Life Interrupted

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." -- Mother Teresa


Today marks a year since the earthquake in Haiti. I thought of my little friends Daniel and Rinaldo that I met in November with a smile on my face all day. What a blessing they were to me. I went to Haiti thinking I was going to change their lives, and they ended up changing mine. Daniel was my ever present shadow for a week, crawling up and down my back and finding me wherever I was at all times. I helped Rinaldo with his ear, and the look on his face after he got his hearing back was one I will never forget. If they would have fit in my suitcase, they would be living here with me at this moment, no questions asked.

I have always been comfortable in my way of life… living the so called “American Dream”. Somehow we have all confused the message of Jesus to fit into the constraints of what we think we deserve as Christians. In November God interrupted my life in a major way by sending me on a journey to finding adventure, love and meaning that I would have never found within the borders of America itself. In Jesus’ day those who lived in poverty were seen as having disfavor with God. However, Jesus radically changed that definition with the Sermon on the Mount when he said “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” I am eternally convinced without eventually reaching out to those who are poor and hungry we cannot ever essentially please God. Living in the richest country in the world it is easy to be unaware of what’s going on in the world around us. If you make $35,000 a year annually you are in the top four percent of the global population in terms of wealth, $50,000 a year and you are in the top one percent of the global population! This means we have a huge responsibility as well. I cannot imagine standing in front of my creator with my bank statement and Him saying did you know that when you were alive on earth someone died of hunger every 16 seconds?

I will never forget my time in Haiti and I look forward to my trip again this year. These people do not thirst for God as most Americans do because they literally rely on God for every single thing in their lives and praise Him for it with a faith I’ve never experienced in my American life. My prayer is that in a nation who does not rely on God for their every single need that He will interrupt our lives in a way so that we are always left thirsty for Him and willing to step outside of our comfort zones and go out into the world that lies desperately in need of our help.