It is a journey. It is a long journey. I’m not talking about the bus ride from Port au Prince to the Mole or even the trip from Lubbock to our comfortable accommodations on the mission property. I’m talking about our walk with Christ. It is a long race…not a sprint.
So often we want it to be a sprint. We want to get to the finish line quickly and see the results of our efforts. The reality is that most of the time it is a slow plodding journey filled with a lifetime of choices where we are given the opportunity to do the right thing, to make the right choice, and to honor God with our actions.
Last year I was a part of the Wesley team that first came to the Mole. One of our projects consisted of working on the orphanage that was under construction. We filled up wheelbarrows with dirt which we picked and dug out of the side of a hill and then maneuvered it about 35-40 yards and dumped it into the “floor” of one of the rooms of the orphanage.
It wasn’t the most enjoyable act of service. We made the best of it and had an overall good time. This didn’t compare to what we experienced during other parts of the trip where we saw God move in powerful ways. It was truly a grind. We had to just grind it out until the day was done. We were not able to finish the floors. At the end of our trip last year, no one really reflected on that part of the trip. It just happened. It just had to be done.
This past Saturday as we were riding to the Mole, we stopped in Port-de-Paix and picked up some very special passengers. We picked up our translators, mission staff, and eight very young children. They are the first eight residents of the newly finished orphanage. All of the sudden it came crashing together. That “work” we did last year that seemed so unremarkable could have possibly been the most “fruitful” action of our trip.
Only we didn’t get to see it in the moment. We had to wait, and most of the team from last year aren’t on the trip this year. The others didn’t get to see the fruit. They might not even read this blog or hear our stories. They may not ever know.
That’s really how it is following Christ. You don’t know how God will use you when you are faithful to Him. We just trust Him. We follow. We try our best to be obedient. We just plug on. Last night at the end of the youth conference, a couple of the leaders of the church here in the Mole got up and shared their hearts with us. Two of them are very respected members of this community. They do great things for the mission. Jose and Jody rely on them to do many, many things. They are difference makers for the Kingdom…major players in God’s plan for Northwest Haiti. And they were orphans in one of the mission’s orphanages.
Years ago a group came to Haiti and “worked” on a mission trip. One of the jobs they did was to help build an orphanage. They got sunburned and blistered. They went home. None of them were here last night. Some of them might have already passed away, but I had the pleasure of working with some of the “fruit” of their labors this past week. I’m truly overwhelmed. I pray that in 20 years some other group is in a remote village in Haiti working on an orphanage with an interpreter that once rode a bus from Port-de-Paix to the Mole with a bunch of crazy Texas Tech Wesley foundation students…spent their first night in an orphanage with loving and caring workers…
The journey continues.
Blessings,
Al Martin
Director of the Wesley Foundation at Texas Tech
Well said. 🙂