I Got The Blues - Remembering Haiti

I must confess, my heart is in Haiti this week. Or perhaps it is just consumed with the experience, the people, and the way the Lord worked in my heart back in May.

I went to a country many would deem of no account and put hundreds of faces with a name that has come to mean as much to me as my own. I have a severe case of the Haiti blues.

If there is one thing that I have learned since returning from Haiti it is this: MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY. Be intentional. Live life to the fullest. But what does that look like in a culture that doesn't understand how to slow down?

Life is simple in Haiti.

• They sit on their front porch or sweep their one room house.
• Kids run to and fro. Babies sleep or sit on their mother's lap.
• Livestock runs loose.
• They make a trip or two to the well, gathering all the needed water for the day. Some sloshes out on the mile long walk back home while they teach their children the correct way to balance the paint bucket on their heads.
• Teens are no different there. They play pick up games of soccer, have cell phones, flirt with one another, and like to look nice.

But life is simple, uncluttered with the complexity I see in American culture. In Haiti, many families often wonder where their next meal will come from. In America, I wonder what my next big purchase will be.

In Haiti, they see the Lord as Provider. In America, sometimes I don't think He provides enough.

They celebrate a roof over their heads and a one bedroom house. I live in a full-sized house and dream of bigger.

They understand the value of conversation around the front porch. I pop in my headphones and ignore the world.

But a week in this country changed my heart...

- My world lit up with the smile of little Pierre,  suffering from a brain tumor but humming a sweet tune for our ears.
- My heart engaged with the teen as I asked him his vision for Haiti.
- My mind connected with Kinsley as he taught me French and Creole on our long walks.
- My tears fell when we prayed for a teen with cerebral palsy and saw the faith and dedication of his mother, despite the circumstances.
- My hope rose as a girl my age sang the most beautiful worship song in Creole as my team gathered around the porch of her home.

I'll never forget their faces, their stories. And this week, as I pray for 40 of my friends who are serving there faithfully, I selfishly wish I was with them. But, I know I have a job to do here. I know that simplicity can be found in my Dallas life. Time to get busy with the things that matter and discard what doesn't reach to eternity.

Time to develop the heart of a Haitian believer - the knowledge that He is provider, sovereign, and holy in my life!