Rick Reflects: June 9, 2011

Two kids, about age 5.

I think I am getting ahead of myself here so I will back up a bit.  This past weekend I traveled to Port de Paix.  I had been invited by the Pastor Jute Simon to come and preach there.   As I had not yet been to that part ofHaiti, I went.  Because it is a long drive (6+ hours) over really bad roads in the rainy season, I was advised to fly.  I flew.

 

Port de Paix is a city of 250,000 located on the very northernmost coast ofHaiti.  From the city one can see theislandofTortugawhich was a favorite pirate stomping grounds in another century.  The Free Methodist  church in Port de Paix is on the edge of the city in a poor neighborhood.  It is surrounded by voodoo temples.  It is truly an island of light in a sea of darkness.  I arrived Saturday afternoon.  Sunday morning I preached and in the afternoon toured the area.  The Superintendent of the North Conference was with me and scheduled to preach in the evening service.  This brings us to the two kids.

The evening service was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.  The platform party consisted of myself, Superintendent Milus, Pastor Jute Simon, the North Conference Youth Director, two musicians and a worship leader.  As I looked out at those gathered for worship I saw two kids, about age 5.  That was it.  My heart sank for Pastor Jute.  There had been about 80 in the morning service and 2 kids for the evening service with special guests was not what he was hoping for.  I might have been inclined  to give up.  I certainly would have been inclined to wait until more people showed up.  Pastor Jute began the service.  For 15 minutes not much happened and then slowly people began to trickle in.  At the 30 minute mark, the pace picked up a bit and by 7:45, the place was rocking.

I wanted to say God showed up but the reality is that God was there long before the two kids showed up.  We like to link God to excitement and action.  The challenge we often face is to walk in obedience when nothing exciting seems to be happening.  Sometimes we have to keep going even when our circumstances are discouraging us.  It is easy to walk in faith when everything is going great.  It is not so easy to walk in faith in the midst of disappointment.  I have been spending a lot of time in Hebrews 11 in my personal devotions.  It opens this way:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1 New International Version)

 This past weekend, I watched Pastor Jute live this out.

Rick

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Use the link below to see a short video of the evening service:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unYZidslcJk

Seated:  Pastors Jute Simon and Rick Ireland

Standing: Superintendent Milus