Siempre Estare Contigo (Part 2)

I stand still at the edge of a crossroad. My mind filled with many thoughts as I look in every direction. My feet are firmly planted but are itching to step forward. I can see in the distance the faces of many. The further I look, the more I see. As I look lower to the ground, I am met by the eyes of a child. His face is dirty from dust and his nose filled with dry mucus. I am taken back by his stare at me. I start to move forward along this crossroad. To my right and left are busy streets with people everywhere. There are people selling everything from fruits to fake Nike shoes. My attention is driven towards this child. As I get closer I see that the only thing he is wearing is a ripped up t-shirt. His eyes continue to meet mine and with each step, while his emotions do not change. I focus deeper into his eyes and I am beaten down at the sadness distilled from his gaze. My heart begins to get heavy and the weight of the moment is bearing down on my body. I am within inches now and I am trembling. I cannot escape from his look. Never did he take his eyes off me. I finally make it to him and fall to my knees as the weight of the moment as finally collapsed my heart. I lift my head to meet eye to eye with this young child. What seemed like an eternity of gazing into each others was only but seconds until he wrapped his arms around my neck. At that moment, I felt the slightest smile upon his cheek. All he wanted was a hug. At the crossroad I stood not sure where my next step would be, while all along he stood there and waited for me to just love him. 




This is the story of thousand orphaned Haitian children.

I write this not as a way to stimulate your emotions, but to give you the visual of a hurting need to spread love to every nation, every country and every child. This moment was all too familiar while I was in Haiti. There wasn't enough time in the day to be able to love every child that came up to me. I had never felt a lackluster of love in one area as I did in those days I spent in the Haitian villages. Walking among the people, with kids running around everywhere, there was a deep sense that something was missing. Why did God send me? I asked myself that question day in and day out. I had not much to give, and was restrained to time. It hit me like a ton of bricks when God said, "Give what is not yours, but Mine: Hope and Love." Talk about an answer to my question!

From that point forward, all that mattered was showing the love of God to these children. It didn't matter if our program went well or happened at all, rather it was opportunity after opportunity of just loving on the people of Haiti, in particular, the children. When we were told that there are over 600,000 orphans in Haiti, at first I was very suspicious. But as we walked around the villages, around each corner was one child after the next. The further in we went, the more there were. My eyes were puzzled at where all these kids come from. I kept reminding myself that God has a purpose for this and that His will will not go unnoticed here. This was my opportunity to step out of my shell and spread the love of God to every widow and orphan. After all, that is what God called His church to do. "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: 'to visit orphans and widows in their affliction." -James 1:27.

I want to be like the Church He called us to be. The need is there. The calling is there. We are the Church. Too often, we sit back and say to ourselves that others will take care of the need, that we are not called to go in to the world to be difference makers. When you experience the poverty and devastation I faced this past week in Haiti, that thought is just useless. When I gazed into a child's eyes there and saw that they had orange hair from malnourishment and bloated bellies form worms, how could I just do nothing? How can we have all the love in the world, yet not show it to others? How can we see the need and sit back and do nothing?




This is the urgency we face today. I have seen with my eyes, spoken with my lips, and felt with my heart, but now it is time for our feet to get moving, our hands to start lifting, and a change being made. The next time I stand at that crossroad, I  know where my next step will be and I will run and not stumble to my feet. The children of Haiti need us to help them. They just want to be shown love and to have a future. When the average age of a Country is only 30, that is a problem. We can help give them hope. We can be a difference makers. We can be love!!




Siempre Estare Contigo (Always Be With You)


 
In Haiti, my heart was captivated. Captivated by a people who I call family.




My body may be here, but my heart remains in Haiti.

 

...To Be Continued