“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10 (ESV)
During Lent we focus on the last days of the life of Jesus Christ, his suffering, humiliation, scourging, beating, death and resurrection. We also are reminded about why He came here for us, what His purpose on earth was and why we daily should turn to Him with thanksgiving for our gift of Eternal Life from His death on Calvary’s cross.
The attached photo is of a market near Fond Baptiste which is high on a mountain in the Arcahaie District. Here people gather twice a week to hopefully sell a small pan of vegetables or fruit, or a basket, or a dress or something that they have made or trade something for something that they might be needing.
I don’t know how many people were there but suffice to say there was a mass of humanity there and I can’t begin to tell you what the noise of their voices sounded like on that hot morning on the road to Fond Baptiste. The man in the center of the photo, scratching his head with his right hand is Pastor Joseph Romulus, he was looking for ‘zaboka’ or an avocado. Pastor Joseph is like you and me, a sinner. The other people in the photo are also sinners. Close to 65% percent of the people living in Haiti practice vodou, they are sinners who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Our Lord Jesus sent Pastor Joseph, you, me and over 17,000 Haitian children attending Christian schools in Haiti to take the Gospel message to the lost still practicing vodou in Haiti. They either have not heard the truth or have and still believe the lies of the vodou priest that Christ did not rise from the dead and satan won the victory. Seek and save the lost. I heard a Lenten hymn recently, “Jesus, Your Blood and Righteousness” by Nicolaus L. von Zinzendorf and it is one of my favorites and always reminds me why Christ came and then the Holy Spirit moves me follow the direction Christ gave us, to seek and save the lost.
“Jesus, your blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress; mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head. Bold shall I stand in that great day, cleansed and redeemed, no debt to pay; for by your cross absolved I am, from sin and guilt, from fear and shame. Lord, I believe your precious blood, which at the mercy seat of God; pleads for the captives’ liberty, was also shed in love for me. Lord, I believe, were sinners more than sands upon the ocean shore, You have for all a ransom paid, for all a full atonement made. When from the dust of death I rise to claim my mansion in the skies, this then shall be my only plea: Christ Jesus lived and died for me. Then shall I praise you and adore Your blessed name forevermore, Who once, for me and all you made, an everlasting ransom paid.”
Thank you for blessing the lives of the children in Trinity/HOPE programs with your prayers and financial gifts that daily uplift them as they go out into their world and seek and save the lost.
Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay