Haiti

For those who want more info on the situation in Haiti... here is a link to the World Missions page showing some of what the Church of God is doing in the Carribean nation.

http://www.cogwm.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2683&Itemid=60

Haiti Earthquake and Africa

It was impossible for me to scan the newsletter properly because I don't have the correct program. However, thought I would place the letter I received from my good friend, Lloyd Frazier, here above. Perchance you know how to lift it out and manipulate it so you can read the report in Lloyd's exact words. If not, here are the pictures below - and my own assessment of the situation as I see it.

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake measuring 7.0 hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It reduced the capital city to rubble. So far we hear that there are over 200,000 people who have died. Bulldozers are being used to dig huge holes and bury the dead in mass graves. Most of them are un-identified...and their loved ones may never know where there remains are.

Three close friends of mine were in Haiti when this disaster struck and they barely escaped with their lives. The car they were riding in had a huge concrete and stone wall to fall on it, killing the driver instantly. The driver was the supervisor of our Church of God churches in Haiti. My friends, Lloyd Frazier, Lovell and Ginny Cary, (the Cary's are in their 80s) managed to crawl out the back door and walk almost two miles to safety. They are now safe and recuperating at their homes here in Cleveland, TN.

Haiti is the country in the western hemisphere that is most like Africa. Haiti's history has lots of African customs that have been transported to the West - plus one notable custom - Voodoo (Witchcraft). Because of that, many are quick to jump on the judgment band-wagon. The trouble with making that kind of judgment that says this destruction is an "act of an angry God" begins when trouble comes to good people. I remember a tornado destroying a Methodist church in Alabama...Hurricanes destroying many churches in Florida...and other such disasters hitting righteous people here in America. Can you imagine the rejoicing inside the Mosques of the Taliban when Katrina hit the USA? If you listened in on their comments about the H1N1 virus hitting the USA would you hear them saying it was what "the great satan" deserved. (You do know that "the great satan" is their name for the USA, right?) Maybe Pat Robertson and others who have made statements about Haiti have not read the book of Job! Why do bad things happen to good people? Answer: We don't know. We do know that God is a just God and He is in charge. We shall leave all these events in His hands. We will "Love our enemies" and "Pray for those who despitefully use us."

Haiti, like most of Africa, is smitten with extreme poverty. For years now I have pondered the question: How can this be when it is so near the shores of the USA? Further, how can there be such abject destitution and hardship in Haiti when, on the same island, the Dominican Republic has a degree of income much better than Haiti? I still search for an answer to that question.

African Dignitaries

I never liked the spotlight. When I started traveling to Africa I was frequently met by large delegations of people who were singing songs of welcome to the missionary. I was concerned that they had spent their hard-earned money to travel miles on a bus, some buying food, others going without, just so they could meet their "Field Director". They would pay large amounts of money to have a huge banner painted especially for the occasion...which many times was used just for one day. I discouraged them from doing this often. I tried not to offend them but fear that some of them mis-understood my aim. Yet it pained me so much to see them spending their funds in that manner. To them it was an expression of love and appreciation.

Sometimes our African leaders wanted to have me meet high-ranking government officials. I was never comfortable meeting them. Yet, it came with my job. I've met Kings and Queens and Princes and Princesses and Presidents in many different places in Africa. It seems that there are so many of them it would be almost impossible NOT to meet at least one, even if you went for only a short visit. I've met some who were attempting to use their birth to some special family for monetary gain. I'm sure they have tricked some into believing they were more important than they actually were. I was introduced to a Vice President and invited to have "tea" with him. I sat about three chairs behind and to the right of Mr. Frederick J. Chiluba when he was President of Zambia. We spent a very pleasant time in church with the man. He impressed me as an honest and down-to-earth leader. We went on an inspection tour of some properties he had contributed funds towards, the Edwin King School, in Lusaka Zambia.

The bottom line - when we get to church - or the work of the church, it is my view that it does not matter what title we hold among the societies of men. What matters is "Do we know God? Do we have faith in God?" You see, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." That's why I was so pleased to hear the remarks of this President about all people who come to a place of worship and who believe in God must all bow to the same God.

Hope you enjoy the video.

Set To Win In 2010

A few days ago at a church nearby, I declared that I was going to be a winner in 2010. I said, "I'm Set To Win in 20-Ten". It just came out that way. I had not deliberated on the thought before but it seemed the right thing to say at the time. The more I thought on it the more I realized I like this theme. This is not just a statement of a positive attitude or even faith in God for ourselves to be winners. I believe that you and I (who have a desire to win the lost) are particularly "set" in our places by the Lord to win the lost around us. For readers of this blog, you may share the burden that I feel, especially for the lost in Africa. It is God who places these burdens on us. I really should choose a better word than "burden" because that implies a heaviness that I do not feel when I think of Africa. Maybe the better word is "love for" ... I love Africa. I have a desire to help the people in Africa. By living there for over nine years I've been privileged to help a few with a hand-out and a hand-up. I no longer live there but I can still pray for them to be saved. So can you. It is the will of God for them to be saved. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life!"

In that verse of Scripture lies the reason I feel set to WIN in 20Ten. I can win someone to Christ because it is what God wants. I'm not restricted by distance. I can win someone who lives close to me. That's why I'm here...to be a winner for myself in all ways - i.e., life, marriage, finances; and in song, word and spirit.

This video is one of the trips I've taken into the Masaai Mara in Kenya. While living there, it was always a lot cheaper for me to visit the parks than it was for visitors. Residents got a huge discount. Therefore in the earliest days (in the late '80s and early '90s) I would buy the yearly pass at an even better discount. Then when visitors came I did not have to squeeze the extra pennies out of the personal budget in order to go with them to the national parks. This video was made after I had moved back to the states and was on a visit with two other preachers from here who wanted to "see the animals". Tis a bonus for those who live and work there.