Independence Day

 

We are in the air, our kids are on the ground behind us. I knew this day was coming, but it is still a difficult day when your kids hit adulthood, and claim their independence. As we prepared to go this morning I gathered the team around the kitchen table at the orphanage, as we had stayed there last night after getting Kelly and Kryslte settled in. I read my post from last night and the comments that had been written by our followers. It was a rather difficult endeavor as the gravity of it all came down. We prayed together as a team for the final time of this trip and then rode over to Rob's house where we said our final good-byes through teary eyes. Kelly stayed his tears, but Krystle did not. At one point she said 'I'll be fine once you go!' As I hugged her one final time I said in her ear, Independence Day is not it's all cracked up to be! Freedom always carries a price. We forget that often in our celebrations, we are prone to forget that stepping out on our own brings a significant weight of responsibility. You are now responsible for your protection and care, your choices and your actions. It was a somber day those brave Americans many years ago declared their independence from England, it was extraordinarily costly on many levels. The same can be said for our spiritual freedom as well. An extravagant price was paid for our souls, for all souls everywhere. We often cringe at reflecting on that, but when we don't freedom's fair complexion suffers scaring and her purpose becomes maligned, liberty loses, and it's enemy gains a score. So while the morning brought its own kind of pain, it also brings rejoicing, freedom still rings, two Americans chose to stay in Haiti's wounded land to love it's suffering hearts, to share the good news of freedom for the heart, to carry on the noble work of hope. As we drove away from the house Kelly's white arm stuck out through the fence waving good bye, it is that hand extended that I am proud of today, for I know over the course of the next three months, lives are going to be changed, and harvesting will happen, God will do what only God can do, but it becomes less limited because faith has been grasped, and that frees the Almighty in more ways than we can conceive. As we worked our way out of town, Robinson asked me if I remembered the old man who had sat beside me Sunday morning up were the podium was. I did, for he has sat there as long as I can remember, he then told me had died yesterday. They took him by ambulance to the hospital, but he passed away before getting there. It happens that I witnessed the ambulance yesterday, as it is a uncommon sight in Haiti, not knowing in it was my friend. It's funny because Beth and I both were lead to give him a big hug Sunday, and now he is gone. Life feels more fragile in Haiti, perhaps it's the devastation, but the truth is life is fragile, all life. A fine thread binds us to life, and certain moments in our lives we are made to feel just how fragile and thin it truly is. Such a day is today for us. But days like today are also good for us, they help us to cherish the real in life. And in our culture, we need this like never before. We are grateful today that the separation from us and our children is only spacial, many suffer the separation of heart, that is the saddest of all. And so we journey towards home, but of all our trips, today was the most difficult to leave Haiti, of this you can be sure! Blessings upon blessings!