A cornerstone.

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious.”  1 Peter 2:4 (ESV)

If you were to make a visit to a preaching station or church and school in a rural area of Haiti and share a message with them about a cornerstone; your message would probably not be very clear or relevant to their culture.  Many of the structures that you would visit would be made from branches, palm leaves and bamboo or wood poles and if the structure was really nice it would have a corrugated metal roof.  A cornerstone is a very precious stone to a stone cutter; it is the solid piece that the remainder of the structure is built upon.

The attached photo is of a church and school in a small town several hours west of Les Cayes and is located about a hundred feet from the shore of the Caribbean.  I seem to think that this school is located in Chamblain but with the passage of time, I could be wrong…God knows where this school is located.  When I first saw it the first words to come into my mind were ‘maintenance nightmare’.  I wouldn’t want to serve on the board of trustees.  When showing this photo to groups in North America, people just don’t want to believe that this is a school; some people hear voices, some see invisible people and others have no imagination whatsoever.  God can use the simplest of things to accomplish the greatest feats imaginable.

The truth here is that Christ is the cornerstone of this Church and School in Haiti.  The children attending this school will be the missionaries who take the news of their risen Savior to the lost souls living in their neighborhoods.  The Lutheran hymn “Christ is our Cornerstone” was written by John Darwall in 1837 and its message still holds true today. 

“Christ is our cornerstone, on him alone we build; with his true saints alone the courts of heaven are filled.  On his great love our hopes we place of present grace and joys above.  Oh, then, with hymns of praise these hallowed courts shall ring; our voices we will raise the Three in One to sing.  And thus proclaim in joyful song, both loud and long that glorious name.  Here, gracious God, do now and evermore draw near; accept each faithful vow, and every suppliant hear.  In copious shower, on all who pray each holy day Your blessing pour.  Here may we gain from heaven the grace which we implore, and may that grace, once given, be with us evermore.  Until that day when all the blest to endless rest are called away.”

Thank you for your continued support of Christian education throughout this fallen world, as His children go about fulfilling His Good and Perfect purpose and walk with their 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

The shipwreck.

“My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.  When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.” Isaiah 26:9

Following a recent shipwreck, there was a story about a lone survivor of such a calamity that flashed back into my cluttered memory.  The story told about the only survivor of a shipwreck who was washed up on a small, uninhabited island.  He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him.  Every passing day he scanned the horizon for help, but nothing seemed to be coming for his rescue.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood and palm branches to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions that he was able to gather before being plunged into the ocean.  One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke billowing up to the sky in a long column on that still day.  He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost.  He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger and he cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?'
Early the next day, he was awakened from his bed of sand by the sound of a ship approaching the island!  It had come to rescue him!  ‘How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his rescuers. 'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied.  Go figure.  These children from Thomassique had been praying and bringing wood to use to cook food at their school for many months and God answered their prayers.  Trinity HOPE donors saw their smoke signal and the children shout “Beni Soit L’Eternal!” as they saw you coming.

If there is a moral to this story it would be that it is so easy to get discouraged when things are going bad and all seems lost, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering.  Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground that it just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.  I close today with the words from the hymn ‘Jesus, Savior, Come to Me’ that was written by Johann Scheffler in 1657.

“Jesus, Savior, come to me; let me ever be with Thee, come and nevermore depart, Thou who reignest in my heart.  Lord, for Thee I ever sigh, nothing else can satisfy.  Ever do I cry to Thee: Jesus, Jesus, come to Me!  Earthly joys can give no peace, cannot bid my longing cease; still to have my Jesus near, this is all my pleasure here.  All that makes the angels glad, in their garb of glory clad, only fills me with distress if Thy presence does not bless.  Thou alone, my God and Lord, art my Glory and Reward.  Thou hast bled for me and died; in Thy wounds I safely hide.  Come, then, Lamb for sinners slain, come and ease me of my pain.  Evermore I cry to Thee: Jesus, Jesus, come to me!  Patiently I wait Thy Day; for this gift, O Lord, I pray, that, when death shall come to me, my dear Jesus Thou wilt be”

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

Where do you go to church?

(Jesus said) "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  Matthew 7:12 (NASB)

Where do you go to Church?  Are there comfy pads in the pews?  Are there large stained glass windows?  Do you worship in climate controlled comfort?  Is there a large pipe organ in your church and do your choir members wear robes?  What does God’s House look like where you go to worship on Sunday morning?  Are there other activities that take place there during the remainder of the week…or is He only there on Sunday?

The attached photo was taken in the Plateau Central of Haiti, probably twenty minutes, or fifteen miles south of Thomassique and forty-five minutes from where I had to park my truck because we could not drive it any further as the road was impossibly impassable.  This is God’s House, made out of branches with a few wood boards on a branch for pews and probably about the size of a double stall North American garage with a six-foot ceiling; I was unable to stand upright when inside.

I heard a Gospel song recently that made me think about this photo, about my time in His House.  It was written by Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (22 February 1805 – 14 August 1848).

“Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!  E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me, still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.  Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down, darkness be over me, my rest a stone; yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God, to Thee.  There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n; All that Thou sendest me, in mercy giv’n; Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.  Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise, out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise; So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.  Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky, sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly.  Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.  There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest, there in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest; age after age to be nearer, my God, to Thee.”

There have been North American mission teams coming to Haiti to build concrete block churches with reinforcing steel, steel doors, glass windows, generators for electricity and varnished wood pews and white painted walls.  Simple truth; the buildings aren’t really that important, Haiti needs Jesus.  He is in this small wooden structure that was built by Haitian hands.  God is there smiling upon His children giving Him thanks for their providence and His Son Jesus Christ.  He doesn’t care that they worship in a stick building, He is just happy that they are there. 

Trinity HOPE provides resources to Christian schools in Haiti so they can purchase food in Haiti, cook it the Haitian way and help to prepare their children draw nearer to Jesus and go out into their neighborhoods and share the love of their risen Savior with the ears that have not heard.  God smiles upon His children, eating their rice and beans, singing praises to Him and sharing the news of His Son Jesus Christ throughout 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

A rerun?

“And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  Matthew 28:18-20

A hour and thirty minutes south and east of Miami, FL is the Republic of Haiti; just a short swim east of Cuba.  After you leave the airport and drive through the roundabout and start to head out of Port-au-Prince your vehicle will pass by numerous goats and pigs who are rummaging through piles of garbage that have been heaped on street corners and burned.  If you travel up Mont Cabrit (Goat Mountain) to the north you will pass through a number of small rural villages that will cause you to think that the year is 1900.

It is amazing that only two hours separate you from traveling on a ten-lane freeway in Florida to traveling on 10-foot wide dirt trail.  North Americans come to Haiti to ‘improve’ their way of living by bringing electricity, Internet and machines to do their work for their brothers and sisters in Haiti.  What our brothers in Haiti and us really need, is Jesus.  Pass by a number of vodou temples adorned with various colored flags and you will understand that first, before all of the ‘improvements’, they need Jesus.

Yes, the attached photo is a rerun.  Too good not to share again.  One of my favorite photos that I took in Haiti doesn’t need a lot of explanation.  It was taken in a small rural church about two hours from the climb up Mont Cabrit in the Plateau Central between Hinche and Thomassique.  It was a Saturday morning in 2002 and there had been a wedding there and following the ceremony the Pastor was talking to some of the family and placed his Bib la (Bible) down on the pew as he talked and shook hands.  The Word became flesh.  A Bible resting upon a board in a small church in rural Haiti is a powerful message; we cannot begin to fathom how strong the Word of God is in a land still dedicated to satan.

Haiti needs Jesus Christ.  Our fallen world needs Jesus.  We have the Great Commission from our Lord Jesus instructing each of us to “go and make disciples of all nations”.  Trinity HOPE, we are not going to preach the Gospel; we are helping them by preparing their children for the task at hand.  They don’t need electric lights and computers for their schools, they need food…they need Jesus.  It is that simple; they need Jesus.

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

Special memory.

“He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”  Mark 16:15-16.

During Lent, there are many parallels between Baptism and the Empty tomb; wooden manger to the cross.  The attached photo was taken in Les Cayes, Haiti in the fall of 2002.  Pastor Israel Isidor was baptizing the first group of orphan girls who would occupy the Lutheran orphanage there.

On that day, these sisters in Christ received the blessing of Eternal life through the waters of Baptism and will one day be with their Savior whose blood was shed for them on the Cross of Calvary.  We Lutheran’s in North America have a wonderful hymn titled “Come to Calvary’s holy mountain” which was written by James Montgomery in 1819; just a couple of decades after Haiti gained its independence from the French.  The words are relevant for these Haitian girls and for us today.

“Come to Calvary’s holy mountain, sinners, ruined by the fall; here a pure and healing fountain flows to you, to me, to all, in a full, perpetual tide, opened when our Savior died.  Come in poverty and meanness, come defiled, without, within; from infection and uncleanness, from the leprosy of sin, wash your robes and make them white; ye shall walk with God in light.  Come in sorrow and contrition, wounded, impotent, and blind; here the guilty free remission, here the troubled peace, may find.  Health this fountain will restore; he that drinks shall thirst no more. He that drinks shall live forever; tis a soul renewing flood.  God is faithful; God will never break His covenant of blood; signed when our Redeemer died, sealed when He was glorified.” 

Pastor Isidor is celebrating with Jesus Christ today as he enjoys his eternal home.  The orphans in Les Cayes are enjoying a Trinity HOPE meal every day they are in school; drawing closer to Christ.  You and I continue to do what we can do to go and make disciples throughout this entire world, bringing Christ to the lost in our country and 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

Serving.

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?  Or am I trying to please man?  If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”  Galatians 1:10

Serving; we are to become servants like the Son of God was a servant to this world.  That is hard to do, especially when we have been elevated to a higher rung by the standards of this world.  Washed anybody’s feet recently?

What am I doing here?  What are you doing here?  A Lutheran Hour devotion recently advised that other people are here so that we might have somebody to serve.  The five girls in the attached photo have received their noon meal at Bon Berger in Caredeux, Haiti.  The tab for serving them was $1.25 on this particular hot day.  God provided somebody in North America with an opportunity to serve them, so that they in turn might serve others by sharing the message of Hope with others in their neighborhood.  A small gift has made a really BIG difference in their lives.

There are many twists and turns along the paths of our journey through this life, and there was a fork in my road and the turn to go to Haiti seemed like it was God pleasing and that is where I went.  He used my simple gifts to do His work, just as He will use a simple meal in the lives of the children in Haiti along with the Word to change lives in Haiti and bring the lost to Jesus Christ.  How many forks are in your road?  Are you looking for an opportunity serve Him, and not this world?  Please check out the website located at www.trinityhope.org and learn more about the blessings that our Heavenly Father is doing through donors such as yourself.

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

Did they know?

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Revelation 21:4

Going through some photos that I had taken in Haiti years ago and came across the attached photo of a large cemetery high along a rural mountain road on the way to Font Baptiste in the Arcahaie District and I thought that this would be a good time to share it with you and why it grabs at my memory bank.

When you visit a cemetery in North America with family members and place flowers on the grave of a family member or friend and then spend some time reflecting on memories that you had with them, how often do you stop and thank Jesus for saving them and you?  If you are like me, that may not cross your mind.  This cemetery on the hillside in Haiti probably has graves over 200 years old filled with the bones of several generations, and sadly, most of the souls that were brought here didn’t know Jesus but lived in fear of the vodou priest; they probably won’t be in Heaven.  When I would see a cemetery in Haiti the question “did they know?” came up quite frequently.

A gospel song found its way onto my computer yesterday that provided a message about never growing old; in Heaven we will never grow old.  The words were written by James C. Moore in 1914 and they are still relevant today.

“I have heard of a land on the faraway strand, ’tis a beautiful home of the soul; built by Jesus on high, where we never shall die, ’tis a land where we never grow old.  Never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we’ll never grow old; never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we’ll never grow old.  In that beautiful home where we’ll never more roam, we shall be in the sweet by and by; happy praise to the King through eternity sing, ’tis a land where we never shall die.  When our work here is done and the life-crown is won, and our troubles and trials are o’er; all our sorrow will end, and our voices will blend, with the loved ones who’ve gone on before.”

When my journey in Haiti would pass by cemeteries or funeral processions the same thought came into our conversation, “suppose they had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?”  Had anybody told them about the Hope that came to us from the empty cross and tomb where our Savior broke the chains of death, satan and the vodou priest?

Christian education is so very important in Haiti, and Trinity HOPE feeding programs are so very important to the young missionaries who need to grow spiritually and physically as they prepare to take the saving message of Christ to the ears that have not heard and lives that have not accepted Christ.  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, during this season of Lent keep your eyes focused upon that cross of Calvary, remember Who was there for you, why He was there and why all this world needs to turn to Him. 

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 too critical.

(Jesus said) "DO NOT judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves." Matthew 7:1 (Amplified Bible)

A wonderful tool that the Internet has is giving you the ability to search Scripture with many different versions of the Holy Bible.  I have never read the Amplified Bible version, but it provided a few more words to think about when reading Matthew 7:1.

There have been a few times when I’ve been criticized for helping children in Haiti; some think that it is just wasting money.  Some synodical purists have chastised me because Trinity HOPE programs feed children in schools which are predominantly Lutheran, but also has programs in a few other Christian denominations.  There are also those who consider Trinity HOPE not doing enough as they are not paying teacher salaries, building schools and purchasing vehicles for principals, school busses and generators and are also in the well digging business.

Over the past two decades, Trinity HOPE has a very simple and successful approach to helping Christian schools prepare young children to become missionaries; we provide them with a daily nutritional meal.  Not a snack of North American peanut butter and crackers, sticky suckers or candy bars that some Mission teams have brought.  We provide them with a hot meal of rice and beans, the National food of Haiti.  It is that simple, we feed children; His children.

If you sell fried chicken, don’t add pizza to your menu.  If you drive a GMC truck, don’t put Dodge mud flaps on the back end.  Do the very best with the very best gifts that He has given you.  Kelly Downing is a friend of mine from Saunders County who shared an analogy of comparing a ministry to the Platte River that flows west to east through Nebraska.  A mile wide and a foot deep in the springtime; Kelly remarked that a ministry going in too many different directions is like the Platte River, no substance, a mile wide and shallow.

God gives each of us a direction and the means to serve Him in this lifetime.  These children attend a Christian school in the Jacmel district.  They are thankful for the education, food and the fact that they have a Savior and no longer fear the vodou priest.

Don’t criticize what your brother is doing if he is using God’s provisions in a healthy way and not wasting those gifts or using them for self-serving gain and pride.  Not sure why people criticize, but at least they are not killing; just complaining, blaming and pointing a finger at what didn’t happen to be their idea or direction.  I suppose that we all do that from time to time.  I read a quote recently that was attributed to a famous trial lawyer, Clarence Darrow, who once said, “Everyone is a potential murderer."  About himself, he admitted, "I have not killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction out of obituary notices."  We are all critical; please just take a hard look at your problems before finding fault with others.

Thankfully God is not like many in this sinful world, and doesn’t complain about how Trinity HOPE is feeding HIS children; He continues to bless the program and bring more and more children into the schools so they can share the saving message of His Son to the lives in Haiti that are still chained to the vodou priest.

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

Bring the message.

“And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'  He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"  Luke 16:30-31 (ESV)

The Lutheran Hour recently used the above passage for one of their morning devotions; that I read every single morning.  The message that I read is different from what I’m writing here today, as the passages in Luke struck a different cord in my mind.  The parable Jesus was teaching was about a rich man and Lazarus, and he asked that Lazarus should be brought back from the dead, because then this miracle would make believers of those who were witnesses of this wonderful moment.

Jesus told them that their ancestors had Moses and the Prophets and the people did not listen and if He raised Lazarus from the dead, they would still not change their evil ways.  Do you ever wonder what you would have done if you had been wandering in the desert, following the pillar of smoke and eating manna; what would you have done?  Would you have believed?  Did you ever think that if you had been there when Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb what you would have done?  Surely, we would have believed and not turned away or fell asleep in the garden as Jesus prayed before he was arrested.

The children in the attached photo attend Ecole Lutherienne in Osse and they like you, have heard the story of the Son of God and the miracles He did on earth.  Before they learned of Jesus, they had heard about Erzule Dante and all the other evil spirits that are called upon by the local vodou priest.  Those are the memory lessons planted in their minds by their parents, who learned them from their parents from the beginning of their lives.

We are blessed with an opportunity to share what we have been taught and know with the children in Osse, and Haiti, so that they can go out and share it with the rest of Haiti that still, stubbornly relies upon satan and the vodou priest each day.  They live in doubt, fear and are hopeless.  In John 20:29 Jesus tells us “Blessed are those who have not seen but believe.”  Thank you for helping to bring that message of hope in a risen Savior to the lost of 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 pots.

“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  Hebrews 12:3

Simple things can accomplish so many good things, they can reap enormous benefits; they can lay the foundation for future generations.  There are some who look at a plastic bowl of beans and rice resting on a board in front of a smiling Haitian child and don’t see the hand of God in action.

At times, our world would prefer to spend countless hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars in Haiti; purchasing land, building large churches, acquiring earth moving equipment and then repairing earth moving equipment and paying salaries in a foreign land.  Often, too often the plans and directions of this world are exceedingly expensive and we should always ask if these resources are being used wisely in the growth of His Kingdom.  The photo of two plain iron pots setting over chunks of charcoal inside a crude corrugated metal shelter in Cap Haitian in 2003 and are much like a ‘beacon of hope’ for the young missionaries who will take the Gospel message to the lost in Haiti.

The photo is simplicity at its finest, no electricity, no cupboard with costly spices, no exhaust fans or even a door.  Really quite simple isn’t it?  This is the making of a lighthouse ready to prepare young children to send the Gospel light to the lost.  While driving home last week I heard a song called “Send the Light” and it reminded me of those two pots in Cap Haitian.

“There’s a call comes ringing o’er the restless wave, “Send the light! Send the light!”  There are souls to rescue, there are souls to save, Send the light! Send the light!  Send the light, the blessed Gospel light; let it shine from shore to shore!  Send the light, the blessed Gospel light; let it shine forevermore!  We have heard the Macedonian call today, “Send the light! Send the light!”  And a golden off’ring at the cross we lay, Send the light! Send the light!  Let us pray that grace may everywhere abound, “Send the light! Send the light!”  And a  Christlike spirit everywhere be found, Send the light! Send the light!  Let us not grow weary in the work of love, “Send the light! Send the light!”  Let us gather jewels for a crown above, Send the light! Send the light!”

To those of you who have helped to keep those two simple pots full of rice and beans in Cap Haitian and at 246 other locations throughout Haiti; thank you.  Thank you for following His call, for trusting in His simple plan to send over 52,000 children out into Haiti and send the light, the Gospel light, to the lost souls 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