TGIF.

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  Hebrews 13:5  

Friday; what comes to your mind when the weekend is just around the corner?  Our thoughts probably turn to time spent doing things with family, chores around your property, perhaps shopping and of course preparing for Church on Sunday.  Not so much now with COVID 19.  I fondly remember making a special labor-intensive breakfast for my daughters on the weekend when they were much younger, as the time never permitted that during the work week.  

Think for a moment, what drives your planning; availability of time, weather, priorities, funds.  Too often we don’t recall the words of the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 13:5 and we allow our lives to be driven by wanting more; generally more stuff.  The attached photo was taken at the ‘mall’ in Les Cayes and school children are walking home in the afternoon, gazing at items that are most likely distant dreams to them.  

How long are we ever content with what we have?  This Lent, I challenge you to go to your bedroom closet and honestly take an inventory of its contents and come to grips with your level of contentment.  Spring is around the corner and it will be a time to purchase ‘new’ things again, and ship the ‘old’ things to a faraway land where your ‘trash’ becomes their ‘treasures.’  

The items hanging on the market are not new; they belonged to people like you not that long ago.  Didn’t intend for this to turn into a Lutheran guilt trip, but rather a subtle reminder that our Triune God will never leave us, will never forsake us, He is always there providing for us with everything that we need; be content in that.   

The school children walking by the market in Les Cayes are from one of our TrinityHope program schools; I can tell by the color and style of the uniforms that they wear.  God has provided their clothes, their home and through you their noon lunch.  Thank you for answering the call, providing for their physical and spiritual training.  

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay

The hands of Christ.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.  Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”  Galatians 5:24-25 (NLT)  

My sins, your sins and the sins of these children from Ouanaminthe in the attached photo were nailed to cross of Christ some two thousand years ago.  Nailed to the cross, His hands and our hands; what a sacrifice He gave for us.  While living in Haiti and worshipping at Pastor Thomas Bernard’s Church in Caredeux, there were many occasions when he asked me to share a message with the congregation.  

He said it was good to hear God’s word from a North American from time to time as my life’s journey had been down very different roads than his, and theirs and it was good for them to see God’s world from a different perspective from time to time.  One Sunday I shared with them about the hands of Christ being nailed to the Cross and invited the members to stop for a moment and look at their hands, where they had been, what ‘they’ had done with them and how God used them.  

Have you ever looked at your hands, I mean really looked at your hands?  You are probably sitting at the keyboard in a climate controlled house, but please, just stop for a moment and look at your hands, palms up, palms down, clenched and open.  Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years.  My hands, though wrinkled, shriveled, and scarred have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life.  They have held a surveyors Philadelphia rod for years, held a hammer while inspecting a bridge while immersed under 30’ of ‘black’ water, plunked on a computer keyboard and held my daughters when they were only a few seconds old…and they have been together in prayer.  

They tied my shoelaces and also pulled on my cowboy boots. They’ve been lava soap dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent.  They have scooped manure in the barn and changed diapers.  They once carried a wedding band and trembled when I was with my mother when she left this world and held on tightly as I walked my daughter down the aisle at her wedding.  

Today it seems that they are wearing out at a fast pace.  My strength is being sapped with every coming year, but I still remember when I could do so many different tasks with these hands.  Today, these hands are doing God’s work, reaching out to you to share the message of Trinity/HOPE and scrolling through Scripture to embrace my human thoughts, words and memories.  

One day our Triune God will reach out and take your hands, my hands and the hands of children living in Haiti and take each of us home.  One day, our hands will touch the face of Jesus Christ as our Heavenly Father will tell us “well done good and faithful servant.”  Guard your hands, may they continue to do His work in this world.   

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay

An orphan.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”  John 14:18  

Not sure if you have ever visited an orphanage in Haiti.  Pastor Revenel Benoit in Gonaives had the first Lutheran orphanage that I had heard of when I arrived in March of 2001.  The orphanage in Gonaives had boys, perhaps fifteen or twenty at that time and they were in ages from five to eighteen.  The local Lutheran Church there took care of them, fed them, educated them, provided them with a trade and brought them up knowing Jesus Christ.  

The longer that I lived in Haiti the more the stories of young children came into conversations as Pastors would tell of parents or single parents leaving their children on the steps of the Church or even at the pastor’s house as they could not care for them.  Left alone in the neighborhood they were a prime target for the vodou priest and they would ultimately become the living resource; a human sacrifice for his evil vocation.  

The attached photo is of a young boy at the gate of Pastor Bruce Narcles in St. Marc.  His guardian had left him there, in what clothes he had on outside the gate of the pastor’s house on a hot afternoon in Haiti.  Abandoned, forgotten, a young life left to the world.  This abandoned young child was fortunate; he was rescued and given support.  There are times in our lives when we may feel abandoned by people that loved us or provided for us and we are in a sense, orphaned too.  During Lent, we read that Jesus knew His disciples would also feel as they had been abandoned and would be in need of help and support during the trying days ahead.  

They were about to see their Lord and Master betrayed, arrested and crucified.  Would they feel abandoned, alone?  Absolutely, you have probably known this feeling at some point in your life’s journey.  But there is good news for you and for the young boy in St. Marc, the truth of Easter brings a promise to your life.  Jesus tells us that He will return to us and take us to see the mansion that He has prepared for you!

His disciples needed to hear the promise from the Savior and so do the people who are still living in a country dedicated to satan through vodou.  Children, like this young orphan boy who attend Christian schools are the future missionaries of Haiti and they will share that they, like you are Easter people!  We live in the promise of the One who came to rescue us from the lies of this sinful world.  

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay

A God thing.

“Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.  It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.  “Take away the stone,” he said.  “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”  Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone.  Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.  Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”  John 11:38-43  

These passages, from the Gospel of John, telling of the raising of Lazarus from the dead remind me of the urgency of seeking and saving the lost souls in Haiti.  The attached photo was taken in 2002, from the roof of my humble apartment in Petionville and whenever I would go out and hang my laundry on the line; this was my view to the West.   As far as I knew, close to eighty percent of the people living on the side of that hill practiced vodou at that time and had not heard the truth about Jesus Christ, the Son of God who brought Lazarus from the tomb and later would himself conquer death and the devil.  Many of the people living in that neighborhood had either not heard about the Savior of the world or had heard and rejected the story and still believed the lies of the vodou priest.  

The ‘story’ of the raising of Lazarus was true as this event took place in front of grieving Jews who came to the tomb to mourn with the family; they reported this event to the Pharisees.  This event was an important factor leading up the death of Jesus because it was upon hearing of this miracle that the chief of priests and Pharisees determined to bring about the death of Jesus.  

Rescuing the people on the hillside of Petionville seems to be an impossible feat in the eyes of the world; too often we put God into a box and only think about what we can do and don’t look at what God is capable of doing.  I listened to a Southern Gospel song recently called “My name is Lazarus” and the final verse is as follows;  

“He said, “My name is Lazarus, could I testify?  My name is Lazarus, it feels good to be alive.  When I in chains of death was bound, this man named Jesus called me out.  If you think your little problem is too big for Him to solve take it from the one who’s heard the mighty voice of God.  A living testimony of His death-defying touch, my name is Lazarus”  

There are several thousands of children attending Christian schools in Port-au-Prince who are being blessed through Trinity/HOPE feeding programs.  These young missionaries will bring the message of the raising of Lazarus by our Risen Savior to the people living on the hillside.  It is a God thing; you are blessed to take part in their preparation; but their sharing the Gospel message is certainly a God thing.  Thank you for answering the call to seek and save the lost by sharing of your financial gifts and prayers with the children who will take the saving message to the lost souls throughout Haiti.  

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay

Don't be afraid...just believe.

“Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”  Mark 5:35  

The words of Jesus to the leader of the Synagogue whose daughter was either dead or dying were, “don’t be afraid, just believe.”  The leader’s sense of urgency was not on the same page as Jesus’ plan.  All too often our impatience with the timing of this world, the lack of a sense of urgency and the seemingly failure of our plans cause us to doubt and despair.  

The road to the church and school at St. Raphael in the Cap Haitian district can be frustrating, much like the road to many of the rural congregations in Haiti.  There are no road signs or road maps that we are accustomed to using in North America; no OnStar.  The attached photo shows the ‘road’ sign alerting you to the Lutheran Church and school at St. Raphael.  There are around 100 children attending school here and they enjoy their noon lunch provided by the Donelson-Hermitage Rotary Club which is a suburb in the Nashville, TN area.  

When traveling to congregations in remote, rural areas of Haiti, listening to the driver and interpreter discuss if they should turn left or right at the ‘Y’ in the road, brought me a sense of being stranded in the middle of nowhere quite often.  “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”  Those words of encouragement always held true, as we always reached our destination.  The children who attend school at St. Raphael wondered when they would get a feeding program, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”  The Holy Spirit moved a team from Trinity/HOPE to their location and provided them with a donor to bring the gift of food to their school.  

If you are facing times of doubt regarding coronavirus, loss of job, erratic stock market, raging rivers flooding your future, pain and suffering at every turn; “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”  The most important thing in your life is your relationship with Jesus Christ, the champion of this world, the victorious conqueror of satan, the carpenter’s son, the Son of God who has prepared a place for you in Heaven.  “Don’t be afraid, just believe.”  

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay

March madness.

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10  

So yesterday, after our weekly prayer time at Our Redeemer Lutheran, I drove home thinking about a topic for today’s devotion.  March madness came to mind and after spending an hour writing, I went to read morning news from CBN.com and sure enough, there already was an article about “March Madness” but not like my rant.  Hope you are moved closer in your walk with Christ today.  

On Thursday at 10:50 AM, I was sitting in my chair with a tall glass of ice water, preparing to watch the Big Ten basketball tournament game and as the players were just walking back to their locker rooms after warming up, the announcer said that they had just been informed that due to the COVID-19 virus, the Big Ten had just cancelled the Tournament.  WTH???  He then said that the SEC, ACC, AAC and the Big 12 had also seen fit to cancel their tournaments; NO!  Is this the end of time?  Lucky for me and Cable TV, the Big East was still playing; St. John’s vs Creighton, and I watched the first half and then once again, that tournament was cancelled at halftime.   The COVID-19 panic got worse. 

I watched 2 old white haired men wanting to be the next president tell people how bad the current president is and what each of them would do and what our government should be doing to solve this crisis; and of course, we need to work together.  Unfortunately, their solutions were basically the same that our president had said the government is doing, during a press conference the previous night.  And here I sat with my tall glass of water, and my TV off.  I read later that the NCAA had went and ripped out my heart as they cancelled all spring college athletics including the College World Series.   “Be still…”  Perhaps our Heavenly Father is using COVID-19 to draw us closer to Him as we have strayed way too far away…again.  The virus hasn’t been reported in Haiti yet. 

The children in schools with Trinity/HOPE feeding programs have not been sent home for the next 2 weeks and will not finish their school year with online coursework.  The children in the attached photo don’t have about the level of panic that is reaching us by the hour from our media here.  Our media seems to be in a huge feeding frenzy these days. “Be still, and know that I am God.”  Turn off the television and pick up a book; His Book, or read a few devotions.  Be still.  Stock market in free fall; be still, and know that I am God.  Stay home, while you wash your hands say the Lord’s Prayer and be in His word…‘be still’.  

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay

Modes of transportation.

“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”  “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”  Revelation 14:13  

It has often seemed that when God nudged me to follow His call and go and live in Haiti, it was either a learning opportunity for me to improve my patience when walking on uneven ground with my artificial knees and arthritic ankles or perhaps it was His way of bringing moments of joy into His activities because my engineering background brought me endless moments of torture seeing the condition of the roads, water crossings and lack of traffic regulations.  

Transportation in Haiti was an adventure; at times a frustrating adventure.  When Dr. Doug Rutt from the LCMS came to visit in 2001 and found me in a 4-wheel drive leased pickup truck he chided me for not taking the taptap which immersed me into the Haitian culture and I had tried that but after several attempts it seemed to be too physically dangerous.  

Modes of transportation included driving through rivers, wading through rivers, walking for hours to visit small rural congregations on dirt pathways, riding a horse, a small airplane and even a boat.  I came across the attached photo recently and it was possibly taken in 2002 and the man to my left is Pastor Israel Isidor, at that time the President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti and now he is rejoicing in Heaven.  

His earthly work ended several years ago and his legend in Haiti is still talked about by those of us who remember him and miss his bright, strong energetic witness.  Before this photo was taken, we had been visiting congregations and schools in his Les Cayes district and one day we drove from Les Cayes to Port Salute and north, up the coast to Tiburon.  There Pastor Isidor told me we would either spend an hour in a boat or walk for four hours to reach Carcasse, a congregation that he didn’t get to visit very often.  The answer seemed obvious; rent the boat.  Renting a boat in Tibourn is similar to buying a car here in Normal.  You first talk with the salesperson and then he talks with the owner about the ‘real’ price.  The first boat shown me was a wooden, Haitian boat that appeared to have been constructed by the French in 1800; cost was $200 Haitian for the voyage.  At the time, I was a strong swimmer, but I knew that Pastor Isidor was not, so I asked if there were any other boats for rent and by the grace of God there was one other, the fiberglass boat in the photo.  It would cost me $400 Haitian dollars but it was well worth the fee.  

Pastor Isidor had a briefcase in his arms and his knuckles turned white clutching it as we rocked back and forth on our hour journey.  We arrived and walked on a narrow dirt pathway probably thirty minutes back into the mountain to the Church and people kept coming out of the foliage along the hillside to find out who the visitors were and where they were going.  There were probably a 100 people following us by the time we reached the Church.  Pastor Isidor encouraged the congregation for their work, sang a few hymns and we prayed.  

I pray that the remainder of your journey will be fruitful as you take the message of our Lord Jesus to the lost of this world through your words and actions.  May your labors bring many more into the Kingdom before your time spent here; serving Him comes to a close.  

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay

Point A to point B.

“So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.” Exodus 13:18  

Fifteen years of my life were spent designing highways for the State of Nebraska.  There were projects that improved what was already in place, widening the roadway, adding driveways and improving drainage and guardrail but the most enjoyable projects for me were the ones that involved a new horizontal and vertical alignments.  I laid out the geometrics for a few projects that were major expressways in Nebraska that had tri-levels elevated high above other freeways and railroads and streams; they were intentionally designed to move the traffic more effectively and bypass anything that might cause traffic to slow down.   

We live in a fast-paced culture and have grown up, wanting to find the quickest way to get from point A to point B.  When God led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, He did not take them on the shortest route as it would have led them through enemy territory.  Had Israel taken that route they would have wanted to return to their starting point.  Sometimes the paths that God sets for our journey are not always the shortest, quickest routes or at least that is how they appear at the moment.  

The attached photo was taken on the road between Arcahaie and St. Marc and the truck on the right is similar to the way the Trinity/HOPE feeding program directors transport supplies from a large town to the schools and kitchens and eventually to the plate of a waiting child.  It is quite a distance from point A to point B, not in kilometers, but in time.  

Our lives may seem at times to be bogging down and we need to trust God, knowing that His purpose for our lives happens to be taking the long way.  How often have we complained about our journey that is taking place in His time and not our choosing?  His way is always the best way, probably not the way of this world…but the better way.  We may not yet know God’s purposes for our lives but we can and should be sure that God guides us through our journey for our good and for His glory.  

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay

Well into Lent.

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”  Titus 2:11-13  

We are well into Lent, and there is talk of fasting on the internet.  This always strikes me as North Americans discuss having to ‘give up’ something they like for Lent; chocolate, bagels, cream cheese and an array of other items that will crush their lifestyle, while in Haiti there are people fasting, not ‘giving up’ meals because of their choosing, but simply because they have nothing to eat.  Their thankfulness for food is genuine and we don’t and prayerfully never will fully understand what it is like to be truly thankful for having that one meal every day.  

This year, instead of giving something up, I decided to increase my devotion and prayer time each week in Lent, to remind me of my Savior’s submission to the pains, agony and death on Calvary for my sins.  Small sacrifice for what He did for me and you on that cross standing on the hill at Golgotha two thousand years ago.  For those who fast during Lent, saying ‘no’ to North American food for a day of each week is pale compared to His silence to the charges rendered against His innocence.  

Back in the day, Pastor Darrell Stuehrenberg from Fort Myers, FL sent me an Email with a meaningful use of words that touched on ‘Fasting’ and they are reprinted here;  

Fast from fear.... Feast on faith.
Fast from despair.... Feed on hope.
Fast from depressing news... Feed on prayer.
Fast from discontent... Feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger and worry.... Feed on patience.
Fast from negative thinking.... Feast on positive thinking.
Fast from bitterness.... Feed on love and forgiveness.
Fast from words that wound... Feast on words that heal.
Fast from grave thoughts... Feast on the promise of eternal life!!  

The attached photo of a young boy in Gonaives reminded me of going without…food, clothing and all the pleasures of this world that we take for granted.  There are over 30,000 children giving thanks today because of your financial sacrifice to put a meal on their school desk and they also know and appreciate that they are surrounded by your prayers every day.  Thank you for answering the call of our Savior and for continuing to pray and support the children in Trinity/HOPE feeding programs.   

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay

Another man's purpose.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7  

God gave Moses and us the Ten Commandments to bring order to His people; they were applicable centuries ago and are still right for us today.  We are to have no other gods than the Triune God, we are not to use His name in vain, we are to keep the Sabbath Day holy, we are to honor our parents and we are not to kill, commit adultery, steal, lie or covet the things that belong to our neighbor.  And Jesus adds to respect others as you would like to be respected and love your neighbor as yourself.  Great set of values for us, for North America, for China, for India, for Haiti for the world…God’s world.   From what I know of the man in the attached photo that I shared with you a few weeks ago, he would have nothing to do with anything that you just read.  He is a vodou witch doctor in Croix de Bouquets which is a suburb in Port-au-Prince.  I don’t know if he or his ‘temple’ survived the earthquake; if he did not, chances are he is not in heaven today.   What is his purpose in life?  He makes a living by selling fear and perpetuating the lies from satan; he is a control addict that satan uses to do his bidding.  This man is a grave robber, stealing organs and bones from the departed and grinds them into dust and uses them to call out evil spirits and send them to bring pain upon people who want bad things to befall their neighbors.  This man is a murderer, animals and possibly young children who are brought to him for healing; but they never do get better as their blood is slowly drained over a period of months and replaced with poison.   

Jesus tells us in Luke that the Son of man came to seek and save the lost.  This man is lost in his present state, and there are hundreds more like him living in Haiti; lost souls serving the prince of liars.  The purpose of children attending Christian schools in Haiti is to bring the light of our risen Savior Jesus Christ into the lives of such as this.  This despicable human being needs a Savior, the people he hurts need a Savior and you and I have the gift and means to help bring the news of salvation to the lost in Haiti.  

Thank you for helping to prepare future missionaries attending Christian schools in Haiti.  Their purpose is not easy, and neither is ours but our Savior gave His life for us on Calvary…His purpose on this earth was to save this world of sinners.  Thank you for answering the call of our Savior and for continuing to pray and support the children in Trinity/HOPE feeding programs.   

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

May God be with you…Jay