Thoughts on life from a hotel room in Port au Prince, Haiti, West Indies

So, I am sitting here in Port au Prince. We just went to the market. I was stunned that what had once been horribly confusing and overwhelming when we first arrived, was actually quite fun today. The reason for the difference? I understood about 90% of what was being said as opposed to the .5% that I comprehended six months ago.

Isn't that just the way life is at times?

When the man who decided to help us wanted money, Amos said, "I don't have any." We asked around and someone had 10 gouds. Okay, 2 dollars. Not much. But it was all we had. Amos gave it to him and the man said, "This is nothing." So Amos took it back and said, "If that is nothing then I will keep it." Finished. End of story.

Six months ago, that conversation would have been impossible. We would have had to find an interpreter (who would have then wanted money as well.) We would have fussed around and I would have been thinking, "Let me get out of here!"

So, what is the lesson to be learned from this adventure? When things in life are overwhelming me, perhaps I should stop and pray for a minute... saying, "God, I know you speak this 'language' and what seems to be a huge problem to me, is actually just a lack of communication. Help me see this situation with your eyes."

The scriptures says, "If people who are evil give good gifts to their children, how much more your Father who loves you!"

If we need help, will he not "transalate" for us? When I am overwhelmed, is it a case of "you have not because you ask not"?

Today, there were 6 people with us who were experiencing the overwhelming confusion that I did when we first arrived. After trying for several minutes to handle things themselves, they came looking for Amos and I and said, "Please, help us!"

Amos is no relation to them but he willingly dropped what he was doing to go and dicker prices for them. Actually, he had quite a lot of fun doing it.

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Just minutes ago, I was stressing because my seat on the airplane tomorrow is not confirmed. The flight is overbooked and I haven't been assigned a seat. For several moments I let myself stress out because a million thoughts came flying at me... "What if we can't fly with everyone else? What if someone has to drive down to New York City just for us? What if... what if..." And then I remembered the market.

I was stressed because I didn't know the "language" of overbooked flights. But God does. He knows. If we are supposed to stay in Haiti another night, will that be the end of the world? Certainly not. We will just stay. We will enjoy the time alone. We will get home eventually. And maybe God wants us to stay. Maybe he has someone that Amos needs to talk to. Maybe there is someone I need to talk to. Whatever the case, God speaks this language and he will interpret the meaning if I just ask him to...

God, teach me this language. And teach me to call on you- even for things that seem "unspiritual". Show me, again, how you watch over every detail.