At peace.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Philippians 4:4-6

When I lived in Haiti, my home congregation there was Bon Berger Eglise Evangelique Lutheriene in Caredeux which is a suburb located off of Delmas 75 in Port-au-Prince.  Bon Berger is Haitian Creole for “Good Shepherd” and the mother and child in the attached photo live nearby and worship there too.

The photo was taken by Lori Wolfe-Beerenstrauch from Lincoln, NE, who was there in 2000 with a mission team.  It has always been one of my favorites as the smile on the mother’s face exemplifies the above verses from the fourth chapter of Philippians. 

Her expression speaks volumes of gentleness...the Lord is near and don’t be anxious about anything.  If you knew where she lived, saw her small dwelling, no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no ample supply of food or clean water…well you just have to ask how can she be so calm, at peace and happy.

When you see a group of school children walking to school down a dirty path in their clean school uniforms, coming from similar living conditions, with broad smiles on their faces…how can this be?  The mother has her child in her arms and is confident that God is taking care of her today and will again tomorrow.  The children walking to school are also delighted that they are heading to school where there is a promise of food, every day, and they too know that God took care of them yesterday, will take care of them today and will again be there tomorrow.

How often are we like that mother, at peace and comforted in the knowledge that our Triune God is taking care of us?  We are so self-dependent; we get our food, buy more clothes than we care to look at, buy our cars, home, health insurance and pay no attention to our electricity, indoor plumbing, clean water and heat in the winter and AC in the summer.

When was the last time you were in a crisis?  When was the last time you heard that a friend had tested positive with COVID?  When was the last time you were on your knees praying for deliverance from the hole that you dug yourself into?  “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Every situation should be brought to our Heavenly Father in prayer.  Thank you for supporting Christian education in Haiti and for being His servants for His children in Haiti, providing food for them every day and continuing to rejoice in the fact that we are saved because of His Son.

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

Doing laundry.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:19

When I was a boy, one of my chores was to help my mom with laundry.  She had a small ‘antique’ Maytag washing machine in the basement and my job was to fill it with about six buckets of water, three hot and three cold and then fill the rinse tub that sat next to the washing machine.  I was told that when I was a baby I was bathed in this same rinse tub.  And I have also wondered if I had ever been bathed in the Maytag when I had been a real problem.  That was in 1959 and I joyfully recall when years later my mom bought a washing machine that had hoses connected to the waterline and that put me out of the water hauling business.

For the two young girls in the attached photo it is laundry day.  They are on the east edge of Gonaives and walking to a drainage canal to probably help their mom with laundry.  No machine there, just a board or stones to rub at the soiled clothing.  No clothes dryer or line; there they spread out the clean clothes on the large rocks, bushes or gravel lined banks and let the sun bake them dry.

When I first moved to Haiti in 2001 it became quite clear after just a few days that my North American “B-O” would soon become a problem for me as there didn’t appear to be a Laundromat in all of Port-au-Prince and my perspiration would soon become legendary if my clothes did not get washed.  I was told by Pastor Thomas Bernard that I could take my clothes to the dry cleaner and after a couple of visits there that became cost prohibitive.  I decided that the best option for me was to return to my childhood lessons and did my laundry in the sink with Woolite and hard rubbing, ringing out my clothes by hand and then hung them up to dry on a piece of rope on the flat roof of my apartment.  My needs were met; my mom would have been proud of the lessons that I learned hauling water for her. 

Just as the Apostle Paul wrote, “my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” the needs of the two children from Gonaives are being met, clothes to wear, shoes on their feet and a couple chunks of sugar cane.  Our daily needs are always met, maybe not in the way we expect them to be met, but they are met by our loving Heavenly Father who gave His only Son to meet our ultimate need, forgiveness of our sins. 

His children attending Christian schools are saved, and are prayerfully making disciples of the lost in their neighborhood, bringing the saving message to them as well.  Thank you for supporting Christian education in Haiti through Trinity/HOPE school feeding programs.

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

Got hardships?

“But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:5

Enduring hardship; we have all most assuredly at one time or another asked how much weight we will be able to withstand before we crumble under the suffering that this world had dumped on us.  Have you tested positive?  We all have different hardships as satan creates something special for each of us, knowing our weaknesses and finding ways to gnaw away at our patience.

While living in Haiti one hardship that continually gnawed away at me was walking with my artificial knees.  There were many times when I asked my Heavenly Father “Why me, why here?” as my being there on a rocky steep slope seemed like such a cruel task.

The attached photo is one of those rocky paths.  This is the Haitian sidewalk that children take on their way to school at Chincheron which is high on top of the mountain North of Arcahaie.  It is a rural school and most of the over 100 children attending there walk for miles on paths such as this day after day, getting their education, Spiritual growth and a noon meal of beans and rice from Trinity/HOPE.

I made the trip to Chincheron several times and always wondered how many children have walked this path over the years and where their feet have taken them while sharing the love of Christ with others in their families and neighborhoods.  How many feet tramping in the sand and rock did it take to make this defined pathway?

I also thought about the poem titled “Footprints in the sand” as I had that poster in my office.  Identifying with the verses of that poem was easy to do as I questioned my hardships from time to time…daily!  Here is the 1936 version from Mary Stevenson.

“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.  Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.  In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.  Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was only one.  This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord, “You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always.  But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand.  Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”  The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

May the hardships along your journey be manageable and may you always be reminded of Who is with us, every day, and every step of the way.  Trust always in Him, just as the children walking ahead of you, beside you and behind you in Haiti do every step of the way.

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 beautiful photo.

“The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,” Nahum 1:7

Last night while trying to fall asleep, my thoughts returned to a men’s choir practice back in the day, in Lincoln, and we were singing “Leaning on the everlasting arms” and then an eternity of past memories of Christian friends in Haiti came flooding back into vacant spaces of my mind that were not filled with the minutia that this world poured in yesterday.  The words that surfaced were; “What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms; what a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.”

Seeing a Haitian child in a school the size of a single car garage in North America, sitting on a board tucked between two other students in a room that is filled with 90 humid degrees, learning about geography, French or Jesus and beaming with an ear to ear smile is unimaginable to our way of thinking.  How can they possibly be happy?  They have the promise of a Savior and they daily lean on his everlasting arms.

They do not understand the things we take for granted; health insurance, retirement plans, savings accounts, three meals every day, a closet full of clothes, a cupboard full of processed food, an air conditioner, indoor plumbing, lights, television, a computer…they have Jesus.

“What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms?  I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms.”  Too often, we drift away on our own taking on tasks that ‘we’ can handle by ourselves and don’t ‘need’ to lean or even think about leaning; after all we can do it ourselves.  Too often we only lean when the mess we have gotten into is over our heads. 

What a beautiful picture it is to see children leaning on His everlasting arms.  The children in the attached photo go to school in Cap Haitian and they stopped after school to have their picture taken.  They are happy, they know Jesus, it was His love through somebody like you that brought them their lunch for two dollars and fifty cents.  Look closely at the young girl with one yellow sandal on her right foot and a white shoe on her left; she is just happy to have something on her feet, something in her stomach and a Savior that she can lean on and feel His love every day.

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

Aimlessly wandering?

“Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.  They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.  Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.”  Psalm 107:4-6

Have you ever been wandering in the wastelands, hungry and thirsty?  When deer hunting in the Pine Ridge of Nebraska there were times that I was wandering endlessly for hours through the pine trees, deep gullies and canyons of the north central part of Sheridan County, but never do I recall being hungry or thirsty.

On one visit to a Lutheran school in the Jeremie District we walked for several hours up a very long steep and did I mention long hill in intense heat and humidity and I did get really thirsty but I had a water bottle and drank to replenish what I had lost on the ‘Haitian stairmaster’.

There are many children attending school in Haiti who are hungry and thirsty when they arrive for class.  Sometimes they saunter into class in the morning crying because their stomachs are empty and their comment is “Mwen gran goo” which translates “I am very hungry”.

I can only imagine that the only time I cried because I was hungry was 70 years ago when I was a baby and announced through tears that I was hungry.  In our North American homes, solving the problem of hunger is generally only a few feet away to the nearest cupboard or fridge and you will find food.  Such is not the case in almost every home in Haiti.

The attached photo is of a girl at the Lutheran school in Ouanaminthe, before their Trinity/HOPE feeding program begsn; not a lot of energy, no bright smile to greet me.  It is easy to walk into a school in Haiti and know if there is a feeding program, just look at the children, shake their hands, pat their heads, look into their eyes, listen to their voice…tired, weak, clammy, listless and faint.  Hungry and thirsty; “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  Matthew 5:6.

Trinity/HOPE is now bringing a lunch program to over 33,500 children in over 160  Christian schools throughout Haiti.  Their hunger pains have subsided and their bodies continue to grow physically and their minds grow Spiritually with the Bread of Life.  Thank you for bringing them this life giving food.

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

Take courage.

“…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

When you hear the word ‘courage’ what picture comes into your mind?  Often we may think about soldiers, policemen and fireman; people who risk their lives to defend or protect us.  Is real courage restricted so such acts of heroism that they perform?  Take courage during this pandemic.

One definition of the word Courage reads “the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.  Courage is acting in spite of fear.  "Physical courage" is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death, while "moral courage" is the ability to act rightly.”

What about a wife and mother who doesn’t give up following their husband’s sudden death or a person with terminal illness or the suicide on-line counselor?  Real courage comes from trusting in God.  The Creole word for courage is “Kouray” and these children who attend the Lutheran school in Dondon have ‘kouray’; much like the rest of the over 33,500 children in Trinity/HOPE feeding programs exhibit daily.

Every day their witness is seen by their parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents and neighbors who still may be following the lies of the vodou priest; their Christian witness of the Triune God is seen daily as they confront the lies that have been woven for the past 220 years in Haiti.  Thank you for helping to strengthen their courage, their resolve…their witness.

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

Holy Communion.

“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way after supper, he took the cup saying, “This is the new covenant in my blood; do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  Now may this true body and blood of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ strengthen and keep you in the true faith until life everlasting.  Amen.”  1 Corinthians 11:23-25

The above passage from 1 Corinthians should be very familiar to each of us; in Haiti you will hear the Pastor speak these verses usually in French and sometimes in Haitian Creole.  Receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion in a foreign country really puts the work of the Holy Spirit into a more profound setting; reminds us of our commissioning to “go and make disciples of all nations…”

There is a song written by Carolyn Arends called “They’ll know we are Christians” that has some wonderful lyrics and here are just a few of them;

“We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord.  And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.  And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.  They will know we are Christians by our love.  We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand.  And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land.  And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, they will know we are Christians by our love.”

Hand in hand; the hands in the attached photo belong to a Haitian woman waiting to receive Holy Communion at Bon Berger Eglise Evengelique Lutherienne in Caredeux which is a suburb of Port-au-Prince.  Where do you suppose her hands have been during her lifetime?  They certainly appear to be filled with much personality, probably have seen their load of trials, the earthquake, political problems, troubles and prayerfully there were also times of rejoicing.

Look at your hands for a moment, where have they been during your journey on earth?  Have they toiled in the hot sun, done laundry outdoors on a washboard, labored in the garden, changed diapers, mended clothing, assured a sick child, repaired equipment and seen moments of rejoicing at the direction of your journey?

Imagine if the photo would have shown the hands of Jesus; where have they been?  His worked with wood, changed water to wine, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, raised the dead and were nailed to the cross for you, me, the Haitian woman in the photo, your family and over 33,500 Trinity/HOPE kids.  Christ did it all for us.

When you next prepare to receive Holy Communion and are standing at the foot of the cross with the Body and Blood of our Savior take a long hard look at your hands, think about the hands in the photo and then think about how much His hands accomplished for you and how much you have accomplished for Him…we have so much yet to accomplish to further the Holy Gospel throughout this world.

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

Back in the day.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.”  Isaiah 55:1-2

I was recalling a small group that I took to Haiti in October 2010 and when our group were returning to the Hotel in Cap Haitian, one of the team members shared with me that at times, it seems like life here is much like it must have been shortly after the slave revolution in 1804; frozen in time.

If there were no gas-powered trucks, cars or motorcycles it might seem like you had gone through a time warp.  I remarked that we were seeing the more ‘urban’ part of Haiti.  If you spend more time up in the mountains away from populated areas the daily activities would even more resemble the early 19th century way of life.

The children in the attached photo are drawing water from the well near the school at Torbeck which is located about seven miles west of Les Cayes.  At the time of this photo, the school and church were also home of Pastor Lafayette and since this time a Church has been built and the Pastor has him home back.

Not many schools with Trinity/HOPE feeding programs have water wells on their property.  This well is not potable for drinking for you or me, but serves as their source for drinking, washing and bathing needs.  Hate to beat a dead chicken over a stump over and over again, but we sure take our comfy lives for granted…don’t we?

These students are at the top of their peers, a school, a feeding program, a well with a good rope and a risen Savior.  ‘They are truly delighting in the richest of fare.’  Some of these children may teach school here in ten years and perhaps one will be a Pastor and prayerfully each of them will bring another in their neighborhood into the Kingdom and away from the lies of the vodou priest.  Beni soit L’Eternal!

If you are interested in feeding children attending Christian schools in Haiti please check out www.trinityhope.org and click on ‘How can I help’ tab and pray that your life may be used to impact a life or lives in Haiti.

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

Hot lunch program?

“Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed.”  Martin Luther, 16th Century.

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”  Psalm 118:1

Did your school have a hot lunch program?  What are your memories of that noon meal?  I remember sitting down at the table and reciting the “Come” prayer together at St. John’s Lutheran in Seward, NE.  Our Lutheran school had smiling cooks who placed our food onto our partitioned plastic trays and then we picked up our cold milk bottles at the end of the line.  There were several children in my school that didn’t like their food to ‘touch’ one another, the green beans should not ‘touch’ the mashed potatoes; I was a ‘mixer’ and enjoyed the blending of the flavors.

We had five different items each day, always something different.  I don’t have any fond memories of the food that I liked, only the stuff that didn’t hit my taste buds with a pleasant note; canned spinach or peas always struck a sour note in the back of my throat.  They were always a magnet for my gag reflex because of their texture, not their flavor.

I don’t recall ever noticing kids in my school ever going to lunch “hungry” but rather it was just another activity of our day.  The majority of us had breakfast and would eat dinner when we got home and probably another something, before we went to bed.  Giving thanks for my lunch didn’t really seem that important, it was always there, just like all the other meals.

There are 24 plates of rice and beans on the serving table at Bois Marchand which is on the outskirts on the Northwestern edge of Gonaives.  These plates are ready to be served to one class of children who didn’t have breakfast and when they get home, there won’t be dinner waiting for them and nothing before they go to bed.

When these kids say their prayer before receiving this blessing, you can tell by looking at their faces that this is something that really is important to them.  They will eat every grain of rice and every single bean on their plate this day, tomorrow, next week and next month. 

Is there anything in your North American life that brings you to your knees to give thanks for these days?  Six dollars will feed the twenty-four children who received this blessing at their Lutheran school in Bois Marchand in March of 2010.  Six dollars won’t even get you into the door of a china buffet to eat food that you probably don’t need, but will provide each of these precious lives with the sustenance that they have been waiting for this day and every day.  The board of directors for Trinity/HOPE and the children of Bois Marchand thank you for your continued prayers and financial support.

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

Bright smiles.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:6-7

I can’t begin to count the number of times people have commented on the bright smiles on the faces of the children in the Trinity/HOPE photos.  The smiles are real and too bad you cannot hear their giggling, feel their hugs and fully embrace their appreciation for your gift that provides a pot of food outside their school every day.

Perhaps their hope is what we really can’t comprehend.  They have a new found hope in Jesus Christ that has conquered the neighborhood vodou priest on the cross and they know that they are saved.  They come to school hungry as they typically have little or nothing to eat for dinner or breakfast and when we take their photo sitting at their desk; they can smell the food and the smiles tell you that there is a special blessing waiting for them.

We have known Jesus for some time; some of us were baptized as infants and have walked with him all our lives and probably take way too much for granted.  We have food; in our cupboards, in our fridge, freezer, pantry, desk, nightstand, automobile and probably even something stashed in a coat pocket.  The wild birds and pesky squirrels in my immediate neighborhood eat better every day than the children in the attached photo attending school in Les Cayes.

It is hard to imagine how something so small from us can mean so much more to them.  Four dollars will feed these sixteen children in the Southwest corner of Haiti a meal of beans and rice for a day.  There are 464 children in their school that receives funding from an LWML Grant to Trinity/HOPE.  Our Triune God feeds His sheep through people like you in His world.  Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support.

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