Being

Before coming to Haiti for these six weeks, the Lord touched my heart for discipleship. In past trips, I have primarily focused on evangelism. While evangelism is great and greatly needed, making disciples is truly what we are commanded to do. We are called to make disciples and those disciples will make more disciples and so on. So before coming here, I was thinking of all these methods on how I was going to make disciples. I spend a lot of time doing organizational things and random tasks. And I have been doing a school program with about twenty children ranging in age from 5 to about 20. I knew that this was going to be an amazing opportunity for discipleship because I had time to get to know them and had their attention. But other than this program, I had no idea how I was going to make disciples. So I presented it before the Lord daily. But I was looking for what I could DO not what I could BE.

On the mission field in a third world country, it is so easy to get caught in the trap of legalism. It is so easy to be task-oriented. It is so easy to be more concerned about what you are doing than how you are living and being. When you're forced to be constantly aware of cultural differences and whether you are helping or hurting in actuality, it is easy to be overcome by what you are doing. However, this is the complete opposite of what missions is supposed to look like. Missions is BEING. Its BEING like Christ. Its BEING in a relationship with Him. Its BEING in relationships with others. Its BEING in Christ in a world of devastation. Missions/discipleship is not about doing, its about being. So as the Lord's response to my questioning of how I could make disciples, He said, "Just be."

BE obedient.
When the Lord calls you to the mountains of Haiti, you must get on a moto and go. It is this obedience that opens the door for miracles and for you to be a part of the impossible.

BE faithful.
Just being and not doing requires faith that God is going to be the one DOING.
"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." -- Hebrews 11:1

Be fearless.
This past week, I learned a lot about some beliefs about the "invisible world" coming from the Voodoo culture. I have learned some crazy things about Voodoo and its scary. How incredible is the joy of the Lord that it erases all fears. How obvious is the presence of the Lord that being afraid is irrational. We can walk around without fear of evil things because our God is so good and so powerful.

Be loving.
Love without caution. Love without limits. Let everyone know you love them deeply because you have a Father who loves this world even deeper.

Be compassionate.
Be compassionate but not full of pity. Compassion should have no intention of looking down but of lifting up to the Savior instead.

Be humble.
Being outside of your comfort zone requires a humble heart.
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." -- Ephesians 4:2

Be kind.
Always look for ways to do small acts of kindness. Maintain a servant's heart.

Be a friend.
I honestly think this is the biggest one when it comes to discipleship here in Haiti. Haitians can sit around and talk for hours. It is sharing conversations as friends that leads to conversations about beliefs and growing in our walk with the Lord. Friends just have fun together and share experiences of daily living.
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." -- Proverbs 27:17

Be there.
And friends can do absolutely nothing except be together. Yesterday one of our workers cut his finger really badly and had to have a small operation. Three of us stayed at the hospital for about five hours with him. During this time, I realized that this was friendship. We were there because we cared about Claude. Being there for someone is evidence of caring for them.

Be an example.
Here in Haiti, I stand out a lot. With this reality comes a great responsibility of always being an example of Christ.

Be His temple.
We are the dwelling place of Christ. The Lord's presence is within us. And when we apply His word, His presence overflows from us.
"This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit." -- 1 John 4:13

Be unashamed.
This is something that Haitians have reiterated to me over and over again in their daily lives and in their faith. Not being embarrassed but being honest with what is going on is so important. Be completely consumed by the Spirit of the Lord that others' opinions have no effect on you.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes." -- Romans 1:16

Be Christ.
Being His and being like Him is our job. The doing is God's work. When we are being, God is doing. He is doing great things. He is doing things that we can't even see.

Topped the week off by riding sidesaddle up a mountain to go to church this morning. This is the church of a dear, dear friend. It was so neat to see where he grew up, meet his family, and see his church body of great faith.

I had to add this pic because I think I'm cool.