12.12.08

Read Philippians 4:4-13

Lee Rainboth is a fellow follower of Jesus who has spent the past two years getting dirty while serving in Haiti. Below is an excerpt of a recent email he sent me.

"Madame Frederique Normand is a woman who had plenty of problems before the recent hurricanes swept across her country. She really didn't need one more storm. Her husband died five years ago when their youngest less than 1. [She was] left with 6 other children.

2 years ago, Madame Normand was riding in a car when she was in a horrible accident and her oldest daughter was killed. The accident left Madame Normand's arms incapacitated from injury. "I can't sew, plant crops, I can't even pick fruit or wash my children's clothes," she told me. She has traded farmland and fruit trees for sustenance and schooling, leaving her only a tiny space of land on which her house stands.

Or, I should say "stood".

Because this was the reason that I was visiting her in the first place, to see the hurricane damage to her house. It looked like it had been burnt to the ground.

But cement houses don't burn.

The ruins of the house were completely black from mold and water damage. The portions of walls still standing were some of the strangest I have seen. They resembled Swiss cheese with large holes blown out, but pieces still intact.

Most people in Mizak are accustomed to their suffering and give me tours of their damaged houses with a very official optimism. But, as Madame Normand led me to the damage, and continued to lay her story out before me, this Haitian façade of strength began crumbling like the feeble walls of her previous home. She fell against the rough wall, buried her head in her arms, and began to weep. Simply recalling all of the facts that had led to her current situation, she had become overwhelmed and could do nothing more than collapse against the wall and cry out to Jesus.

I've visited well over 60 hurricane houses, and talked to many more victims, but this was the first time I had ever encountered a reaction like this.

I felt helpless myself as she sat there before me, tears streaming from her defeated eyes and her hands raised towards the sky searching for something real to cling on to. She looked up at me, shaking her head, and repeated, "Nothing, I have nothing."

It killed me to have to walk away from that house without being able to promise her any help. I had to tell her what I tell everyone,

'I don't know right now, but I'll do what I can. God knows.'" -Lee

God knows. Don't be anxious... because God knows. Put what you've learned into practice... and God's peace will be known. Learn to be content. Because when you cry out to Jesus, our God is a God who hears his people. Our God knows.