Haiti Journal Readings: Day Seven

Haiti Mission Trip: Day Seven (4-15-2011)

From my reading of Radical:

The key is realizing-and believing-that this world is not your home. If you and I ever hope to free our lives from worldly desires, worldly thinking, worldly pleasures, worldly dreams, worldly ideals, worldly values, worldly ambitions and worldly acclaim, then we must focus our lives on another world......If your life and my life is going to count on earth, we must start by co

ncentrating on heaven. For then, and only then, will you and I be free to take radical risk, knowing that what awaits us is radical reward.

(Lord, I pray that I keep my eyes and mind off of the things of this world, and that I focus on the eternal reward you have for me, and that my focus is to set a place for me in heaven, to worship you in your majesty for all eternity.)

My bible reading:

Philipians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I can't believe the end of our trip is finally here. What an eye opening experience this entire trip has been. God has shown me many things, and I have learned a few things from the people of Haiti, and what it truly means to want and to desire God. If I could only want and desire God the way the Haitian Christians here do, I will be blessed. I have never seen someone love and want God so much as to do what these people do to even have church to worship God. I have seen people walk miles in some of the most mountainous areas just to go to church for two hours. then turn right back around and make the 5-10 hours trek back home. It is motivating.

On the other side of things, I have never seen such poverty. It just blows my mind how such a beautiful place can be so impoverished. The Haitian people are so blessed with God's beauty, but waste it in the way some of them choose to live. My prayer is that the love of God can open their eyes to show them that they don't have to live this way, that through Him they can change their circumstances.

I believe the things I will miss the most is the children. They have to live the way they live because of the circumstances their parents have created for them. It breaks my heart. The children are so loving and look for so much affection and attention, because sadly, the don't receive it at home. I pray daily that they can grow up knowing God's love for them, and that through faith in Christ, they can change this small nation of Haiti. I pray that the love of Christ we have showed them will be a stepping stone in that direction.

Thank you Lord again for this opportunity you have given me. I can't thank you enough for allowing me to be a blessing in the lives of these people. I pray that it is possible for me to come back in the near future to see all of my friends again!!

(Lord, bless Ed and his ministry. And bless all his kids that made it a great week while we were here.)

Haiti Journal Reading: Day Six

(Sorry been so long since I posted on here. Had my gallbladder taken out on this past Thursday, that has kind of put me out of the loop)

Haiti Mission Trip: Day Six (4-14-2011)

From my reading of Radical:

Will we refuse to sit back and wait for some tingly feeling to go down or spines before we rise up and do what we have already been

commanded to do? Will we risk everything - our

comfort, our possessions, our safety, our very lives - to make the gospel known among unreached peoples?

Such rising up and such risk taking are the unavoidable, urgent results of a life that is radically abandoned to Jesus.

(Lord, I pray that you will take me out of my comfort zone. That in doing so I grow more in you. I want to want you more God. I want to desire you in such a way that giving you everything I have for you is not a second thought. I want more of you Lord.)

After I prayed this prayer, I read Philipians, and God reaffirmed my prayer by these verses.

Philipians 3:7-11

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which

is through in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in this sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

(God is Good)

It is hard to believe that tomorrow will be our last full day in Haiti. We have accomplished so much in this past week, but it feels like we haven't done enough. God has allowed us to touch so many lives this week, and yet I feel like the one who is blessed. We went up on the mountain today to a church Rock Bridge has fully funded to rebuild. The church is so far up in the mountains that the temp dropped atleast 15-20 degrees. People who live in the mountains don't live together like in a town, they are spread out for miles across the area. We saw people who walk for miles just to come to church. And not just any walk. This is intense mountain walking.

People will carry stuff for miles down to Petit Goave to the market, and when they leave at the end of the day, they will head back up the mountain with what they did not sell.

In america we complain about going to church even if it is just raining, then people will walk in the rain, across miles of mountain roads just to worship God. Again, I pray that I want God like these people want God!

I have learned so much from these people. I pray to God that I don't forget what he has shown me in my time here. And I pray that I take what he has shown me and use it in my daily life, and use it to ultimately glorify Him! God is Good!!