HOPE AGAINST DEFEAT

In our lives, when a tragedy hits, how do we respond? Do we give up? Hide? Maybe ask God to set us free from the agony? Galatians 2:20 reads, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in my body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” We must walk by faith, even when the road is broken beneath our feet. How do we continue against defeat?

Under my feet the earth began to crack open when the earthquake hit. I felt an uncertainty like never before. What was happening? What’s next? Literally, the world around me was upside down. I heard screams, people yelling, and then word of an imminent threat of a tsunami. Being right along the ocean, we had to evacuate to higher ground. Would there be defeat? Is there hope?

Personally, the first night was eerie. With only minutes between them, tremors would rock the ground and evoke a deeper sense of shock. The fear of the unknown can destroy any hope. Lives were lost, yet I was still breathing. I was sleeping outside, but I know that I have a home waiting for me back in the states. Thousands here had no home to go back to. The total devastation was still unknown. The shock of Haiti’s poverty was overwhelming the day before the earthquake. Now this devastation–added to the poverty–brought a feeling of hopelessness.

The day after the earthquake, I saw God at work like never before. I know He had been working within the hearts of the Haitians, but this tragedy brought a new awakening to His omniscience. When you wake up each day asking what am I going to do–you see what your strength can produce. But, when you ask God to show you what He is doing, an entire new picture is displayed. I began asking God to work through me; the difference is profound. Is it God or is it man? When we are crucified with Christ, our lives become a vessel for God to work through us. Oh God, please use me!

Team members who were in Haiti when the earthquake occurred were serving the next day with a greater passion–delivering food to villagers, working in the warehouse, and

salvaging supplies from the medical clinic which was destroyed. Even though many did not rest the night before, their hearts were strong in the wake of devastation. Tragedy was not slowing down the people of God. Miracles were taking place. My brother George said, “It was God’s hand of protection! No one died on any of the New Missions properties in Haiti.” Looking through human eyes, thousands of children have been entrusted to New Missions. Yes, we lost some; each and every one is precious. In the larger perspective, thousands of lives were spared that day.

Two nights after the earthquake there were four cell phones on the table–none having a signal. All of a sudden my cell phone rang! It was a divine telephone call at the right time. A team of private Special Ops were coordinating an evacuation plan for the visitors at the mission. The next morning, again we had no cell phone coverage, and all of a sudden my cell phone rang again. It was the U.S. Army telling me that helicopters were on their way. I can honestly tell you that my faith increased immensely!

Since the earthquake, more than ever, I do not want to live apart  from God’s strength. His will and His power is what make all of the difference. John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Two days after the earthquake, I was walking through a hut looking at some of the damage in the village next to our mission campus in Bordmer. What surprised me was what I saw when I came across two boys playing. They were laughing! Joy was in their lives. I asked them, “Do you go to the New Missions’ school?” They both said yes–which did my heart good knowing the love of Jesus was sufficient for all of their needs.

We are called to serve. “For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) Our calling is to share the Good News of Jesus with others and to serve in love. The world has seen the suffering of Haiti like never before. This means it’s time for us, as Christians, to serve like never before. When we step forward with a heart of service, hope is delivered and defeat has no home.

~Timothy DeTellis