In less than 24 hours, Mackenzie and I will be on a plane with 7 of our family and friends headed to visit a country that is radically different than anything we are used to or comfortable with. The plane ride will only take about three hours, but those few hours are vastly incongruent to the differences that will greet us when we step out of the plane in Port Au Prince, Haiti.
My mom and I have talked to Mackenzie and our team a lot about what to expect. Beautiful smiles from our Haitian brothers and sisters await us. Our time with them will bless us more than we can dream of blessing them. We will worship with Haitian friends, who didn't get the Baptist memo that you can't dance in church, and we will receive the genuine unguarded affection from children all over the village.
We have also tried to prepare them to see hunger and heartache. To see children whose tattered clothes hang over swollen bellies and whose hair and teeth are brittle with malnutrition. To see the pain in a parents' eyes who have buried a child and the desperate worry from family members who toil over sick loved ones slowly slipping away with no medical care. At times we will feel the hot oppression, not from a scorching sun, but from an island where many place their hope in voodoo instead of a loving Savior.
As I reflect on what my daughter will experience in the next several days, I feel both excitement and trepidation. I asked Mackenzie if she was scared. She quickly and honestly replied, "No because I know God will be with me." I know that too, but I'm still a little scared.
Last night as I was asking the Lord to calm my anxious heart, He brought my mind to a phrase that Mackenzie's grandmother (my mother-in-law) spoke of often before she went home to be with the Lord. During her battle with pancreatic cancer, she told everyone she was living her last days with "No Reserves, No Retreats and No Regrets."
It's a phrase that William Borden coined. William was heir to the Borden family fortune, but he gave it all away to be a missionary because he wanted to spend his life telling hurting people about Jesus. Brenda took his words to heart as she ceased every opportunity to share Jesus with a lost and dying world as long as she had breath.
That is my prayer for Mackenzie's time in Haiti.
No reserves, no retreats, no regrets - I pray she pours herself into these people. I pray she has the courage to hold the hands and hug the necks of small dirty children. I pray that when they are amazed by her blond silky hair and touch her head and face that she feels honored not invaded. I pray that she speaks with boldness when she opens God's Word to teach at the school. I pray that experiences a kindred spirit with the teachers and students who are so anxious to meet her and that she is also quick to give God the glory for the things He has accomplished through her. I pray that she allows herself to feel the pain of hungry children, to feel the people's desperate hope for a better tomorrow and to be changed.
For the last four years, Mackenzie has followed God's calling from a comfortable place in our own home. Tomorrow God will begin teaching her that faith without borders or limitations is not about her comfort, but about His Glory.
Alison and Mackenzie plan to blog together each day they are in Haiti, March 14-19. Check back tomorrow for their first update!
My mom and I have talked to Mackenzie and our team a lot about what to expect. Beautiful smiles from our Haitian brothers and sisters await us. Our time with them will bless us more than we can dream of blessing them. We will worship with Haitian friends, who didn't get the Baptist memo that you can't dance in church, and we will receive the genuine unguarded affection from children all over the village.
We have also tried to prepare them to see hunger and heartache. To see children whose tattered clothes hang over swollen bellies and whose hair and teeth are brittle with malnutrition. To see the pain in a parents' eyes who have buried a child and the desperate worry from family members who toil over sick loved ones slowly slipping away with no medical care. At times we will feel the hot oppression, not from a scorching sun, but from an island where many place their hope in voodoo instead of a loving Savior.
As I reflect on what my daughter will experience in the next several days, I feel both excitement and trepidation. I asked Mackenzie if she was scared. She quickly and honestly replied, "No because I know God will be with me." I know that too, but I'm still a little scared.
Last night as I was asking the Lord to calm my anxious heart, He brought my mind to a phrase that Mackenzie's grandmother (my mother-in-law) spoke of often before she went home to be with the Lord. During her battle with pancreatic cancer, she told everyone she was living her last days with "No Reserves, No Retreats and No Regrets."
It's a phrase that William Borden coined. William was heir to the Borden family fortune, but he gave it all away to be a missionary because he wanted to spend his life telling hurting people about Jesus. Brenda took his words to heart as she ceased every opportunity to share Jesus with a lost and dying world as long as she had breath.
That is my prayer for Mackenzie's time in Haiti.
No reserves, no retreats, no regrets - I pray she pours herself into these people. I pray she has the courage to hold the hands and hug the necks of small dirty children. I pray that when they are amazed by her blond silky hair and touch her head and face that she feels honored not invaded. I pray that she speaks with boldness when she opens God's Word to teach at the school. I pray that experiences a kindred spirit with the teachers and students who are so anxious to meet her and that she is also quick to give God the glory for the things He has accomplished through her. I pray that she allows herself to feel the pain of hungry children, to feel the people's desperate hope for a better tomorrow and to be changed.
For the last four years, Mackenzie has followed God's calling from a comfortable place in our own home. Tomorrow God will begin teaching her that faith without borders or limitations is not about her comfort, but about His Glory.
Alison and Mackenzie plan to blog together each day they are in Haiti, March 14-19. Check back tomorrow for their first update!
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