What is your purpose?

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Romans 15:5-6

Do you know who you are, why you are here?  Have you found the purpose for your being?  Do you know where and when you do your best; your sweet spot?  These probably sound like simple questions but for some who are living in our fallen world that continue to wait for more delineated directions these are difficult questions.

All of my lineage came from Germanic lands and I don’t think that 200 years ago my ancestors envisioned me sitting here in Normal, IL, writing a devotion for you.  Beyond my great-great grandparents, their vocations are unknown to me; I didn’t know their ‘süße Stelle’ or ‘sweet spot’ in my native tongue.  In a century from now, my legacy too will have vanished, but prayerfully somewhere and some point along my journey another life will have met Jesus because of a word or action that the Holy Spirit inspired in me was shared with them.

So, do you know who you are?  The children in the attached photo attend Grace Lutheran School which is up in the mountains of the Les Cayes district.  Their ancestors came to Haiti on French slave ships in the mid 1700’s and they most likely practiced vodou and probably didn’t know that from their lineage would come missionaries who would share the story of the risen Savior of this world with the lost souls of Haiti.

Their purpose, your purpose and my purpose is to share the news that our loving Heavenly Father sent His Son into this world to live, suffer and die for us.   His blood washed away the sin that we have done.   The following lyrics are from a song that played recently on this laptop and it explains the meaning of our purpose so well.

“What can wash away my sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus; what can make me whole again?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  Oh! precious is the flow that makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus; for my cleansing this my plea, nothing but the blood of Jesus.  Nothing can for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus; naught of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus.  This is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus; this is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus.  Now by this I’ll overcome, nothing but the blood of Jesus; now by this I’ll reach my home, nothing but the blood of Jesus.  Glory! Glory! This I sing, nothing but the blood of Jesus.  All my praise for this I bring, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

Because of Him, we are saved, because of Him we have the joy of sharing the message of salvation with the lost souls of this world in America, Haiti, Mexico, Germany and to the ends of this planet.  Thank you for sharing of your gifts and prayers in the time you have been given.

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

Speaking stones.

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”  “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”  “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”  Luke 19:38-40

These are really interesting passages that tell our Savior’s response to the Pharisees about what would happen if He instructed His disciples to be silent.  There are a gazillion, multitude of stones in Haiti, they are everywhere, in streets, foot paths along the side of the highway, in the schoolyard and I recall back in the day when starting to clear my garden of them and gave up after half an hour and decided that my vegetable seeds would just be planted around them and not in straight rows.

If the stones of Haiti could talk, they would certainly have a lot to share about the chaos that has filled that country since its beginnings when God set this planet into motion.  They would scream out about how satan came into Haiti on the French slave ships and thrived in the vodou temples from the mid to late 1700’s until present time.  Haitian stones were used in the Palace of the President, in commercial buildings, ports, roads and Christian Churches and schools.  IF they would only speak.

The children in the attached photo attend the Lutheran school that is located in Ouanaminthe and their voices cry out “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Unlike the vast majority of their ancestor’s, they are free and not bound by French slave masters.  Unlike the vast majority of their ancestor’s, they are free from the chains of satan which are held by the local vodou priest.  Their voices are crying out to the lost souls along their journey, sharing the Gospel message.

I heard a song recently called ‘He is Here’ by Kirk Talley and some of the words strike a strong cord with the chaos that is presently taking place in Haiti.  Because of your support, these children in Christian schools in Haiti are speaking out.

“I sense an awesome Moving of the Holy Spirit, I see His countenance resting on each face.  I know that there are angels gathering all around us for the Presence of the Lord is in this place.  He is here Hallelujah; He is here Amen.  He is here Holy, Holy I will bless His Name again.  He is here, listen closely, hear Him calling out your name.  He is here you can touch Him.  You will never be the same.”

You can clearly see and even feel His presence in these children who attend school in Ouanaminthe and the other 246 Christian schools in Haiti where there is a pot full of Trinity HOPE food for hungry souls who will go out into their neighborhoods where souls are hungry for a Savior.

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

HE will save His people.

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

You are probably wondering why this Advent verse today.  It is really important to us to ponder this verse during Lent.  When the Angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph through a dream, telling him about the event that was going to dramatically change his life and also forever impact the residents of this planet; what must he thought?  His son Jesus will save God’s people from their sins.

Being saved, how important is that really?  I am sitting here today in a climate-controlled room with my fingers tapping on a laptop, not thinking too much about being saved.  At this present moment, even with the chaos in this world taking place, I feel physically safe.  But as I look at the word ‘salvation’, it is very clear that my sinful nature which has been with me from the beginning caused me to need a savior to rescue me.

The child in the attached photo attends the Lutheran school in Bois Marchand and he would tell you how important this verse in Matthew means to him.  “Se li menm ki pral delivre pèp li a anba peche l' yo” brings a smile to his face because he knows that Jesus will save his people from their sins.  Christ saves His people "from their sins."  Not the vodou priest who practices just down the road from his school; he only adds to the sins of this fallen world.

Thank you for blessing this child and his school in Bois Marchand with a meal every day and for helping to prepare him to go and share the Gospel message with those still living in fear and unaware that they have a Savior.  I close with the first two verses of the hymn ‘I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus’ that was written by Frances Havergal in 1874.

“I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, trusting only Thee; trusting Thee for full salvation, great and free.  I am trusting Thee for pardon; at Thy feet I bow, for Thy grace and tender mercy, trusting now.”

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

Lost souls; they're out there.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."  Luke 19:10 (ESV)

At this point in Lent, we are focusing on the last few weeks of the earthly life of Jesus Christ; His suffering, humiliation, scourging, beating, death and resurrection.  We are also reminded about why He came here for us, what His purpose on earth was and why we daily should turn to Him with thanksgiving for our gift of Eternal Life from His death on Calvary’s cross.

The attached photo is of a market near Fond Baptiste which is high on a mountain in the Arcahaie District.  Here people gather twice a week to hopefully sell a small pan of vegetables or fruit, or a handmade basket, or a dress or something that they have made or are able to trade something they have for something that they might be needing.

I don’t know how many people were there in this market but suffice to say there was a mass of humanity there and I can’t begin to tell you what the noise of their voices sounded like on that hot morning on the road to Fond Baptiste.  The man in the center of the photo, scratching his head with his right hand is Pastor Joseph Romulus, he was looking for ‘zaboka’ or an avocado.  Pastor Joseph is like you and me, a sinner.  The other people in the photo are also sinners.  At that point in time, close to 65% of the people living in Haiti practiced vodou, they are sinners who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Our Lord Jesus sent Pastor Joseph, you, me and over 52,000 Haitian children attending Christian schools in Haiti to take the Gospel message to the lost still practicing vodou in Haiti.  They either have not heard the truth or still believe the lies of the vodou priest, that Christ did not rise from the dead and satan won the victory.  Seek and save the lost.  I heard a Lenten hymn recently, “Jesus, Your Blood and Righteousness” by Nicolaus L. von Zinzendorf and it is one of my favorites and always reminds me why Christ came and then the Holy Spirit moves me follow the direction Christ gave us, to seek and save the lost.

“Jesus, your blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress; mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head.  Bold shall I stand in that great day, cleansed and redeemed, no debt to pay; for by your cross absolved I am, from sin and guilt, from fear and shame.  Lord, I believe your precious blood, which at the mercy seat of God; pleads for the captives’ liberty, was also shed in love for me.  Lord, I believe, were sinners more than sands upon the ocean shore, You have for all a ransom paid, for all a full atonement made.  When from the dust of death I rise to claim my mansion in the skies, this then shall be my only plea: Christ Jesus lived and died for me.  Then shall I praise you and adore Your blessed name forevermore, Who once, for me and all you made, an everlasting ransom paid.”

Thank you for blessing the lives of the children in Trinity HOPE programs with your prayers and financial gifts that daily uplift them as they go out into their world and seek and save the lost.

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

Make their day.

(Jesus said) "But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  Matthew 6:33

I hope that you have had an opportunity to show somebody a random act of kindness and heard them utter the words “You will never know how much this means to me”.  Perhaps the words didn’t leave their lips but you could just see the reflection of them in their eyes or feel them in the warm hug that they gave you.  It is a warm fuzzy moment…it is a God moment.

I’ve been blessed to see doctors in Haiti receive those words through a translator, teachers receive that hug and a nurse receive that through two sets of eyes and a pair of smiles.  It is a moment when our Heavenly Father is smiling at what has taken place.  He told us ‘you don’t know how much you mean to me’ when He sent His Son to the cross. 

There have been many faces in Haiti captured on film that seem to say ‘thank you, you will never know how much this means to me.’  The attached photo of a school girl at Bon Berger in Caredeux seems to be telling Lori Wolfe-Beerenstrach who took the photo, that very phrase as the lens opened on a hot Haitian day as school was getting out.

It is too bad that I could not attach a photo from every one of the schools that have Trinity HOPE feeding programs so you could see over 52.000 children saying “you will never know how much this food means to me.”  We also need to say to God every day, “You will never know how much it means to me that You gave Your only on to die for my sins.”  That random act of our Heavenly Father’s kindness, grace is immeasurable and unthinkable by human standards.

Thank you for continuing to ‘make their day’ by supporting Trinity HOPE and preparing those children in Haiti to do His work, spreading the Holy Gospel to the lost in their neighborhoods.

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

What would you want?

“From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  2 Timothy 3:15

Ask a North American mother what qualities she hopes her child will have when they are grown and many will list attributes like independence, free-thinking, individualism, leadership and somebody who doesn't go along with the crowd.  Ask a Haitian mother the same question and you will probably get a different answer.  Many Haitian moms will say they would hope that their child would get an education, a job and have a better life than they have had.

If you have ever been to Haiti and have been in their homes, you would have witnessed them preparing meals or tending to their small gardens and you would understand those differences.  If you have visited life in rural Haiti, you can see firsthand what life might have been like here in the mid to late 1800’s as time seems to have stood still.  The rest of the industrial world has not visited the small hamlets except for the gasoline powered vehicle.

Haitian people are for the most part very patient and orderly as they stand in line waiting for the arrival of the local taptap; wait in line hoping for a day of work, waiting to get some water or food.  What do you want for your child?  A better life than what I have endured.  That is what the parent living in Ouanaminthe wants for their son attending the Lutheran school in the attached photo. 

Christians want their children to grow up knowing and walking with Jesus.  One of the greatest needs of the Haitian parent is to realize how important it is for their child to know Jesus as many of them only rely upon the vodou priest and bring up their children without faith in the Savior.  Perhaps ninety percent of the schools in Haiti are Christian schools and the next generation in Haiti will have a closer relationship with their Savior.  At the present time, there are over 52,000 children attending 247 Christian schools in Haiti who are learning about their Savior and receiving a meal from Trinity HOPE.  Thank you for helping the parents in Haiti to make a better life for their child, and also for answering the call of our Savior to seek and save the lost.

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

Getting back up.

“In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves.  And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!"  And the fig tree withered at once.  When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?"  And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen.  And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."  Matthew 21:18-22

I read these passages in a Lenten devotion recently and they were a wonderful reminder for me, encouraging and also causing me to look at my life’s journey in ways that I had not really thought about before.  This passage grabbed me by the throat, had read it before but like most of Scripture, the more you read it the it more opens up to your life.

I don’t know where your journey has taken you, but mine certainly has had its ups and downs and there have been many occasions when I have stumbled and fallen hard, only to find Him there ready to pick me up and set me back upon my feet.  That is a God thing; taking the least of this world and setting it back upright to try again at doing His work.  What are your thoughts when you read about the fig tree that produced leaves but no fruit?  Where has your journey led you?  The attached photo was taken back in the day at Bon Berger in Caredeux as John Hall and I were delivering a big load of beans from Morrill, NE and rice and oil to Good Shepherd Lutheran school.  On this day my white Mitsubishi truck had ‘power steering’ as the front wheels barely touched the road and the rear springs seemed to be fully compressed as we drove down the bumpy streets through Port-au-Prince on a hot afternoon.

Many children were fed from this food.  I am so thankful that so many of you have followed the call of the Holy Spirit to go into the mission fields of this planet and assist with the harvest.  Thank you for sharing of your time, talents and prayers with the children, His children living in Haiti who are being fed Spiritually and nutritionally in 247 Christian schools 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

Ain't God good?

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to end.”  Ecclesiastes 3:11

I cannot begin to count the number of times the phrase “the children are so beautiful” is spoken following a Trinity HOPE presentation.  It is always brought up by somebody and the attached photo taken of a girl in Caredeux probably brings you to think of that at this moment.

God has made everything beautiful in its time, and as John Hall used to say quite frequently…and famously within the ranks of volunteers with Trinity HOPE, “ain’t God good?”  If you have spent any time in Haiti, seeing the children and where they live gives you a different perspective of the verse from Ecclesiastes.  The home they live in is typically the size of a single stall North American garage.  If the parents have money from a job or support from a family member living in the U.S., their house may then be the size of a double stall garage.

No electricity, no indoor plumbing, no kitchen cupboards, appliances, indoor flushing toilet, sink, screen or glass in the windows; their living conditions are primitive.  The homes that I visited outside of Port-au-Prince in the rural areas typically had one dresser in the family bedroom and that held every family member’s earthly possession.  The girl in the photo doesn’t know what it is like to live on your paved street or what you come home to at the end of your day.  She just doesn’t understand and neither can we living in North America comprehend what their living conditions are like.

Our Heavenly Father is still in control, from the beginning to the end and we just don’t and can’t understand why that girl is smiling.  A few decades ago Ray Stevens had a song out called ‘Everything is beautiful’ and that song has made it into my mind on many occasions while living in Haiti. 

“Jesus loves the little children, all the little children of the world.  Red and yellow, black and white they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world. Everything is beautiful in its' own way.  Like a starry summer night or a snow covered winter's day.  Everybody's beautiful In their own way under God's heaven the world's gonna find a way.  There is none so blind that is he who will not see.  We must not close our minds, we must let our thought be free.  For every hour that passes by you know the world gets a little bit older.  It's time to realize that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.  We shouldn't care about the length of his hair or the color of his skin.  Don't worry about what shows from without but the love that lives within.  We're gonna get it all together now everything gonna work out fine.  Just take a little time to look on the good side my friend and straighten it out in your mind.”

Great song, hope that you have heard it and you will be humming it during the day today and tomorrow.  It seems that too many North American folks can’t understand why people living in poverty in other countries can possibly be happy and we then try to make North Americans out of them, giving them money, money, money and making their lives miserable.

Thank you for supporting Trinity HOPE.  We are really quite simple; we feed children attending Christian schools, one bowl of rice and beans at a time.  We are sensitive to how much they need to keep them healthy as they go about doing His work.  We feed His children a bowl of rice and beans every day, that’s nothing fancy; just preparing them to do as we do, take the Gospel message to the lost.

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

Who do vodou?

“But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.  “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways,” Psalm 81:11-13

When you were a child, were there times when you were receiving directions on how to do things correctly or at least better than how you were doing them?  You listened and then when left alone you returned to doing them ‘your’ way?  Perhaps I am the only one to have done that, but reading through scripture it seems that I am in good company.

Stubborn; there are five definitions to this word in my online dictionary.  (1) Unreasonably obstinate; obstinately unmoving: a stubborn child.  (2) Fixed or set in purpose or opinion; resolute: a stubborn opponent of foreign aid.  (3) Obstinately maintained, as a course of action: a stubborn resistance.  (4) Difficult to manage or suppress: a stubborn horse; a stubborn pain.  (5) Hard, tough, or stiff, as stone or wood; difficult to shape or work.  The Haitian word for stubborn is “tet di.”

When you drive into small villages in Haiti, the houses with the tall flagpole that is adorned with their multi-colored banners are owned by a stubborn person whose eyes, ears, mind, heart and body are owned by the devil.  Their stubbornness continues to separate them from the love of Christ.  They continue to reject the Holy Spirit.

Our Triune God continues to reach out to them through the lives of young Haitian missionaries who you are helping to support.  The Holy Spirit continues to nudge those lives trapped in the lies of the vodou priest to turn into the Light and accept the Savior of this world.  I close today with the words to the hymn ‘Just as I am’ which was written by Charlotte Elliott in 1836.

“Just as I am, without one plea but that Thy blood was shed for me and that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.  Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.  Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.  Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; sight, riches, healing of the mind, yea, all I need, in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.  Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.  Just as I am; Thy love unknown has broken every barrier down. now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

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

Look at your hands.

“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 I was 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 for them to hear God’s word from a North American from time to time as my life’s journey had been down 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, consider where they had been, what ‘they’ had done with them and how God had used them.

Have you ever looked at your hands, I mean really looked at your hands?  You are probably sitting at a keyboard in a climate controlled house, but please 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 as 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 month, 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 these 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. 

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