Haiti Makes me Think

When I heard about the earthquake in Haiti last January, I couldn't even pronounce the country's name properly.  Embarrassing?  A bit.  Now, almost every day, it is in my face, in some way, shape or form.

Sometimes I have really wild dreams.  A few months ago, I dreamed that I was with a Baylor friend, teaching school where she and her husband are in Port-au-Prince.  One scene was me at the school with the kids, and the next thing I know, Adam is there and we're looking for a place to run.  I looked at him and said, "Adam, we can't run in the slums!"  But we did anyways, and we ran past tent cities and crumbling buildings.  So there I was, running.  In Haiti.  Whoa.  Talk about mind-blowing.

There's another family teaching at this same school, the Hendricks.  They have four boys and just uprooted their life and moved in August.  The mom, Heather, never fails to make me think.  Today she wrote about the "thankful tree" that she just hung up in their house.  She tore off the leaves from last year with things that her family had written on them.  And today, she posted this:

"As I was hanging our Thankful Tree on our wall in Haiti, I had to first remove last year's leaves. It was sweet to read what each of us had written.  We were thankful for things like frogs, cheese, forgiveness, chicken-n-dumplings, friends, mornings we get to sleep in.  As I was ripping off the used leaves, I whispered to the Lord..."I'm sorry.  I had no idea last year that we should be thankful for unlimited access to clean, running water.  24 hour electricity.  For a country filled with healthy churches pastored by men who love God and humbly preach the truth of God's Word.  For a government that builds libraries and roads and provides an education for its people.  That women and children are protected,not perfectly, but it's at least on our government's radar.  I'm sorry for not even thinking about how blessed we are to have three meals a day and a roof over our heads.  God forgive me.  I didn't know."


So during this month where we are especially reminded to be thankful, I'm reminded to be grateful for so many things I take for granted--especially things like water and electricity.  Today, I'm incredibly thankful for Haiti and those serving there.  Thank you for reminding me to get out of my bubble, to face reality and really become more aware of what's happening around me.