Chatter

The day has darkened once again. Night comes quickly here. Not sure what that is about. It was a cooker today! I had decided to pretty well cease team activity until the children’s service this afternoon. It proved to be a good call. We finished a couple of projects and contracted tile work at the church bathroom. They did a section big enough for Jim to set the American toilet and sink. To all who have been here, there will be mixed reviews on that one. Like, ‘whoa will that be nice’ to ‘who are we who deserve such when they have to use a hole.’ I know, I know, but progress is necessary. We worked at a new set up for drilling, built a drilling tank, abandoned the original hole, reset the rig, filled all the tanks and are set to drill first thing in the AM. We picked up the rest of the paint for the house and Ray will start early to get more done before the heat of the day crashes against our Michigan thickened blood. Children’s day is tomorrow, we had well over two hundred children for the children’s service this afternoon, not sure what tomorrow will bring, but one thing is for certain, it will bring children!! I am sitting here in the garage by the little Honda generator filling my computer with enough juice to get off another blog post tonight. The street outside is pitch black and yet out of the inky darkness comes the sound of many children playing in the path. A flashlight from a curious American pierces the darkness and behold a round of “Ring Around the Rosey” is going on as the children circle in the night. The children are alive with chatter and laughter! These people are a testament to the superior survival skills God loaded into our human constitution. My trips to Haiti have done much to thwart my “I can’t” thoughts and attitudes. Philippians 4:8 has been used so often as a prop to get us through bumps in our lives, but that scripture is true on a much deeper level than we give it credit for. I cannot minimize our sufferings, for I know many do, but I can maximize the suffering of these people, and while my heart hurts for their plight, I am amazed at their spunk and vitality as they face off with seemingly hopeless day after dark day with a tenacity that is inspiring and overwhelming! They have tapped a well supply of divine grace that I have yet to plunge the depth of. I must confess, my heart is a bit timid, perhaps even shudders to think of finding myself in such a place. But if taken there, these people are proof that God’s word is true. As I again soaked in the noon prayer time, and watched these people’s focused energy, I was again humbled and reminded how vast our God is, and good! For in these people’s material poverty they are finding something we rarely will. Material things keep us shallow, don’t curse them, but respect, yeah, even fear their ability to rob you of gifts much greater and more deeply satisfying than things. Matter of fact, go to your stash, wherever and whatever it is, and dare to take something and give it away, cut the strings that bind us, unleash your faith, throw away the chains. We were meant to live free; we just need to exercise our freedom! I am thanking God every day for the lessons He is teaching me deep in my heart as He allows us to minister His gifts through us to these immense people. Blessings always and often!

P.S. Kelly is getting better, Krystle is worse. Thanks for the prayers on their behalf!