service...

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

I’m just going to continue writing our blog entries every other day in Word, and then copy them into Blogger on the rare occasion that it is working!

Today was quite an interesting day! This morning at 8:30 Matt, Mary Lou, Don, Lily and I loaded up the truck and headed for Pastor/Police Officer Jude’s ordination. He is the pastor of a church in town, and the president of his church is one of my first year students at the Seminary.

First, we passed a ginormous penguin, like a huge fiberglass penguin, on wheels, wearing a sombrero, that you would see maybe at an amusement park, just standing by himself on the side of the road. WHO in the world saw that thing, and thought, “Hmmm. I should send that to HAITI!” Totally hilarious. Wish I could have gotten a picture…it was great. I’d like to steal it, paint “Welcome” on its belly, and put it at the entrance of our compound.

Then, we arrived to the area where the church was, looking for our friend who promised to be standing on the road to find us and lead us to the church. However, he did not show up, so we just parked in the general area, and started walking towards the loudest hymns being sung: found it! Weaving past dozens of people in a busy part of town, we climbed narrow stairs and entered the VERY adorned second story sanctuary only to see that several hundred people were already PACKED into a room smaller than home. Which is NOT big. (I tried hard not to think about the school in Port-au-Prince that collapsed when hundreds of people were on the second floor!)

Everyone was VERY excited about Jude’s ordination, and everywhere there were flowers, singing groups, choirs, kids and special guests. The service started right at 9 with almost 15 minutes of Bible recitation…being done by the entire congregation.

“Psalm 27!” The leader would shout, and immediately the whole congregation would spout off the chapter without cracking a Bible or hesitating. “Psalm 113! Romans 8! John 1!” Without missing a beat the whole group recited each chapter.

I sincerely hope that there was also training and understanding behind each memorized chapter, but regardless, I was humbled by how much Scripture was known so well, especially thinking back on my past two weeks of struggling to begin memorizing 2 Corinthians 5 & 6.

Because we were placed smack in front of the speakers, I quickly moved with the baby and my folding chair back several rows. Wedged between two people, and crammed into the row in front, I had Lily balanced carefully and my legs twisted through the chair legs in front of me. Suddenly, a very large woman started pushing through our “aisle.”

Stopping between me and the woman right next to me, she sat down. ON us. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I began ranting in my mind. Having no choice but to scoot over, suddenly there were 3 of us (4, counting Lily!) sitting on 2 folding chairs. As I perched precariously on the very corner edge of “our” chair, a bar jamming into my ribs, legs still twisted, Lily began to fuss.

I’ve never prayed “without ceasing” quite so much for an hour. “Lord, help my legs to fall asleep, Lord, help me endure, Lord, please help Lily sleep, Lord, work on my attitude! Give me a joyful heart!”

Having just finished re-reading “The Heavenly Man” about the very-persecuted church in China, I thought about my many brothers and sisters who have truly suffered for the cause of Christ with happy hearts. My heat/seating situation did not compare. My attitude shifted: I was blessed to be freely in church, worshiping the One True God with my family in Christ.

The moment I became truly joyful and thankful in my heart, an angel freed me from the situation. “Wouldn’t you rather sit outside?” a pure eyed older woman whispered in my ear, and quickly I climbed out of my row and followed her. I grabbed her hand, “THANK YOU” I said from the depths of my heart.

“Service” she said, smiling warmly.

“Huh,” I thought of her unusual response, “she must not have heard me correctly.”

She led me to an area below the church, kind of in the road, pungent with the smell of urine and garbage and swarmed with flies. Compared to my previous situation, all I smelled was sweet relief! She cleared a seat for me among many who had gathered there to hear the service, and began to walk away.

“THANK YOU” I said again, so touched by her thoughtfulness.

“Service” she said again sweetly.

After another hour, Lily began to fuss, anxious to be fed. Surrounded by men, teens and children during a church service, this was no place or time to feed a baby. Unsure of what to do,I looked around anxiously for my “angel.”

“Can I help?” she asked, hurrying to my chair.

“Is there somewhere I can feed the baby?” I asked her apologetically.

“Oh, yes! Come!”

She led me down the road and up some gigantic steep stairs, up, up, up until we reached a dark third story room the size of a small bathroom. She disappeared, returned with a rickety plastic chair, and ushered me into it. I expected her to leave, but instead she grabbed an old broken bucket, flipped it upsidedown, sat upon it, and pulling an tattered notebook from a shelf, began fanning me with it.

I was humbled to the point of tears. “Thank you,” I said, so grateful and astounded at her great and humble services. As a foreigner, we are constantly asked to “give me ______”, and “What are you going to give me?” And yet here was a woman who obviously had nothing and who went out of her way to serve me.

“THANK YOU.”

“Service” she said again sweetly.

We chatted for 20 minutes about her children, about her conversion, about her love for the Lord and about her non-Christian husband and the struggles that has brought in her life. We talked about church and about her great desire to bring her husband to the Lord, exchanging prayer requests and praises.

“You have the gift that God gives of service!” I told her. “I am so blessed by it, and I know He is, too.”

“Nothing brings me more joy than to give my sweet Lord service” she told me, brimming with gladness.

After four hours, church was finally over for the day, and we squeezed each other’s hands as I rejoined Matt and headed for the car.

My newly discovered sister never acknowledged that she had done anything with a “you are welcome.” All that she did selflessly hadn’t been done unto me, but unto the Lord, as sweet service to Him.

I am so humbled, as I think to the dozens of times just this past week that I begrudgingly served in limited ways, or that I did the bare-minimum for someone, or when I wasn’t on the look-out for ways I could serve the Lord in different situations!

The heat, crowds, and Lily kept me from following much of the sermon this morning. But this woman gave me the message.

“Oh, wretched man that I am!
Who will set me free from the body of death?
THANKS BE TO GOD through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 7:24

“Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves,
Men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 9:12