Living Out The Kingdom…

I’ve heard it said somewhere that Christianity is caught rather than taught.  Paul Stookey said in a song called The Winner: “If you hear a message you might refuse it, but if you get the meaning you’ll never lose it.”

Most people here, as well as in America, have heard at least a bit of The Message. The question for me is, how do we help the people here in Haiti capture the meaning? How do we help them truly come to know the nature and heart of God, the one they call Bondye, and so invite the Servant King to inhabit their hearts and rule their lives?

There are those who believe we can pass this on by speaking to the masses and there is a place and time for this, On occasion, I will speak to groups or a congregation of people. However, I believe it’s mostly by sharing the Life that we have come to know, personally with individuals, engaging them in the work place or in the market, by the way side, or in times of need or desperation, opening our hearts that they might trust a little and begin to open theirs, and thus the Spirit of God will draw them to the feet of the Savior and the heart of the Father.

So our mission is not creating an organization that gives a message but rather a journey through the lives of people where the message and the meaning is lived out in shared experience.  One such recent experience out of many….

Marize’s daughter in their bakery

Marize came to us the other day to tell us of the loss of her husband. Since his death, life had been even more difficult for the family. They had a small business making bread and now they had lost all means of continuing. She has three children still living at home. So we are helping the poor thing begin again.

After visiting several times to get to know the family, and helping them make a business plan, we loaned them some money for supplies for two weeks to get her going.

The bread oven

She was having pain in her back recently and wanted something for it. (I give people ibuprofen but always with a caution.) Then I began to talk about how God gives us pain to help us keep from further damaging our body, how He is always working to help us and teach us what is right and true and good.

And that “…the law of the Creator is the necessity of the creature.”

Kneading the bread dough.

Uncle’s sore foot

During the visits helping them get going again, I ended up treating an old uncle with a bad sore on his leg with antibiotics and salve.

The days go by with so many “little” things like these, seeking to bring the love of God into people’s lives who are struggling just to survive but to whom I can say, “God loves you”.