We were reading 2 Corinthians 5 last night and came upon a rather common verse, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." But as we really looked at the following verses, we saw something in a different light than we have ever seen it before..."God...gave us the ministry of reconciliation...as though God were making an appeal through us...that we might become the righteousness of God" to the world!
He has given us several different ministries in Haiti. They are not only our jobs, but they are gifts! But He has also given ALL of us the gift of the ministry of reconciliation, the ministry of making peace between man and God, the ministry of re-creating harmony between God and His children. How? By BEING the righteousness of God to the world and by allowing Him to work through us.
If the desparity between God and people was not obvious at home, it is blaringly obvious here. Whenever we are in town, some people look at us with such bitterness in the eyes, bitter towards what they know we represent. Our students daily prayer requests regard family members dying of AIDS, of friends and family struggling to provide for their children. Our new seminary is being built in one of the strongest voodoo areas in all of Haiti. We pass several voodoo temples just getting there, and see the empty stares of the children who are slave to them.
Yes, there is no question of the gap between God and man here in Haiti, and we have been called to stand right there. In that gap. It is a calling, and it is a gift...to BE Christ to a world that does not know Him and the new life that He brings.
Thank you for your prayers as we seek to do this, and KNOW of our prayers for you in the States and in Canada and in Burkina Faso and Niger and in Sudan, as we all stand in that gap together.
"The path of the righteous
is like the light of dawn,
shining brighter and brighter
until the full day."
Proverbs 4:18
May God bless and protect you as your stand in that gap.
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