Haiti!

Been reflecting alot recently about my upcoming trip to Haiti. Recently I shared from the Word with my traveling companions to Haiti, about spiritual preparation for the trip. I need to take seriously the message God gave to me to share with them! As I think about that, it's funny how God works. Really that devotional was for me. I am the one who really needs to start preparing spiritually for this mission trip! It has really just been in the back of my mind that I'm going to Haiti in July! Now it's getting close, I believe less then 30 days! The words God gave me were from Acts 13 as the Church prepared to send Paul on his first missionary journey. They were committed to fasting and praying. What can I begin to fast from in these next 30 days. I need to consistently include the trip, and what God will desire in my time there in my prayers. I love Haiti, at least I think I do! I remember my first exposure to Haiti was the Tony Campolo commercial where a mother is desperately trying to give Tony her hungry child as he is leaving in a Helicopter. I remember being moved with compassion for that country. God has also given me a wonderful Haitian friend, and I thought that God would send me to Haiti somehow with my friend.
I'm also melancholy about Haiti. There are so many people trying to help Haiti right now, do they really need me? So much money has been spent and yet Haiti seems to be struggling more then ever. What is the answer, and does it have anything to do with me? Over 230,000 people died in the earthquake that struck Haiti. I can't even comprehend that. 80% of the population lives on less then $2 a day. Over 5,000 additonal people have died from cholera in the last 6 months. How can I help? I think this trip inspite of all that, is in large measure God working in my life more then my helping in Haiti. God calls me to love and serve the Church we will be "helping". I am called to humble myself, and in humility serve some brothers and sisters in Christ who I don't know. Even though I didn't want it to happen, living in a rural and predominantly white community, has kept me from being exposed to the world community I once so loved. I look forward to the challenges, and joys of serving on a multi racial team! Even as I listened to my brother in Christ share from the Word, I thought how unique and different his style is from what I've heard for the last 12 years of my life. I want to rejoice in that. So as I think about why God would send me to Haiti in the summer of 2011, I'm not convinced it is so much to help Haiti, as it is for Haiti to help me! I pray that as I live, work, and share with 13 other folks from all walks of life, that God blesses me, and helps me to humbly love them. I pray that our love for one another will point to Jesus, the one we desire to make famous. I pray that same prayer for the folks in Haiti who we will work beside, and serve. I do pray that we will spread the seed of the gospel in Haiti during our one week there! I know that it will be God who causes those seeds to grow, and to multiply. I pray that I can rest in this assurance, and know it is only my job to love those who cross my path during that God ordained week! So even as I experience the discomfort on my arms from the vaccinations I just got, may I be prepared to experience discomfort, and may that discomfort cause me to display the fruits of the Spirit. I love Haiti because God loves Haiti, and I'm excited to see what the people I serve in Haiti have to teach me about the love of Christ. I'm also praying for unity for a team of 14 very unique individuals, that we may grow in our love for God, and for each other, as we experience Haiti together!