Why would anyone ever come here?

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 

          We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father full of truth and grace.

                                                             John 1:14

 

Our plane coasted high above the beautiful mountains of Haiti and each of us anticipated what the week ahead would be like. Leaning toward the window, I got my first glimpse of Port-Au-Prince, and was startled to find tears already rolling down my face. I knew it was coming, but looking down at home after home after home made from pieces of tarp, cardboard, maybe corrugated metal, worn with weather. That was not something I could prepare myself for, no matter how many magazine pictures I'd seen or even other locations I had traveled. There is something about poverty; physical, aching poverty, that takes your breath away.

Two days later I looked around me and noticed Madalyn, one of our team members, and one of my very favorite people. She had a look of deep sadness, something that doesn't usually match well with her energetic and willing spirit. I took hold of an opportunity later that evening and asked, "Are you ok?" Madalyn's words were still and quiet,
             "Why would anyone ever come here?"

I was so surprised by the richness and contemplation coming out of her teenage mouth, and the gravity of her words, I was speechless. I took her hand. Finally I responded with the only answer I could think of, 
               "What if we didn't? What if we stayed home."  

   Two weeks ago it struck me again...

              "Why would anyone ever come here?"

What we see when we see the desolation of poverty is simply us seeing with eyes wide open by Christ. When the Father sent Christ to Earth, the Word made flesh, He came from all glory in Heaven to our little hovel on Earth. He came to our impoverished land, our desolate souls, to redeem all of it. 

             "Why would anyone ever come here?"

Christ came, because of Love, because of Grace, because of Hope. He came because He is Love, He is Grace, He is Hope. 

        What if He didn't, what if He would have stayed home?

And so we don't...we go into the world. A light shining in the darkness, and the darkness can not overcome Him.

Madalyn came to love the people of Haiti, and the land of Haiti. I did too. How can you not? But in sharing the experience, she gave me the opportunity to see the Light shining in my dark world.