for His own possession

It has been raining almost non-stop since Wednesday afternoon and has been surprisingly chilly! Our students are freezing, wearing long sleeve t-shirts and even sweaters underneath their shirts and ties :) Tomorrow we both start teaching again, and with four visiting professors teaching this week and only three translators, Matt will also being doing his share of translating. The three men doing their online Master's alongside of Matt are traveling to Port-au-Prince for the second time on Tuesday in an effort to be granted their visas. In March there will be another "on campus" session at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Mississippi, and they are hoping to be able to attend this time! Please be praying they may be allowed to enter the States this time around!Being home has been so good, especially being back at the Seminary. That sense of urgency and freshness that the so many of the students carry is contagious...They are anxious to learn, anxious to share and anxious to make a difference here...and there are a LOT of things to change.

This upcoming week is Mardi Gras here in Haiti, something that the government is spending 5 million gourdes (roughly $150,000 US) on, JUST for Cap-Haitien alone! Mardi Gras in Haiti is basically a week of heavy partying for non-Christian Haitians. We will mostly be sticking to the compound this week, and several churches are trying to hold events again this year in attempts to keep the youth off the streets and away from a lot of the ungodliness that comes with Mardi Gras partying. Something else to be praying about, for sure!

Confronted by several men in wild and very dark looking masks preparing for Mardi Gras this morning on our way home from church, my heart was truly broken. I've been studying the book of Titus this week, which in chapter 2 reminds us that God gave us Jesus Christ, not just to "redeem us from every lawless deed," but also "to purify for Himself a people for His own possession."

The AWESOME thought that God DESIRES us, and sent His Son to bridge the gap our sin has created in order to truly possess our hearts...I mean, wow.

That unbelievable, crazy love that has already swept over us in just these first weeks of Lily's life is just a fraction of what Father God has for ME...for you, and for each and every person here. And when I saw these men, stumbling in wild circles of drunken dances, dripping with black oil and covered by these masks, I felt a fraction of the pain in my heart that God feels for them...His very children that He desires for Himself deeply enough to sacrifice His own son.

So much of work here (in Haiti and on Earth) is simply that...to make people aware of this crazy love their Creator has for them, and of the "lawless deeds and ungodliness" that keeps them from Him.

"For the grace of God has appeared,
brining salvation to all men,
instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to
live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed HOPE and the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior
Christ Jesus, who gave Himnself for US to:
Redeem us from every lawless deed, and
to Purify for Himself a people for His own possession,
Zealous for good deeds."
Titus 2:11-14

So final prayer request...that we might have our eyes fixed on that blessed Hope, and that He would continue to give us His heart, His eyes, His love for each and every person we encounter....and that He would give us the boldness and the faith necessary to make Him known in such a dark place and such a dark time!

Happy Sabbath!