Skip to main content

Haiti Team Interview Five: Jordan

Mix thoughtfulness with humor, devotion, gentleness, and a genuine spirit, and you've only just begun to understand Jordan. Some wondered at his varied facial expressions, but all knew him to be unguarded and honest in his interactions. Though normally quiet, Jordan never hesitated to bring his kindness to bear on the children we met; and for the team, he could switch quickly from attentive conversation partner to fellow worker to comedian. This is Jordan, and this is his story.

Jordan first heard about the Haiti mission in a service at Lighthouse. At first he responded in apathy. In fact, he stayed that way and didn't give much thought to the trip until two others-- Jesse and Lee-- joined. Lee specifically talked to him and encouraged him to make his own choice in the matter. Even after Jesse brought him to an informational meeting, Jordan was careful about committing to the team. Commitment, in fact, was the most important factor in his decision: he didn't want to commit to something and not follow through. In the process, others encouraged him by saying that if he sees an opportunity to serve in Haiti, he should take advantage of it. This, he found, was God's response to his indecision about joining the team, God's answer to prayer.

I understood something about Jordan more clearly from his interview. At our final meeting before we left, Sandi encouraged us to share a prayer request, and Jordan responded by saying he wanted God to break his heart for the children of Haiti. I didn't think much of it at the time, but later understood why he chose that particular prayer.

Before he became a Christian, he saw life as dull, mundane. Even after he became a Christian, he was still a "broken person." He had been on mission trips before, but never got much out of them, and he wanted God to take him from that place of indifference and give him a concern for others. In fact, Haiti to him was different from previous trips. He saw it as a place where he could listen to God. He humbled himself and found that he wanted to change things about himself that he can't change on his own. He found he needed God and others.

Jordan's favorite verse is Matthew 6:33: "Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you as well." It reminded him what he is living his life for. "Living for Jesus," he said, "is vague and sometimes misinterpreted." This verse showed him specific actions to take, and therefore makes an effort to apply it to his life. A young man of only twenty-four years, he knows God has much planned for him. In the meantime, he'll be thinking, considering. He has a knack for it, even if he stops occasionally to make a funny face.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Heroes

Although we have several examples of heroes in our day, one of the best known is of a woman named Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (“Gonja Bojaju”), who devoted her life to sustaining the “poor, sick, orphaned, and dying.” Her venue was Calcutta, India, where she served as a teacher until she began to take notice of the poverty there. Seeking to do something about it, she began an organization that consisted of just thirteen members at its inception. Called the “Missionaries of Charity,” the organization would eventually burgeon into well over 5,000 members worldwide, running approximately 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries; and caring for the orphaned, blind, aged, disabled, and poor. As her personal work expanded, she traveled to countries like Lebanon, where she rescued 37 children from a hospital by pressing for peace between Israel and Palestine; to Ethiopia, where she traveled to help the hungry; to Chernobyl, Russia, to assist victims of the nuclear meltdown there; and to ...

The Nice Guy Fallacy

I read part of a poem recently by one of my favorite poets. It reads: I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage The linnet born within the cage That never knew the summer woods. I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time Unfetter'd by the sense of crime To whom a conscience never wakes. Nor what may call itself as bles't The heart that never plighted troth But stagnates in the weeds of sloth Nor any want-begotten rest. I hold it true, whate'er befall I feel it, when I sorrow most 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. At base, Tennyson contrasted a life of risk, and consequent pain, with one of security. He sides conclusively with the life of risk, and says he fails to envy those who have faced no hardship. I agree with him; and, for good or ill, his words are just as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century. Like then, there are those today who choose to live their lives with as little risk as...

Comparative Medical Care

One thing I'd like to understand is why there is such a difference between medical costs here and those in Haiti. At the time the book Mountains Beyond Mountains was written, in 2003, it often cost $15,000 to $20,000 annually to treat a patient with tuberculosis, while it cost one one-hundredth of that-- $150 to $200-- to treat a patient for the disease in Haiti. Even if the figures aren't completely accurate, the sheer difference would still be there. Indeed, the United States pays more per capita for medical care than any other country on Earth. My first guess for why the disparity exists is that there is a market willing and able to pay more for medical treatment, so suppliers see the demand and respond with higher prices. According to at least one doctor (go to http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2009/05/what_is_the_cause_of_excess_co.php), part of the reason is administrative prices here. People here have a higher standard of living, and so the cost of care is shifted to ...