standing in the middle for Haiti, don't back down

As I sat with the big girls tonight, stories behind us and prayers ahead, I just couldn't even find the words.

I found the tears easily enough...our dear country so broken, continues to break. Our dear people, so hurting, piled past the brink, just gasp for breath.

I gasp for breath even for my prayers.  

And no one prays in Haiti about today's earthquake without shuddering over THE Earthquake, in 2010. That one will never be finished. And every tremor since tremors deep.

And before I know it, tears for then and now, the Lord gives me a prayer to lift.

Lord, in 2010, our brother Lémé  (we didn't even know existed) was pinned under a collapsed building. His father was trapped as well...never found. 

But Lémé, You spared his life, you miraculously saved him by way of a stranger, maybe an angel.

Over time you healed him, and before that was complete, his seminary and home in Port-au-Prince a heap of rubble, you gave him word of Emmaus...you gave him the faith and the provision to limp onto a bus and come eight hours, all night, to a place he'd never been, to a city where he knew NO one.

Six months, Lord, I remember first year student Lémé hobbled, six months, Lord, he slept every. single. night on a bench in the chapel because his mind was far too traumatized to sleep in the two-story men's dorm. 

'What are we going to do about Lémé  sleeping in the chapel?' I remember the administration asking from time to time. 'We can't let students sleep wherever they want! Maybe, just a little more time...'

Lord, four years you healed him and formed him and filled him and caused everything he touched, with righteousness and humility, to prosper. 

We couldn't WAIT to hire him the moment he graduated from Emmaus, anxious to grow more and more Lémés. 

We cried such happy tears the day he married our dear Guesica. He provided for the move of his mama from Port-au-Prince. You gave them dear baby Yasha. You've moved him into several full-time ministries.

TODAY, dear Lord, by your grace he is teaching and working at Emmaus in Haiti...by your grace he is working today on his master's degree at Wesley Biblical Seminary, 12 minutes away...by your grace, dear Lord, tonight his family is living in our home, Lord, right now, right now Lèmè isn't sleeping in the chapel. 

Lémé  is sleeping in our bed of 13 years with his family, at Emmaus, this moment.

Dear Lord. You can stop hearing my prayer.  All I'm giving you is back what you have done.

If I simply recount you ONE LIFE you've led, the world can see how you are gracious and kind and at work...at work in the middle of earthquakes in the middle of devastation in the middle of nowhere. 

doing miracles, and ten more through each one

So Lord. Tonight.

See those Lémés, Lord.  Lord, move those mountains. Lord, make your ways. Lord, heal these wounds, a little more time.  Lord, clear the rubble and Lord, do your things.  Do them, quietly, like you did in Lémé. Work Lord, slow, as it often seems. Be Lord, BE. Everything that is needed.

The REST. The peace. The help. The grace. The restoration. The healing. The HOPE.

All the, all the things so badly needed that I never could, never can give. 

Even if I were in the middle?  

Even if I were in the middle.

So I am.

I am firmly planted in the middle, Lord. 

I'm standing in the middle for Haiti, Lord, and I'm NOT gonna back down.

I'm gonna do the most important work for a people you care deeply for, while you do your Lémé-thing...times a million.

Lémé, who has told me

more times than I can count

to trust You