Skip to main content

2012 Haiti Team Interview Four: Mike

Of all the members of our team, I found no one with such spiritual depth, forged by personal experience, than Michael. He was at once a voice of spiritual reason and comfort, at times pointing out the spiritual nature of Haiti, at times calling us to prayer. He recognized, too-- and said so-- that the moments of mutual encouragement in our evening meetings were what the church was truly about. When Michael spoke, it was often to share some spiritual understanding that we may have missed, and there was about him a spiritual authority that helped balance the more practical side of our work in Haiti.

At the same time, there was a wholly practical side to Michael. In fact, it was Michael who stayed at the orphanage to finish his work for the day while the rest of us were whisked away to the beach. It was Michael who used his knowledge as a furniture maker to build six full bunk beds in a matter of days. It was Michael who felt the pressure to build those beds by the end of the workweek for a group of short-term missionaries who would by Friday need a place to sleep, and it was Michael who met that goal with time to spare.

This balance of spiritual and practical knowledge, I learned, came from the struggles he has faced in life, some of which were struggles he himself created. In fact, he was to me a reminder that our God takes our hardships-- even if we create them ourselves-- and uses them to benefit and grow us, to move us in new directions. In short, Mike reminded me with his life that our God is redemptive.

It is not surprising, then, how one man can at once exude humility and authority, gentleness and power. Mike did, because he knows the nature of his God, that he is both sovereign and nurturing, father and mother, Lion and Lamb. This dual example was eye-opening for a person who spends much of his time wading near the spiritual surface. It was Mike's insight, in fact, that caught me the most, an insight that I know was borne out of time spent in prayer and reflection. Above all, Mike helped me see that there was more to Haiti than just buildings and landscape. There was in it a very spiritual nature that calls us to prayer.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

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 ...
2 comments
Read more

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...
2 comments
Read more

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 ...
2 comments
Read more