Have you every been in a place so spiritually dark that you feel physically burdened? As we drove across the Haitian border, I literally felt like a heavy brick had been placed on my chest. When we first drove into Haiti, our eyes were met with beautiful, lush mountains and a deep sea of green on each side of the bus. The closer and closer we got into Port Au Prince, our surroundings became less appealing to my intrigued eyes. The streets were littered with people; old and young, some clothed, some naked. We passed several tent sites; not the fancy REI half dome tents that all the racers purchased for the trip, but shawdy-frame tents made of what looked like sticks and a bed sheet to cover it.
My initial reaction was, “Do people actually live there?” And sadly, my thought was confirmed when I saw people coming in and out of the ‘tents’ and cooking over a fire just outside their dwellings. Normally, when seeing something as horrible as this, I would get a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Luckily, I am traveling with 46 spirit-filled people who bring life and light into dark places. One of our leaders, Tara, really felt like we needed to enter the city with prayers and singing praise songs to our Heavenly Father. The traffic thickened as we entered the city, as well as did our melodic voices singing anthems and rejoicing over the fact that we serve a good God. Instead of entering such a grief-stricken place with sorrow and helplessness, we entered Haiti with rejoicing. We know that our God is awesome in power and has a mighty inheritance to pour out over his children. We are that Kingdom coming to pour out His inheritance among these hurting people. And we started by rejoicing as we first crossed the border. Yessir, I am proud to be a part of this group of God-loving, satan vanquishing people! Haiti is going to be a glory-filled month…
