REFUGE!

When the poor, who are already tremendously vulnerable, experience a natural disaster on the scale of the earthquake in Haiti, it's hard to imagine how these precious people survive.

God's grace and the immediate response of His church, caring benevolent organizations, and compassionate nations like the U.S. certainly offer hope. And these take nothing away from the will to survive and strength of spirit that the Haitian people possess. They've survived so much devastation through the years, much of it man-made by his lust for power and his greed.

May God dispatch all the power of Heaven to Haiti to bring hope and healing, provision and peace, renewed strength and faith to all those who are suffering. I wonder in His dispatching the power of Heaven how God will dispatch His church to these people in need.

Already, many believers from the U.S. are on the ground. Wow, as hard as this must be for them, can you image what a high honor this is - God chose them to be there to represent His love to Haitians during such a crisis as this!

I wonder how it will affect others who've been preparing to serve in Haiti. Our high school students at First Church have been planning a mission trip to serve Haiti this April. Will they be able to go? All we know for now is that God wants us to pray, give, and serve those in need now...however we can.

The Psalm that hit me this week regarding the earthquake in Haiti, also captures God's power and promise to rescue those who love Him. It's a reminder this HE is our refuge and the Haitian refuge in ever-present trouble.

Psalm 42:1-3: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.