HHM in Haiti - CBS Atlanta's Raw Footage

Today, I sat down for a few minutes to eat lunch and thought I would read the Helping Hands Foreign Missions' blog (the link is found in previous posts). I quickly saw the link to CBS Atlanta's site where apparently, the station has sent a camera man to travel with the team from HHM in Haiti. Once I started watching, I could not stop. The footage is definitely raw with little to no editing beginning on the day they arrived and following them for about three or four days. The link: http://www.cbsatlanta.com/video/22429977/index.html

If you want to see Haiti from the real life perspective of the team from Gainesville, this is well worth watching. The first 20 or so minutes shows the teams arrival in the Dominican Republic, their travels into Haiti and their first look at the mass destruction in Port-au-Prince. You know, as I watched it and saw building after building flattened, I thought it surreal but when I saw the faces of the people especially the children, my heart sank. At about 40 minutes in, one of the team members asked a man on the street about the earthquake. You get the feeling almost that this is a casual conversation until he says "I lost my boy." You can hear the team member say with shocked surprise, "your boy?" oh dear. Then near the end of the video they are speaking with another gentlemen whom they soon discover has lost almost his entire family - his wife, children, 5 brothers, nieces, cousins and nephews. Is there any way to comprehend this? I just can't.

But the one thing I just can't get out of my mind is the children in the orphanage. The HHM team's goal was to move 60 children plus their leaders to a safe haven a few hours away. Look carefully at the faces of these children (about 30 mins into the video). They are thrilled with a handful of Fruit Loops and a bus ride. I just keep thinking that each one has a story, each one has a purpose, each one a God who loves them. Do they know and understand that at all?

I am awestruck by the irony of the situation when their bus can't cross the river because the road has washed away. All of them plus their belongings have to finish their journey on foot through some steep and rough terrain. At the beginning of the book of Joshua, the Israelites have wandered 40 years in the desert and yes, they are getting ready to cross the Jordan River into the long-awaited promised land. (Joshua 1:2) Maybe, just maybe, these children have crossed the river into their promised land. I pray that when Brenda, Richard and the team share the love of Christ with them, they will accept it. They will accept the promised land of Christ - the love, joy, and peace that only comes from knowing Him. They will accept the God who says to me, you and them:

"I will never leave you nor forsake you.' (Joshua 1:5)

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)