“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
When I was a boy, one of my chores was to help my mom with laundry. She had a small ‘antique’ Maytag washing machine in the basement and my job was to fill it with about six buckets of water, three hot and three cold and then fill the rinse tub that sat next to the washing machine. I was told that when I was a baby I was bathed in this same rinse tub. And I have also wondered if I had ever been bathed in the Maytag when I had been a real problem. That was in 1959 and I joyfully recall when years later my mom bought a washing machine that had hoses connected to the waterline and that put me out of the water hauling business.
For the two young girls in the attached photo it is laundry day. They are on the east edge of Gonaives and walking to a drainage canal to probably help their mom with laundry. No machine there, just a board or stones to rub at the soiled clothing. No clothes dryer or line; there they spread out the clean clothes on the large rocks, bushes or gravel lined banks and let the sun bake them dry.
When I first moved to Haiti in 2001 it became quite clear after just a few days that my North American “B-O” would soon become a problem for me as there didn’t appear to be a Laundromat in all of Port-au-Prince and my perspiration would soon become legendary if my clothes did not get washed. I was told by Pastor Thomas Bernard that I could take my clothes to the dry cleaner and after a couple of visits there that became cost prohibitive. I decided that the best option for me was to return to my childhood lessons and did my laundry in the sink with Woolite and hard rubbing, ringing out my clothes by hand and then hung them up to dry on a piece of rope on the flat roof of my apartment. My needs were met; my mom would have been proud of the lessons that I learned hauling water for her.
Just as the Apostle Paul wrote, “my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” the needs of the two children from Gonaives are being met, clothes to wear, shoes on their feet and a couple chunks of sugar cane. Our daily needs are always met, maybe not in the way we expect them to be met, but they are met by our loving Heavenly Father who gave His only Son to meet our ultimate need, forgiveness of our sins.
His children attending Christian schools are saved, and are prayerfully making disciples of the lost in their neighborhood, bringing the saving message to them as well. Thank you for supporting Christian education in Haiti through Trinity/HOPE school feeding programs.
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