Devotion: Love One Another
Please read the scripture from the weekend: Isaiah 55:6 & 7
If I were to ask you about an extraordinary day in your life, you would tell me about a wonderful experience. About graduating from high school or college or your wedding day or the day you became a parent or grandparent.
We have a tendency to see “extraordinary” through rose-colored glasses. But the word simply means very unusual or remarkable. Thus the pandemic was extraordinary but we wouldn’t call it wonderful. The truth is our extraordinary days include times of crisis, pain, fear and need that we wish would hurry by or not occur at all.
For our sisters and brothers in Haiti, crisis is now the very nature of their ordinary days. Haiti has long been the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Sheridan Lutheran Church has been doing mission work there in partnership with the Haitian Timoun Foundation since 2009. But because of the unrest and instability in the country, we haven’t been unable to send mission teams since 2019.
Maya Luckner, in-country director for the foundation, described the situation during worship services June 9 at Sheridan. Following the assassination of Haiti’s president nearly three years ago, gangs have taken control of the country, using violence to remove people from their homes, to close and destroy schools and businesses and hospitals, and to kidnap people and extort huge ransoms, while killing their captives even when ransoms are paid.
Today the violence is concentrated in the capital city of Port-au-Prince and many who lived there have fled to the countryside. They are safe, but the disruption means they don’t have enough food or medicine or gasoline. But, Maya said, by the grace of God, the Haitian Timoun Foundation is continuing its work of educating young Haitians, primarily in the area of Jacmel in the central plateau.
In Haiti, only 85 percent of eligible children are enrolled in primary school. Often parents must choose between educating their children or feeding them. Of that 85 percent, only 19 percent will complete grade 6. The foundation provides scholarships for primary school and in a program begun with Sheridan several years ago, selected students receive scholarships for grades 7 to 13. The foundation has several other programs, including entrepreneurship for women. An educated population will play a huge role in the healing of Haiti.
Maya repeatedly referred to God’s grace as the reason the foundation’s programs continue despite the chaos in his country. Isaiah 55:6 tells us to seek the Lord while he may be found, to call on him while he is near. He is always near, as he keeps his promise to walk with us through everything in life. We can call on him for the help we need, whether it’s a job or healing of a relationship or just making it through a tough time. God will hear and God will answer.
And may we also lift up to God the people and the nation of Haiti as they endure in hope during their ordinary, crisis-filled days.
God and Father of us all, hear the cries from your children in Haiti. In your wisdom, give healing to this nation that is so much in need of so much. Bring peace, safety, education and peacemakers to this desperate, divided country. And hear our cries when we, too, are in need of your grace and guidance. We ask all these things in the name of our savior, Jesus. Amen.
Cheryl Stubbendieck is a member of Sheridan’s Devotion Writing Team. She was the public relations department head for Nebraska Farm Bureau before retiring in 2012. She and her husband Jim are the editors of a quarterly journal about antique side-by-side shotguns and Cheryl is the co-leader of Sheridan’s new Card Makers group. Their family includes their son Aaron and his wife Chaitra of San Francisco, CA, and their son Reed of Madison, WI.