Saw the glory and the sadness of Haiti

Wednesday 10/12/11The last 24 hours has been a study of the contrast between the beauty of God's creation and the sadness of our humanity.  These last two days (for me) consisted of two trips with the medical team to the village of Trou Caiman, where we looked abject poverty in the eye and held its child in our arms, wrapped around a journey up to the mountaintop where we could see the ocean and Port Au Prince to the west, and the beautiful Lake Azuie and into the Dominican Repulic to the east.



Mountaintop view toward Lake Azuie and the Dominican Republic

 From that perch on the mountain, one could only see the beautiful foundation that God laid for this tropical island. Rocky mountain peaks overlooking green valleys and shining lakes.  This is what he gave us.

It's not until a closer inspection, where we can contrast the divine influence with the human influence of this island, and see how mankind has sometimes served as a less-than-worthy steward of Creation.

Had several emotional swings on this trip, but probably not as stark as this.  The glory of the mountain scene turns 180 degrees when one looks at the malnourished villagers. Then it turns another 180 when we see the joy of the children when we play with them and witness the godly spirit of the missionaries and interpreters.

Here's your reporter with "Zaccheus"

Our medical trip ended on a real high note today, as Joe told the story of Zaccheus to the children who were still in the medical tent as we wrapped up.  He took some volunteer actors from the group to reenact the scene of the diminuitive Zaccheus (played by a feisty little boy that I only know as "Garcon."  I got the feeling that little Garcon is quite notorious in his 'hood!) who had to climb a tree (played by 6' 4" Dan McCormick!) to see Jesus, but was able to overcome his short stature and make a personal connection with the Lord. (Clerice interpreted Joe's story into Kreyol for the children.  Seeing the way the children responded to Clerice was another highlight -- they adore him.) 

The high's & low's of the trip seem to be the literal translation of Pastor Pierre's vision of "moving the people from darkness into light."  We can only imagine how "dark" things are in general for the villagers of Trou Caiman, Chambrun, etc.  But it's an amazing privilege to be able to shine the light for them just a little bit, and move them just a little further out of the darkness, and a little closer to the light.

My first reaction when we arrived last Friday was "my gosh, they have so far to go."  But one of the doctors who had been here several times, marveled at how far they had come since his first trip five years ago.

This evening, we will walk from the NVM campus over to the village of Chambrun. This likely will be our last chance to visit them on their turf before we head back to Indiana. As we walk over, I'll be praying that we can shine just a little more of that light, give the people just a little more hope, and bring the Kingdom just a tiny bit closer to these children of God before we leave them.