“The time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see My glory ... And they shall declare My glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.” Isaiah 66:18b, 19b-21
In a recent devotion from The Lutheran Hour, Dr. Kari Vo wrote about what it was like to be an exile. It was a really interesting devotion and it brought back a few memories of my time spent living in Haiti and then also when I was going back to visit with mission teams.
Do you know what an exile is? By now, we’ve grown accustomed to reading about the large numbers of people coming into America across our open southern border. I suppose there are some who would call those people exiles; some might be exiles. I read a definition for exile and it said; “the state of being barred from one's native country, typically for political or punitive reasons. He knew now that he would die in exile."
When I was a Lutheran missionary living in Haiti it was encouraged that I became immersed in their culture, and not just the obvious; language, driving habits, food and not taking a drink from a garden hose or an indoor faucet like I could in Nebraska. Just working, traveling and worshipping with Haitian brothers and sisters reflected a vast difference in how we were brought up, educated and lived on this side of Heaven.
I lived in Haiti from March 2001 through December 2003 and when I returned to Nebraska in May 2004, the people who I had worshipped and worked with for over thirty years appeared the same to me physically, but their culture was foreign to me. Living in America, we don’t appreciate the blessings we have enough; we are so wasteful. And today, two decades later, I am still somewhere in between my native culture, now here in Normal, and the Haitian culture.
Back in the day, when I would lead a medical mission team or a Trinity HOPE team to Haiti my feelings, when I set foot on the runway at Port-au-Prince were that I was home; the exile had returned. I looked forward to seeing familiar faces, inhaling the humidity and aroma in the air and seeing once again the sights of the city. And when it was time to leave it would have been easy for me to stay a while longer.
I can’t return to Haiti today because of the increased gang violence in the country, nobody from our country should be planning a trip there. Please keep the school children, their parents, teachers, principals and the Haitian Trinity HOPE feeding program directors in your daily prayers. Keep Haiti in your prayers.
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