Special days

There are a few things going on between our community and the clinic which we would value your prayers for. Anyway because of that I was really very discouraged at the beginning of this week but God gave me a really couple of special days this week reminding me why he has called me here and how he is working despite the difficulties.

We had a great team here from Canada these past two weeks and they were just willing to do anything we needed them to do. I was organising a mobile clinic for Saturday and was planning to count all the medicine on Friday because I didn't have any patients booked in, even with that over 10,000 tablets to count I didn't think I was ever going to get it done. I turned out to be fully booked and has patients right through until 2.30pm and thankfully the team came and counted all the medicine for me otherwise I definitley would have been up all night. As you know I am not the most organised of people and for some reason I always leave things until the last minute, so I am very thankful for the team.

There was a lady on the team who felt God was calling her to sponser one of our seminary students but she felt strongly that it should be a woman. She asked if I knew anyone who needed help, we only have 2 female students and I am really good friends with one of them Nicole. So I arranged for Nicole to come over so they could meet each other, Nicole has a powerful testimoney of how God has worked in her life and called her into seminary. I did write part of it before here, to write her whole testimoney would take me forever I will just pick out a couple of bits for you or give you the shortened version.....

'My mum was 15 when I was born and when I was  9 months old she left me in a box close to my fathers house. My grandmother found me however she did not know my father had any children, later when my father came home he told her he was my father. My grandmother brought me up until I was 4 and then she died, after that I returned back to my father's house to live with his new wife and family. I had a difficult childhood, my stepmum was always jealous of me. I grew up got married had 3 children of my own and adopted 2 more. One night I had a dream, me along with all the leaders of my church were going to the ambassadors office to collect our visa's to go to the states. A man came down to collect the papers and took everyone's, when he got to me he said no you are not part of this group. I was surprised and asked him to go and talk to the ambassador. He went, returned and said the ambassador said You are not to leave, he has work for you here, go across the road and find Pastor John (this is not his actual name but to be honest I cannot remember the name of the pastor!!) tell him I said he has to take you to seminary and enroll you there. That was the end of the dream. The next day in church the leaders were having a meeting and one of the leaders stood up before us and said 'God is calling someone here who is it,' I didn't say anything, he asked again, again I didn't respond and the third time I replied it was me. Then for 6 months nothing happened, one day in the school I had in my house one of the kids brought one of their books to me and when I opened it the person who has signed the book was called pastor John. Immediately I asked the mum of the child if she knew this man, she said yes and I asked her to take me to him.

I went to see him and explained my dream, he said ok I see God has spoken to you however he has not spoken to me, give me your phone number. One week later the pastor phoned me and asked me to come to his house. He said God has spoken to me, come with me so I can enroll you in seminary. I was in my 3rd year on 12th January when the earthquake hit, I felt the earth shake but by the grace of God I was unharmed but my house fell down completely, I slept out in the road for a few days with my 5 children. When a friend of mine who lives in the north sent a car down to bring me back to where she lives. After a few days I was frustrated, I had nothing, no money, no food nothing I wanted to go back to Port au Prince. I had a dream with God telling me to stay here, the next day I went out into the area evangelising. The area has alot of witch doctors and alot of people serving Satan but i preached the word of God. The next day sunday I went to church, the pastor stood up and said we had someone evangelising in this area yesterday if that person is here can they stand up and tell us who they are. I stood up and explained to the church who I was. The pastor came to talk to me afterwards, later that day another pastor, Pastor Exalus (who is actually the chaplin in our clinic) phoned me. He asked about my story how I got here, he told me OMS have a seminary who is accepting studnets who were in seminary in Port for free if I wanted to go he would take me on Thursday so I agreed. The next day God woke me up at 4am and told me to go to seminary today,I packed me bag and called pastor Exalus and told him I need to go today. He said no I can take you on Thursday. I said no God told me to go today, he replied 'Ok if God told you to go, you should go,' I said ok where is the seminary. Saccenville he told me. I did not have any idea where Saccenville was, I got on the tap tap and asked people to let me know when we arrive in Saccenville. Pastor Exalus had told me to ask for Pastor Vilmer, thats what I did when I arrived. I told my story and he looked at me. He said if you had have come on thursday we wouldn't have accepted you, class starts for everyone tomorrow. He gave me a room and I started seminary the next day.

I love emmaus and when we left in June I told Ms Stacey I will be returning in September not having any idea where I would get the money from. (Our students all have sponsers who help with the tution fees however on top of that the students have to pay some at the start of the year themselves). I have been praying all summer and I need to pay the money by next Friday or else I cannot return. I had stared to get a little worried but I know God is faithful and he will provide for me. And I see today how he is providing for me.'

It was a very special afternoon as I was translating her testimoney I was getting goosebumps in the ways God has worked in her life. The other thing that I love is that all 3 of us where from different countries, one from Haiti, one from Northern Ireland and one from Canada and God has put all 3 of us in the same place at the same time to work together for his glory. I love that. We can never understand how God works, why Nicole had to live through 12th January 2010 and lose everything she has, yet I can see many ways he is using her here, where he has put her right now. She has been on a few mobile clinics with us and God is using her to bring people to himself.

It was a very special afternoon and that evening I went down to talk to Vedane and Dr Rodney (2 of my very close friends here) and I was telling them what happened, we spent the whole night just telling stories if how God has worked in our lives, I even didn't get home until 10pm (thats late for Haiti!!)

The second special say was Saturday but that will have to wait for another day........

Update from Milot

Things in Milot are really getting quiet, from starting out with around 350 patients in 5 huge tents, we are down to around 40 in just 2 of the tents and they aren't really full. This is Marie-Genese, she is in her early 20's and lost her arm and her leg in the earthquake. She has prothesis for both and is just getting to the stage where she is walking all by herself. Every morning her and a few of the girls in her tent spend about an hour singing, worshipping God then praying. It is lovely to hear everyday and still amazes me what they have been through yet their prayers are full of praises.

We have 3 patients who lost both their legs in the earthquake, admatha, Joseph and Margaret. All in their early 20's. They were all given prothesis in June and with the girls it has taken a bit or persuasion to get them up walking on them but they are getting very good. The girls are both walking with a stick and their prothestic legs but still need a wee bit of encouragement to get up and practice.

Joesph on the other hand is probably the patient in milot who has put in the most effort with everything, always wanting to do physio and to practice walking. Where he lost his left leg is really high up so it should be pretty difficult for him to walk but he tries really hard with everything and is walking with the stick and in between the bars in walking by himself. He is also able to get himself on and off the floor. Joseph has one prayer request, he doesn't want people to feel sorry for him or have pity on him but he wants God to provide a job for him so he can provide for himself.

Joseph

Magaret

There have been about 3 babies born in milot and to me its just miracles God is bringing out of something so awful that has happened. This wee baby jeffery is just 10 days old in this photo and maybe the cutest baby i have ever seen!! His mum was in Port and lost her left arm just below the elbow but she manages so well. There is another wee baby due this week, and its mum was trapped under rubble for 3 days before anyone found her yet the baby survived under all that and everything looks good for the birth this week.

We had a special time with the girls this week, a friend of mine Kate who is from wales married to a Haitian guy but they live in the states. Anyway kids from her church in England had written cards to give to people who were in the earthquake, I have had them in my house since June and have actually even taken them to Milot but have left them in the car!!However I am glad I waited until now to give them out for a couple of reasons first there was one for each girl in the girls tent and secondly to still have people praying for them 8 months later means a lot to them. Here are some of the comments from the cards.....

'The people of haiti are in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.'

'Never give up'

'The world is a small place when we pray together.'

'We are praying for hope for the people in Haiti.'

'May God help you at this difficult time, you are in our hearts.'

I was getting goosebumps translating them for the patients, knowing it was kids who wrote this and knowing how much it meant to the people there that other people were praying for them. Everyone in Haiti knows where the states and maybe Canada is but outside of that not really. One thing that really shocked them was that these kids were from England which was so far away yet cared about them.

Please continue to pray for people in Milot as they heal not only physically but emotionally. The trauma they have been through is unbelievable and with no real professional help it is going to take a long time to get over it especially as they return to Port. Saying that one of the things which has been amazing to see in Milot is the emotional recovery which has taken place. I remember the first month I was there, the tents were full, people just lying in bed all day everyday trying to comprehend what had happened, trying to deal with losing friends and family, their houses, pretty much everything they owned. Seeing alot of people crying, not being able to eat or sleep yet slowly but surely over the last 6 months I see a big change in almost everyone. Some of it began with getting out of bed, up walking, spending time outside but most of it came from talking with others who had been through the same thing, making friends with the people around them and almost everyday I would hear a group of people singing and praying together and I firmly believe that is where their healing has come from.

I just had a friend over today, Nicole (I actualy wrote her testimoney on here a few months ago) she is a student in the seminary she was down in Port for a week during the summer visiting her husband who is still there and really says everything is much the same, everyone is still sleeping in a tent which when it rains it floods and when it rains in this country it really rains, they still haven't cleared away much the rubble and people are hungry and desperate. I really don't know what it is going to take for Port to recover but they people really need our prayers. This year is election year and they are choosing the canditates right now, it would be wonderful if Haiti could have a president who wanted to do the best thing for the country and for its people. And its for that I am praying.

Outside of things going on in Port au Prince so many other situations in this country are just desperate.This is Jackson, he is just 14, well he was 14 on 10th august. He was admitted to milot the 2nd week in July, he has epilepsy and took a seizure and fell into a fire. He was at a different hospital before he came here but found out they could do skin grafts here in Milot, he had 3 grafts and really needed daily physio which wasn't available. We had been working with him as much as possible but it wasn't enough, like a wee before this photo was taken he was able to open his eye fully. His burns are healing well but they his skin is so tight. But praise the Lord a hospital in Boston with a special burns unit accepted him to look after all his treatment. His mum died when he was young so he lives with his dad and a couple of brothers and sisters. Him and his dad left last week to go the states. I can't even imagine what it would be like for them, his dad cannot read or write, they come from way out in the country in Haiti and have never left before. It will be quite an experience getting the plane and arriving in a hospital in the states, I hope they arrived safely and he is getting treated well and is much better.

Some other peeps....

Apart from physio in the clinic and in Milot there are some other people I try to go and see each week. One of which is Sterlina....I hadn't been too see her for about a month for a couple of reasons but I got the chance to go see her on Wednesday and she is doing really well actually. She is really growing and is almost taller than me which I guess isn't that hard but she is only 14. She still is not really liking where she is living I think she would much rather be with her family in Port but as I explained before her family say there is nothing they can do for her and she is much better where she is. Her wee foot is still not totally healed yet but when it does they are going to give her a prothestic foot where she lost hers. She also doesn't want to start school because her foot isn't healed yet, although I have been trying to tell her she doesn't need her foot to go to school!!!Please continue to pray for her, that she will settle better where she is, she has had so much to cope with over the past 8 months being in the earthquake, thinking her whole family are dead then finding out about 6 weeks ago they are actually alive but they don't want her. Continue to remember her please.

Mono is a wee boy I go and see every week. He has CP and lives just about 10 minutes walk away from our compound. He has a really lovely wee family, his mum works for the mission and they have 6 kids, 3 girls and 3 boys. He does very well with his CP, his is mobile and does lots of things for himself. So I have just been going to teach his mum and dad lots of exercises they can do to help him abit more.

Carlos is doing really well and so is Rosette. I had been going to visit them in their house and just this week Rosette has been back at work just this week. Last time I was here she cooked and sold food out the front of the clinic then after her daughter had been sick she got really sick and was just at home. I was so happy to see her back at home, there are 10 people who live in her house and she is providing for them all so it is great she is well enough to be back at work again. I have another wee friend who comes to see me his name is Phaly, he is only 9 and he used to come visit me in the clinic with Carlos. A while ago he came to me and asked if I could help him with school because his mum died last year and since then he hasn't been able to go to school. So I talked to him and his brother, turns out he is Carlos' cousin and his granny is also Rosette. We managed to get him into starfish and my sister is sponsering him to go to school, its just cool how they are from the same family and now both my sisters are helping Carlos and Phaly to go to school through starfish.

Junior- Junior lives in Saccenville where our seminary is, in May Stacey (one of our missionaries here) told me she had someone for me to see. A young guy who was totally fine and now he is paralysed and cannot walk and they are not sure why. Hannnah and I and Dr Phil who was here at the time went out to see him. He is a young guy who used to live in the states and was sent back to Haiti, however when he came back to Haiti he became a christian and turned his life around, now he is married and his wife is about 6 months pregnant. So he told us he was totally fine the one day he got up and his legs felt itchy and funny and then he felt something go through his body and sure enough after that he could not walk his legs were really weak. We went to check him out and that is what we found, he was really weak with abnormal sensation and unable to stand. Neither Phil or I were really sure what was wrong so we brought him to the clinic the next day for some blood tests. I assessed him properly from a physio point of view and it really looked like something neurological but I wasn't sure what. We got him standing at a frame and I give him loads of exercises to do at home and have been going out to Saccenville to continue treatment in his house. He is now walking with the walker and takes a few steps by himself but is pretty unsteady. Everytime we go he is just thanking God for how much progress he is making.

X ray

Well I think I said in the prayer letter we have our X ray machine up and running. Our last X ray machine broke in January of 2008 and then there was one sent down sometime last year but when it was put together they could not get it working. There were a few people who worked on it and each got a little further but not to the stage where it was working completely. There is also another X ray machine which has been on its way for a while but has not yet arrived but God has provided.

There was a lady and her husband here from the states, Denise and Kevin in September of 2008 and Denise reallt felt a burden for the clinic and the X ray machine. Just this year she began communicating with Hannah seeing what  exactly we need in the clinic and got pretty much everything. She sent the machine down the first week in July, then Denise and her husband Kevin were here for 5 days from 15th July. The machine is actually a portable but didn't have a stand so Bud (one of our missionaries here) attached it to the other machine. They spent about a day training on it and now it is up and running.

It really is great to have  X ray in the clinic. Finding somewhere that does X rays in the north  of Haiti is not very easy. We have been sending people to a clinic around 10 mins away from our clinic, however to have an x ray there is 1000  Haitian goudes or more in some cases, so many people just do without if they really need one. In Bethesda we charge 300 goudes for people who are patients in Bethesda and for patients who are sent from other doctors it is 500 goudes.

The Dark room

The first X ray....its my back!

We give God thanks for sending us a new X ray machine. Hannah is especially pleased as this is what she came here to do. Hannah and pastor Daniel are both working together on the X rays. The word is still getting out that we have X ray which is working so things aren't too busy yet but I don't think it will be too long before they are super busy. Many people have been praying for this for a long time and now God has answered so we give him praise.

Prayer letter

This is my June prayer letter which I could not get uploaded to send home because of internet or lack of so a few bits are a bit out of date I will update them a little as we go along!!

Milot Hospital

Things are still busy at Milot, there are around 80 patients still there. There are less visiting teams so more work for me!A lot of the patients are ready to go home but have no possibility of getting there. The prosthetic lab has been up and running and teams have been coming in for 5 days at a time and working really hard even through the night to make the prosthesis for the amputees. All of the kids got their’s done, it was great to see them walk with their prosthetic leg for the first time. Just last week, Maragret and Joseph who are double leg amputees got both of their prosthesis. They were a little anxious getting up on their new legs for the first time however once they were up they felt great. They are doing physiotherapy everyday to get improve their walking. Joseph is 2o and was in Port for university during the earthquake, his family are from another area in Haiti. He is a Christian and he asked me to pray for him. He says he wants me to pray that God will provide for him in finding a job. He doesn’t want people to feel sorry for him or be given hand outs for the rest of his life. He wants to find a job so he can provide for himself.

*Just this week another 3- patients left there are now around 50, half of whom are amputees and all have their prothesis. I am the only physio there for this week and next so things are a bit busy, its great though. The 3 patients who are double leg amputees all are walking around with their prothesis and crutches*

We have another Joseph in Milot. A 17 year old guy who lost his whole family in the earthquake, mum, dad and 4 siblings. He had a broken knee which has healed and a fractured elbow which was operated on and he now has infection. Right now he doesn’t live at the hospital but it supposed to come everyday for his antibiotics however he doesn’t want to come. I went to talk to him about coming to Milot and taking his medicine . He told me he didn’t care if he came because he didn’t care if he lived or died. He has no family left and doesn’t know what he is going to do. I spoke to him for ages and shared the gospel and had the privilege of praying with him and leading him to the Lord.
*Please pray for Joseaph I really felt he was convicted the day I talked with him and prayed, however no one has seen him since or knows where he is, please pray that God will protect him and bring him back to milot*

Radio distribution in Balan

At the beginning of June there was a team here from the USA who were involved in giving out solar powered radio’s and I got the opportunity to go along and translate. Radio 4VEH has been in Haiti for 60 years and through the ministry of solar powered radios thousands of people have to come know the Lord. We went out into the local community in teams of five. Each team consisted of three people from the US one person from the local church and a translator. Each house we stopped at someone shared the gospel and then gave the family in the house a radio. We had the opportunity to pray with believers, to encourage them and over 20 people accepted the Lord that day. The radio is on air 24 hours a day and for some people this is the only time they will ever hear the gospel. For some others 4VEH is their church and where they listen to sermons and bible studies.

The new building in finally finished and being used! It looks great inside and we are using it for the AIDS clinic and also the TB clinic.

Just this week a portable Xray machine for the clinic. Hannah is pretty excited! Now we are just waiting on all the other things she needs to arrive so we can actually get X ray’s up and running!!There is a lady coming in on 15th July to bring the other supplies and to show Hannah how this particular machine works.
*so it is past 15th June and our X ray machine is up and running!After 2 and a half years of no Xray. Things have been picking up as word gets out that Bethesda has a machine. X rays are difficult to find here in the north of the country and also in The clinic ours in half he price of the other clinic which is close by which is much better for patients. *

Our ultrasound machine is still not really being used, please keep praying for someone to come for a short period of time to do some teaching.

The ‘Physiotherapy Department’ has been busy. I have been treating a lot of strokes and thankfully they have all been getting better. About 4 of my patients the first time they came they were completely paralysed down one side and now all of them are walking.

I also had another wee patient, Stephanie who was in port at school during the earthquake. The first time I saw her someone carried her in. She has damage in some nerves in her legs and I wasn’t overly sure what to do with her. However now just 6 weeks later she is walking completely by herself.

Just this week we had a very sick wee baby in, he has been sick for 5 days with diarrhea , he came back everyday to be given a strong antibiotic for 3 day. Ms Ketlie was looking after the family and spoke to the father who told her the baby was sick because of voodoo, someone had cast a spell on him. Ms Ketlie explained it was not that but just an infection she also shared the gospel and the baby’s mum became a Christian. The father wants to but says he is not ready yet. *Since then the dad has accepted Christ and the couple are planning to get married and begin a new life with God*

Mobile medical clinics

We have run mobile clinics in two different places, Soufrierre and Roque. The aim of a mobile clinic is not only to provide medical care but also to reach people with the gospel and encourage other believers.

Our team to Soufrierre included Dr Phil who was here on short term from N.I, Ms Prudence and 5 of our seminary students. We saw 200 patients in one day! The students had the privilege of leading some people to the Lord. The also prayed and counseled other patients. The earthquake really has affected everyone all over the country. Soufrierre is in the middle of the mountains about an hour away from Cap Haitian yet we found people living there who has been in Port on 12th January. Four of our students were also in port on 12th Jan and were able to pray and counsel those patients.


Roque is a very special place where OMS has been doing mobile clinics when Dr Gavin was here. However it has been nearly 2 years since they have had a doctor there. From Friday afternoon to Saturday evening we saw 320 patients!!I really do not know how the people in Roque survive, they are literally in the middle of no where and they have nothing yet they have content people because a lot of them have the Lord. The impact being in Roque has had on our team in amazing to see. Wadner was in Roque with us in 2008 translating , he came back this time to pray with the patients. After church on Sunday he was upset and I went over to see what was wrong. This is what he told me ‘Julie when people from the states come to Haiti they say they take everything they have for granted, that is how I feel about people in Cap Haitian. I just feel so blessed to be able to come here.’


The walk up to Roque
 
Praises
For both the medical clinics, the patients who were seen and those who committed their lives to the Lord.


For the new building being finished and being used.

For God’s faithfulness and how he is providing in every situation.

For the patients in Milot continuing to heal both physically and emotionally

The portable X ray machine arriving. *and now being used!*

Prayers

Patients leaving Milot hospital and returning to Port au Prince to live in a tent.

For a mobile clinic we are running for a week in Diquini, Port au Prince. *the clinic was cancelled due to unsafe conditions in Port, please continue to pray for the situation in Port*

For the country of Haiti, its government as they continue to rebuild

Sister's visit

My sister’s have just left after spending 2 weeks with me here in Haiti. I went over to the Dominican Republic to meet them and we took the bus over to Cap Haitian. It was a very long journey but we finally arrived. Leah and Claire had left home on Sunday morning at 5am arrived in the international airport to find out their flight to London was cancelled. Fortunately my mum found a flight from the city airport to London and they just about got on the flight to the Dominican. Anyway they finally arrived at my house in Haiti at 7pm Monday night and were pretty wiped out!!

I brought them to the clinic to meet everyone here, seemingly they have a brother, a couple of sisters and heaps of cousins in Haiti after only being here for one day!!We took a tap tap into Cap Haitian to go into the market and have a wee walk about. It was quite the scene, there are not normally a lot of white people walking about in Cap Haitian and there was the 3 of us, plus Hannah and her mum!!



This week we have also spent a wee bit of time in the clinic, Claire and Leah have been given a few jobs to do. We also visited the Citadelle which is this huge castle which was built by Henri Christophe, who was king at the time. He built it in case of attack, there were thousands of people died in the construction of the Citadelle and it was never used. It was so hot and the citadelle is right up on top of a mountain. I had to drive a 15 seater van up these steep hills, then walk up what felt like even steeper hills in the heat, at some points I definitely didn’t think we were going to make it, both in the van and while we were walking. But we did and the view from the top was amazing so it was worth it.

We also had lots of people just to go and visit. Leah’s starfish kid is my wee friend Carlos and we went to visit him a couple of times. Starfish is the ministry here which sponsers kids to go to school.

Claire and Leah did a lot of work sorting our depot out. It was pretty much a mess and full of boxes which needed sorted out. Even with the ‘killer cat’ in there (the Cat is there to kill any rats which may be there) they worked flat out for about 4 days, I think its probably because it is one of the very few rooms we have here with an air conditioner!!No really the depot looks good now.

We also spent loads of time with my close friends Vedane, Dr Rodney and their two boys, wood & olly. Mum sent over these wee Northern Ireland kits for the boys, they are so cute. They came walking up to the house in them chanting 'Irlande du Nord!!'

Vedane, Dr Rodney with their two boys wood and olly and Vedane's cousin Freddo who lives with them.

My friend Wadner's family, his sister's and his wee neice Sandra.

The view from the Citadelle.

The hole in the gospel

I am reading a great book called ‘The hole in the Gospel.’ By Richard Stearns who is the president for world vision. Anyone who knows me I hate talking about money and discussing money things but at the end of the day it is important. The book is about how we as Christians want to follow God yet there are so many of his commands which we ignore. We are completely ignorant to what is going on in the rest of the world when there is so much we could be doing and so much God has called us to do. Don’t get me wrong there is no doubt the most important thing is to go and share the gospel and to make disciples. However if we read numerous passages in the bible about our actions, in particular Matthew ch 25 v 31- 46 God clearly asks us to do more. This book is very very challenging and also gives some stastics which I could not believe. I normally don’t share things here but I really feel I want to and even though most of it is about money I think it is important. Richard Stearns says ‘The bible devotes twice as many verses to money as it does to faith and prayer combined and fully 15% of Jesus’ recorded words dealt with money.’ All the statics are based on the church in America......


• If your income is $25,000 US per year you are wealthier than approximately 90% of the world’s population.

• Of the 6.7 billion people on the earth almost half live on less than $2 per day.

• 93% of the world’s population do not own a car therefore if you do you are in the 7% that do.

• The total income of American churchgoers is $5.2 trillion, it would take just a little over 1% of the income of American Christians to lift the poorest one billion people in the world out of extreme poverty.

• If every American churchgoer tithed, there would be an extra $168 billion,they could literally change the world. Universal primary education for children would cost $6 billion, clean water to most of the world’s poor $9 billion, basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world, $13 billion.

Here is a letter he has written to the church directly from the words words of Jesus. Before he starts he also says ‘I realize this violated every rule of sound biblical exegesis, but I think you will agree that it works-it speaks to us with truth and with bluntness.’

These are the words of the one who holds the seven stars and walks among the golden lamp stands. I know your deeds. You live in luxury and self indulgence because you have forgotten your first love. I hold this against you. Woe to those of you who add house to house and join field to field til no space is left. Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.

Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but you have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded you wealth in the last days. You say ‘I am rich ;I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ Yet it is those who are poor in the eyes of the world that are rich in faith. I have chosen them to inherit the kingdom I have promised to those who love me. Therefore, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy. And thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Seek first my kingdom and my righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you aswell. Remember, even I, the Lord Jesus Christ, though I was rich, for your sakes became poor, so that you, through my poverty might become rich.

Why do you call me, ‘Lord Lord,’ but do not do what I say. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says, for whoever obeys my commands-that is the one who loves me.

What does the Lord require of you, you ask? To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. In fact the entire law is summed up in a single command, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

There will always be poor people in the land. I command you to be open-handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in the land. Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless, maintain the rights of the poor and the oppressed.

Now let’s talk about fasting. You cannot fast as you do today and except your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? It is only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? No, this is the fast that I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke. It is to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him.

Even now, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and he relents from sending calamity.

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Why spend money on what is not bread and labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Then you will call and I will answer: you will cry for help, and I will say, ‘Here am I,’ If you do away with the yoke of oppression with the pointing finger and the malicious talk and if your spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become as noonday. I will guide you always, I will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Therefore my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in Vain.

I am coming soon, My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.



The book really challenged me about what I am doing with my money which God has blessed me with. God has put us where we are for a reason,I often wonder why did I deserve to be born in Northern Ireland instead of Haiti. Where I was able to grow up in a nice house, with my family, able to eat everyday, able to go to school and if I was sick I was able to go to the doctor. Why did I deserve that compared to the kids I meet here in Haiti everyday who live in a small mud hut, not having much to eat, not being able to afford to go to school or the doctor if they are sick. And I’m not just talking about Haiti, add on Africa, eastern Europe, South America, China and even areas of our own country.
So..........what am I going to do about it?

I believe as christains it is our responsibility to help the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and heal the sick. We get so consumed with stuff and at the end of the day when we die we cannot bring any of it with us. Yet with the money we use to buy ‘stuff’ there is so much more we can be doing which God can use to change lives. We can send children to school who have no other means, pay for medical care for people who cannot afford to, help a family start a small business so they can support themselves, provide clean water for a village, help build a house/school/ church, pay for bibles for people who cannot afford them, pay for airtime for Christian radio stations, I could go on...........maybe your thinking ok that’s good but how?

There are so many Christian organisations which have these sort of opportunities which need support and prayer to fund these projects so they not only preach the love of God but also show the love of God through their actions ( Tearfund, world vision, Abanna are just to name a few).

Richard Stearns really writes much better than me so I will finish with some of his words....

‘When historians look back in one hundred years, what will they write about this nation of 340,000 churches? What will they say of the church‘s response to the great challenges of our time- AIDS, poverty, hunger, terrorism and war? Will they say authentic Christians rose up courageously and responded to the tide of human suffering? Will they write of an unprecedented outpouring of generosity to meet the urgent needs of the world’s poor?

Or will they look back and see a church too comfortable, insulated from the pain of the rest of the world, empty of compassion, and devoid of deeds? Will they write about a people who stood by and watched while a hundred million died of AIDS and fifty million children were orphaned, of Christians who lived in luxury and self indulgence while millions died of food and water? Will schoolchildren read in disgust about a church that had wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals and clinics? In short will we be remembered as the church with a gaping whole in the gospel?