Love A Lot

May 28, 2012 – Day 2

By Tami Heim

Verse 12 Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Breathe deep the hot and hard aroma of Haiti and the change begins. It’s a different world, life, and people. I watch my team members react. Sometimes a person’s heart breaks right away. Other times the fracturing is slow. Either way, compassion eventually consumes those who come here. A connection is secured to the heart of Jesus and to what the Word says about Him “And He was moved with compassion.”

There is no question. I know I am exactly where He wants me to be.

The mission is not complicated – be Christ’s hands and feet. Pray up and dress in kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. It’s time to leave and make a difference in the lives of the children who will fill our days this week.

Verse 13 Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other.

God has a specific purpose for every team who agrees to GO in His name. And so it is true with everyone on this trip. The conditions and environment demand a double dose of grace and flexibility. Derek leads us well and reminds us often. We roll through the inconveniences and forgive quickly whatever part of the day deviates from the original plan.

Verse 14-15 And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. The peace of Christ must control your hearts—a peace into which you were called in one body. And be thankful people.

This trip, like all the others, begs for Christ’s own prayer to be answered, “Make them one as We are One.” We move and work in concert. Some on the team has traveled this road together in the past. They’re comfortable and in harmony with each other. The rest of us find our fit by falling into the new spaces God’s carved out for us as members on this team.

I am grateful. Everyone comes with a unique gift to offer. As living sacrifices we’re here. We show up. God shows up. Love binds us in unity of purpose.

Verse16 The word of Christ must live in you richly. Teach and warn each other with all wisdom by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

We head to the orphanage and as the big machine, ‘Chuck Norris’, climbs up the hill, the site before me is one visited in a hundred dreams since the last trip. Children spill from doors and rocky slopes. They know we are coming because of the brief time we shared with them on Sunday night. Each child is bursting with his or her own version of joy. Their excitement matches my expectation.

In the afternoon, a carefully planned lesson on prayer is delivered. Worship bounces from floor to beam, sometimes in words we fully understand and then other times with words we don’t. The melody synchronizes our tribute to the Almighty – three in One. In these precious moments, God is purely glorified.

Verse.17 Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God the Father through him.

We don’t permit the heat of the day and the lack of electricity at the guesthouse to discourage us. Under the gazebo our evening team devotion focuses on what it means to ‘do justice.’  Derek shares a quote from Tim Keller that sums it up, “Give others what they are due because we are all made in the image of God.”  That’s why we come. That’s why we give.

No one escapes when the love we pour into these children comes splashing back on each of us. The Creator’s master plan for this day is complete. Whatever we did, we did it all for Him. And now in the final hours of this day, we listen to the rain falling. We share, laugh, and remember – in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.