Still Grieving Over Haiti – What Do We Do Now?

Someone asked me today if I had recovered from my trip to Haiti yet. I told them that I had recovered physically, but emotionally and spiritually, I was still very affected. I cannot get the vision of the Haitian people out of my minds. The children, the men and women, the injured, the sick, the hungry, the scared. So many have lost family members and loved ones. Homes destroyed. Futures wrecked. They were a poor people to begin with, but they are a beautiful people. The worth of a person or a nation is not found in how much money they have, but rather in what God thinks of them. God loves them, I know that to be true. Do we love them, or have we moved on?

I am trying to figure out what I am supposed to do next. What are any of us supposed to do? The big organizations and the media tell us to give money. But, then you find out that what has been given has not made it to Haiti yet. It is on its way, but there is so much that has to be done to move the massive amounts of supplies that are needed in an organized way. There are so many obstacles in the way. I get that. But, it does not change the fact that people are suffering right now. Rainy season starts in March. Do you realize how many people are sleeping outside? How many children? No, just giving more money is not the answer. That is the easy thing to do. Cut a check for $100 and send it to one of the big disaster relief organizations and then go on with your life. That soothes the conscience, but the reality is that it is not filling the bellies of the children who are going to bed hungry again tonight – a bed that consists of some blankets piled on concrete in the open, or maybe under a sheet that is stretched out like a tent. The truth is that we do need to give money – but we also need teams of people to go and distribute the food and medicine and help with providing supplies to put up some temporary structures to keep people out of the rain and sun. We can't just feel good about giving some money. We also need people to go in teams and do the work of helping people and proclaiming Jesus.

I got to be on a team like that at the end of last month when I went to Haiti. They are Helping Hands Foreign Missions. They are not very large, but they are being the hands and feet of Jesus. They are bringing the Kingdom of God and Jesus said that the Kingdom was like a mustard seed, or yeast, or a treasure hidden in a field. Little children find it. I am finding that bigger is not always better in this type of thing. We just need to help people. Helping Hands is doing exactly that. If you want to invest in an organization that is truly impacting people in Haiti right now, I highly encourage you to support what they are doing. They are going back on March 8 and need people to join them either then or in the subsequent weeks. If you can go to Haiti, you should, and you should do it through this group.

Here is their blog from the weeks that they spent in Haiti. Read about how they ministered Christ and stepped into places of suffering. The blog is really full of some incredible stories of God working by putting this team exactly where they needed to be to minister to and feed and care for hundreds and hundreds of people. Watch this video that aired on CBS News in Atlanta about the work of Helping Hands in Haiti. Pray about what you can do and be the hands and feet of Jesus in a country that is suffering greatly.