Thursday, March 24, 2011

Not My Own

Over the past 7 weeks Chris and I have had the opportunity to meet with over 80 people and share our vision for ministry in Haiti. This has been a busy but very rewarding and encouraging time. We've gotten a lot of different types of questions, but the one that nearly everyone asks is, "what do the kids think about this?". The next several posts will be the children giving their thoughts on moving to Haiti. But today it's my thoughts. I'm sure many people wonder, and a few people have asked how we handle the fact that we will be taking children into an unstable environment.

I guess in part it is because we know Haiti. We know that danger does not lurk around every corner. We know people who know people who know which roads are safe and which are not. We know the threats as well as the misperceptions propagated by the media. But we also know that there are true instabilities in Haiti. Of most concern is the lack of trauma emergency care, the risk of malaria and dengue fever, and the possibility of my children witnessing violence. In general I think, especially as mothers, people wonder why I am at such peace with our decision to move our family to Haiti. And it all really boils down to my belief that my children are not my own - they belong to the Lord. He has entrusted them to my care, given me the privilege of the joy they bring, and given me the responsibility to raise them wisely. But ultimately they are not mine.

Several years ago I was single parenting Luke. I was an anxious new mother of a toddler struggling to emotionally handle all the responsibilities of a child. I felt very alone in making decisions for Luke and that was quite overwhelming. During this time I watched an episode of Oprah. The topic was teenage cellphone use while driving. The guest on the show was a mother who had lost her 3 year old daughter in a car accident due to an inattentive teen driver. The mother stayed very composed during the interview. However when she started sharing about how she was an extremely safe and cautious mother she broke down. Through tears she explained how she had never even driven in the rain with her daughter in the car. At that moment it struck me. I am charged with caring for my children but they simply aren't mine. No matter how extremely careful and safety conscience I am, the Lord has given them to me and the Lord can take them from me.

And so I have chosen trust and rest. I have chosen to lay my anxieties at the feet of my Lord. As we pursue our move to Haiti, I trust that the Lord has called our whole family to serve Him there. I trust that He will keep each member of my family in His care.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

He's FREE!!!!

Praise the Lord!!! Danny was released from prison yesterday. The judge finally signed the release papers and Danny is now a free man. He was reunited with his orphans last night and is expected to arrive in Florida this afternoon to be reunited with his wife and daughter. Thank you so much for all your prayers.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Continued Prayers for Danny Pye


One of our recent prayers in preparation has been for perseverance and strength through adversity. As we have mentioned here before, our good friend Danny Pye has been in a Haitian prison for over 4 months. Through dedicated prayer, journalistic work and phone calls people from all over the world have been petitioning for his release. While this has been encouraging to see how far this news has traveled, it is also disheartening to know he is as of today still in jail. One of the questions that we have discussed is what we would do in a similar situation. While there are no easy answers, we have been comforted by Jesus’ words in Luke 4:

[18] “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
[19] to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
(Luke 4:18-19 ESV)

Here Jesus announces the begining of his minstry and a reminder of the power of God that is good news to the poor, the blind, the oppresed and the captive. So as we pray for Danny let us pray fervently for his release not only because it is just, and to reunite him to his family in Haiti and Florida, but also as a reminder of God’s grace to us in setting us free from our sin.