Bougainvillea Beautiful

Tuesday, September 26, 2017                                                                                                                                                 (6^th in a series)

Better Bougainvillea

Isaiah 55:12-13

Ed Hogg

Over the past week I have asked myself, “If this is what Haiti looks like now, what must it have looked like after the 2010 earthquake?” The answer begging for acceptance is, “Not much different.” There is no apparent infrastructure in and around the huge steaming municipality that is Port-Au-Prince. Basic amenities like bathrooms, plumbing and consistent electrical wiring exist in a dark ages time warp. It is a city of razor wire and rebar, cinder block and barred windows. Around every corner I expect we will be entering a “nicer” neighborhood. That district never appears.  There is no apparent sanitation initiative. The only word that appears an appropriate descriptor is desolation.

Today’s scripture is speaking to me here this way: Instead of a prickly thornbush, look for the juniper tree, and instead of briars find myrtle.  Old Testament Profit Isaiah, ever the eternal optimist, is showing me how to make chicken salad out of, oh well, I better not go there. You get the drift. Seriously though, you and I will find what we look for. It has happened that way for our mission team here in Haiti. In spite of the oppressive heat and spartan surroundings where we set up our clinics, we experience almighty grace and beauty because of the presence of the Lord in the humble nature of these remarkable people.

When we have stopped to catch our breath and look around, in the midst of the ruts and rubble, there on top of a razor wire covered cinder block wall is a beautiful bougainvillea bush with vibrant red and white blooms! Surely, we know this allure is for the Lord’s renown.

Sunday, we worshipped with the locals. The experience was a piece of heaven on Earth. Then we set our clinic up on a second floor overlooking a small valley that held another large open-air house of worship. The land burst into song before us and we were reminded that His Love endures forever!

Abba, may we go out in joy and be led forth in the peace of your precious Son. Amen.

Bradford Bosworth

A Universal Language

(5^th in a series)

The Language of Love

John 15:1-7

Randy Pettit 

Even with a cursory glimpse or review of Haiti’s history one can glean that there has been and still is a continuous thread of corruption and greed in the upper echelons of the political power base. Slavery has been ever present on this tropical island since Columbus literally stumbled upon it in Christmas of 1492. Thusly he named the place he found “La Navidad” and then his settlers turned around and forced the native Taino people into slavery. Today almost 600 years later the Haitian people are still enslaved, now by poverty.

How do we apply today’s scripture to these people? To the untrained eye there is little or no fruit here. To eyes of the world the deforested infertile land here is not suitable for growing ragweed! I want to ask Abba, the vinedresser, “Why these people”? I find myself searching for branches that bear fruit. Now I am in the vineyard closer to the Vine. On the third day I saw four young men already clean because of the Word spoken to them. These members of the “priesthood of all believers” have been our interpreters. On a Saturday morning upon arrival at the Haiti Deaf Academy their role changed.

We saw them bear a glorious fully ripe and sweet fruit with the young children who, without words, spoke the universal language of Christ, a quiet language of Love. As all who were present joyfully remained in him and he in us, the young men, who at first thought they could do nothing, suddenly were able to do everything in service to these beautiful ones. It was a miracle, a beautiful thing. The teachers became the students as the youngsters gleefully taught us all about sign language. If the children could have spoken they might have said, “Se’ yon bil bagay!”

Father may we be ever mindful that none of us can bear fruit by ourselves. May we desire always to abide in your precious Son. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Not Forgotten nor Forsaken.

Sunday, September 24, 2017 (fourth in a series)

Haiti Deaf Academy

Deuteronomy 31:6 and Hebrews 13-5

Joyce and Michael Newsom

I often subscribe to the belief that we, the American people, are the same as the Israelites, God’s chosen people. Our ancestral pilgrims settled in a promised land, a land flowing of milk and honey. Oh how evident it is that we have forgotten from whence we came. But, you know what? These Haitian people, they too are God’s chosen people. Maybe they have just not found their Moses yet nor crossed through their Red Sea. Do you want to know something? These people are strong and courageous!

A few days ago our team arrived here on the heels of four ferocious hurricanes that passed by this island also known as Hispaniola. It is as if God has said to these people, I will not forsake you, my children, you have enough on your hands now and I have some of my other children who need a wake-up call! I’m not sure if Joyce and Mike intended it? A link exists that ties these two pieces of scripture together across a millennium or more. Moses’ exhortation, “Be strong and courageous.” is repeated by his successor (Joshua 1:9). In Hebrews, the writer is reminding his audience - Jewish Christians- that the covenant of Moses, carried forward by Joshua, has been superseded by the new covenant of Christ Jesus. Our presence here is now about the Love of Christ.

Our mission team’s humbly joyful interpreter/guides are mere boys content with what they have. Gel, Achka, Benson and Jhon are the vines bearing fruit that brings daily the new covenant Love of Christ to the poor. The chosen people of Haiti know the Lord has said to them, “Never will I leave you.”

Yahweh, through all the storms of our lives may we remember that nothing can separate us from your Love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Tenderly Teachable

Saturday, September 23. 2017

(3rd in a series)

Psalms 25:4-5

Chuck Whiteside

One week ago, I was serving on a men’s Walk to Emmaus retreat and just as this weekend, that effort started in earnest on a Thursday evening. A dozen times I have made that Emmaus journey and it always happens. After about forty-eight hours or sometime Saturday afternoon or evening I reach acquiescence, lose the world’s ties that bind. A similar surrender is happening on this mission to Haiti. Initially my search for truth in the suffering here led me to label impoverished Haitians as victims and look for villains to blame. That type of thinking - akin to fantasy – resides either in the past or in the future. It is of the world, time bound. If I am absorbed in the time bound thinking of the world, then I most certainly will miss Truth in the circumstances here now.  The Truth in Port-au-Prince here and now is that the people are not stuck trying to find someone to blame for their living conditions. During the Delmas rush hour on Friday they were busy living their lives. Most, are certainly not even aware of an adjective, “third world” used elsewhere around the world to describe Haiti as a country.

Today’s scripture “Show me your ways Lord” reminds us to let go and let God. As we gain our measure of humility from serving these humble people, do we also receive teach ability, a most critical characteristic of a humble nature. We are all in our right mind when we are teachable.

My divine image of this day was the earnestness and purpose in all the mothers’ eyes guiding their nattily dressed little ones to school. My dream for them? That these women would have faith and hope all day long knowing the children will be guided in His Truth.

Abba, may we be so fortunate to receive one nugget, one morsel of wisdom from our experience today, so we might carry that message back to from whence we came. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Palms and Patterns

Friday, September 22, 2017
(2nd in a series)

  Romans 12:2 (NIV)

John McCorkle & John Fleming

In the recovery fellowship to which I belong, one will often hear something like, “I will be in trouble if I stay in the world and visit the program. But, if I stay in the program and visit the world, then I’ll be fine.” I believe this idea, in part, is what Paul is writing about in his letter to the earliest Roman Christians. It begs us to ask ourselves, “Am I in the world or of the world?”  It is why I like the NIV translation of this scripture: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world…” Pattern invokes the idea of a template or format; a preset guide (see conventional wisdom) that we can view when confused or uncertain. Conforming to the pattern of this world is being of the world.

Delmas, Port-Au-Prince

On this first full day of apostolic mission work in this place called Haiti, I am literally full-fledged emotional that God has placed me here now. The team is so blessed; and guess what? We will be in this world certainly because we have no real basis to be of this world here. I suspect it is why missionaries love what they do, eager to return to their mission fields because it is as close as one can get to being completely in the world.

Another way I am blessed today is that I can look back at yesterday’s devotion and draw on Paul’s urging, “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus,” and marvel at the wonder of how the Word can weave for us a pattern of truth that is eternal and all encompassing. Our activity here in this little struggling part of God’s unbridled creation demands we adopt the same mindset as Christ as much as we are humanly able. Then, most likely, without even being aware of it, we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds. God is good!

Abba, may we more and more conform to the model you sent for us, your Precious Son, that we might be more in the world than of the world. Amen

Bradford Bosworth