Lunch with John

I had lunch today with a missionary friend that I met last February in Haiti / Dominican Republic. He shared a story with me that I think bares repeating.

Preface:

John Martinez is a missionary living in Santiago, Dominican Republic. He moved there from Louisville, KY and is part of the GO Ministries staff (see link below). He has been on the missions field for 6 yrs, and serves as a Short Term missions trip facilitator, as well as many other things including Haitian Missions Coordinator.

K Note: John like most of God's servants has needs that must be met. He is currently in town for a family visit as well as Ministry business. Above all things his biggest need is prayer. I have met with John and know that his heart is for God and ministry. Please add him to your prayer list. If you would like more details on how to help John with missions ministry or missions needs, please contact Vicki at the GO Ministries office ( Link http://www.go-ministries.org/ ) All else fails contact me and I'll get you going in the right direction.



While on a trip to Haiti from his home town of Santiago, he traveled for 12 hrs by bus over roads that were, let's say less than maintained for a simple description. Having traveled a majority of the day they arrived at their destination, an orphanage.

Haiti, besides being war torn from the revolution, and being poverty stricken, has also met with some natural disasters over the past few years. The most recent Hurricane Noel last month. The flooding has left families torn apart and some children have lost not only their few belongings but both parents. Left to live on the streets. Such is the fate for so many in Haiti. This particular orphanage is sponsored and ran by two local Haitian Pastors.

When they arrived at the orphanage the children (several hundred) where lined up outside awaiting their arrival. When they got off the bus the children began to sing. They lifted their voices in praise to God. Now to plant an image, these children have no personal belongings. They have only the clothes they wear, a small bunk to sleep on, and one sheet to cover up with. John's exact words were '...nothing. If they wash their clothes they have to stand around naked til they dry' One of these children, a little girl while praising God in heaven with excitement for the visitors, dropped down to her knees and began to say to God 'thank you! thank you!' She took a minute and worshipped him. John's heart just melted.

Stories like these always get me. Here the two of us, grown men, sitting in a restaurant nicer than these children could even imagine, let alone ever see, discussing impoverished children with 'nothing', thanking God for what they have. John was tearing up telling the story, I was swallowing my own lumpy throat as I heard it. It reminded me of a one armed girl I saw in '95 at an orphanage in the mountains above Port Au Prince that smiled at me and gave me a hug. Children of innocence, to young to realize the cruel world, yet with a child's love for an American visitor, a soldier that came and spent the day. She may not of even understood that I was American, only that I came to visit, because I could. I will never see that girl again this side of heaven, and if I did I surely wouldn't know it. But like so many I saw this past February she's one I'll never forget. And I pray that she too remembers some soldier that spent some time at her orphanage. Christ said in Mathew 28 " Go into all the world and make disciples..." And that is what's happening in Haiti. Two Pastors reaching out into the streets and taking orphans into their care. Not that they have it much better, but that they are willing to do with what they have. Providing the bare essentials, two meals a day, and the Word of God. There's still Hope in Haiti. There's still a cause. There's still Pastors mentoring and teaching the next generation to continue in the fight for the kingdom, in a land riddled with the nightly beats of the Voodoo drums. The prayers of young children ripping holes in the enemies strong hold, with a simple 'thank you God!' Needless to say even after 6 yrs of missionary work, I think John's visit was memorable. He shared with me that every morning he gets up and loves what he does. It's not a job to him, it's a way of worshipping God. It's a way of living in His presence.

To tell you the truth if I could have just paid the bill and left, I'd be back on the dirty streets under the Haitian moon, praying with them tonight. You see, they really know God. When you have nothing, there are no distractions. Like the Children of Israel in the desert wilderness, if all you have comes from God, you stay close. We like to look at them and feel pity because they don't have what we have, but really we don't have what they have, they trust God. And to trust God as a little child is worth more than all we store up. We are like the rich young ruler, given the choice to choose God. It was more than he could bare. As John so eloquently put it today over lunch 'comfortable'. We have become comfortable with ourselves so much so that we think we can't do without all the comforts. Now God doesn't intend for us to live impoverished, but he does mean for us to trust Him, and serve Him. You see, I left something there when it was my time to leave, a part of my heart, some of my compassion. Many people describe mission trips as life changing. I would agree to that, but maybe a better way would be life impacted. I'm not the same, and nor do I want to be. It's a lot of emotions and feeling to process. I sometimes dream of laying in my bunk at night in Haiti, listening to the dogs howl, looking out into the night as people walk by in the dark, and in my dreams I feel peace. The peace I can only describe as being in God's presence. Not the kind of presence you feel when you worship at church on Sunday with your tie on, or in a prayer meeting kind, but maybe the kind Moses and the Children felt. The ' in his presence' kind. Not supernatural, just the He's here kind. One of the things I pray, is that all that I am, and all that I have, be used for His glory. That when I end this life, I have nothing left. All my resources, all my energies, are used for His purpose. That I didn't hold anything back, no regrets. That I can bow down on feeble knees, look up and say 'Thank you Lord!'


Lord,

Let my riches be in Heaven, and let my heart be as this little child humble before you. May your Spirit and provisions find their way into the hearts in Haiti. There's not a child that goes hungery that you don't feel their pain. Not a person's grief that goes unnoticed. Not a prayer unheard. I pray protection for the Pastors who have reached out to these children. I pray guidance for the missionaries and my friend John to do your will. Grant them the resources needed to serve and support. I pray Divine protection to cover them as they work your fields. And bless the harvest with workers to disciple these children. In Jesus name.... Amen.



Kevin

Look up, Live Life, and be thankful.