Hurricane Tomas

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. [Tell a storm to leave our friends alone and it will.] Nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20

When God’s people pray, things happen. Big things. Like Hurricane Tomas skirting around Haiti.

Check out the following articles:

A Reporter Beathes a Sigh of Relief for Haiti
Haiti ‘got very lucky’ as Tomas skirted island

Thank you for praying. Thank you for caring.

Urgent Prayer for Haiti: Tropical Storm Tomas

“… “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.” Matthew 8:26

Ok people, you want to do something for the people of Haiti? Here is your chance. Tropical storm Tomas is headed straight for Haiti and is expected to hit early Friday morning. Reports on whether the storm will actually be a hurricane by then are varied.

So what is it you can do? You can pray. Even if you’ve never prayed before. Even if you’ve been praying about this all day. Pray.

Our God calms the storms. Calms the raging sea. He can do this. I can see in my mine Jesus standing on the southwest tip of Haiti with His arms outstretched. Ready.
This afternoon when I prayed I was reminded of Abraham pleading for Sodom in Genesis 18-

Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”…..³² Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

There is Hope for Haiti and I believe our God can calm the storm. Miraculously. And that is what I am asking for. Please join me.

More info:

Article about the J/P HRO (camp where I served) prepping for the storm

Article about tent city evacuations (I went to the Corail tent city once, too. It was…. horrible. There were 5,000 people without food suffering in the oppressive heat.)

This article mentions Leogane, too.

Songs in the Night

I have been through the valley of weeping,
the valley of sorrow and pain;
but the God of all comfort was with me,
at hand to uphold and sustain.

As the earth needs the clouds and the sunshine,
our souls need both sorrow and joy;
so He places us oft in the furnace,
the dross from the gold to destroy.

So we’ll follow wherever He leadeth,
let the path be dreary or bright;
for we’ve proved that our God can give comfort,
our God can give songs in the night.

From Streams in the Desert

 

I’ve posted this before… it just fits so well.

Haiti: Still in Pieces

L’Eternel est mon berger.
Je ne manquerai de rien.   Psaume 23:1

I’ve been thinking about Haiti a lot lately… not that I ever stopped. So many things remind me of my time there. I never thought I would say this, but I miss Haiti. (Who am I kidding? I knew that this day would come. It always does.)

I want to go back, but what would I do there? What did I even do the first time around? It’s so difficult to really put a finger on the intangibles… though I suppose that’s why we call them intangible.

In order for me to survive in Haiti I had to put a wall around my heart. You see, I cry watching the news. I cry reading the news. I cry watching Oprah… heck, I cry during particularly moving commercials. I am tender hearted. Haiti is not an easy home for a tender heart. I would have died of grief had I not done something to protect myself. Problem is, I’m having a hard time deconstructing it. (If it we’re real I’d dance around it seven times with horns or something.)

Most days I am fine, though in my quiet times with God I am finding it impossible to get past a certain point with my heart. I hit a wall. I can feel it. I can’t quite touch it. I can’t quite reach it, but I can feel it. Sometimes I accidently jump over it into the sludge. I have a particularly close friend whom, whenever our usually joking conversation turns serious I end up weeping and talking about Haiti for at least 45 minutes. It’s happened several times now.

What’s a girl to do? I pray frequently for my friends there. I’ve toyed with the idea of going back on my own accord (Casey Johnson: Rogue Missionary. I like it.). I’ve thought about volunteering for J/P HRO.

I’m so afraid of forgetting… and afraid I’ll never heal. Jesus knows.

My Favorite Posts

I’ve been writing for a long time- sometimes I even write things worth reading. Here is a random sampling:

On Relationships

Free Falling

…forgets nothing

Perspective (Title Page)

Tragedy or Comedy?

Haiti: Hope for Marjolene

Haiti: J/P HRO Storm News

J/P HAITIAN RELIEF ORGANIZATION PETIONVILLE CAMP CONTINUES TO OPERATE UNDER EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS IN HAITI
Hospital Relocated to Nearby Gymnasium, No Major Injuries or Fatalities in Petionville Camp

9.27.2010 – LOS ANGELES, CA – On September 24th, a sudden and violent storm raged through Port-au-Prince, Haiti with the highest intensity levels hitting the J/P Haitian Relief Organization’s camp in Petionville significantly damaging portions of the organization’s infrastructure. However, due to diligent emergency preparedness by J/P HRO with the support of the United States Army’s Southern Command in the months following the earthquake, internally displaced persons at Petionville, once designated the “most susceptible topography to flood and mudslide,” remained remarkably safe with few minor injuries.

Due to heavy winds and rain, J/P HRO lost an office and living space (tents) for J/P HRO staff and volunteers. Also destroyed in the storm was a hospital, pharmacy and many medical supplies. J/P HRO staff and volunteers worked through the night to relocate the hospital and patients to a nearby gym at the Petionville Club. Within minutes of relocating, J/P HRO responders were receiving patients and dispatched a nurse and midwife to deliver a baby in a makeshift obstetrics ward. The early estimated damage to replace the infrastructure lost to J/P HRO in the storm is approximately $350,000.

Despite the setback from the storm, J/P HRO staffers continue to provide medical support and services for the 50,000 IDPs living in the Petionville camp under J/P HRO management. Other camps in Port-au-Prince and across the country did not weather the storm as effectively, as at least five fatalities have been reported and major flooding continue to devastate the region.

In recent weeks, J/P HRO and its heavy equipment wing have continued relocations into hard shelters in the Delmas 32 area where they have focused their highly successful rubble removal project. The relocations established by J/P HRO came under fire recently by Jean-Christophe Adrian, country manager for the United Nations Human Settlements Program, who told the Miami Herald that J/P HRO and U.S. Military were “completely wrong in evaluating the risks.” In fact, in the wake of last night’s storm, J/P HRO’s precautions very likely saved lives in the Petionville camp and certainly mitigated what could have been far worse damage.

“It has been a very difficult 24 hours for our team and the community they serve in Petionville, but they have weathered this storm with courage, and continue to perform heroic and vital services for the people of Haiti, even under the most dire of conditions,” said Sean Penn, founder of J/P HRO. “The combined efforts of J/P HRO and the U.S. Military dramatically minimized harm and damage to PAPS largest tent camp of internally displaced persons. Drainage mitigation and relocations that had been previously criticized by some U.N. organizations proved their value today. We have been shouting for months about the severity of the hurricane season, and last night underscores the importance for the need of sustained and smart support in the region.”

J/P Haitian Relief Organization is asking friends and supporters to help rebuild the lost infrastructure and to continue their efforts in Haiti. To donate, please visit http://www.jphro.org.

ABOUT J/P HRO
J/P Haitian Relief Organization is dedicated to providing long term support for the people of Haiti. Following the tragic earthquake of 2010 J/P HRO began working immediately to make an impact in Haiti. J/P HRO works with both government and non-government agencies to deliver immediate results where the need is greatest. Efforts include but are not limited to providing emergency medical and primary care services, delivering badly needed medical equipment and medicine, distributing food and water purification systems, improving communication systems, and developing housing and education facilities. The goal of J/P Haitian Relief Organization is to help lift the nation of Haiti out of the rubble and give the Haitian people a better life. More information can be found at http://www.jphro.org

Haiti: Storm

As you may have seen in the news, a storm hit Port au Prince yesterday. ‘Our’ tent city has not been spared. JP HRO reported this morning that their base camp and hospital have been wiped out and they’ve moved hospital operations into the country club’s weight room. I also just found out that the church so many of us spent so much time in blew down. God only knows what happened to all the shanty tents so many of our friends live in.

Please, please keep praying for the Haitians. Pray for Marjolene, June and Jhonnyka. Pray for the Carmele’s and their young families. Pray for the children.

JP HRO (the organization that runs the tent city we worked in) is asking for donations to get things up and running again. I feel like this is the best way to help right now- they are a super effective, organized and efficient operation. They need to get their base camp running again so they can help the 55,000 people living there get shelter over their heads. Donate here.

Photo snached from JP HRO’s Facebook page

Haiti Weekend at Cornerstone

Cornerstone is doing a Haiti Recap weekend this week at all three services. I am not sure what exactly that means and what all it entails, but I am sharing (very) briefly about my experiences there at the Saturday night service (which is at 6pm). Please come!

Tell the world!

It is appropriate to mourn the consequences of a fallen world.

Haiti: Re-Entry (Part One)

This is when it all falls apart.

The pressure to keep it all together is gone. The need to survive, to be strong, is gone. I am home.

The time has come to pick through my experiences. The time has come to grieve. The time to really feel the pain has come.

And I don’t want to talk about it. Not really. People keep asking about my trip. Want to hear the ‘highlights’. I don’t know what to say to them. Sometimes I joke that coming home was the highlight (maybe it really was). Sometimes I tell them to ask again in six months. Sometimes I just say it was really hard, but we saw God move.

But I really don’t know what I think of my time in Haiti. It was hard. It was hot. It was disappointing. It was dangerous. It was fruitful. I was obedient to God’s call and He moved. That’s what really matters… but that’s the part that seems the furthest away.

I don’t know how to process it all. I don’t know how to talk about it. I get together with people thinking I want to talk about it. I want help talking about it … then all I can do is cry. I can’t even articulate what I am feeling beyond the fact that I feel empty and broken. I feel done. I feel soul tired.

I need time alone to sort through things, but I feel like I’ve been alone for months and I am starved for company. I am tired of being alone, but how else can I pick this all apart? How can I get through it all if I keep occupying myself with everything else?

Where do I go next? How do I heal? I think it’s time for another road trip.