no hope under heaven but...

We feel like excited college students getting ready to go home for the weekend!

Tomorrow at 3:00 we leave for Port-au-Prince to spend a much-awaited weekend there with our good friends, Greg and Cathie. They are like parents to us both, and have been waiting a long time to meet their newest grandbaby! (They were in Columbus, Ohio the week Lily was DUE to be born, but had returned to Haiti by the time Lily actually greeted us!)

One of the ministries they are involved in is running a guest house in Port to facilitate mission trips for teams from the US. But this weekend, they closed up the house and cancelled all visitors so that we could all have a good weekend of rest, friendship, encouragement, and Settlers (for those of you who don’t know the game, it’s addicting!)

Our good friend Teresa, and her new husband, will be joining us, too, and we are really looking forward to some good time “away from life” to catch our breaths and remember that life is bigger than our little corner of the island!

The last few days, as my friend Elisa puts it, have been “busybusy”, but here’s the highlights!

Wednesday evening one of our fellow staff members and his family came over for supper. I’ve written much about Paul, his heart and his church before, but we’ve never gotten to spend a lot of time with his family! His eight, six and two year old accompanied he and his wife, and they were absolutely delightful kids. Lunch is the “big meal” in Haitian culture, and supper is usually more of a snack. Just in case, however, I prepared a lot of food. Well, I have NEVER seen an 8 year-old boy devour so much! We kept teasing him, and finally his mom whispered to me over dessert “He wouldn’t eat all day. He skipped lunch, saying that he wanted to save up for ‘special food at Matt’s house’ tonight!”

The conversation was encouraging, inspiring and just plain godly with Paul and his wife. Their lives, their witness, their church, their ministry, their attitudes and their family just radiate healthiness, humility, passion and godliness. After dinner the kids and I read through Lily’s children’s Bible, and I was amazed at their Bible knowledge…not just the stories, but why they happened the way they did, and what God was trying to teach or show mankind by each story! What an awesome night!

Thursday’s always begin with a special time of prayer with the Seminary staff, and then we taught. Matt finished his session on Psalms on Tuesday, and will finish this semester of his Master’s degree tomorrow, Lord willing!

The “Evangelism Project” of Easter break continues, and it’s been such a joy to have students, like today, still coming by the house for a Bible or two and to share continuing testimonies of the sharing of their faith.

What also began with fourth year’s dreaming has become a school-wide activity on Wednesday and Thursdays. Both these days, groups of students voluntarily trek about two miles to an area without a church and largely unreached. Today, Matt, Lily and I joined them, the students joking all the way of our “littlest Evangelist” and how many babies she hoped to convert as that she was the only one who spoke baby 

As we approached the village, the students all broke off in groups of two, heading to every house and every person they saw, hands outstretched and quick to share the gospel. Meanwhile, the student heading up the discipleship portion headed to a house a Christian woman previously volunteered, collecting new believers as he went. At 2:00, he began a “Bible study” there in a tiny dirt courtyard crowded with new believers, interested passerby’s and hordes of children.


Clusters of people gathered around each Bible, all following along while a chapter in Psalms was shared.

I loved talking to the people we passed, the children who reached out to Lily, to the people living nearby and to the people in the service. But without a doubt, the Lord has placed my ministry heart on the students. I LOVED joining them, praying with them, helping them and just watching them DO His work. There were some very godly students out there today working hard to die to themselves and to bring Him glory. I know I’ve said this before, but working alongside the staff and students at EBS continues to be one of the great joys of my life.

Ah, this has gotten long again. God is visibly doing so much right now that it's hard to "keep it short!"

Can I share just one more thing that moved my heart today?

While preparing to "go out and tell the world" today, I ran through the Bible, refreshing myself on the verses that have been foundational in my salvation and faith. I was awed all over again by WHAT CHRIST DID for me, by the precious reconciliation to God His death on the cross has given me. Before I closed this time with the Lord, I cracked open today's devotion in Oswald Chambers "Devotions for a Deeper Life."

Your disposition of 'my right to myself' MUST go. Do not think your salvation consists of YOUR morality, YOUR holiness, YOUR experiences, or anything else based on this disposition of self-rule.

GOD GRANT that you may be cruicfied with Christ. There is NO HOPE anywhere under heaven but in the Cross of Jesus. God made Him to carry sin for your sake, because SIN is your usual disposition. It must be removed here and now...

THERE IS NO HOPE ANYWHERE UNDER HEAVEN BUT IN THE CROSS OF JESUS. "God grant that you might be crucified with Christ," he said, and "Oh, LORD! May it be so!" cried out the depths of my soul. Pray for us, We pray for you...as we seek to let go of our right to ourselves.