Haiti, March 3-10, 2012 | Blog 8.

Well, it’s been a couple days since we’ve returned to the United States from Haiti. If I’m being perfectly honest, I’m still processing the events and implications of the week (in a good way). Needless to say, it was such a fruitful and memorable experience. Though I could probably write a lengthy post delving into the specifics of everything I encountered and learned in Haiti, - if given enough time to sort out my thoughts- I’d like to share instead two central ideas that God worked into me throughout the course of the week. I’ll try to convey them as best I can.

First: We serve a Global God. This is both very easy to state and very easy to forget. People talk about the world, and the Kingdom of God for that matter, in an abstract way all the time. Being situated in an Internet-savvy era, also known as the Information Age, we can discuss with great facility, and even great accuracy, the state of a world we have actually never seen or experienced for ourselves. This is beneficial for us since it certainly enhances global awareness, but dangerous because it cannot be a substitute for the real thing. There is nothing more profound than seeing the reality of Jesus Christ operate in a foreign culture. When you are abroad you are first struck with obvious cultural differences that exist between your homeland and the host country. But after some time (I imagine it is different for each person), your foreign experience gives rise to a new depth of insight and all sorts of philosophical musings about life and the world, and you subsequently come to realize that we are all really the same. More than just realizing it, you see it. Literally. Concretely. We laugh at the same things, cry at the same things, and long for the same God. You don’t read about it on the Internet, you are subjected to it, face to face. This is precisely what happened to me the last time I went abroad, it is what happened in Haiti this past week, and it is what will happen the next time. (And it will happen to you, too.) For example, this past week our team relied almost exclusively on Haitians who spoke English to communicate since none of us knew Creole. Though we could barely speak to the kids, there was absolutely no problem relating to anyone, language barrier and all. The more cultural differences there are to observe, the more the sameness and unity reveals itself. This unity consists of things central to all life: Our humanity and our God. In the midst of novelty, truth remains steady. And you find that, just as you’ve read about, heard about, and believed, God is in fact moving on a global scale and His Kingdom is advancing throughout the world. That is what we saw in a very tangible way during our week in Haiti. I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to travel abroad to do so.

Second: Life on Earth is a mission. I hope this second idea is not misconstrued as a contradiction to the first. The second impression God developed within me on our trip was the idea of missions. On this trip God showed me that I had a very narrow concept of missions and missionaries. Without even being fully conscious of it, I realized that my idea of a missions trip was restricted to places in dire practical need. (I am certainly not belittling or diminishing the importance of service to a developing nation or impoverished area. Giving is an integral and uncompromising component of the Gospel, and as clearly and famously stated, without works your faith is dead.) However, I failed to recognize that missions is even more than that. We are Christ’s ambassadors and citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are not in our Home, we are on foreign territory as long as we are on Earth. Therefore, your life is a missions trip whether you thought it was or not. Not every person will spend his or her life physically traveling the world. But, just because you stay within the boundaries of your own country does not mean you have nothing to do. You are currently occupying a mission field right where you are. You may not be on a trip, but you are always on a mission. In Haiti, the Lord challenged me to keep a missions mindset upon returning the US. I hope you are encouraged to do the same.

- Lorelei French