Haiti

As I'm painting with a young boy in a Haitian church, he tells me he keeps a diary of his thoughts. I ask him what he writes about. He says he writes about the love he has for his God, his family and his country. After a moment of silence he asks me, "Do you love Haiti?" Disregarding the fact that I had been in Haiti for less than 24 hours, I said I did. That statement remained true for the duration of my trip as I saw a people of no means or prominence impacting lives through the transforming power of the Gospel. God is using this small, impoverished island for his glory and for the salvation of the world.


Incomprehensible -"Who has known the mind of the Lord?"

While in Haiti, it was tempting to question God's character as I saw children without food or clothes. It was tempting to think God wasn't acting for our ultimate good as I met people plagued with sickness or troubled by demons. In the scriptures, it says God has revealed enough of himself for us to follow him. When I couldn't understand the 'why' I turned to the 'who' and realized that I serve a God who doesn't do things my way but limits my understanding so I have to trust him. I think it is a very American mindset to believe that if I cannot understand something, then it cannot be true. I saw Haitians who trusted God, simply because he commands it. That encouraged me to go home and not rely on my own understanding but settle into the mindset that I'm a child with a good Father who simply cannot be fathomed.


Long-Suffering- "I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them"

The Lord was long-suffering towards me as my pride desired to run a sprint instead of a marathon this week. Having an 'experience' is what my mind naturally gravitates towards when I am sharing the Gospel. Instead of continuing the long marathon of faithfulness the Lord has me on, I wanted to run the 100 meter dash in front of a cheering crowd. Instead of punishing me, the Lord gently reminded me that he is working to make me holy and that an experience is not the best way for me to be changed. I also saw the Lord's long suffering he has for the Haitian people when I was welcomed into the home of a voodoo master. Believers have been praying for this woman for many years. She knew the Gospel, but was not ready to receive it. The Lord reminded me he will never stop pursuing us, even when we continue to chase our own idols.


Sovereign- "Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you." 

When 3 school buses plus a tomato truck are involved in an accident without any major injuries, God's sovereignty cannot be more evident. Why did the bus that got hit have the least amount of people on board? Why did Mission of Hope's trauma doctor live down the street from the scene of the accident? Because "a mighty fortress in our God, a bulwark never failing." When we are involved in the work of the Kingdom, nothing can interfere. We will never fully know the small and infinitely detailed ways God is working until we reach heaven. It can be frustrating to share the Gospel and not see an immediate harvest. However, just like in Dallas, God works by his own timing and it is perfect. When people's hearts weren't immediately changed or when it seemed like God was not involved in a particularly hopeless situation, I remembered what God said to Job, "Everything under heaven belongs to me."



Being introduced to the work Mission of Hope is doing in Haiti was perhaps the most altering aspect of my trip. They are empowering the people of Haiti towards freedom in Christ without the slavery of North American saviorism. The country of Haiti is being changed, not because the government is advancing or they are becoming more educated. Mission of Hope is transforming lives because they believe the Gospel is the only way for people to know true joy and satisfaction. Learn more here.

Books of 2015

I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but I always challenge myself to be well read each year. I spent the first 5 months of 2015 reading "the Cooper book" (aka a textbook) so in May I was ready to read something fun. So, here were a few of my favorites:

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

“What the Israelites saw, from high on the ridge, was an intimidating giant. In reality, the very thing that gave the giant his size was also the source of his greatest weakness. There is an important lesson in that for battles with all kinds of giants. The powerful and the strong are not always what they seem.”

I Dared to Call him Father by Bilquis Sheikh

"Then a remarkable thing happened. Nothing like it had ever occurred in my life in quite this way. For I heard a voice inside my being, a voice that spoke to me as clearly as if I were repeating words in my inner mind. They were fresh, full of kindness, yet at the same time full of authority. In which book do you meet Me as your Father?" 

Prayer by Timothy Keller

“Prayer is the only entryway into genuine self-knowledge. It is also the main way we experience deep change—the reordering of our loves. Prayer is how God gives us so many of the unimaginable things he has for us. Indeed, prayer makes it safe for God to give us many of the things we most desire. It is the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God. Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life.”

Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot

“It is a naive sort of feminism that insists that women prove their ability to do all the things that men do. This is a distortion and a travesty. Men have never sought to prove that they can do all the things women do. Why subject women to purely masculine criteria? Women can and ought to be judged by the criteria of femininity, for it is in their femininity that they participate in the human race. And femininity has its limitations. So has masculinity. That is what we’ve been talking about. To do this is not to do that. To be this is not to be that. To be a woman is not to be a man."

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield

“The Bible makes it clear that reason is not the front door of faith. It takes spiritual eyes to discern spiritual matters. But how do we develop spiritual eyes unless Christians engage the culture with those questions and paradigms of mindfulness out of which spiritual logic flows?”

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming by Rod Dreher

“Contemporary culture encourages us to make islands of ourselves for the sake of self-fulfillment, of career advancement, of entertainment, of diversion, and all the demands of the sovereign self. When suffering and death come for you--and it will--you want to be in a place where you know, and are known. You want--no, you need--to be able to say, as Mike did, "We're leaning, but we're leaning on each other.” 

Scary Close by Donald Miller

“We don’t think much about how our love stories will affect the world, but they do. Children learn what’s worth living for and what’s worth dying for by the stories they watch us live. I want to teach our children how to get scary close, and more, how to be brave. I want to teach them that love is worth what it costs.” 

John Adams by David McCullough

“The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation, it is impossible they should be enslaved. . ” 

Jonathan Edwards on Beauty by Owen Strachan & Doug Sweeney

"…the beauties of nature are really emanations or shadows of the excellencies of the Son of God. 

So that, when we are delighted with flowery meadows, and gentle breezes of wind, we may consider that we see only the emanations of the sweet benevolence of Jesus Christ. When we behold the fragrant rose and lily, we see His love and purity. So the green trees, and fields, and singing of birds are the emanations of His infinite joy and benignity...When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud, or the beauteous bow, we behold the adumbrations of His glory and goodness; and, in the blue sky, of His mildness and gentleness. There are also many things wherein we may behold His awful majesty, in the sun in His strength, in comets, in thunder, in the hovering thunder-clouds, in ragged rocks, and the brows of mountains."