Our Open Hands

Sixth in a series

David Galloway

Muscle Memory 

The Singing Students

Deuteronomy 15:11 NIV 

It seems like everyone here in Port au Prince is poor and maybe so, compared to our standard of living back home. Some of the only exceptions might be the few who live in the hills. Based on even the best homes in the city or the vehicles that move over these rough and rocky roads, nobody in this town is wealthy, except in their hope and faith. This is my second mission trip to Haiti and both times we have crossed paths with at least two or three other mission teams. In some translations of our Deuteronomy verse, the term “open purse” appears. It is apropos on this island. Many have opened their purses for the people of Haiti. Christian Mission is big business in Haiti.

In the days of Deuteronomy the Israelites were in the early stages of grasping the full meaning of the law brought down from the mountain. They did not have the benefit of the Good News. Love had not yet come to town. The closed fist was more the order for the day rather than the open hand. The road to salvation was as uneven, bumpy and congested as intersections in the heart of Port au Prince. Thanks to the Prince of Peace and his teaching, we know today what love is and what it looks like. There are vans full of missionaries stuck in that traffic on the streets od Haiti. Love has come to town.

Benson at his school

So many scenes here joggle the senses, defy description. These reality adjustments fluctuate from horror to ecstasy. Saturday riding through market lined villages we saw a days dead cow laid and splayed across a table. The head was discolored so that we cannot find a color to describe it. At the other end of the spectrum were the voices of young adults coming from an upstairs classroom at the school our Benson teaches at singing in English “What a wonderful name it is.”

The difference between an open purse and an open hand is Love. The opposite of an open hand is the closed fist. Through the action of grabbing and clutching close, of the taking, keeping and fighting the hand is first to close into a fist. It is through the muscle memory of our human condition. The habit of the hand through the centuries is to close. My Orthopedic Nurse wife Patti tells me muscles in action are contracting. Muscles in relaxation are extending. It is through our open hands we extend the Love of Christ to our world. 

Father may we bring relaxing rest found in your Son to a contracted world. Amen 

Amen Brothers and Sisters

Bradford Bosworth

September, 2018

Grateful for Grace

Fifth in a series.

Tuscany Girls Bible Study (Kelly, Cookie, Marguerite, Sharon, Margaret, Gaye and Patti)

Acts 13:47 & Ephesians 2:8

Beauty Shop

When we stop and consider the verse from Acts, we realize that Christianity at that time in the world was at its mustard seed beginnings, confined to a very minuscule area of the globe when contrasted to present times. Today it is the faith that keeps the world on its axis. Certainly, Christianity’s influence played a critical role in the founding of our nation we call America. Yet today Christianity here and around the world is hanging by threads. For today’s disciples it is not really any different than the original 12 were experiencing during the time of Acts. I believe the Gentiles in today’s context is- the world- of course, the light is Jesus and our salvation is He who is Love. Haiti is only a three-hour flight from Atlanta and we did not even change time zones. There are times on the ground here however, when one feels as if he is at the end of the earth. 

Haiti Deaf Academy

If you were to revisit 1 Corinthians 13 in the King James Version, you would see the word charity used multiple times in the context of love. If one was to explore the roots of that word they would find a connection to gratitude or gratefulness. Today we visited Haiti Deaf Academy and we heard few spoken words but there was much conversation going on with these children. The sign we saw most often today was two fingers touching the chin and the hand then extending toward us. The were saying thank you! They did not even have to make this gesture for the entire team was already being washed in His Grace. As has been the case the past five days the mission team was being saved over and over by His Grace!

Let the little children

My contribution to the team this week has been preparing eyeglasses in our optical clinic. I have had dozens of occasions to hand a finished packaged pair of glasses to the patient. It would always, 100%, every time, be immediately followed with a humble twinkle in the eye soft-spoken, “Merci.” Merci is the French word for thank you. The is no doubt in my mind God showers Grace upon us, His mercy, a gift that says, “Thankyou good and faithful servant.”

Father, may we always be of a disciple mindset contributing to the expansion of your Kingdom to the ends of the Earth. Amen

Bradford Bosworth 

September, 2018

Spectrum of Love

4th in a series.

Patti and Hal Bosworth

9 Facets of Love

1 Corinthians 13

My wife Patti has been preparing for an upcoming women’s retreat in which she will have a leadership role which includes giving a talk titled “Body of Christ.” I have had the benefit of being an audience of one as she has practiced. Christ is alive. The Son of God is manifested in our world today in many. You and I are the hands and feet. The Church has left the building. The Apostle Paul’s treatise on Love, our scripture for today, is indeed another way of describing the perfect “Body of Christ.” 

Patti & Junior

In his book “The Greatest thing in the World” nineteenth century evangelist Henry Drummond writes about the 13th Chapter of 1 Corinthians in an amazing fashion. He refers to verses 4-6 as the spectrum of love. “It is like light. As you have seen a scientist take a beam of light and pass it through a crystal prism, as you have seen it come out on the other side of the prism broken up unto it’s component colors-red, blue, yellow, violet, orange, and all the colors of the rainbow- so Paul passes this thing, love, through the magnificent prism of his inspired intellect and it comes out on the other side broken up into its elements. The Spectrum of love has nine ingredients.”
I am taking the liberty of coupling these ingredients, as stated by Drummond, together with the nine other missionaries who I have had the pleasure this week to serve with. Every Mission team is the Body of Christ.

Into Action

Patience – “Love suffereth long.” Carol, “…wearing the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.”
Kindness – “And is kind.” – Jane, “…simply making people happy, doing good deeds for people.”
Generosity – “Love envieth not.” – Patti – “…fortified with the grace of magnanimity.”
Humility – Love vaunteth not itself is not puffed up.” – Lee,“…after love has done it’s beautiful work, go back into the shade again and say nothing about it.”
Courtesy – “ Doth not behave itself unseemly.” – Lori, “The one secret of politeness is to love.”
Good Temper – “Is not easily provoked.”- Beverly, “Souls are made sweet not by taking the acid fluids out but by putting something in -a great love, a new spirit, the spirit of Christ.

Guilelessness – “Thinketh no evil.” – Charles, “It is a wonderful thing that here and there in this hard, uncharitable world there are still a few rare souls who think no evil.
Sincerity – “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.” – Bill, “The person who loves, will love truth wholeheartedly.”

Unselfishness – “Seeketh not her own.” -Cheri, “there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving.” 

Patience and Sincerity in the Pharmacy

If Jesus was walking the earth today, He would embody all these facets in the spectrum of Love perfectly. Love is the perfect will of God. I pray almost daily that I would understand His will for me and live it out. I am assured by hanging in with the above listed Body of Christ this week I am moving closer to His will for us.

Yahweh, may we desire in each moment to remain in your will as a perfect re-presentation of your precious Son. Amen.

Bradford Bosworth                                                                                              September, 2018

Kinder Heaven

Third in a series.

Ed Hogg

Isaiah 55:12-13

Bev, Patti & Heaven

We have one big change to our mission trip this year and it has to do with children. We have been given a blessing on our team in the appearance of Beverly. She is a preschool teacher back home and on this mission trip we have reintroduced VBS (Vacation Bible School) as part of our mission. So far, three of the four clinics we have set up have been in Schools. Bev, being a picture of joy has added a new facet of God’s Grace to our experience with her VBS leadership.

In our Isaiah scripture for today we have a joyful praise described in ways that stretch an adult’s imagination in a Disneyesque way: “the mountains and hills will burst into song…” I believe the Prophet is trying to describe heaven in these verses: “And all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.” The pragmatic adult in me says only at the Magic Kingdom can we see trees clapping their hands. Bah Humbug! The child in me says, “I wanna go see Mickey!”

Hanging Crosses

Watching the little children respond to our mission team generally but to Bev specifically the last couple days has caused me think of Jesus’ words in Matthew 19:14. “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” The conditions on the ground here are devastating and alarming to the visitor. The atmosphere and environment defies description. Yet the little children are pictures of joy and happiness. The adults visiting Haiti for the first time might see the thornbush. These children see juniper. The hungry and tired mission adult sees briars. The children see myrtle.

It is for certain that in bringing to these people of Haiti the gift of the Light of life in the form of our servant’s hearts we also have received gifts of Grace from their meek and humble hearts. But it is the children who through their innocent acceptance have shown us real glimpses of heaven that will endure with us forever, all for the Lord’s renown.

The Kingdom of Heaven

Yahweh, may we go out in joy and peace and get a little closer to heaven today, Amen.

Bradford Bosworth                                                                                                                     September, 2018

A Believer's Triumph

2nd in a series.

Brenda and Warren (In Memoriam) Taylor

Romans 8:31-39

I had just awakened from an in-flight nap. I had been slumbering in a window seat and my first conscious view was a spectacular Caribbean coastline sloping gently upward to a moderate mountain range. The expansive Caribbean Sea had a million ripples shimmering like a piece of turquoise jewelry sparkling under a hot tropical sun. I thought to myself we should be landing in Cancun shortly. What the….? Wait? Had I boarded onto the plane departing from the gate next to ours this morning? Then the plane began its decent. Suddenly I was brought back to full cognizance. I saw from above a sea of sheet metal lean-to shacks and trash lined streets. We were about to land in Port au Prince, Haiti. This scene of abject poverty and third world squalor is a far cry from a resort vacation destination.

What a joy it was when we stepped foot on Haitian soil. Our ground support team of local men greeted us with grateful recognition and when my eyes met our three-hundred-pound teddy bear security guard named Eric, it was as if no time had passed since we were here one year ago. It was apparent once again, no trouble or hardship nor danger or protest could separate us from the Love of Christ that binds this team to these our Haitian stewards. A man, Warren Taylor, whose favorite scripture guides this reflection, left us this past year. Through our shared faith, I am assured he is now face to face with that Love and Peace that surpasses our worldly understanding.

On many levels these Haitian in our clinics today face death all day long. In fact, today Patti and our medical team encountered an elderly lady who, from all of their discovery, was in a terminal condition which had gone untreated. The odds are she has a tumor in her abdomen which because of fluid build up appears as though she might be pregnant. She like all of her people are more than conquerors. In all the manifestations of God’s Love I have witnessed here, non was more than the witness of Patti, Dr. Jacobs and translator Jonathan laying hands on and praying over this woman child of God today.

Abba, may we always be mindful that there is nothing that can separate us from the eternal love that manifested in the glorious Love of your precious Son. 

Amen Brother Warren

Bradford Bosworth

September, 2018

The Body Temple

First in a series.

Diane and Randy Pettit

1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 NIV

Much of team preparation for this mission trip is about the preventative maintenance of our individual health. For the first timer, it is a daunting proposition to secure all the immunizations required. About the only vaccination I could credit to my record was a Diphtheria Tetanus shot. The conditions in Haiti are such that the list of preventative drugs is long and intimidating to someone who only ingests a once a day vitamin and occasional ibuprofen. Our recommended list includes injected Hepatitis A and Polio vaccines. As well there are pills prescribed to ward off Typhoid and Malaria. We must be judicious about how we drink the water on the island, carefully zapping with a SteriPEN each vessel containing the H2O.

Bathroom in Haiti - lacking infrastructure.

The Haitian people live every day in a land with little infrastructure to speak of, including accessible medical treatment facilities. Recently this country has ranked second only to Afghanistan with the highest maternity/neonatal mortality rate on the planet. There is also an abnormally prevalent incidence of high blood pressure within the populace. Today our team is traveling to this Caribbean island with the purpose helping Haitian folk to better honor God with their bodies. For a week we will travel to different Churches and schools around Port au Prince setting up medical and optical triage clinics to attend to prescreened patients. We will diagnose and treat everything from hypertension to ear infection to nearsightedness.

Clinic window view

In his epistle, the Apostle Paul was admonishing Christians of the Church in Corinth because they were allowing their prideful fleshly desires to get in the way of God’s wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit. The Haitian people we serve do not have the means and methods found in most societies to maintain their bodies, yet their faith has formed within them a welcoming sanctuary for the Holy Spirit. It is amazing grace that abounds throughout each clinic when we minister to these gratefully humble people.

Abba, may we always maintain within, the open and humble heart of your precious Son, so your Spirit may flow freely through us. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

September, 2018

Haiti Mission Devotional Series

First in a series.

Reward Reflections 

On the surface, participating in a mission trip is all about being of service to the people who are the focus of the mission. In our case, the people are generally Haitian folk and specifically people in the immediate vicinity of the teeming metropolis of Port au Prince, Haiti. At the very heart and soul of every missionary’s call is the reward that comes from one of life’s mysterious divine paradoxes: by giving, one receives, (see Matthew 10:29-31). The reward which comes back to the giver is always bigger, deeper, richer than the original act. It is Grace rolling like circular ripples from a pebble tossed into a still and quiet pond.

A year ago, I was preparing to participate in my very first mission trip. I had placed my complete trust in an ebullient strawberry blond woman named Patti. She was an experienced mission veteran having been to Haiti five straight years. At the time, she was my girlfriend. She is now my wife and my reward. I am a blessed man. This year I am transitioning from mission rookie into a barely seasoned veteran and from being a roomie with Charles, one of our Mission Leaders, to now bunking with my new bride. The honeymoon is not over.

2017 Missionaries

At our St. Andrew United Methodist Church there is a middle schooler named C.J. Barfield. He is being raised by his grandparents. I first became aware of him when during Sunday service announcements it was pointed out, that in celebration of his birthday C.J. had set up a donation box to raise money for this Haiti Mission trip. He is the youngest member of our mission supporters. He has suggested humanity’s reward- John 3:16- as scripture. It is the basis for a simple preparatory devotion.

C.J. Barfield

John 3:16 (NIV) 

I am partial to the old fashion tried and true way of reading a book, opening the cover and turning pages. I resist opportunities to try digitized eBooks. There is something that furthers my engagement with a story that the sense of touch gives me. In reading the Word of God, I’ll take this preference a step further. Oftentimes when I go to look up a specific piece of referenced scripture, verses coming before or after grab and speak more loudly to me. It is the case with C.J.’s recommendation today:  John 3:15: “that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” 

Everyone who is a member of this mission team is a believer. Our local support translator/interpreters are believers and the people who are patients at the clinics we set up are believers. The ministering back and forth between and amongst all in this cast of characters fosters within the eternal mindset of Christ. We find ourselves in the world not of the world and fruit springs forth in a barren land. There are instants when we all stand amazed in silence without words, speaking together the silent language of Love which needs not an interpreter.

The noise of poverty becomes a joyful song pouring grace out over the rocky rubble of a hope filled land. All believers long to keep the gifts of grace and mercy bestowed upon them. To do so we must constantly give them away. 

Abba, thank you for the mysteries of your creation. May we always remain abiding in your eternal Love as represented by your precious Son. Amen 

***** 

Tap Tap - Haitian Rapid Transit

Patti & Brad's 2018 Sponsors

David Galloway, Patti and Hal Bosworth, Ed Hogg, Brenda and (Warren Taylor in Memoriam), Susan and John Fleming, Diane and Randy Pettit, The Tuscany Girls’ Bible Study, (Gaye, Kelly, Sharon, Marguerite, Margaret, and Cookie).

Were someone to ask me to rank the most rewarding moments or perhaps most rewarding aspects of my life, I would list personal relationships as #1. I am hard pressed to live without love. Love underlies all our most cherished and memorable relationships. I remember in the early 80’s as a new- commission only- sales trainee in the financial services business a man named Tom O’Haren declaring the simplicity of the job as, “It’s all about the relationship!” The names of the sponsors listed above epitomize that statement! Four are sponsors returning from last year and three are new for 2018.

One is a best friend relationship going all the way back to high school days in Chattanooga, Tn. Counting a half century now we’ve witnessed each others successes and failures. Another is now my only surviving sibling. A blood brother relationship, he has been present for me in my most crowning achievements and on my darkest days. The women we share our lives with have the same first name and just recently the last name as well. A friend who became a widow this year and her husband- in memoriam- is a relationship born of recovery and sobriety. It is a relationship where their presence taught and allowed me to become able to be truly present for others. Two men who were my roommates 35 years ago and sat in that same training room and heard from the same man exclaim, “It’s all about the relationship!” The three of us would reconnect after a quarter century via “Walk to Emmaus.” There’s a couple, dear friends whom I have known for thirty years. He hired me and was my boss for fifteen years. I sponsored both on “Walk to Emmaus.” My wife Patti’s bible study group of Godly women whose fellowship relationship has been so critical to her and now my faith walk. We thank Abba for all these angels in our life path and pray that we might be angels in the path of all we meet on our Haiti journey. Amen 

Child at Haiti Deaf Academy silently signing "I love you!"

John 15:12-17 

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

Amen Brothers and Sisters

Bradford Bosworth

September 2018

On another note:

Get the flavor of our mission to Haiti and an orientation for next week's devotional series by checking out the series from 2017.

Here are the links:

2017 Haiti Devotional Series

Humbled in Haiti

Palms and Patterns

Tenderly Teachable

Not Forgotten Nor Forsaken

A Universal Language

Bougainvillea Beautiful

Find Your Gifts

Have No Fear

Sisters, Drivers and Teddy Bears