the old hope needed for the new year

On Monday, Matt had the unexpected (until an hour beforehand :) opportunity to preach in chapel to start off the new semester and new year.

He hates preparing last second, and wasn't sure what he would be sharing to our EBS family, and ended up  preaching exactly what God knew that everyone needed, and was ready, to hear.

What I love about this being our fourth year in Haiti and about living intimately with those around us is that Matt is truly now able to KNOW his audience, and something I love about Matt is that he also intimately knows His Creator and the Word.  So when he is able to well-take The Truth to his well-known family...it's an awesome thing to sit in the back row for.

He started by looking back at the past year, and shared the whole message in a dialog with the audience, a very culturally popular approach.

"Who could have told me on January 1st, 2010, that Brother Paul would have a fourth baby!?"

"Who could have told me on January 1st, 2010, that Brother Lucner would finally get married?"

"Who could have told me on January 1st, 2010 there would be an earthquake, that more than 200,000 of our countrymen would die in one day?" The mood changed.

"Who could have told me that you would spend a month in Port-au-Prince bringing hurting people there to the Lord, planting them a church, raising up leaders, and pouring out your lives?"

"Who could have told me that 10 of you, after losing your homes and everything you knew, would become a part of our family?"

"Who could have told me that thousands would die of cholera, an epidemic that we didn't even know existed anymore?"

"Who could have told me that we would have chaos, frustration, corruption and uncertainty instead of a president by 2011?"

"And WHO on earth could have told me that BD (president of 25 years ago) would be here?"  This last question sent everyone uproariously into laughter, the fact Matt mentioned that truly seemed to be the most shocking to everyone.

"WHO!" Matt asked.

"There is no such person," everyone shouted back.  "Only God."

"OK," Matt responded, seemingly moving on to a new subject.  "Get out your Bibles."

For a while we went briefly through all kind of milestones and fathers in the faith and their stories.

"Who knew that Israel would become slaves in Egypt?  And who had a plan nonetheless?"

"What about Ninevah? What about Daniel? What about Abraham? What about John the Baptist? What about Paul? What about Creation?  Who knew?"

"God alone."

"And who had a plan nonetheless?"

"God alone."

"So tell me," Matt asked, "in what verse, in what chapter, in what book of the Bible did God not have a plan?"

"No where."

"And tell me, in what verse, in what chapter, in what book of the Bible was God's plan defeated, left unfinished, or aborted?"

Silence as everyone thought..."No where."

"So" Matt pulled further "Why are you all depressed?"

And depressed everyone had been.  The unfoldings of the past year, and especially these last two months, had most everyone returning sluggish, uncertain, despairing, hopeless.

"Is it possible that God has no plan for Haiti?"

"No."

"NO" Matt almost roared.  "It is NOT possible.  I don't care what anyone else's plan is.  I don't care what OUR plan is.  God. Has. A. Plan."

"And," Matt continued, "If that is true, then IS it possible that the plan will NOT come to pass?"

"NO" Emmaus responded, waves of peace, courage, encouragement and strength obviously hitting different members at different times.

"Remember when His plan was a baby?" Matt said quietly.  "How much sense did that make?  A baby, in the midst of chaos, persecution, terror.  And yet God fulfilled that plan, and what does that baby plan MEAN today?"

Quiet versions of "everything" was muttered throughout the chapel.


"Everything" Matt resounded.

Out of time but anxious to finish, Matt passionately and brokenly poured out our testimony of Sophie this past Christmas, when everything in our lives was on the line.

He shared with the students the doctor's confident prediction of definite disaster, the impossibility of returning to Haiti, confirmed best-case-scenario fear and devastation, and even the possible death of Madame Matt and his new baby.  He talked about the chaos of those moments, the temptations for despair and fear, and the prayers of His people...even just a very few.

A pin could have shocked our family if it had dropped at that moment and for the first time, I realized how much our miracle casts hope upon Haiti's situation.

As Matt shared God's miraculous plan trumping the facts, the sonogram and the doctors, our family erupted in hooting and applause...just as they did following the earthquake not that long ago...not for Matt nor any man, but for God...for His plan, and for it's inability to fail.

There is a lot I'm not sharing well and not remembering well (Matt is a better preacher than I am a writer)  but in 30 minutes on Monday, God obviously shifted the entire disposition, perspective, and spirit of Emmaus.

Was it because anyone has ANY clue what this year has in store? nope.

Because Matt promised some kind of prosper this year?  Some kind of "things will be better this year?" nope.

Emmaus is acting entirely different now than we were Monday morning simply because we remembered that no one but our Father knows, that He DOES have a plan for each of our lives and for our little country down here, and because we remembered that He is on the throne...His plan will be.

Whatever it is, that is enough...His plan will be.

We cannot truly believe this and not be changed simply by the knowledge of His control.

Praying today that all of us here and all of you there will be constantly changing due to the increased pursuit of the knowledge of His love, His power, and His promise to never fail.