Haiti Bible Institute, Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Exam day!

Mumbling could be heard around 4:30 a.m. around the building as students rose early to work on mastering the material that will be on the final exam for Hebrews. The mumbling was rote memory work. The final exam includes a statement that they have read the thirteen-chapter letter four times. A matching exercise puts the theme I assigned to each chapter with the chapter number. Then a fill-in-the-blank section will test and see if the students have adequately memorized the key verse(s) of each chapter. They are sweating it and I do not feel guilty. I am glad because my job is to prepare them to teach their flock this inspired, inerrant, authoritative letter (all three terms are necessary descriptions in a postmodern theological context).

There is an exit strategy in place if God wills it. My plane is scheduled to leave Port-au-Prince tomorrow at 9:20 a.m. EDT. After stops in Fort Lauderdale and Dallas I am scheduled to arrive at MSP at 8:10 p.m. There I have to kill time while I wait for my chauffeurs (four of my children), who will be at the Switchfoot concert in Arden Hills. If you stop past the baggage claim at MSP tomorrow night, I’m the great big Danish guy looking bored and reading Hunger Games. I think I’d rather listen to Jon Foreman. My lovely bride and my little people will likely be sleeping when I finally get home.

Sunday at RLBC I am prepared (been working here, you know) to present the highly relevant biblical doctrine of the Trinity to our people. If that sounds boring you should probably join us Sunday.

One last Francis Chan quote:

With the American church being so concerned about converts, we don’t take the time to present the God-centered universe to people. We don’t try to dig deep into the truth of God. We need to learn the attributes of God before we know what He is like. Crazy Love, p. 181

Woody Salomon sweating the Hebrews final

Haiti Bible Institute, Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Today I am trying to finish Hebrews through chapter 12 so I can use tomorrow’s two sessions to finish Hebrews 13 and review before our final exam at 3:45 p.m. EDT. Teaching the whole book in fifteen hours has been a great exercise for me. The concentrated coverage refreshes my mind in what I have been teaching on Wednesday nights at RLBC. The message of Hebrews is so relevant to people who are tempted to seek satisfaction in present pleasures and personal performance. I have been challenged along with the men at how quickly we make our boast in our man-made, cross-trampling standards.

Hebrews is a letter about trusting in what we cannot see—at the risk of losing of comfort and even life itself. A disturbing question from Francis Chan’s Crazy Love: “What are you doing right now that requires faith?”

My kids and others sent gifts for the children at My Father’s House as well as the large number of children represented by these young pastors. The students seemed very pleased to have little treasures to take home to their families tomorrow night.

One more full day. Then home.

Haiti Bible Institute, Monday, April 16, 2012

Bougainvillea is everywhere here.

Since you cannot all experience what I experience here I thought I would give you a sampling of my senses in the last week. Just use your imagination and have a vicarious Haitian vacation (I should submit that to their tourism people). The sights, sounds, smells and feel of Haiti (I already talked about the tastes):

Sights: On the rare occasion that it is overcast, the diffused sun still makes you squint. Otherwise, the sunny, bright blue skies easily explain why even some little children wear sunglasses. Our house is surrounded and heavily shaded with jungle-like trees and plants that look like what people in the US keep inside in pots. Then it gets dark—really dark—in what seems a very short time.

Sounds: Roosters crow seemingly all day until bedtime, when they take a break for three or four hours until you are really enjoying your sleep. Wild birds start singing when the sun rises and provide pleasant alternative to the rooster. In our neighborhood I listened (good exercise for someone with my issues) and heard pigs, goats, dogs, car horns, big trucks, motorcycles and even a cow (I saw her myself). The sound of evening rain, thunder and even the roar of flooded streets is has been punctuated by mellow cricket-chirping. The street in front of the house is quiet by the standards of this town, but regularly you hear schoolchildren and adults having animated conversations in French and Creole. Inside the guest house when we have power there is the continual drone of fans, teacher voices, translator voices and student voices. In the mornings our concrete corridors echo with clanging kitchen paraphernalia. When the AC inverter starts mocking us with its beeping it reminds us that we are about to lose all contact with the outside world unless city power or the gas-guzzling generator start up soon (Quick, big Danish-American, finish your ignorant report about our country!).

Smells: Food odors range from pleasant to pungent. Garlic is one of the most recognizable smells for me aside from my generic cognizance of “meat.” Everything from insect repellant to jungle foliage and exhaust from the generator crowd the nostrils depending on where you stand and when you stand there. Oh, and then there’s the raw sewage in parts of town.

Feelings: Mandatory cold showers (water heaters are for people on the continent) normally do not make me complain, although this year I have been able to describe the morning air as “cool” more than once (Oh, another sound: "b-r-r-r-r"). Our tropical location means hot and sticky air (90’s), sweat and mosquito bites (welts).

And speaking of senses, here’s one more thought from Crazy Love:

We’ve conditioned ourselves to hear messages without responding. Sermons have become Christian entertainment. We go to church to hear a well-developed sermon and a convicting thought. We’ve trained ourselves to believe that if we’re convicted, our job is done. If you’re just hearing the Word and not actually doing something with it, you’re deceiving yourself.-Francis Chan (p.184)

Haiti Bible Institute, Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I know what the roar was last night. I thought it was just the rain. Turns out a river decided to come down the mountain and enter our compound though the car gate. It even bore gifts (see photo). There have been a number of these downpours in the area recently. It almost always rains at night here, but some recent mudslides have been deadly.

I spent the morning visiting three homes for orphan children collectively called “My Father’s House.” Our church supports this ministry financially and you can as well (Wordsower International). Special thanks to those seamstresses who made beautiful clothing and all the children who sent Hot Wheels, friendship bracelets and other goodies. I haven’t been so popular since Mom tied a pork chop around my neck to get the dog to like me : )

Another organization worthy of your support is OnTarget Ministry. You might pray for an extra measure of the Spirit’s power on Dr. Jim Bearss, the ministry’s president and principal instructor. He just finished training pastoral students in Lebanon and Egypt and essentially swapped suitcases with his wife this morning in Florida on the way to Haiti. Because of a scheduling matter hasn’t been home in a month with the exception of a brief stop in the middle of last night. Jim, if you’re reading this, take a nap.

Haiti Bible Institute, Monday, April 9, 2012

Today started kinda early (2 a.m.). My son Josh had to work screening talk show calls at KTIS radio, so I was thankful his short Easter break helped me get to MSP. I arrived in time to get past the ever-cordial TSA staff for a 6:25 a.m. flight. I got to Port-au-Prince (brief stop at MIA) around 1 p.m. and faithful Pastor Predestin Herard was inside the airport waiting for me. He found a way to sneak into Immigration to help me and my luggage get through huddled masses of travelers, airport officials and airport unofficials (persistent “helpers”) and into the steamy streets of the city.

Predestin dickered with a man at a local tool rental business and we procured a gasoline generator for the Bible Institute for just over $40 American per day (the going rate is $60). Rumor has it that the guest house where we meet is now on the same power line as President Martelly’s house. Oddly enough the power (oops—shut off while I was writing) is on much more these days. Saving gas is good.

I get the same pleasant room for studying and sleeping I had last year. Internet access should be available tomorrow (the likely day I post this entry).

The staff somehow found me fast food pizza, French fries and a fish sandwich to eat for supper (a few will wonder, like I did, “Where in Port-au-Prince did they find…?”). I am here alone for now with a few workers who know no English, so I am staying in my room ruminating on my dangerously short vocabulary of French and Creole words. I smile and wave a lot. We are experiencing a very heavy tropical rainstorm right now. It’s very loud but sort of exciting.

From my reading in the air somewhere over the Caribbean:

To be brutally honest, it doesn’t really matter what place you find yourself in right now. Your part is to bring Him glory—whether eating a sandwich on a lunch break, drinking coffee at 12:04 a.m. so you can stay awake to study, or watching your four-month-old take a nap.The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift. –Crazy Love, Francis Chan, pp. 44-45

Haiti Bible Institute 2011.09: I'm Here on Business for My King

I am a stranger here, within a foreign land;

My home is far away, upon a golden strand;
Ambassador to be of realms beyond the sea,
I’m here on business for my King.

Refrain

This is the message that I bring,
A message angels fain would sing:
“Oh, be ye reconciled,”
Thus saith my Lord and King,
“Oh, be ye reconciled to God.”

This is the King’s command: that all men, everywhere,
Repent and turn away from sin’s seductive snare;
That all who will obey, with Him shall reign for aye,
And that’s my business for my King.

Refrain

My home is brighter far than Sharon’s rosy plain,
Eternal life and joy throughout its vast domain;
My Sovereign bids me tell how mortals there may dwell,
And that’s my business for my King.

Refrain

Haiti Bible Institute 2011.08: Mick Jagger Didn't Know Where to Look for It

This about the 27^th morning of my life I have awaked on Haitian soil and this is the first time I could honestly use the adjective “cool” describe the temperature at sunrise. It must have been down in the mid 60’s and it felt great.

I have given up on predicting when there will be power. I am thankful no one is dependent on my blog for their well-being. I am also thankful for the joy God gives me when I get to teach and interact with these men.

Today while we were working on a case study we were talking about what makes good counseling homework. They are great at finding lots of Bible verses, but I am teaching them how to help people put the Bible into practice. The James 1:22 word for “doers” in their Bible is “practique.” One example is not simply asking a person to memorize a text. One good idea is to write down several times they were tempted to continue a sinful habit but chose instead to consider that Jesus died to deliver His people from such things. A good text to consider is:

The LORD sustains all who fall
         And raises up all who are bowed down.
    The eyes of all look to You,
         And You give them their food in due time.
    You open Your hand
         And satisfy the desire of every living thing. Psalm 145:14-16

From pornography addiction to anger, we point people to the lies they believe about where to find satisfaction and then to the only place the redeemed can get it. Remember that this is not “lie-down-on-the-couch-and-tell-me-why-you-hate-your-mother” counseling. It is Christian disciple-making in real time. 

Haiti Bible Institute 2011.06: Responding to Mercy

This morning we had a worship service. I love hearing the guys sing even though I only pick up on a few of the words. I got to be the speaker again this year and took advantage of it as an extra class session. Since I have been focusing on the gospels I preached on the sinful woman who wept at Jesus’ feet in the home of Simon the Pharisee from Luke 7:36-50. Simon could not see why he needed mercy and the unnamed woman overflowed in her response to mercy.

No matter how impoverished or wealthy you are, proud independence moves you to forget how you received what you have. We are each like a turtle on a fence post. You know he did not get there by himself. That is why ungratefulness is such an evil. It makes you forget that all the comforts you enjoy were not earned and that you are even breathing borrowed air. Moses warned Israel not to forget to respond to God’s great mercy and grace [my bold highlights]:

Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today… Otherwise, you may say in your heart, “My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.” But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you the power to make wealth… Deuteronomy 8:11, 17-18

The man in our text was very satisfied with himself. The woman in our text was very satisfied with Jesus. She responded. Below are some final observations I made comparing the two “students” of Jesus in that room. Which one do you most resemble?

Simon                                                                        The Sinful Woman

1. He gave when there was personal benefit.     1. She gave as a response to mercy.

2. He thought highly of himself.                             2. She thought lowly of herself.

3. He thought accusingly of Jesus.                       3. She thought lovingly of Jesus.

4. He kept Jesus at a safe distance.                     4. She drew awkwardly near to Jesus.

5. He gave sparingly to Jesus.                              5. She gave freely to Jesus.

6. He was unforgiven.                                             6. She was forgiven.

I am thankful that even in a third world Caribbean nation you can connect with home these days. I didn’t get my way in either game last night, but watching parts of the NCAA Final Four is another taste of home.  Also, several of the men got to “meet” Sarah and some of the kids via video chat after class last night.  

Haiti Bible Institute 2011.05: Eat Like a Haitian

I was encouraged to prepare for the microscopic critter variation in Haiti by starting a regimen of probiotics a couple months before traveling here. I can say that so far I feel great even with a little adventurous eating. The last two years were not so pleasant digestively.

The food has been memorable. Before the students arrived we had a meal that included two whole fish on a platter. I know you pay big bucks for that in the US, but I don’t usually go to those establishments. It was honestly tasty, but my thought bubble had the fish being caught in the polluted bay next to the city. Spaghetti cooked with garlic and topped with onions, hot dogs and ketchup is breakfast food here (tasty, but I skipped the ketchup). I am starting to enjoy the five-alarm cole slaw, made with shredded carrots, cabbage and habanero peppers. Bananas can be fried, boiled or eaten fresh. We have been served all three. Cooked unripe bananas taste like boiled potatoes. Last night we were served corn grits with anise flavoring.

I have finished presenting the material that will be on the Synoptics exam so I can focus more on delivering messages from the life of Jesus. Dr. Bearss has told me that while this program requires a heavy load of academics, our job is also to model the practical delivery of what you know. The men will get no homiletics (preparing sermons) class during their four-year training. So for the rest of my sessions I am going to deliver in sermon form some of the highlights of the synoptics. If you know me you know that I am looking forward to those sessions.

Haiti Bible Institute 2011.04: Certain Uncertainty

I enjoy home and all the craziness that goes with it, but I have definitely noticed how much more time I have here to just sit and think. Example: We were without power all night long and into this afternoon, so I was conserving my laptop battery. I got to brewing on the common US philosophy about what to do with resources. We say, “Spend it when you get it because you can always get more.” At home I don’t have to think about shutting the laptop lid before I leave the room.

I know that not everyone fits these descriptions, but the third world mentality seems different. They say, “Make the most of what you have, for life is uncertain.” You never know when the power will go off, when your job will end or when the building will collapse on you. This is not so much a lesson about conservation as it is a lesson about gratefulness and management of blessings.

On the other hand, sometimes the quiet gets shattered. In the middle of the night I was awakened by sirens and the sound of a speeding emergency vehicle. Then I fell back into a blissfully ignorant sleep. This morning I learned that there was gunfire in the neighborhood (Jim Bearss speculates a nine millimeter) not long before the sirens. I guess I was sleeping too soundly for that. This surprised me because I thought we were very much removed from the rough part of town. I’ll just assume that someone couldn’t sleep and decided to get up and do some target practice in his yard. Just the same, the lesson learned is one about the uncertainty of life in a sin-cursed world:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. James 4:13-14

Haiti Bible Institute 2011.03: First Day of Classes

As I write this portion of my blog I am thankful for a healthy battery on the MacBook. Power went off in the middle of the night (as usual) and we have been conserving gasoline in the generator until someone more mechanical than me figures out how to hook up a battery bank.

Our meeting place this year is the third one the institute has rented in my three trips. It is in a relatively quiet neighborhood (with the nightly exception of roosters, barking dogs and some anonymous creature that screams like a crime victim). We are surrounded by palm, tropical pine, mango and other unidentified trees, which spare the house from hot afternoon sunshine. The concrete house is showing its age, but must have been designed many years ago to make an impression on visitors. We are surrounded by walls, but there is no razor wire this time.

Seventeen of the 18 registered students are here for this set of modules (four classes in eight days). We are having a great reunion so far. I have noticed a marked improvement in their English. They have probably not noticed much improvement in my French.

Today I started out introducing the human authors of the synoptic gospels (first three books of the New Testament) and pointing out how vital it is to understand the Hebrew Scriptures when we interpret the New Testament. The synoptics were penned by a former crook, a ministry deserter who took a long time to become useful and a medical doctor who loved to sail. This foundation is important because it shows that God used ordinary, fallible humans to carry an extraordinary, infallible message. This encourages Christ-followers to simply deliver the goods rather than try to dress up the message to attract more buyers.

Haiti Bible Institute 2011.02: Meeting Needs and Learning Lessons

My alarm went off this morning while it was still dark—nothing new—but I decided I should sleep longer to catch up. Much later when it was light I looked at my watch. Only 5:30? Then I remembered it had been set for 2:45 a.m. I’m glad I decided to sleep in.

After a very colorful breakfast I spent the rest of the morning into the afternoon on an adventure through the highly-populated center of Petionville. The traffic was so backed up that our driver finally honked the horn and did a U-turn into oncoming traffic, got into more trouble, continued to turn and finally settled on an alternate route that took us through mountain trails posing as streets (I was not driving, though I would have loved it just for the adrenaline rush). Even when we were going over curbs and sidewalks no one blinked. I got to ride in the passenger seat while Pastor Predestin, the director of MFH Haiti, uttered quick directions in Creole to our driver. We visited three orphan homes associated with My Father’s House as well as the building where many of the 200 kids attend school.

It was a little awkward watching the distribution of clothing, friendship bracelets and homemade beaded jewelry (thank you, RLBC ladies, Natalya and crew). The children were mostly patient waiting for these gifts (apparently a rare event), but as usual there were not quite enough trinkets and beautiful clothes to go around (I hope there will be some adjustments by the house moms to fix that). It underscored for me something important. Whether you are rich and spoiled or poor and deprived it is dangerous to think you will find lasting joy in possessions. Don’t misunderstand. This was the right thing to do. I wish I could have brought another 50-pound bag of clothing and gifts.

I am talking big-picture. Lots of money from somewhere has been spent here on new stuff in the last year. The “lucky” ones found money to get the stuff and the “unlucky” ones have stood back and watched. They are like an orphan girl without a new dress seeing another with a new dress and a beautiful necklace. I honestly hope Haiti becomes the economic giant it could become with good leadership. But I also know what has happened to our country. The more we get the more we want and the next step up never satisfies. Never. We are wrong to think that the biggest opportunities we can give these children are economic.

For the record, I also unloaded a very large and very necessary wad of cash to MFH that I carried into the country from a little church in Wisconsin.

Tomorrow we will start classes. I am scheduled to teach the first three of 14 hours on the Synoptic Gospels and Jim will start the biblical doctrine of Anthropology. I am looking forward to fellowshipping with my friends again.

Haiti Bible Institute 2011.01: First Day Ramblings

After a couple hours of sleep, I caught a shuttle bus from our motel to the airport. I arrived at MSP around 3:30 a.m., courtesy of the son of an native Indian who escaped from Uganda to the US. It’s interesting what you learn on a short ride when you are the only passenger.

From my reading while waiting for my flight from MSP:

When Christ is supplanted, whatever replaces him will usually allow us to remain in control, independent of him. When this occurs, churches become unwelcoming toward struggling people. They become places where like-minded, well-adjusted people pat themselves on the back for how well they are doing. The church loses its ability to help people grow in the joys of daily repentance and faith while rejoicing in Christ. –How People Change, Timothy S. Lane & Paul David Tripp, p. 215 

We arrived in Miami around 9:20 a.m. (CDT) and I got some “breakfast” at Wendy’s and wandered around making necessary phone calls and texts before heading to no-phone-land.

Our flight to Port-au-Prince was about 1½ hours. I got to have a seat right by the exit and the first class passengers…leg room! We landed about 2:45 p.m. (same as home) and all of us "important" (pronounce that blessed) people at the front of the plane got through immigration quite quickly by Haitian standards. We had a predictable power outage that made everything dark and stopped the conveyor belts, but I found my stuff about ten minutes after passing through immigration.

After saying, “Non!” to all sorts of nice fellows who wanted to carry my bags and give me taxi rides, I met Dr. Jim Bearss and a driver.

Then we drove through the take-your-life-in-hands streets seeing the encouragement of a lot of new construction, including a brand new Haiti version of a Home Depot! On the down side, there are banners all over town bearing the nickname of the newly-returned-former-priest-turned-leftist-dictator Jean-Bertrand Aristide as if he were running for president. Oddly, results of the real election are to be released this Thursday--the first day of classes for Haiti Bible Institute.

I’ll talk more about the guest house and the school later. It’s dark and I’m a bit weary.

What God does is good because He is good (Psalm 119:67-68).

Not one of them is missing.

Teaching is done! All I have left of my responsibility in Haiti is to give and correct the final exam starting at 5 p.m.

I neglected to report that not only do we have all sixteen men from last year’s class but we also added two. Simeon Frantz was able to come and one of the translators, Wallenson Nobert, decided he would like to be a student. This is significant because, after January 12 as the death totals continued to rise, simple math told me that some of these students did not survive the quake. God is good whether we live or die, but He was particularly merciful to these men.

I am thankful for the people in the States who sent along extra money to help both the orphanages and needy pastors. Several of these men are excited to get back to families waiting for them in tents. One of them has eight children. Another tent-dweller has three little ones and a baby coming any time. The funds have been put in faithful hands for distribution.

Adventure report: I love new and exciting food, but I want a Big Mac and fries.

We are scheduled to head out for the airport tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. I assume Wisconsin will be nice and warm. It is May, right?

Romans and Rhubarb

A heavy rain is falling as I write this. We'd call it "good sleeping weather" at home if the temperature were about 25-30 degrees cooler. I’m ready for bed but I have one more hour to teach. I can tell I’ve been “on” longer than I an used to being “on.”

Today we covered Romans 9, “the most neglected chapter in the Bible.” Rather than re-hash the study, I’ll direct you to a blog entry I wrote several months ago.

Adventure report: The men are getting tired too. They have worked very hard and I think several will ace the Romans final, which is simple: Report that you have read Romans at least four times and be able to identify the main theme of each of the sixteen chapters. Cake.

Rata de Pastor

I have a new nickname. The men (at least the playful ones in the bunch) were wondering what name could top “Pastor Jacques,” last year’s moniker (I taught the Epistle of James). Paul hammers pretty hard (grossly understated, I know) on the basic wickedness of all mankind in Romans, so I have been regularly inserting my standard “filthy stinking rat sinner” metaphors. So now I’m “Pastor RRRat” (spoken with a grin and a growl). No hurt feelings in this rodent.

So today I have taught Romans 6 and 7 and plan to quickly unpack chapters 8 in my two remaining sessions. My last class will be at 8 p.m. (same as CDT, only dark much earlier).

It burdens me that those who claim to follow Christ still struggle with sin. It seems so inconsistent with the biblical teaching about victory over the grave. But I know that I am one of the strugglers. You are too. Does that trouble you? It should.

Certainly people whose lives are characterized by a disregard for holiness (without which no one will see the Lord) should not be given the benefit of the doubt that they have been freed from sin, but what about those who are fighting a discouraging fight?

Romans six offers hope to those who are united with Christ (water baptism pictures this). We are free from the power of sin because of His death and resurrection. Trouble is, sin is still a reality in our lives. Paul says that not only are believers dead, they need to consider themselves dead. They need to turn over their weapon (instrument) to the God who will wield it for holy purposes. I illustrated this text this way:

A monarch caterpillar might look with wonder at the speed and freedom of a monarch butterfly. He dreams of being able to choose large stands of milkweed and to move quickly from plant to plant. But such questions show ignorance of the metamorphosis that takes place inside the chrysalis. The caterpillar dies and the transformed monarch butterfly says, “I could have all the milkweed I want, but why would I want milkweed when I can have nectar?” People whose unchanged hearts long to sin are attracted to grace as a reason to sin. People who are changed see grace as that which rescued them from slavery and set them free. You lose the taste for milkweed when you sample nectar.

Adventure report: I am drinking about six or seven 20 ounce bottles of water per day. I am glad that Jim worked out that detail for the students and the two instructors. The Haitian men are drinking little bags of water but Jim and I were counseled to stay away from them because of their questionable origin. I am learning that you have to get used new little microscopic critters everywhere you go in the world.

Pleasant Experience = Preaching in Flip-flops

Happy Mother’s Day! I was able to speak with my mother and my wife today thanks to the thoughtfulness of one of our church members who supplied me with a cell phone that works in Haiti.

The men finished the first exams last night. Most of them did very well, although I need to do a little tutoring to help one fellow who seems paralyzed by written exams.

Today I started teaching through Romans—make that flying through Romans. I was charged with preaching in our worship service to start the day. Guess what text I used? Far be it from me to miss getting an extra session in Romans. The material is far too important. So I skipped through chapter one expositionally and offered an application outline at the end (It took eight weeks to get through chapter one at RLBC).

The big message of chapter one is that les Gentils sont coupables (The Gentiles are guilty). This whole letter has as its theme that God’s righteousness is unattainable by unrighteous men except through faith. His wrath is revealed against all unrighteousness.

To illustrate the unrighteousness of men and the righteousness of God I used a story told by the missionary who wrote Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. When his family lived in a tropical climate in a house on stilts a large rat crawled under the house and died—right under the master bedroom. It was a tight space and not easy to reach. The stench got so bad that he and his wife started sleeping in another part of the house. Finally the man’s son crawled under the house with a plastic bag over his hand and pulled the rotting carcass out by the tail. He ran toward the forest and flung the corpse into the trees as far as he could.

Hard as it is to take, all through Scripture that is the way God looks at sin and those who sin. That’s Adam and that’s me and my wages. Read the Old Testament and see how death was treated in the ceremonies of Israel. No wonder Jesus said that one day sinners will hear, “Depart from Me!” (Matthew 25:41).

Somehow we dead rats need righteousness and nothing we have to offer is something God wants. Our only hope is the performance of another, one Who personally experienced the terror of God’s abandonment (See 2 Corinthians 5:21 for a short synopsis). Rats needs mercy, not performance. Imagine a rat telling God, “I’ll let you into my heart.”

Adventure report: I got a new roommate yesterday. Then I killed him. The corner of my vision caught movement and I saw a healthy-sized roach. Flip-flops are versatile. They can be used to hold your place in your Bible when you are preaching outdoors and as weapons when you decide you do not wish to share your room with large beetles.

The Runaway Bride and Redemption

Yesterday the students and I had a very animated discussion of God’s design for marriage as we walked through parts of Hosea. I will apply the part of the prophet’s story (read the Old Testament prophet Hosea if you haven’t, and blush modestly) when God sends Hosea to love and retrieve his prostitute/wife and he purchases her for pennies:

God commanded Hosea to love her, but please understand that God was not commanding a feeling. He was commanding Hosea to do the loving thing. You can imagine how difficult this must have been for Hosea.

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. Hosea 2:14

So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. Hosea 3:2

He paid fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley for her. To give that context, the owner of a male or female slave in Israel had to be paid thirty pieces of silver by a man whose ox gored the slave to death (Exodus 21:32). Gomer must have been seen as damaged merchandise.

Away with the man-centered theology that tells us Jesus’ death shows us how much we are worth. Our stomachs should rightly churn when we hear Christians tell us that if we had been the only people on earth Jesus would have died just for us. Please. Jesus didn’t die because we are special but because we are sinful. In truth He died for the Father, to satisfy wrath.

Look at this woman as she is. She is a low, selfish, sneaky prostitute who is reaping the consequences of her own actions. She stands there naked on the auction block and her bid is lower than the damages required for a dead slave. Her worth is not inherent. Her identity is nothing apart from the man who bought her back. This is not the story of human worth but the story of God’s love and faithfulness.

This is all about redemption. You have seen the creation as God intended it. You have seen the horrid, destructive effects of the fall. Now you see the bloody price of redemption. God loves His people. That means he is committed to His people.

After all she (Israel) did to Him, He chased her down, bought her back and took her home. Praise Him. Guess what happens when you love someone like that? You start to love them. Notice the emotion-filled declaration of love the Lord gives to His own rescued bride. Ponder what kind of love is this:

How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? Hosea 11:8

You and I are the unfaithful bride. We are more evil than we could ever imagine. Yet we are more loved than we could ever hope. We have been loved. We have been rescued. Ours is to respond. Ours is to sing the songs of the redeemed.

You respond both vertically and horizontally. Your relationships will look different when you order them in light of the price that was paid for you. Your delight in the Lord cannot help but bring you to delight in the people in your life He has given you to serve.

Adventure report: I forgot my flashlight at home but I do have my cell phone. Last night I needed it because our generator ran out of gas and our battery bank eventually discharged. It was quite warm and dark. No rain.

The night was largely sleepless because of a combination of factors. In my waking hours I could hear a large group of people in the distance talking, singing and eventually screaming. I will withhold judgment until a Haitian explains it to me, but it didn’t sound good.

Give your wife a stroke

Yesterday we arrived at several sessions in my counseling track on what a family is and what a family should look like. We spent an hour on what God’s kind of woman/wife/mother looks like and a much more in-your-face hour on what God’s kind of man/husband/father looks like.

We contrasted the evil woman from Proverbs with the virtuous woman from Proverbs and elsewhere. Defining biblical manhood, we talked about how God designed Adam to enjoy and glorify Him and His gifts (which included his wife and his work and all the beauty around him). We observed the home as the place God ordained to be a microcosm of dominion, economy, creativity and industry.

Today we are tackling “Hosea, Redemption and Marriage.”

Adventure report: We have a refreshing rain almost every night, which slightly cools the temperatures but makes the air smell and feel like the tropical building at the zoo.

I was reminded yesterday why I brush my teeth with bottled water and keep my mouth closed in the shower. The “city water” is in an underground cistern, which is periodically pumped to a roof cistern. The lid to the lower cistern is on the garage floor. It reminds me of the sewer pit in my dad’s garage where he washes all the dirt.

The “Mourning to Morning” guesthouse we are renting is owned by an American who owns a car dealership here in Petionville. After the quake he decided to return to Boston. The house is beautifully designed and located near the end of a cul de sac. Razor wire tops the surrounding concrete walls like most upper class homes. The poorer people stick broken glass into the mortar on top of their walls. 

Responding to Tragedy and Overcoming Fear

Today the first two counseling lectures I gave dealt with responding to tragedy and overcoming fear. Those subjects are certainly timely with these men. We had a lot of interaction about the great things that have come as a result of the quake as well as a frank discussion about how many of them would prefer not to be meeting in a concrete building.

We looked at Bible characters who were controlled by fear (ten Israelite spies, King Saul). I told them that having a plan for escaping the building if the earth starts shaking again is not sinful. I even have that route figured out. Fear becomes sinful when you love safety so much that you are hindered from doing what pleases God and what benefits His people. The trouble with the bad kind of fear is that it puts self-preservation on the throne.

Without reproducing two hours of content, I’ll throw in a brief synopsis of our talk on fear:

When I live in fear I rob God of His glory. Here are some examples:

·       When I am afraid of bad weather I miss the chance to delight in the power of God displays in nature.

·       When I am afraid of what others think of me I ignore what God’s opinion is and what changes He wants to make in me.

·       When I am afraid of sickness I not only risk making myself sicker from worry, I also ignore the fact that God might want to show His power in my weakness.

·       When fear of losing my investments or other economic security consumes me, I reveal a heart that finds its security in a substitute savior.

Suggested homework:

·     Make a list of the good (God-pleasing) activities you are avoiding because you are afraid. Be thorough. The size of the list may surprise you.

·     See your fear for what it is and confess it as an attempt at preserving self instead of glorifying God. It is a serving-two-masters matter. Repentance is in order.

·     Memorize Psalm 29:9-11 (or others: Psalm 23:5; 27:1; 34:9-10, 19; Proverbs 21:1; Matthew 10:28; 2 Corinthians 1:8-10; Hebrews 13:6; 2 Peter 2:9) and call the text to mind when you feel fear taking control.

Adventure report: The meals here are very good, but certainly a cultural experience. The Haitians typically eat (those who do eat) a larger noon meal. Our lunches have included things like chicken, lots of white rice, a very explosive cole slaw (habaneros), lettuce, tomatoes and fried bananas. Today with our chicken we had some sort of little beads like tapioca, but served like rice with beans in it. For breakfast we have had spaghetti and sandwiches and lots of mangoes (love those). Supper last night was a very tasty cream of wheat/farina/grits containing stalks of anise. The breakfast/supper thing is a little turned around, but I’m the guy who sometimes orders burgers or fries at Norske Nook on Wednesday mornings.