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Action Magazine Story
Story by Cal Schultz
Many people plan and prepare to go on a MFM trip for quite some time. I however just made it under the wire, joining a Hamilton Ontario men's group led by Garry Gadsdon who was returning for his 2nd time with his son Brock. Brock is a member of our congregation at St John United Church as am I. Over the years St. John has seen many of its people travel to Haiti. St John is an Evangelical United Church that is Christ centred and very mission oriented. A late summer coffee conversation with Art Duerksen (Canadian Eastern Region Director MFM) was very instrumental in my decision to find the time and opportunity to join Brock, Garry and 3 other men traveling to Haiti.
A doctor friend of ours was able to round up pharmaceuticals listed on a wish list provided by the Hamilton MFM office. Happily we delivered them to the OMS compound clinic. How can you express the admiration for the dedication of the OMS medical clinic staffers as they daily try to respond to the flood of Haitians looking to them for almost every kind of health issue? I never wished more in my life that I had fulfilled my mother's wishes to study medicine….
We worked on the seminary site Friday. What a great facility it is becoming. It will require lots more volunteer assistance and it is a million dollar project needing financial and prayer support. Equipping Haitians to minister to Haitians. Dan Shoemaker, Brett Bundy and Gordon Wallace are very capable men who are deserving of our encouragement, support and prayer as they bring this dream to reality.
We had arrived Friday morning, by Sunday we as a group were pretty overwhelmed by the sights, sound, smells and reality of Haiti. To me, Haiti is the frontier of human experience. It was just so far from our comfortable predicable Canadian lives and expectations. I felt a real heaviness, emotionally and spiritually by Sunday afternoon. It was time to spend some time with God. The men of our church have been reading, studying and walking in obedience to what God was revealing to us in "Waking the Dead" by John Eldredge. Near the end of the book there is a long prayer guide titled "Daily Prayer for Freedom". It is a very deep restoration and a spiritual call to arms kind of prayer. As I read it and let the words be my prayer, I felt the heaviness lift. As I waited on God and just listened, the still small voice of our Lord gave me this: Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world… The Holy Spirit has not abandoned Haiti; His presence abides there, keeping at bay the ultimate designs of the enemy of all our souls. The Holy Spirit is at work here. And He abides in you. When you come to Haiti you tangibly bring him in you. Make no mistake your physical presence here makes a difference. He seemed to put a picture in my mind; Just like the sudden appearance of a police officer in traffic causes everyone to take a breath, check their speed, fasten their seat belt and cause some to say " oh oh". Your physical presence as a vessel containing me: my spirit causes the him who is in the world to utter the spiritual equivalent of "oh crap". We bring light to Haiti, not because of who we are but because of who we carry inside and whose power works mightily in us.
It was far easier after that to engage the significant challenges of Haiti; both from a spiritual battle standpoint and from a what can this one man do vantage. This is, of course, true of us at home as well, but Haiti brings certain clarity ( more like from closed eyes to eyes wide open) to this issue that the busyness and distraction of our North American lives sometimes blinds us too…. Haiti and places like it have a way of opening the eyes of the heart. - Ephesians 1 18-23
Thank you Haiti for this…..
We spent 3 days of joyous hot, hard physical labour working on a school high up on a mountain called Coup-A-David. We loved and felt welcomed by the kids and Haitians we met on that mountain. Starfish Kids is a wonderful way to help Haiti one child at a time…… 1300 kids plus are now starfish kids, their goal is 4000 as quickly as possible. Are you one of the 2700 sponsors these little ones await?
Cal Schultz, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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