RETURN FROM HAITI

The scenes I witnessed while in Haiti last week border on the incomprehensible. The city of Port au Prince, and the surrounding area were turned into large refugee camps, as the people who did survive were living in makeshift tent cities any and everywhere there was a little space available. Buildings toppled; others flattened like a stack of pancakes; garbage piled on almost every street corner; people standing in long lines for water and for food; bulldozers pushing over the remains of buildings and loading them onto dump trucks to be hauled off; these were the pictures wherever we went.
There is however another side to this tragedy which I wish to convey, and that is the fortitude of the Haitian people themselves. My very first encounter with someone from Haiti was while, in 1971, I was a taxi driver in NYC. The content of the conversation I had with this gentleman has long since been forgotten, however that which clearly stands out in my mind to this very day, is that I had just had a very pleasant encounter with a truly gracious individual.
Over the years since then, I have met others from that island nation in various settings, and for the most part have experienced the same sensing that there was a great resilience to the people of that land. I had the opportunity, in 1997, to help construct a church in the city of Cap Hatien along Haiti's northern coast. The area of the city we built in had no electricity, nor did it have running water or a sewage system. Only if one is able to grasp the fact that the poorest of the poor in the U.S. or Western Europe are quite wealthy compared to the average person there, can the fact that these people are among the most joyous I have encountered anywhere in the world be truly appreciated.
Haiti, once the Crown Jewel of the French Colonial Empire has been held in poverty for generation after generation by oppressive and corrupt dictatorial regimes. Voodoo, witchcraft, and other pagan practices have had their affect as well at keeping much of the population in bondage. The need to simply survive from day to day and week to week has hampered any real consideration of long term planning.
There is however, a strong and growing Christian influence throughout the nation. Many of those providing relief were in place in one capacity or another before the earthquake. There are Baptist, Salvation Army, and other Christian hospitals, orphanages, schools, and feeding centers throughout the country. The group we were working with, Convoy of Hope, which is the relief arm of the Assemblies of God, has a feeding program already in place which feeds 13,000 children each and every day. There are long term missionaries from every denomination, as well as those constantly streaming in and out of the country on building, medical, evangelistic, and othr short term missions projects.
Many will be wanting to decide where best to invest their hard earned money, their time and their efforts as the rebuilding of Haiti will continue well into the future. As we went around assessing the degree of damage to the various schools and churches the only real sense of community I was able to discern was within the Christian community itself. I have plans to return two or three times this year, and Lord willing, multiple trips in subsequent years. My personal decision is to help rebuild the only true refuge that was in existence before January 12th, and that is the Church, Christian schools, orphanages, and the like.
I implore anyone who reads this, however you may decide to help, do something; do it out of a heart of compassion, and be as generous as you know how to be. I close with a scripture verse. "But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" 1 John 3:17

A Modern Day Abolitionist

George and I recently toured the Slave Mart in Charleston, South Carolina, a museum dedicated to helping people understand what slavery is and the suffering it causes. It was a powerful experience, and I walked away with greater insight into the dehumanizing effects of the evil institution called slavery.

In all of the nearly 200 years of transatlantic slave trade, from 1619 to 1807, there were 500,000 African slaves brought to North America. When slavery in America ended at the end of the Civil War in 1865, African American slaves were set free, but they were far from fully emancipated from the dehumanizing consequences of generations of slavery. It took a hundred years of struggle built upon the legacy of great abolitionists such as Fredrick Douglass, Harriett Tubman, and Sojourner Truth, and it took the great vision and selfless leadership of great civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. to bring about in the 1960's greater liberation from the vestiges of slavery in America.

We know that it was Christians, Quakers and others, who in large measure led the pre-Civil War abolitionist movement, but we also know that for the most part the church stood ambivalent and silent on the sidelines during the American Civil Rights Movement. History shows us that at times of great cultural change we as the church do not always recognize that moment in time when God would have us represent His heart by showing compassion, relieving suffering and being His mouthpiece to speak out against injustice. We are at such a moment in history when we as Christians will represent what is on God's heart concerning social issues and injustices in our world or we will become irrelevant to our culture.

One such enormous injustice is modern day slavery. Today, worldwide there are 27 million people trapped in slavery, in one form or another. It may not look like the slavery we are familiar with, but individuals and families are held against their will under threat of violence or death and made to labor without pay. They have lost their autonomy, freedom, and basic human dignity. They are bought and sold as the property of other human beings. By definition, this is slavery.

Slavery has many faces. Today, whole families labor in brick yards in India. Girls as young as five are kidnapped and sold into brothels in Cambodia to satisfy the lust of people engaged in sex tourism, most of these Americans and Europeans. There have been thousands of children kidnapped, brainwashed, and made to serve as boy soldiers and ruthless killers in the army of madman Joseph Kony in Uganda. See the full length video, Invisible Children, a documentary on these children at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3166797753930210643 .

All of these are slaves. And for those who think slavery is a thing of the past here in America, an estimated 14,500-17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the US each year. They are brought here for commercial sex, housekeeping, or agricultural work. Go to http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org/ , for more information about human trafficking here in the United States. Christians should not be silent about modern day slavery and human trafficking. Such an outrage should never be tolerated in a civilized world, and Christians should be out in the forefront, shining the light to lead the way for others to follow.

When I consider becoming involved in relieving the suffering of the people trapped in slavery, I could wonder how I, one individual, could make any impact on a problem so enormous. I would like to introduce you to Josh Hunter, a high school student who started the movement, Loose Change to Loosen Chains. He is a modern day abolitionist and a great inspiration to me. He asked students to collect their loose change and donate it to loosen the chains of those held in bondage. He reminds us that every person who cares can help bring liberation, restoration, and human dignity to the victims of modern day slavery.

I am writing this to declare that I too am a modern day abolitionist because God cares about the oppressed and those suffering from injustice and wants the church to be His instrument for putting an end to the oppression.

To learn more about modern day slavery and for information about how to be involved, see http://www.ijm.org/ , International Justice Mission.

On Answering God's Call

I believe that in order to be effectively used of the Lord, it is important that we ask the right questions. All too often, we ask the Lord to show us where He wants us in service to Him, which can engender frustration, and sometimes even doubt, as answers are not readily forthcoming.
However, if we simply live with willing hearts, making ourselves completely available and allow His priorities to become ours, we only need then to watch Him choreograph our lives toward His purposes.

Isaiah 6:1-8, "In the year that Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one cried to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!' "
And the posts of the door were shaken by him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: " Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." Then one of the seraphim flew to me having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said: 'Behold this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.'"
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send and who will go for Us?'
Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.'"

This is a revolutionary way of living, but this is what it means to be a follower of the greatest revolutionary ever, Jesus Christ.