“The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,” Nahum 1:7
Last night while trying to fall asleep, my thoughts returned to a men’s choir practice back in the day, in Lincoln, and we were singing “Leaning on the everlasting arms” and then an eternity of past memories of Christian friends in Haiti came flooding back into vacant spaces of my mind that were not filled with the minutia that this world poured in yesterday. The words that surfaced were; “What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms; what a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.”
Seeing a Haitian child in a school the size of a single car garage in North America, sitting on a board tucked between two other students in a room that is filled with 90 humid degrees, learning about geography, French or Jesus and beaming with an ear to ear smile is unimaginable to our way of thinking. How can they possibly be happy? They have the promise of a Savior and they daily lean on his everlasting arms.
They do not understand the things we take for granted; health insurance, retirement plans, savings accounts, three meals every day, a closet full of clothes, a cupboard full of processed food, an air conditioner, indoor plumbing, lights, television, a computer…they have Jesus.
“What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms? I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms.” Too often, we drift away on our own taking on tasks that ‘we’ can handle by ourselves and don’t ‘need’ to lean or even think about leaning; after all we can do it ourselves. Too often we only lean when the mess we have gotten into is over our heads.
What a beautiful picture it is to see children leaning on His everlasting arms. The children in the attached photo go to school in Cap Haitian and they stopped after school to have their picture taken. They are happy, they know Jesus, it was His love through somebody like you that brought them their lunch for two dollars and fifty cents. Look closely at the young girl with one yellow sandal on her right foot and a white shoe on her left; she is just happy to have something on her feet, something in her stomach and a Savior that she can lean on and feel His love every day.
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