I will never leave you.

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

This past week, I read an article about the ‘Orphan trains’ that took orphan children to the west during 1880’s through the 1920’s and it was interesting to learn about their plight during that period of time here in the U.S.  And today, you can’t help but notice stories about the children becoming orphans in Ukraine.

Back in the day, Pastor Revenel Benoit in Gonaives had the first Lutheran orphanage in Haiti that I had heard of when I moved there 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.  With assistance from the Haiti Lutheran Mission Society in Canada, the local Lutheran Church in Gonaives took care of them, fed them, educated them, provided them with a trade and brought them up knowing about and serving 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 for his evil vocation.

The attached photo is of a young boy left 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.  In our world, this young child was abandoned, soon to be forgotten, a young life left to the world.  This abandoned 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.

The disciples 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 does country of Haiti 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.

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

Seeking the lost.

“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 from the roof of my apartment in Petionville and on Saturday’s when I would go out and hang my laundry on the clothesline; this was my view to the West.  I often would stand and try to count the homes and try to estimate how many people lived in that neighborhood on the side of the mountain.

As far as I knew, at that particular point in time, close to eighty percent of the people living on the side of that hill practiced vodou 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 many 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 over 6,500 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.

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 thought to be either dead or dying, “don’t be afraid, just believe” were difficult to follow.  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, be fearful and despair.

I read a snippet of wisdom written by Melody Beattie recently and thought it was go well with my thoughts for today.  “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into
acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Back in the day while living and traveling throughout Haiti, I was very grateful for the Haitian Pastor in my truck, who knew where we were going.

The road to the church and school at St. Raphael in the Cap Haitian area can be frustrating, much like the road to many of the rural congregations in Haiti.  There are no road signs or road maps there that we are accustomed to using in North America.  Don’t be afraid, go where the Pastor tells you and be thankful. 

The attached photo shows the ‘road’ sign alerting you to the Lutheran Church and school at St. Raphael.  There are 139 children attending school here and they enjoy their noon lunch provided by Clyde and Carolyn Schroeder from Gallatin, TN which is a suburb in the Nashville, TN area.

When traveling to congregations in remote, rural areas of Haiti, listening to the Pastor decide if way should turn left or right at the ‘Y’ in the road brought me a sense of being stranded in the middle of nowhere…often.  “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

Those words of encouragement always held true, as we always reached our destination.  The 139 children attending 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 a donor to bring the gift of food to their school.

If you are facing times of high hurdles, 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 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.”

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

Sharing the truth.

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:32

Sharing the truth to the lost is a precious and essential message for them, and also for our Triune God.  The lies of the vodou priest have for two centuries told the people of Haiti that Jesus Christ died on Good Friday and was buried and that was the end of him.  There was no resurrection and there will be no mansion in Heaven and God does not love those who still cling to the lies in the bible.

If the lost souls in Haiti cannot hear the truth, they have only a lie to believe as the truth of this world and that provides them with no hope, only fear.  I heard a song recently by Bill and Gloria Gaither called ‘Passin the faith’ and its words seem to reinforce what our purpose in life is in this world.

“The runner of a relay, finds in his baton the purpose for the runnin' and the strength to carry on.  We hold within our grasp, the faith that makes us strong and like the relay runner, we seek to pass it on.  Passin' the faith along to my brother, passin' the faith along.  Helpin' to build the faith of another, passin' the faith along.  Sharin' a word of faith with another, helpin' to make him strong.   Passin' the faith along to my brother, passin' the faith along.  Countless generations of saints have come and gone.  A spark ignites into a flame, and the faith continues on.  A challenge for the young, and assurance for the old.  The faith burns ever brighter, each time my story's told.  Passin' the faith along to my brother, passin' the faith along.  Helpin' to build the faith of another, passin' the faith along.  Sharin' a word of faith with another, helpin' to make him strong.  Passin' the faith along to my brother, passin' the faith along.”

These 198 young messengers are being prepared to pass their faith along to their brothers and sisters who are still in bondage to the neighborhood vodou priest and living in and believing the lies of satan. 

Thank you for helping to share the message of the truth of Jesus with the young messengers being fed by Trinity HOPE and living in Haiti, through your time, financial gifts and your prayers.  May your labors in North America bring many more living in Haiti into the Kingdom before your race comes to a close.

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

Travel in Haiti.

“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

I came across this photo of the beautiful boat in Haiti and it brings back so many wonderful memories.  Thinking back, 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 while observing the condition of the roads, water crossings and lack of traffic regulations.

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

Modes of transportation included driving through rivers, wading through rivers, walking for hours to visit small rural congregations on dirt pathways, riding an old horse, a small airplane and even a boat.  The attached photo was possibly taken in early 2002 and the man to my left is Pastor Israel Isidor, at that time the President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti.

His earthly work ended over a decade ago and his legend in Haiti is still talked about by those of us who remember him and miss his bright, strong energetic witness and infectious laugh.  On the day 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 up the West coast to Tiburon.  There Pastor Isidor told me we would either spend an hour in a boat or walk for four hours to reach Careasse, a congregation that he didn’t get to visit very often.  The answer seemed obvious; rent the boat.  The first boat shown me was a wooden Haitian boat that appeared to have been constructed by the French in 1800; my cost was $200 Haitian dollars for the voyage for the two of us.  I am 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 larger 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.  After an hour on the Caribbean, we arrived on the shore and then 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.  It seemed like a journey worthy of a National Geographic story.  There were probably a 100 people following us by the time we reached the Church.  Pastor Isidor encouraged the small, rural congregation for their work, sang a few hymns and we prayed.  Then we took the boat back and returned to Les Cayes later that night, after a prayer service in Torbeck along the way.

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.

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

Wisdom and trust.

“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 some projects that improved what was already in place, widening the roadway, adding driveways, improving drainage and guardrail but the most enjoyable projects for me were the ones that involved a new horizontal and vertical alignments.

My sweet spot 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.  There was a degree of wisdom involved that came from the way God wired me long ago.

I read a snippet of wisdom recently that needs to be passed on.  Wisdom, age 60 might be the new 40 but 9 PM is the new midnight; the older I get, the earlier it gets late.  I finally got 8 hours of sleep; it took me 3 days.  When someone asks what I did last weekend, I say ‘nothing’, what did you hear?  And finally, I don’t mean to interrupt people; I just remember something and get excited and blurt it out.  Monday morning wisdom.

We live in a fast-paced culture and have be programmed 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 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 is 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’s wisdom, 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.

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

Saturday morning.

“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

Saturday morning; what comes to your mind when the weekend arrives?  IT is cold here this morning…stay in bed.  Our thoughts may turn to time spent doing things with family, chores around your property, perhaps shopping and of course preparing for Church on Sunday.  Back in the day, I fondly remember making a special labor-intensive breakfast for my daughters on the weekend as the time never permitted 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, much 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?  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.  I honestly didn’t intend for this to turn into a 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 Trinity HOPE schools; you can tell by their 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.

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

One lost soul.

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

God gave us the 10 Commandments to bring order to the way His people should live in this fallen world; they were applicable centuries ago and are still right for 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 Russia, Ukraine, for Haiti and for the world…God’s world.

From what I know of the man in the photo, 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 in 2010.  If he did not, chances are he is not in heaven today, judging by his outward appearance.

What is his purpose in life?  He makes a living by selling fear and eagerly 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 next door 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, and there are hundreds more like him 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 52,000 precious children in Trinity HOPE feeding programs throughout 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

Two teachers.

“As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me.  Night is coming, when no one can work.”   John 9:4

Trinity HOPE school feeding programs are all about school children; they are the future missionaries in Haiti.  Their Christian witness in Haitian Creole is far superior to anything that a blan North American could say or do in their neighborhoods; ‘go and make disciples’ pertains the work that we are called to do and they are called to do.  Most of the time you see the photos of the children studying, eating, playing and smiling and there are a core of individuals whose importance sometimes get left in the background. 

In the attached photo are two teachers at Bon Berger Lutheran School in Caredeux.  The woman on the right is one of my favorite teachers, Sylvia, who happens to be Pastor Thomas Bernard’s sister and I was delighted to see her in March 2010 and know that she and her family survived the quake.

While traveling throughout Haiti visiting schools it was interesting to find that many of the teachers returned to the small schools where they had attended as children to become teachers and principals after they received their teaching certificates.  Their journey certainly provided hope to the students who sit in the class wondering about their future.  They will prayerfully share the news of our risen Savior with the lost and perhaps return to their roots and also share their lessons of life with the next generation.

Teachers; my mom was a school teacher in Seward County before she became a farm wife and raised my sister and me, teaching us life’s lessons.  When North American teachers go to Haiti on a mission team with me, it is always a comfort to have them along as they interact with the children so much better than I do.  They share the love of Christ through songs and crafts and that leaves time for me to do the mundane tasks, checklists and interviewing the children.

I never thought about interviewing the teachers in the same manner as the children are asked about their eating habits away from school, but hope to do that the next time I return to Haiti.  Looking at the smiles on the teachers faces, it would seem that they could be your next-door neighbor but their lives are much different.  They too eat a Trinity HOPE lunch and are probably just as thankful as the children at their school to have a meal every day they are in school.

Thank you for your continued support of these programs.  When you pray for the children attending Christian schools in Haiti, please remember to add the dedicated teachers and principals as well to your daily petitions as they are an integral part of His divine work in the lives of the children 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

Our daily bread.

“Give us each day our daily bread.“ Luke 11:3

There was an article in the Lincoln Journal a few months ago about school feeding programs in the Lincoln Public Schools and how they might be changing to meatless Friday and would be serving plant-based food instead.  This is something “new” that has been started in New York recently.  My humble response; ewww.

I did a little searching and found there had been an interview with a school in New York and here are a few of the comments.  There, students lugged blue trays full of the meatless Friday changes: breaded chicken teriyaki on brown rice; barbecue beef sandwiches on whole wheat buns.  There were green beans and applesauce, lettuce and orange slices, low-fat milk and reactions to this plant-based meat meal varied.  One fourth grader commented “Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad" and another child commented while picking at the chicken teriyaki on his tray "terrible," while yet another classmate was momentarily horrified when he thought he saw mushrooms.  Another fourth grader is not a fan of the whole wheat buns, which ended up in the trash untouched along with the plant-based meat and a few seats down the bench a boy had eaten every bite of his sandwich along with ranch-drenched lettuce. 

North America; we take so much for granted; our children don’t understand how truly blessed they are to have a blue tray of food on their table at school with a large variety of food, every day.

This bowl of rice and beans is the choice of the day, most every day at schools that have Trinity HOPE feeding programs.  It reminds me of the children of Israel receiving manna from Heaven each day while wandering through the desert.  While the Israelites grumbled after having to eat manna again and again, the kids in Trinity HOPE feeding programs love the food that their cooks make each day.  Thank you for helping to make this possible for over 52,000 children attending Christian schools in Haiti; your support is making a huge difference in their lives.  I close with the words to the hymn ‘Our Heavenly Father, hear’ which was written by James Montgomery in 1835.

“Our heav'nly Father, hear the prayer we offer now.  Thy name be hallowed far and near; to Thee all nations bow.  Thy kingdom come; Thy will on earth be done in love as saints and seraphim fulfill Thy holy will above.  Our daily bread supply while by Thy word we live.  The guilt of our iniquity forgive as we forgive.  From dark temptation's power, from Satan's wiles, defend.  Deliver in the evil hour and guide us to the end.  Thine shall forever be glory and power divine; the scepter, throne, and majesty of heaven and earth are Thine.”

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