I had an expectation that God had to break. During training camp we each had to sign a puzzle piece that represented losing our expectations of our race route, teammates, adventure, training camp, and God. Well I couldn’t help but have an expectation when it came to Haiti. I guess that would fall under a race route expectation. I expected to come to Haiti and see the broken. I came to Haiti and expected to be surrounded by hurt. I came to Haiti and honestly expected to see devestation and hunger. I expected to come to Haiti to change things. I came to Haiti only to have ALL my expectations crushed.
We were in our team time last night, which we call “Peanut Butter, Jelly Time!”( we call it that in an attempt to take away the business sound the word debrief or feedback has), and I brought up what I have been wrestling with. I gave them the rundown of all the expectations that I had and that I don’t know if I see any of that at Canaan Christian Community. Here at Canaan every kid has a bed, clothing, goes to school, works a little bit each day, eats 3 wholesome meals a day, plays soccer, and goes to church. That was not at all what I expected to be a part of in Haiti. All the news that I have seen about Haiti has portrayed nothing but destruction, brokeness, hurt, and starvation.
I have felt that I have been called to Haiti for quite some time now and I didn’t expect to see the good side of it. I was confused. I thought that all I would see was the outwardly broken people that obviously needed my help, but all I found were people that God had redeemed! On the news or in videos online, you never get to see the fruit of what God has been doing here in Haiti. After a lot of talk amongst the team God revealed to me through my teammates that I failed to realize that God has REDEMPTION in mind! God wants me to be a part of the healing that is taking place, not the brokeness. What I also failed to realize is that all these kids have a story and everyone of them is a story of hurt. Everyone of them comes from: brokeness, death of their parents, or even abandonment. Each child has a unique story and is affected is some way or another by the earthquake.
