“The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,” Nahum 1:7
Alexa tested my memory recently on her ‘Gospel Church Music’ format and I got to sing bass with “Leaning on the everlasting arms” and memories of Christian friends in Haiti came flooding back into vacant spaces that were not filled with the minutia that this world poured in during the past decades. The words that caught my attention 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 while tucked between two other students in a room that is 90 humid degrees, learning about geography, French and Jesus and beaming with an ear to ear smile is unimaginable to our way of thinking. How can they possibly be happy? We don’t understand their joy; they have the promise of a Savior and they daily lean on his everlasting arms. They do not understand our reliance upon 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, the Super Bowl…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 and don’t lean or even think about leaning on Jesus; after all we can do it ourselves. Too often, we only lean on Jesus when the mess we have gotten in to 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 bought each one of 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