bit.  You just always assume that your loved one will be there.  It feels very strange that she is no longer here.  My mom had a deep and active Christian faith and she was clearly ready to step into eternity.  My own faith gives me peace that our parting is temporary.

So where does all this lead?  The answer is a challenge.  A challenge to appreciate the blessings of the place and times in which you live.  The poorest American lives better than 2/3’s of the rest of the world.  In Acts 17:26-27 (New International Version) we read:

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Did you catch that?  God placed you in a world where you have electric that you can rely upon, water that you can drink from the tap, and incredible options for what you will eat today.  When was the last time you thanked God for bringing you into a time and place such as this?  And maybe, this week would be a good time to tell someone you have been taking for granted that you appreciate them.

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.

Our battery bank contains 12 six volt deep cycle batteries.

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