It's hard to believe that in a couple of days we say goodbye to 2010 and welcome in a New Year. For some there will be very little notice given to the passage of time, they will be working at midnight Dec. 31 and a task that they commenced at 11:59pm will flow into the New Year making nothing of the precise moment we pass from old to new, from then to now, from 2010 to 2011. We are prone to the festive, to making great moments, and we should, it is a celebration of life! But we cannot neglect the fact that while we have reason to celebrate, that elsewhere a dynamic struggle for basic survival might be taking place, that there are places of resentment, futility, and hopelessness that others might be having to wrestle their way through. I felt compelled not to expose the suffering again that is the normal part of the Haitian culture and life, but to recall my gratitude at the end of this year for all the great changes and accomplishments that we have been able to inject into this climate and desperate culture over the past year. With your help and God's help, we have shifted the outcome of the lives of many Haitians. Your help specifically no matter how small or large, has changed life outcome for good. A child crying in the night is now laughing, and happy, and full. A mother begging is now employed, energetic, hopeful. A father frustrated is now leading, protecting, faithful. These are just a small representation of the astounding ways God is using you and I in this His endeavor to reshape, save, and reconcile a culture lost to common goodness, and the essentials you and I take for granted. That God is including us in His flow of mercy is both humbling and extraordinary! We are grateful! I want to thank each of you for your help this year, for being a part, for walking beside us, some on the ground with us, and many through the venue of your generous pockets. I know for many it has not been without sacrifice, and I want you to know it is appreciated in ways you will never conceive both by me and the many Haitians to whom our aid flows. Robinson and Naromie just celebrated their 3rd anniversary, and I can sense the joy and appreciation that is part of their lives because of the way God is using them even in the midst of personal struggle. Currently the city water system is now broke and their community does not have regular water coming into their cisterns now. They have to travel two miles by foot to the orphanage where we do have a well to do laundry; basic hygiene is now doubly difficult for them with no water at their house. There is a well at the church property that is only a mile away, but hauling water in large quantities is a very difficult challenge with no truck or a way to load it on and off. They have no idea when they will get their water back, a broken pipe in a bridge could prevent them from having water at the home for months! And yet joy exists in abundance. We are looking forward to great things this year as God opens doors and continues to supply needs for us to fill. Pray for wisdom, strength, and endurance as we labor together to share His love in this dark place where light shines the brightest because of the depth of the darkness. May your year be blessed with God's richest blessings, and may you be reminded how your generosity has brought hope, help, and salvation to so many desperate lives. From our grateful hearts to yours today, thank-you; and many, many Blessings for a sensational New Year! God Bless!
