We had just hiked 20 minutes from where we were staying to the location of where we’d build a house for a family that lost theirs in the quake. We arrived at a flat piece of land that went right up against a small bluff. Leaning against the bluff were 3 pieces of tin about 15 feet tall and 4 feet wide that was meant for the roof of the new home. Our group was standing around waiting instructions when one of our Haitian guides poked his head under the tin leaning against the bluff and said something. I was curious as to who he was talking to so I poked my head around the corner. It was in this moment that I was broken. In the space between the tin and the bluff was a small bed with a woman laying on it as well as her infant. This young mother and her baby were sleeping under a shelter made of tin that was about the size of my two person backpacking tent. It was in this moment that my thoughts went back to all of our stuff back in the States. How could we have so much and this woman have so little? This thought has continued to plague me ever since.
A week later we returned from Haiti and my fear had come true, I was changed. I was broken. My world was messed up! Amanda and I really began to question how we could keep living in our current state of selfishness. The summer came and went and Amanda and I slowly began to get back in the swing of our original lifestyle. We began to become numb to the pain that we had felt for the people of Haiti earlier that summer. In September we once again had the opportunity to travel to Haiti for a week and help rebuild. We went and again came home even more broken. This time we were determined to not let ourselves slip back into our ignorant lifestyle.
Amanda had remembered this summer that one of her friends had mentioned another friend who had participated in this thing called the World Race and that it had been a great experience. At this point after God had been making His plan so clear we began to investigate this 11 month missions trip. On a whim we applied and got accepted.
This is what I define as the “Oh crap” moment. We found ourselves at a crossroads. We either stay in our current jobs and lifestyle and try to pursue God’s will or we jump head first into this. Staying put felt safe, but this jumping head first idea sounded so much more fulfilling. So after much prayer and deliberation we felt that we had no other option but to leave everything and go. And going we are. In September 2011 Amanda and I will embark on an 11 month/ 11 country journey that will forever change us.
