Today, from New Horizon Home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Posts Tagged with Haiti
All Things?
Last week Tetona Dunlap from the Times News came by and interviewed me and then later ran this front page article, Following Ordeal , A Refuge for Haitian Girls is Created. I’ll be the first to tell you that where we are today is not where we thought we would be four years ago. Our aim was too short sighted. Our purpose was narrow in perspective. But following the ordeal, God has done for His glory. The pleasure for me is not in where we are, but rather what God still has in store for His glory and our joy in Him.
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (Romans 8:26-30 NASB)
I’ll probably learn from this for the rest of my life, the value of reflecting on those days is how God provided. Not to reflect on how hard those days were, but how good God was.
It took me time to put my pride aside. I wanted at first to clarify to people what happened so that people wouldn’t look at me the way the media portrait had painted me. I still find this urge to defend what happened as a gross injustice. But listen, to realize that what God was doing, and still is doing, and always will be doing, has been the most liberating reality in better understanding the nature of God. God is at liberty to cause discomfort in my life for his glory. God is even fair to walk me through a dark valley for his glory. And His doing this for His sake is for my good.
Times News picture gallerySBC LIFE
Today the Baptist Press article that ran at Baptist Press last month was in print at SBCLIFE, a journal of the Southern Baptist Convention on page 16.
Here is a link to the SBCLIFE article. With some additional information from the Southern Baptist Executive Committee.
The part of greatest joy for me in this is that for the past 12 months God has been using Eastside Baptist Church to be involved in something bigger than we could imagine. New Horizon Home, a ministry of Eastside Baptist Church, is moving our 20 girls into a new home this weekend and preparing to receive 10 more girls in need of a home.
Where it is a pleasure to look back and see the kind hand of God in a difficult season of life, I can’t stop blessing the Lord for His ongoing kindness to use this church in Idaho to provide food, housing, care, spiritual teaching and education to our daughters in Haiti.
A New House for New Horizon Home
It is hard to believe, at times, that just one year ago Eastside Baptist Church began her first overseas ministry post. We have surely been partnered with others who do similar work around the world. We have without a doubt been to many places in the past decade. But New Horizon International was first birthed from the painful experience God walked this faithful body of believers through over four years ago. For the past 12 months God has provided beyond what we could ask or imagine. There are 20 beautiful girls who trust God to provide for their needs at New Horizon Home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
We have paid a month-to-month rent to Mr. Touze, our landlord, for the past 12 months. He’s been very kind and generous. We pray that God will bless him and his ongoing business adventures.
The Lord’s people at Eastside Baptist Church have been faithfully following the Lord in this God sized ministry.
Late last week our director at New Horizon Home, Alex, signed paper work to begin taking possession of a permanent address. A place the girls will call home, God willing, as they grow in favor with Him. New Horizon Home will pay $5,000.00 per year for the coming 10 years for our new house. May the Lord show his faithfulness and glory with as much joy as he has these past 12 months. May his favor rest upon this home.
Here are a few photos of our new home. We are aiming at May 10, 2014 as our moving in day. There are a few mild repairs to be done and a lot of dusting and cleaning. But before long… this house will become home to our girls.
Discouragement, That Leach Draining Me of My Hope
If disappointment is an un-caged beast then discouragement is a leach draining me of my hope.
Reflecting on February 11, 2010–
Most of that day was waiting! I did laundry, talked, laughed, read, sang, read, napped, wrote, re-read notes from Renee and waited. This day reminded me of how selfish my outer man is unless the Spirit gives direction. I find that if direction is not given to my feelings, I begin to feel sorry for myself and the cloud of great unknowns lay like a blinding fog on top of everything.
The only place I could be alone was in the bathroom area for any length of time, and even then not left alone for long. I walked through the damp sheet that separates the hallway from the bathroom and immediately begin to splash through the poorly drained floors that must be filled with everything that doesn’t drain. I splash my way to a stall and begin to weep with my face to the wall.
I pondered; Why do I have to hide my emotions from the others? Why can’t I keep discouragement from latching itself upon me like a leach and draining me of my hope? Why did I send word on to Silas to come with me? Why this fear? Can I endure a conviction of guilt? What has happened to my name? Will anyone ever respect me again? Can I live the rest of my life separated from Renee? Why does the proof of our innocence have to go through this agony? Why do they have to continue putting beans in my rice?
I found myself complaining to God, thus proving my completely selfish nature that plagues me all the days of my life. Is this my ‘thorn in my flesh’? I can’t believe I’m complaining to you God. You graciously provided. You are not unjust to give me Hell, yet you have chosen to receive glory from me. And look at me, complaining. I’m suffocating in my selfishness.
I would weep to hear from God.
Then… the Psalms would lodge themselves in my mind. I would begin to preach to myself a non-disappointing hope in Christ. And the answers to my questions began to be answered with satisfaction. Where does my help come from? “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” I deserve Hell and God has given me his word to read every day while in this pit. I deserve Hell and God has allowed me to use my shoes and my Bible as a pillow at night. I deserve eternal separation from God and God has fed me every day. So I must lift my eyes off of this wall of filth and look to the Lord, the King of Glory. If conviction is lowered upon us, and it will be within the pleasure of God for His name’s sake, then He will not be unfair to do so. I will be in need of You dear God, to help me point You to the nations to show them from where my hope comes from.
God what does hope in you look like in a dark jail cell? How have you carried countless others through much worse than this? Will I be able to say, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth?” With or without freedom?
1 I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. 4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep. 5 The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side. , 6 The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night. 7 The Lord will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life. 8 The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever. Psalm 121:1-8 (HCSB)
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May the grace of God give strength to his servant Saeed Abedini in Iraq, today.
Don’t Waste Your Disappointment
Following is an excerpt from my journal entries from 2010. The date was February 4, 2010. It was our first day in court with a lawyer. There were so many things for me to learn about God during those ordained days, but this one was of significance.
Disappointment is a suffocating monster. I nearly missed the right work that God intended when he released that caged beast. There would be much more for me to learn about disappointment and the focus of my hope; but on that day, I began to learn a needed lesson for what was still to come.
Contact me for a free .pdf copy of the entire journal from January 12 – February 17, 2010.
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Journal Date, February 4, 2010: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
We are told that release is sure to come today because we now have a lawyer. We have yet to talk to this lawyer and find out what his plan is. We are only aware that this lawyer has been secured [by] connections with people who know [him].
We are scheduled [for] a meeting with [another judge] in a higher court today. That seems to indicate a release may come today. Our hope is high.
We are transported from the jail to the court house around 11:00am.
We gather all of our belongings and make our way to [the police vehicle.] We are mostly in one vehicle. Laura and Charisa are transported in a 2nd vehicle.
The media is pressed [in] upon us with insulting comments about our faith and probing for any nugget of information from us to make a headline of. The ride from jail to court was fast, wild, and unbelievable. The media is on the chase after us on motorcycles, cameras in hand, nearly crashing multiple times. It’s as if the police are trying to out race the media to the courthouse.
Our meeting at court today was with a prosecuting judge of some kind. This prosecutor has the ability to declare us innocent if he decides [we are.] He questions us for about two hours. Nikki and Silas are by far the best in dialog with the [judge]. Both are pleasant, respectful and articulate.
Our lawyer has done little and speaks little on our behalf. He spends a good bit of time on his mobile phone. I found his involvement interesting. He left the room with the prosecutor and they are gone for about 10 minutes. When they returned the prosecutor told us that he finds our story believable and wishes he could release us. Instead of release however, he informs us that we now have two charges against us. This is a shock. First charge is illegal trafficking of children. Second charge is kidnapping. Because we have two charges now he does not have the legal right to release us. We will have to go back to jail and go before the next prosecutor above him.
We are still on a ‘roller coaster’ ride of encouragement and disappointment all day long.
As we board the [police vehicles] to return to jail, the insults from the media begin again. Some are asking how we are doing but mostly insulting comments of our faith. This causes me to internally consider many things. Yet I have to pray against my flesh to second guess our task and purpose here.
I must discipline my mind to stay the course. I must discipline my mind to weigh everything against His word.
I have to fight my mind to stay the course, meditate upon His word, live from the nourishment of the Bread of Life. Disappointment comes like a dart; striking fast and penetrating deep. I must discipline my mind. I must put on the Armour of Truth to know and determine how to take in all things.
It is clear on the ride back to jail that we begin to irritate each other. The disappointment was nearly crushing.
The Haitian inmates were in as much shock as we were when we returned. I gather the men together to pray for each other and especially as we hear some verbal arguments among some of the women. I’m sure it is founded in disappointment.
I ask God to use our disappointment to drive us to Him. I don’t want to waste my disappointment. I want to use it for the purpose that it appears God is allowing it. Take me to Your throne of grace that I may glorify Your name.
It is also becoming apparent that the other inmates are becoming agitated that we get so much attention and that we are still here. Our prayer remains focused, our resolve to stay the course grows stronger.
We have now begun to hear reports that nine of us will be released on Monday and Laura will remain in custody. This rumor about release is appealing, but the idea of Laura remaining alone here is troubling.
Prayer:
1 Lord, I seek refuge in You;
let me never be disgraced.
Save me by Your righteousness.
2 Listen closely to me; rescue me quickly.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a mountain fortress to save me.
3 For You are my rock and my fortress;
You lead and guide me
because of Your name.
4 You will free me from the net
that is secretly set for me,
for You are my refuge.
5 Into Your hand I entrust my spirit;
You redeem me, Lord, God of truth.
6 I hate those who are devoted to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will rejoice and be glad in Your faithful love
because You have seen my affliction.
You have known the troubles of my life
8 and have not handed me over to the enemy.
You have set my feet in a spacious place.
9 Be gracious to me, Lord,
because I am in distress;
my eyes are worn out from angry sorrow—
my whole being as well.
10 Indeed, my life is consumed with grief
and my years with groaning;
my strength has failed
because of my sinfulness,
and my bones waste away.
11 I am ridiculed by all my adversaries
and even by my neighbors.
I am dreaded by my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street run from me.
12 I am forgotten: gone from memory
like a dead person—like broken pottery.
13 I have heard the gossip of many;
terror is on every side.
When they conspired against me,
they plotted to take my life.
14 But I trust in You, Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
15 The course of my life is in Your power;
deliver me from the power of my enemies
and from my persecutors.
16 Show Your favor to Your servant;
save me by Your faithful love.
17 Lord, do not let me be disgraced when I call on You.
Let the wicked be disgraced;
let them be silent , in •Sheol.
18 Let lying lips be quieted;
they speak arrogantly against the righteous
with pride and contempt.
19 How great is Your goodness
that You have stored up for those who •fear You
and accomplished in the sight of •everyone
for those who take refuge in You.
20 You hide them in the protection of Your presence;
You conceal them in a shelter
from the schemes of men,
from quarrelsome tongues.
21 May the Lord be praised,
for He has wonderfully shown His faithful love to me
in a city under siege. ,
22 In my alarm I had said,
“I am cut off from Your sight.”
But You heard the sound of my pleading
when I cried to You for help.
23 Love the Lord, all His faithful ones.
The Lord protects the loyal,
but fully repays the arrogant.
24 Be strong and courageous,
all you who put your hope in the Lord.[44]
Psalms 31:1-24 (HCSB)
New Horizon Home (tBC005)
Today’s broadcast is a recorded interview with Alex Veillard, director of New Horizon Home in Port-au-Price, Haiti. Renee and I just returned from a trip to Port-au-Prince.
00:00 – Introduction
03:00 – A friendship born in adversity
08:43 – Why start New Horizon Home?
11:48 – the Schedule at New Horizon Home
22:15 – More information about New Horizon Home
26:25 – Singing
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Good News Radio
In preparing for the launch of a full feature podcast, I have discovered that I’ve actually already been podcasting since 2010. In May of 2010 Eastside began broadcasting sermons at Sermon Audio. A friend of mine in northern Idaho help me with some podcast questions recently and he was the one who informed me that I’m already podcasting. Kind of like being a poet and not really knowing it. (OK, it’s nothing like that)
In digging through some old archive audio files I came across this interview I gave in May of 2010 to the Good News Radio Network. It is divided into three parts, approx. 9 minutes each. It is an interview I gave the day after Baptist Press released my print interview of our time in Port-au-Prince that same year after the earthquake. It was a quick trip down memory lane, it was just as I remember it. Hard to believe that those God ordained days are nearly four years ago.
Here is one of those early “podcasts”.
Don’t forget to be looking for the launch of the BridgeCast on January 6, 2014.
Judge Appointment in Kansas
You must be asking, what does a governor appointment to the Kansas court of appeals have to do with a guy from Idaho?
This is part of a story I love to think upon as I think of the grace of God:
The first time I ever remember seeing the name ‘Caleb Stegall’ was on a hand written note passed through a crack along the door frame of an old rusty iron door in a Haitian jail. The note was written on a torn piece of paper and handed to me from a woman of God, Nikki Lankford. The note was dictated from a text message that had just come in from home. It was in a day when good news seemingly evaporated within moments of it being spoken, like a raindrop on desert soil. Renee had just been informed from our sister-in-law, Marta Culberth, that a man, a godly man, from Kansas was willing to help us. I read the name on the note, and knew not who he was. But because Renee said he was a godly man, I was thankful to the Lord to hear the name as though he were a life-long friend. This was a man driven by justice to offer his skill and expertise to a group of people many wanted nothing to do with.
So, today, I rejoice for the citizens of Kansas. May the Lord bless your land and lives by the appointment from Gov. Brownback of Caleb Stegall to the Kansas Court of Appeals. And may the Lord bless his obedient servant as he sets his mind and action to be a blessing the all residents of Kansas. The name, Caleb Stegall, will not be forgotten in my home.
When good news evaporates like a raindrop on desert soil… There is still hope, wait upon the Lord, His delivery does not delay nor will He disappoint.
New Horizon International
I’m excited to introduce you to New Horizon International. New Horizon International (NHI) is a new ministry born in the heart of a dear friend of mine, Alex Veillard. I first met Alex outside an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 2010. Over the past nine years Alex and I have had many experiences together.
Our friendship began as a result of hardship. An gospel response to a natural disaster is what sent me to Haiti and it was a global media response to the false arrest of 10 Americans that sent Alex to minister to us when few were willing to even admit they knew us. These events were used of God to glue us together with the blood of Christ as brothers.
In the past few years many things have developed in our lives. Both of my sons have married, Alex has married, now has four sons, and now a common desire for the nations to hear the gospel has crossed our paths. This is New Horizon International.
NHI starts and finishes with the gospel. The gospel is the reason and purpose.
We are in the beginning days of developing New Horizon International. But in these early days, New Horizon International has already birth New Horizon Home. New Horizon Home is a children’s home for girls. Currently NHH has 60 girls. These girls are of those in Haiti who are at great risk. They have been abandoned or rescued from the early days of slavery and child trafficking.
Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho has responded to the invitation from the Lord to partner with New Horizon International in obligations of rent, food, education, healthcare, and spiritual needs of these 60 girls. We are pleased to know that God who has invited us to join Him in this gospel work will provide all that is needed. May the Lord be pleased to find a man in Port-au-Prince, Haiti willing to obey Him. May the Lord be pleased to awaken 60 girls at New Horizon Home willing to trust Him. May the Lord be pleased to find a people in Twin Falls, Idaho willing to join Him in global gospel work. May the Lord be pleased as we all find our joy in Him.