For several days now, I have wanted to sit down and write to reflect upon my recent missions trip to Carrefour, Haiti. The Lord has given me some time to do that now, so I offer the following thoughts as reflections and lessons that I learned--some humorous, some quirky, and some (potentially) life-changing.
1. I have never felt so tall in my life--especially since my church in Montezuma is like the land of the giants! I think I could be a good basketball player in Haiti.
2. I believe I realized for the first time how many little comforts we have in the United States. Even our toilet paper is comfortable! Many of the things that we take for granted in the US cannot be taken for granted in Haiti. Electricity was unreliable in our area (though we enjoyed the benefit of having batteries in our host's home that charged while the power was on), water pressure was low (water was gravity-fed through the plumbing from a tank on top of the house), car rides were bumpy and rough (due to the condition of the streets), and air conditioning was very sparse.
But the lack of certain material things and certain comforts made me think of Jesus' statement from Luke 12:15--"Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luk 12:15 ESV). It would be mistaken to judge the quality of life in Haiti based on a material standard. To be sure, many Haitians have limited access to the necessities of life, such as food, clean water, and shelter from the elements. To minimize their plight would be a grave error, indeed. But this trip challenged me to reconsider what the material necessities of life truly are. Should I conclude that most Haitians have a lower quality of life than I do simply because they have far fewer possessions? I think such a standard would not only be unbiblical, but insulting to God, who alone gives us abundant life (John 10:10).
3. Driving in Haiti is kind of like improv music--you start out with some basic guidelines, and then you make it up from there.
4. During this trip, I came face to face with the obstacles that wealth can create within relationships. I am vastly wealthy compared to most Haitians, and for a few people that we met, this differential in wealth created a hindrance to developing a genuine friendship. A handful of people that we met seemed to view us like genies, as though we could grant their every wish for material things with a snap of our fingers. This small minority continually asked us for gifts--from the sunglasses we were wearing to cash gifts of up to $100.
I have to think that it would be very easy for Haitian people to view us this way. Everyone on my team had the luxury of leaving their jobs behind for a while, traveling to a foreign country, and bringing enough expendable cash along to buy some souvenirs and give small gifts to those who graciously served us around our host's home. I wouldn't blame them for thinking that money really does grow on trees in the United States.
For this small minority of people that we met, our differences in wealth seemed to be a hindrance that would not allow genuine relationships to be established. This observation made me think how often this same dynamic takes place in the United States. We all have differing financial situations, but do we allow these differences to prevent us from developing genuine relationships with each other? Do I allow another person's poverty or wealth to change the way I relate to them, or my willingness to love them? Am I more like this handful of people than I would like to admit?
5. The previous observation helped me realize that greed and covetousness are equal-opportunity temptations. It doesn't matter how much money you have or how many possessions you own--you can still be greedy for more, selfish with what you have, and jealous of those who have something that you want. I realized for the first time that Paul's warning about the love of money in 1 Tim. 6 was almost certainly written to people who would be considered poor compared to me. As a middle-class American, I am one of the wealthiest people in history. The people of whom Paul wrote and to whom Paul wrote almost certainly had less material wealth than I do, yet they needed to be warned about the love of money. How much more do I need to heed that warning!
6. I believe I have realized a bit more just how comfortable my life has really been. Even by American standards, my life has been pretty comfortable, but this observation makes we wonder if I have allowed myself to become so comfortable in this life that I have lessened my longing for the next life--life in heaven with God, free from the curse of sin that permeates this world.
I could compare my life to a warm, comfortable bed. Think about curling up under a down comforter on a pillow top mattress. That's comfort, and no one ever has a longing to get out of a bed like that. Why would you want to leave such comfort?
In the same way, there is very little in my life today that would make me eager to leave it behind. However, have I become numbed to the promised blessings of heaven because this life has been so comfortable to me? Have I let the soothing sounds of comfort drown out the cries of a redeemed heart that longs for the things above rather than the things that are on earth (Col. 3:2)? I think this lesson more than any other will leave me wrestling with my heart for a long time to come.
