Expanding Tents & God's Kingdom

Two months after the earthquake my mom and I spent five weeks in Haiti. We hosted teams that worked tirelessly to rebuild Haiti's crumbled country. I saw the joy of each Haitian family as they moved into their temporary houses. Their joy was so amazing to me because the house that was built for them was a simple 12 x 12 wooden framed structure with a metal roof and tarps for walls. But you see the Haitians have hope, they have a vision and a promise for a future! These are the same people that struggled in a tropical storm to secure a single tarp as it whipped in the wind weeks ago, now they have the safety of a home. And six months latter those people have added on to that simple wooden framed structure by adding more rooms, metal, push out walls and lean-tos.

Haitians live in a community driven society. They take care of those without ... even the poor takes care of the poor! So a single family can push out the walls to their home to give them the ability to house family and friends. They live in tent cites so that they can all share things. And when it comes to food, one family may have rice and the other has beans ... and another has meat ... they pull everything together for one great stew.

Isaiah 54:2-4 says:

2 Make your tent bigger;
stretch it out and make it wider.
Do not hold back.
Make the ropes longer
and its stakes stronger,

3 because you will spread out to the right and to the left.
Your children will take over other nations,
and they will again live in cities that once were destroyed.

4 "Don't be afraid, because you will not be ashamed.
Don't be embarrassed, because you will not be disgraced.

I went to Haiti believing that I was going to help the Haitians ... and actually I learned so much from them about my Christian life. I learned to be satisfied with the gifts God gives me and use them to the fullest. I also learned the importance of working together as a group of fellow believers. God blesses each one of us with special abilities that he wants us to use to reach the world. The more we use those abilities the wider our reach is for Him. The more we reach out to the world the stronger we are!! The most important thing I learned is that our life is all about adding to God's kingdom!

(Written by Daina K. - Team Member)