Reflecting

As I reflect back on yesterday's events the gravity of things slowly sink in as I scramble to take it in and relect upon it. Yesterday when I said that I wasn't feeling well before giving the message in church, I know it was a spiritual battle. In the moment I knew I just needed God to give me the strength to allow Him to work through me, but as I reflect back, I know that Satan would not want me to give the message I did. While giving the message, I felt fine and for the rest of the day I was just fine- just cautious to not get too hot. So I thank the Lord for His strength and protection.

On the previous trip, I never really felt the strong voodoo presence that you hear about so often. There may be two reasons for this- one, we had incredible prayer coverage over our team from our whole church body. Two, Port-au-Prince is such a large city that you may miss the influence that voodoo has on the culture. This trip has been different. Not because there is any less prayer coverage for me and the teams I am serving Global Orphan with. But I believe God is helping me get a proper perspective for the spiritual battle that is being waged down here. Even in the community around the OTV I am hearing ongoing activities of gatherings with constant chanting that is really yelling and it certainly doesn't sound anything like church I've experienced here. It has been said that rural, outlining communities have a stronger voodoo influence. And I know the community that Faith is going to partner with- Port Salut does have a strong voodoo influence and the the young church is truly a beacon in the community.

And the poverty- I have also seen things that I had not seen on the previous trip. Yes it's horrible; yes the earthquake compounded an already extreme situation. I can't help but think of the children who are without a family and the terror they face everyday trying to survive. On the way to Moise's church yesterday we passed the market. This is the main market in Port-au-Prince and it is near the port. Imagine in your mind what an outdoor market looks like in any city around the world including in other third world countries. This one blew me a way. There was no rhyme or reason for the layout of the market. There was a mass of humanity, people were selling their goods on trash heaps. There were fires burning here and there. And the smell- I have never smelled anything so intense- was almost nauseating. The ground was as black as the people. I have seen poverty before, but this was a completely new level altogether. You can unmistakeably find the market if you look on Google Earth and see it from the satelite image. It really defies description.

On the other end of the spectrum, 4 boys went with us to church yesterday- Rogelin from the OTV, Jacob, Pastor Calix's son who just gave his life to the Lord last weekend, Jeff and one other boy. After church we toured the city so that the California team could see the extent of the devistation before we took them to the airport. We stopped for lunch at a very nice hotel where people from the international community are staying. The boys had pizza for the very first time and loved it. In fact, the poured left-over spagetti sauce from someone else's lunch over the remaining few pieces. There was a pool at the hotel too and it looked very refreshing. I wanted to jump in just to cool off. The boys said they wanted to jump in to bathe. There are the two extremes coming together. Something that I would take for granted is seen by these boys as a blessing and a necessity.