In the words of General Maximus Decimus Meridius, "If we are to survive, we must stick together."

As I ponder the culture and lineage of which I come from, I think of all the years that my family farmed in Texas all the way back to Scotland before landing foot in North America. We often dismiss the idea of sharecroppers these days as we pursue a dream that we can call our own. This puzzles me.

"We will starve if we don't work together." I can hear them saying. "It's you for me and me for you" as they wholeheartedly look each other in the eyes.

This is a true sense of community. I think back to the town that I grew up in (Centerville, TX) where a bit of this culture remains. We all knew each other's business but to those of us who realize that we desperately need each other, this is the desire of our hearts. I bet my grandfather misses the day where he could say, "You raise my kids and I raise yours. What's mine is yours" and really mean it.

The Haitian people live not in this by choice but circumstances force the beauty of community upon them and this messy thing that we call family is what survives a country - house to house, heart to heart.

As we walked the streets of Carrefour, Haiti, we met a woman whose daughter (3) was very sick with a fever and in bed. I asked her to go get her and we would pray healing into her. She did. We prayed and the girl came alive and looked nothing like a sick, sleepy child any longer.

After returning today, the mother immediately told us that after we prayed, her baby girl was healed! As we continued to talk, she, with pain in her eyes, explained to us that her and her family hadn't eaten in a week. Seeing this painful truth, the men and I laid hands on her and I knew nothing to pray. My heart was silent and my spirit - in shock. Trying to hold back the tears, I said, "Father, I don't know what to do. I have no words. What do you want me to do?" I saw Jesus at their feet, giving them all He had, hungry himself. He looked at me and said, "Give them something to eat."

We walked out and I saw Jesus say again, "Give them something to eat." I could no longer sit in silence. I gathered the men and we moved on the heart of God.

With Zachariah, our translator, we sent the provision of the Lord - food and the face of Jesus in a Haitian brother, a sharecropper of the Lord.

In Church2Church, we realize that the natives will be the ones to change their country for Jesus, not us. We are to empower them to do so and Zachariah, being in that exact empty place before, acted with compassion in his heart and eyes full of empathy. As he spoke words of life into her and handed her the food, as we were told, she immediately tore into it with no time to breathe. This is the heart of God for His children - to be their one and only provision - and this beloved woman experienced the tangible love of her Father today.

The harvest is plentiful, now go share in it!

Random Facts:

I was asked by Obed, our house host, "Did somebody make you? How could you be born?" I said, "I was made in the heart of God." He looked at me with a smile and said, "Oh yes, you are full of thunder... like BOOM!"

Kobe means money in Creole and evidently, that's what many of the Haitians think is my name, therefore I must have it.

Water trucks in Haiti operate like ice cream trucks do in America. They drive down the road and people come to get water. Tey even have tunes too, but they play tone melodies such as "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion (Titanic Song).

Haircuts in Haiti cost about 2.50 USD.