the greatest love...

Yesterday we took 10 "foreigners", 6 from England, 2 from Northern Ireland, and 2 from Oregon to church and then to lunch. We haven't seen our friend and fellow teacher Paul (far left) since coming back from Haiti, so we loaded everyone in the big silver van, stopped almost immediately to repair and refill THREE flat tires, and then headed to Paul's church near the airport.

It is the only OMS affiliated church that we have been to that has accepted NO help from OMS to pay for it building. Little by little, with a special "construction offering" every single Sunday, this rather large church has built itself...a beautiful thing. Whenever something is broken, or an addition needs built, it is, therefore, not OMS's responsibility as OMS's church. The people in this church have taken awesome responsibility and pride for their building, and this special group of people, plus a consistently truth-preaching pastor, always makes Paul's church one of our favorite places to go.

This Sunday was no disappointment, as Matt and I translated the 2.5 hour service for these 10 guests, both shouting translations over the speaker's microphone. It was overly crowded and ridiculously hot, but the message was worth waiting for. Most churches are taking obvious advantage of this very difficult time by preaching that despite hard times, God DOES love you, and to hang in there. While this is obviously an accurate message, Matt has been encouraging his graduates this summer to preach deeper, and to disciple their congregations, not just "give them each a pretty flower that lasts the afternoon and no longer."

Paul preached from 1 John 4:7-21, "God is Love." He did talk about the desperation that everyone is experiencing today, and the struggle he knew each person was going through. But then he talked about God, and God's great struggle...God's incredibly expensive sacrifice in giving us His only Son.

"Times of deep poverty and struggle," Paul noted, "are the times we all become the most egocentric. Perhaps in better days, we tried to help others, tried to share what we had, sometimes fed orphans or gave to neighbors. But today, when all we have is a small handful of rice, everything has become only about us, and we grip what we have tightly."

HOW is Haiti, he continued, EVER going to see Jesus if all of His followers are clutching selfishly at what we have just like everybody else?

He continued for a long time, further explaining that God understands that things are expensive...that God understands that each family is just struggling to survive. "But He doesn't understand," Paul preached, "when 1 John 4 is cast away because times are hard."

"By His Love, the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His ONLY Son to be the savior for our sins. If God so loved us, we MUST love one another." (vs. 9,10)

If you have 5 Gourdes (13 cents US), he told everyone, you've got to share it among your brothers and sisters and neighbors. Haiti will only want Christ when we Christians look differently than everyone else!

This message really moved Matt and I, not only because it was the first time we've heard such an idea here, but also because it so applicable to us in so many ways. It IS the hard times in life, isn't it, that we draw into ourselves. It's about US and our hurt and our hard times, and while we are busy struggling, we manage to completely forget of this hurting, dying world around us...seem to forget that the ULTIMATE struggle God already made for US.

"Don't be afraid for tomorrow," Paul said, "because there 'is no fear in love.' Keep LOVING. Love in every way you know how, in every way He's loved you. Love that the world might see His love, and trust, as you hand over your last fork of rice, because of His love, that He will care for you."

It was a humbling message, to be sure, and we have some self-evaluating to do. It's been difficult in this time to know how much to give, how many people to help. And also to be sure: we're not here to give out money or food or to patch up the temporal, but here for the eternal differences. However, if we aren't helping the many many who are hungry and struggling, how will the majority of Haitians ever come to see Jesus in us, and WANT HIM?

Whatever you're going through today, remember, help us remember, that we must love, and love sacrificially (is there any other kind of love, after all), because He first loved us! Whatever we are each clutching to, we've got to let it go that we might always be giving and loving with open hands...with His help and because of His boundless grace!

Please keep praying for your brothers and sisters here, that we might all grow alongside of them, and that God would continue to meet each need.