Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Tomorrow's Harvest in Haiti

When it comes time to weed the corn, I go quietly into the field. 
I get down into the dirt until it's up under my nails. Then from nowhere I look down a row and see a little girl. She's looking at me with a big smile, her hands already full of weeds. Soon the kids and even some adults are coming from all over the villlage. The colors of our skin blur as we mix the same sweat into the soil. They join with me in the labor. The Haitian proverb becomes a living illustration as "many hands make light work." They work hard without question, the work is finished, and I see such a harvest in tomorrow...



















The Trees of the Lord


I sent this passage to my neighbor and God touched him in the deep of his spirit. He happens to be a farmer. He has a cow. He lives by a spring where the water flows, and hundreds of birds are right now nesting in the trees next to his house... God's word is so alive! I think there's not a human heart that beats that He can't awaken to Glory. 
"He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
He waters the mountains from His upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of His work.
He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
The trees of the Lord are well watered..."

Psalm 104

Friday, July 5, 2013

Cherries


Humpty Dumpty, aka our car, has been put back together again, and the waiting list of to-do's demanded that I leave early this morning. I rushed out the door with my mind fully on business...until my eyes saw this. Oberline, the girl who comes to our house every day, had picked three perfect Haitian cherries and put them on the mirror of the door for my journey. Just in case anyone else thought they might look tasty enough to eat, she wrote my name in chalk just underneath.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Well-Worn


She's hauled alot of Bibles, alot of kids, alot of Haitians, alot of charcoal, rice, goats, roosters, dogs, live fish, cement, blocks, Guinea Grass, buckets of dirt, you name it. She's been up and down these mountain roads, splashed the cows in the potholes and bounced along on the rocks. She's crossed many rivers and spun out in the sand. She loves the color Mud so much that the Haitian boys in the city don't even bother to give her a washing anymore...but today as our mission car is pushing 250,000 miles, the knocking and wobbling and vibrating had to come to a stop. Shocks here, driveshaft there, bald tires and parts littered our yard as we looked at Humpty Dumpty and my son asked, "Will they ever be able to put her back together again?" 

Maybe tomorrow. We'll see. Right now she's propped up on a rock and a corn masher.

A carpenter I am not. A mechanic I am not. This week there are so many professions...that I am not. Good thing God is the "Great I AM". He also knows Who and What and When and Where and Why....all those guys, and I can rest easy in the question mark because He knows how to straighten them out too!