TEAM

Well is has been a long time since I have posted anything on here.  Deb does such a good job at sharing our hearts about things that happen here and some of the small ways God continues to use AWAKENHAITI here in Haiti.  I thought I would share a few thoughts with you as we approach this Superbowl weekend.

I love football.  I love it for many reasons but one of biggest ones is more than other sports you have to work together as a team to achieve success.  These guys bond as teammates because they have to rely on each other.  They have to trust each other.  Their individual successes along with their teams successes depends on the entire team working together for one common goal.  You can have the best QB or running back in the league, but if the O line doesn't block, not only will you not gain yards, that star player isn't going to last very long.  That's why when the superstars thank their teammates for their individual successes, they do so out of pure gratitude, respect, and love.  They know without them there would be no records.

Last week, I got the tremendous privilege of joining the RunforLife team.  This was a team of people from Heartline Ministries, here in Haiti, that was running across Haiti (315 miles total) to raise money to build a new maternity center.   This maternity center will serve women here in Haiti before, during and after they give birth.  It is one of the ways that Heartline is reaching people for Christ by showing His love and compassion through caring for these women fully and unconditionally, just as Christ loves us.

My dear friend Barry McDonald was the one that had the vision for this great endeavor.  He and his wife Bec lost lost their child shortly after birth.  That beautiful little boy named Isaac, was the inspiration for this run and the reason I believe Barry and Bec came to Haiti.  Barry and I have been great friends from the moment we first met 2 years ago.  He has always been there for me when I needed help building, an ear to listen to one of my crazy ideas, me go off about one of my frustrations, or just a guy to share a laugh with.  Barry is one of my teammates here in Haiti.  So when he and Bec asked me to join them in this run, I was not only honored, I saw it as a responsibility.  Teammates don't let other teammates down.

What an experience it was.  What a great team of people.  Everyone did their job.  The cooks cooked, the drivers drove, the doctor and nurse kept Barry loose and moving forward, and the runners ran.  Barry ran a total of 315 miles in 14 days.  Others ran their first marathons with him for encouragement.  Joel, a Heartline Board member from Dever, ran three marathons with him.  The last one with a hair-line fractured foot.  I managed to run a little over 100 miles with him in the last six days.  While none of it was easy, we were a team.  A team with ONE goal.  Finish the run.

If I could speak for Barry for a minute, I think he would echo these words.  The run was amazing.  The scenery was breathtaking at times.  While the mountains were hard and steep, they provided times of reflecting upon God's power and creativity.  But as amazing as it was, the thought of doing it alone would of been unbearable, and darn near impossible.  What made it amazing was simple yet extraordinary, TEAM.

Now that a week has gone by, I have had some time to reflect about those six days.  One of the questions I got asked by some was: "Why, with all the things and responsibilities you have here with AWAKENAHAITI, why did you go and spend a week helping another ministry to raise money for their efforts?  Don't you have enough to do?"  Yes, I am very aware of all the responsibilities that Deb and I have here, but honestly the thought didn't really occur to me.  AWAKENHAITI is here to serve Haitians.  I believe in what Heartline does and how they do it.  They are soldiers for Christ just as we are.  Doesn't that make us ONE team.  I hear their director speak of the same God that I believe, and trust in.  We serve the same God, the one and only God.  We are playing the same game for the same coach.  I guess that's why it didn't occur to me that the run had nothing to do with AWAKENHAITI, because that run had everything to do with AWAKENHAITI.

Barry, Bec, and the entire RunforLife team.  Thank you!!!

And Church, it's OUR TIME!!! Not as one church, but as a Church united as ONE.

INHIM,

Jeff

 Note:  For more info about the run or if you want to partner with this effort go to runforlifehaiti.org