devastation

As we heard from Pastor Mark today about his visit to Haiti and the devastation he encountered, I am overwhelmed with sorrow and conviction. Sorrow because it was an in depth look through Mark's videos and photographs in ways the news doesn't show.

I saw a dead boy or 15 or 16 lying in the street with crimson blood trickling down the gravel moments after he was shot in the head as bystanders walked by and gave a flitting glance.

I saw a 24 year old man helping to dig out his 26 year old brother, a worship leader at a church, from the rubble of the building only to put him straight into a casket. They stripped him of his belt, boots, and wallet before closing the lid.

I saw a teenage girl, suffering under a tarp for days because she took a cinder block to the face and her family was unable to get her to the hospital for treatment since it was too expensive - $15 for a taxi.

I saw church after church devastated, whole floors collapsed on themselves. One church held the bodies of the choir singers who were practicing on that Tuesday.

I saw a young man with four boys right after his wife's funeral, and when Pastor Mark asked him how he could still smile - no wife, no home, no job - the man answered, "The LORD gives me joy!"

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.

Mark and another pastor from Chicago, James MacDonald, started an organization called Churches Helping Churches (www.churcheshelpingchurches.com) to raise awareness and support for the suffering churches in Haiti. When I first heard of the organization, I must shamefully admit that I thought, "Why did they start that? Shouldn't Mars Hill just partner up with a Christian aid organization to get these people food, water, medicine, and shelter?"

So here comes the conviction part. Mark preached about how we are all the church, as it says in Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." We are both the church locally and we are the church to the ends of the earth. Pastors in Haiti have lost their entire congregation; other people in churches don't know where their pastor is; some flee to the physical place representing sanctuary because their homes are devastated and their families are dead, only to find the church building decimated.

Where would I go to if my family was dead, my house gone, my stomach empty, and my church building was crumbled in a heap with bodies scattered around it? Where would you go?

How can we say we love the church when we don't see how atrocious it is that an entire country has lost all of its churches, those places of refuge, God's glory, and help for the broken? Brothers and sisters, it is time to step up and care for one another. I don't feel a call to travel to Haiti in the relief efforts, but I can give. Fifty bucks could have gotten that teenage girl with an open sore on her face to the hospital days ago. One hundred dollars could enable the church compound operating as a refugee camp to supply water to the thousands of people housed there.

We have it SO GOOD; we have reason to have MUCH JOY; we have resources to GIVE ABUNDANTLY; and yet so many don't support the church they attend financially. Haiti has no infrastructure, no order, no laws - help has to come from God's people. I am a child of God; I love the church; I need to support those people who are preaching the Gospel RIGHT NOW despite having no food, no home, no loved ones, and no outlook.

Yet those people are smiling because the LORD gives joy! Give faithfully, pray diligently, walk with joy for the glory of His Name.

If you would like to help, go to www.churcheshelpingchurches.com. Watch media coverage here.

hope

I have relished this season being home. Although I've had my moments of wishing Phil was here, he's been able to call quite a bit. In fact, one night I thought it would be a fitting night to have a good cry. It was Christmas night and I focused on the empty space in the bed, the single chair I sat in while opening presents, and other similar scenarios. And try as I may, I couldn't conjure up a single tear. So I said, "forget this," and rolled over for a good 12 hours of sleep...my latest pastime.

Surprisingly, New Years Eve turned out to be the event that brought on tears. I was at a gathering of college friends, feeling like I was 40 compared to everyone, and the countdown began. So holding my dixie cup of refreshing water, I joined in the countdown and got my share of hugs and kisses from friends. Then out of left field, BAM the tears flowed down. I commend people for the comfort they offered, but it was just one of those go sit on the toilet seat and cry for a few minutes moments. I would have given anything for Phil to have called at that moment to hear his voice and the amazing ability he has to calm me down with the phrase, "Hey babe" in that delicious voice. But unfortunately, my life isn't a ABC Family TV movie (maybe that's a fortunate thing) so I had to wipe myself up and go join the party again with my fake face on.

And yet, here I am, two months into this deployment and I'm finally feeling hope well up. I'm getting some vacations lined up for each month, it's officially the year he'll come home, and I get to find out if our baby is Ethan or Esther on January 21! Time does keep going, which sometimes is torturous and other times is the biggest comfort. Regardless of how I feel or what I do, time will keep ticking and this year does have an end. What a joyous end that will be too...this time next year...beautiful.

God is so good...everyday I'm constantly amazed at his goodness to me despite my lack of faith and my self-centeredness. I'm learning that anxiety, fear, and worry are all forms of unbelief. God's not up there, fiddling around trying to get 2010 figured out, like he missed a deadline. It's all taken care of and he's got a plan for us that is better than we can ever attempt to create. So I'm resting. I'm not even thinking about the future. I'm thinking about how I'd like to knit my sock after this, eat some chips and salsa and get some stretchy pants on.