We made the five hour drive from Port au Prince to Gonaives yesterday. The trucks aren’t big enough to house the entire team so many of us rode in the beds. I prefer to ride back there since it helps me to take in the sights, sounds and smells. It brings me closer to the country when I see the people interacting in their daily lives. There is something particularly humbling when you drive through tent cities.
The tents are made of tarp and are duct taped together. Thousands of them side by side in a field or on the side of a mountain. Their homes were destroyed by the earthquake a few years ago and they can’t afford to get a new house. The unemployment rate here is astronomical. Those who do work make less than $5 a day. People walk the streets selling what they find or grow. Doing what they can to make a living.
We stopped at the mass grave site where tens of thousands of bodies are buried. So many died during the earthquake that they couldn’t embalm or bury the dead. They drug the bodies into the street, burned them to prevent the smell and carried the bones to this site. As we stood there, I couldn’t help but wonder, “How many knew Jesus?” Who had come before to tell them of His love? Who had obeyed?
When we arrived in Gonaives, we stopped at the guest house to drop off our luggage and then headed to the orphanage. When we arrived, the gate was closed. TJ, the missionary with us, looked through the hole and knocked on the gate. As they came to open it, the children were shouting his name. It has been months since he was here. He ran and hid behind the truck. The gate slid open, a rush of kids came pouring out and their smiles quickly went away. They couldn’t find him.
When he appeared from behind the truck, 30 kids attacked him with huge and smiles. They climbed over each other and on us to get to him. For several minutes they poured out their love on him. They sang him a song they had learned just for him. It was beautiful. After the song, they instinctively crawled into our laps and hearts to get a refill of love. Each person on our team had several kids in their laps.
Loving them turned into playing with them. They playing spilled over into the street. There is a basketball court nearby and we all ended up there. Several locals showed up too. The next thing you know, we’re locked into a game of hoops. As one person from our group noted, there were people from Haiti, the US and the Philippines playing a game together without being able to speak each others languages.
At the end of the night, God came and met us on the balcony of our guest house. TJ asked us to share where we had seen Jesus throughout the day. Each person had seen Him somewhere and in different places and ways. It got me to thinking, “How often do we Jesus in our daily lives?” Better yet, how often are we looking for Him? He’s involved in our lives daily, but we’re so distracted by our busy lives that we fail to see Him.
Today, start your day with the intent of looking for Him. It could be in any encounter at work, school or at the store. It could be in someone you don’t know, but you see what they’re doing and God points something out to you. This is something we should all be in the habit of doing. God is not far off. He’s working for you and in you each day. Keep your eyes open, you may even look in the mirror and see Him there because you were His hands and feet to someone.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 