"Where is your faith"

In Luke 8:25, the disciples found themselves in a raging storm and their boat was filling with water. First they were afraid, then they were amazed when Jesus did what they desperately wanted. Jesus asked the "where is your faith?" We find ourselves like the disciples.

I just need to back up to tell the story of the past few days here. Looking back, it is a bit comical.

We were joined by Cindy and Vanessa as well as a complete stranger (or at least he was just a short time ago)last Sunday. Bob and his wife got in touch with us about a week and a half ago through a mutual friend. Bob was to come to Haiti and after some communication, it was decided he would spend a few days with us after serving with another organization. Fortunately for Bob (and for us too:), he carried our phone number with him while traveling, because his ride never came for him at the airport. Imagine flying into a third world country you haven't been previously, where you don't speak the native language, then having to stand outside the airport for 1 1/2 hours alone except for the 10 Haitians trying to earn some wages by carrying your bags. ..over and over! Jeff and Colton picked up the abandoned Bob and brought him into our home. God really wanted him here with us. What a blessing, encouragement, and great help he has been. We have had many laughs over the process of him getting here. Now he is family.

When we first heard about Hurricane Tomas, we immediately turned to prayer for those living in tents and tarps. We watched closely and tried to follow the forecast and continued to pray. While we prayed and knew God could move the storm, we also felt we should prepare for Tomas. So Thursday, Bob and Noah (I mean Jeff) began boarding up the house and gathering food, gas, and enough water to get us through several days. Neighbors were enjoying the sight as a homemade rendition of scaffolding came together to reach a window two stories up, over stairs. We got many double takes and vehicles actually driving slowly down our road to see this new idea of preparing for something. Our children prayed each day for God's protection over the homeless. I found myself pleading with God time and time again and I know others were doing the same.

Today when we expected the category 2 hurricane the forecast was still calling for and it didn't come, we were actually a bit surprised. We sat on our balcony for a period of time waiting for it to come. So we had some more laughs. Our drill will pay off when a real hurricane comes through, we will have it down pat! We also laugh because we prayed for one thing, but prepared for another. I think we would be fools not to have prepared. I think God wants us to use our minds and to do things in order to protect ourselves and our families, but he also wants us to trust HIM to protect us. Knowing this storm hit hard 1 1/2 hours from here with major flooding tells me the forecast was right and we were right to prepare for a big storm, but it also tells me our God is in control of all things and because we had faith (and you had faith as you prayed), he moved this storm out of our path and those living in our community in tents. We learn over and over to have more faith and more trust especially when we ask for specific things as we did with this storm. So we prepare like Noah, and we learn to trust the God who is powerful enough to control a hurricane.

Tomorrow, we won't be laughing as we visit those dealing with mud, wet soggy tents they call their home and possible flooding. Please continue to praise God for his protection and pray for those who experienced much worse.

~Deb