The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind. God has been very gracious to G.O. Ministries in the face of such an overwhelming crisis in Haiti. We have been steadily responding to the urgent needs that have come from this event. Our years on the ground on the island of Hispaniola, our familiarity with the place and our Partnerships and relationships with people all over the island have served to uniquely position us to respond. We never could have imagined that God would use these relationships in the way in which he has. It is as though a door materialized before our eyes in a concrete wall and so we were compelled to walk through. God has completely surrounded us with the resources and the new relationships to respond to Haiti’s deep need. Our capacity to be good neighbors to our Haitian friends has been multiplied a hundredfold and continues to grow. This ability to respond in a manner that immediately meets desperate needs, in a way that has been saving and continues to save lives is itself a gift. Vicki and I are blessed to be a part of it and to have a role to play in it. It is startling; it is humbling; it is a labor of love.
3 weeks after the fact we who are on the leadership team are beginning to process and consider what G.O.’s long-term response to the new reality facing Haiti will be. We cannot imagine that the island will ever be the same on account of the magnitude of this disaster. We know that we will continue in the rescue phase for at least another 2-4 weeks as larger organizations responding to the crisis will have time to get to the areas we are currently serving. We know that we will be committed to doing our part towards restoration in Haiti. We were working towards it already. To be about the Gospel and the Kingdom of God is to be about restoration. It is not work born of duty but of faith, motivated by Love. Given the enormity of what our Haitian neighbors now face, faith seems a better resource than duty. Duty draws on our own strength and will quickly prove to be lacking. Faith draws on God’s own strength and reveals to us what God will do with a little trust and obedience.
I’m convinced that God hates what has happened to Haiti. I’m convinced that years of injustice and exploitation at the hands of others inside and outside of Haiti have not escaped his notice. I’m convinced that the brokenness of Haiti is not the final word. The final word will be his Shalom which will also be the very first word of the Age to come. It is that Age that we now work towards even more fervently than before in Haiti not because we are the saviors of the world but because Jesus was and is. And at the dawn of the renewal of all things he expects to catch us working to meet him from our side of history, not out of duty but out of faith, motivated by love and compassion rooted in the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. If we have counted ourselves among the People of God and yet have had idle hands the time for that to cease is now. There are many who suffer in the world in and beyond Haiti that are in need of our faithful love and service. Let’s give it to them.
Here’s a story published today in the New York Times about our relief effort in Haiti. Read the article here. Please watch the video report “Haiti, Help from Above.” We’re grateful for the Times coverage of what G.O. is doing in Haiti. We have lots of information on http://www.gohelphaiti.org/ highlighting different aspects of our response over the last few weeks. Please check it out and direct your friends, families and church leaders there. God has graced us with the ability to do some very important work on the island. Again, it’s been a gift to share in it and now we share that gift with you too.
Grace and Peace,
The Rogers
