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


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