An injured man carries his dead daughter on Jan. 13.
Haiti in ruins. Likely 500,000 people killed and millions displaced. I am crying over the pictures and news.
This country and it’s people played a pivotal role in my development as a follower of Christ. It’s been 25 years since I went on a mission to the island it shares with the Dominican Republic. It was a mission where I thought I would change the lives of others. Instead the mission changed me. For the first time I saw how most of the world really lived.
I experienced the Voodoo oppression (the Satanic foothold) recognized as a religion and practiced by almost 95% of the people. I saw the children living in cardboard boxes. I smelled the stench of open sewer. I saw how years of brutal dictatorship shaped this nation into the poorest country in the Americas. I saw the hundreds of boys begging me to give them the million dollars that I must have because I was from U.S. They were ecstatic to receive 50 centimes.
Yet all the poverty, sickness, death, and evil practices pale in comparison to the sheer joy I saw on the faces of my fellow Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ. In my lifetime I have not seen anyone smile as large, be so thankful, or praise God with all their might. Christian churches in the United States are morgue’s in comparison. When the only thing you have is Christ, there is an immediacy to the hope he promises to those who love him. These people knew Christ. I wanted to know Christ like them. Christ used the lowly to humble the proud.
Looking at the pictures I realize I have mostly forgotten about the people of Haiti. It’s lost people have become a non-issue. They have become a nice story I can relate. “Yes, I’ve been out of the country. I went on a mission to Haiti.”
Father, change my callous heart. Christ, be their help in the time of need. Pour out your compassion through your children in Haiti and throughout the world. Break the stronghold of darkness in Haiti that has long since been held by the Enemy. Through this suffering may your name be praised and may all put all their hope in you. Come quickly.
Eduardo Munoz / Reuters
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