kè poze

 
Big Christmas weekend!  We made candy.  We made fudge.  Lily ate 900 pieces.  Then we went to Cindy and Bud's, where we had ham (woo-hoo) and carmel corn and Sofie slept on the couch while Lil' snuggled with Cindy and in their new laundry hamper, which she thought made a good "kid house."
 

 Then this morning we walked to church down the road and through the mud and joined our brothers and sisters in worship.

Matt shared a message that was simple, but one I'd never heard before.  In light of Christmas (though this isn't a big holiday here, both due to lack of means and due to the fact that because Jesus wasn't actually BORN on Christmas day, many Haitians don't believe it should carry so much weight), Matt spoke about Joseph.

He spoke about Joseph's set up, which frankly, I've never thought much about.  Lost his reputation and whether people thought he got Mary pregnant, or choose to marry her despite the fact that someone else had gotten her pregnant, was surely hearing it from everyone.  Had to leave home with a 9 month pregnant lady.  Had to go pay a bunch of money to be reminded that some other man ruled over him.  Did all that, finally got there, and there weren't even any rooms available.  Excuse me for saying, but most of us would have blown a gasket :)

But, Matt reminded everyone, the whole time all of this was happening, in Joseph's mind and heart were The Promise.  The promise Gabriel gave him of the paternity.  Of the future.  Of the hope...for the world and for Joseph.

That promise, and Joseph's faith in it, had to have affected how he responded during these hardships.  Had to have made them dim. 

God choose Joseph for this huge responsibility of caring for His Son.  And yet God didn't prevent any of the hardships in return.  He didn't work it out so Joseph didn't have to go, or hide the tax money in Joseph's pocket, or even make sure a hotel room was open.  God allowed all the hardships to take place, and some had big reasons, and some maybe had no reasons at all.  

But Joseph's trust in God's Promise, held at the front of Joseph's mind and heart, had to have given Joseph a calm, determined, hopeful heart...peace...in the midst of these things.

So have we no such promises today?  The SAME promise Joseph had we have, AND have seen already carried out.  The Child DID come, Son of the Most High, to "give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of our sins, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:77).  

We have that "accomplished redemption" available, and I pray, in our hearts.  In addition, He's promised so much...to care for our cares, to provide for our needs, to speak to our hearts, to hope for our future and a promise of eternal life.

So as we face daily challenges and trials, some we may understand one day and others we never will, do we face them through the lens of these promises?  Have we bound them to our foreheads and written them in our hearts so that they affect the way we respond, think and even FEEL in the midst of trials and suffering?

"So if we have a tax to pay," Matt concluded to a surprisingly engrossed crowd, "Pay it.  Kè poze (heart at rest, at peace).  If someone demands something crazy, do it, kè poze.  You've got Jesus.  If someone takes your last shirt, robs you, you have an accident, lose a job, fall sick...kè poze!  You have Jesus, don't you?  We have Jesus!  

"If His promises don't change how we view our suffering, don't change how we speak, how we react, then perhaps we don't believe them...or don't have Him."

A simple, but Great truth for me today, putting back into His hands and perspective my "problems."  Grateful to have been able to be in church today and to have His Word before and within us.