THE CHRONICLES OF
HAITI…. Pt 4
Israel and Haiti: a
Journey from Surviving to Living Life
I’m writing this from Fontamara, a city along the bay of
Haiti. It’s about a good hour (including traffic) via tap-tap from Port Au
Prince. The whole team is here with me, now. We are living on a roof, sleeping
with the stars as our blanket. We have began a small daily routine of visiting
the school down the road. The journey to the school displays true Haitian life.
Bustling streets. Piles of trash lining the beaches and
sides of the road. Traffic everywhere. Loud horns. People yelling. Hot hot
heat. Vendors selling weird stuff.
People sitting, staring.
Women hand washing their families’ clothes. People walking with water
pales. Kids kicking anything between two rocks. Random goats. Random chickens. It’s ordered chaos.
That’s just a taste of Haitian life while walking two blocks
down the road.
I am reading Moses’ story through to the story of David. I
decided I wanted to taste Israel’s journey as I made my own exodus from who I
was to who I am becoming. Here’s what God gave me….
Israel had been enslaved to Egypt for hundreds of years
before Moses and Aaron came along.
They had lost their identity as God’s chosen people. They lost touch
with why they were created. They were shells of people, surviving as long as
they appeased the brick quota set by their captors.
During their exodus, Israel repeatedly lost focus on where
they were going and who was sending them. Just a few examples, for instance…
Making bricks without straw, Exodus 5…. Pharoah drawing near, Exodus
14:10-15…. They got thirsty, Exodus
17:1-7. All they knew was their
carnal need, much like how animal’s live. They cried out to God because they
could not possibly survive any more taxing while making bricks, the cried out
when war from Pharoah seemed impossible to evade, the cried out again when they
had no water to drink. Israel’s journey was not only to God’s Promised Land.
God had them on a journey to re-teach them how to live. In their sufferings, in their triumph,
in their lack of faith… Israel began to learn the pattern of abundant life.
Haitian life, from the outside, looks very much like an
exodus from survival into Living.
In the many Haitian church services that I’ve attended, the people spend
hours yelling out to our Jesus.
I’ve never heard a woman or man cry out like I have here. It’s distinct.
It’s full of desperation. I
believe that the cries of Israel while in Egypt sounded very similar. I’ve spent my past few days praying for
desperation to turn into victory by God’s hand. I pray for God to provide in
miraculous ways and to raise a generation of Haitians to lead their people into
the Promise that awaits them. I
pray that in the wake of suffering, they turn their eyes as a nation to their
Deliverer. Haiti is not in need of us to bring money, solutions to poverty, or
build houses… they are in need of Hosanna, the God who saves us.
But really….
Isn’t that ALL we need?
