As followers of Christ we are no longer slaves to sin, yet we are free in Him. Paul’s great declaration in Galatians 2:20 is that we are “Crucified with Christ…” The myth of our lives and the issues that plague humanity are the thirst for independence from God. As we examine the “fall of humanity” in Genesis 3 we see that Satan came to Eve and tempted her in 3 ways. “…the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4, 5) The ironic thing is that Satan was tempting Eve with the exact same things that God grants us in Christ (insight from the Spirit, eternally in glory and discerning between good and evil), the problem is that Adam and Eve chose to attain these things under their own power (Independent from God) and did not wait on the Lord to provide in His timing.

When we act in independence from God, we feel that are free but we are simply shifting our allegiance from God to the World when we do this. Scripture is very clear on this in the Book of Romans:

“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:5-11)

To understand this we need to understand what a slave is. A slave is someone who does someone else’s will – they have no will of their own,  no choice in the matter. We were slaves to sin – so we had no choice, we were just going to sin regardless (Slave to our desires). But we are free of that now – we do have a choice (Free to follow the path of righteousness). In our Flesh we are slaves to sin, but through the atoning sacrifice of Christ we are freed from this bondage and have an opportunity to truly live as free beings, yet freedom does not mean independence, freedom means that we are no longer slaves to unrighteousness, but slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:18).

It is dependence on the Godhead that brings true freedom in life. Again, as Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). True life comes when we submit ourselves before our Lord and empty ourselves of our selfish pursuits and allow the Sanctification process of the Holy Spirit to mold our desires into righteous pursuits.

We are back at our guest house after our 2^nd full day in Haiti. We spent about 5 hours in the car today, we woke up and drove to the orphanage to pick up the Pastor and his son. We then drove 2 hours to a location up in the countryside where he has a dream to build an orphanage for the kids. He said that he has a desire to get the kids out of the inner city and have fields and room for the kids to play in. The location is in the mountainous region of Haiti about 1 ½ hours outside Port au Prince. The land is beautiful and will be a very good place for the kids.

Afterwards we drove back to the orphanage and saw our kids for a short time. Unfortunately our driver was only rented for a certain period of time and we needed him to drive us back to our guest house. We held the kids for a little longer and shot some videos for our upcoming Orphan focus weekend at Timberline coming in November.

There were some discouraging things that we witnessed while out here, but overall we are sure of a couple of things. First of all God cares for orphans and because of this we should to (James 1:27). Secondly, when you ask God for direction, he will answer you every time. The trouble is that his answers to our questions are not always what we want to hear.

Haiti is a country that is struggling and a lot of the people (Even the orphanage directors and Pastors) are in survival mode and survival mode doesn’t always bring the best out of people. We have seen some ugly sides of humanity while we are out here, but God willing His Truth will prevail and He will be glorified.

Thank you all who have been praying for our team. The expressions on the faces of these kids was priceless when came to visit and play with them. May we all experience what it is like to bring joy to a child, it is something that will forever warm your heart.

Let Love Live

Here is an amazing post written by Vince from Children’s Hope Chest. Wonderfully stated: I have had the chance to observe poverty on all 5 major continents and now Haiti. Long considered one of the world’s poorest nations, Haiti has been ravaged by years of political corruption, exploitation, illiteracy, and now natural disaster. One of the common threads of all the people I have encountered living in extreme poverty is the lack of purpose and vision beyond “survival mode.” There is a desperation in the “here and now” but there is no foresight beyond that. This is destructive on many levels because it forces communities of people into a dependency mode and a beggar mindset. They cannot get past there immediate circumstances because they are focused on meeting their needs in the moment and not beyond.
This is problematic because it stifles creativity, productivity and the ability for those trapped in this viscous cycle to break free. We definitely want to avoid imposing a western mindset on cultures that are not western but how can we foster a spirit of purpose, and motivation that would be culturally appropriate for people groups that are trapped in myopic destructive thinking.

We spent the yesterday and we will spend part of today at the Son of God orphanage in Haiti. The most immediate need beyond the survival needs of food and water are nurturing for the children and vision for future. We will try to motivate the leadership to begin thinking beyond the “here and now” but I don’t expect to break the years of survival thinking in just a couple of days. But, we will pose the question and challenge them to discover their strengths and uncover the God-given gifts that will help them to THRIVE and SUCCEED (as defined by their culture not ours).

I am thankful for the team from Timberline – Reza Zadeh, Sean and Tiffany Cherry, and Kari Stewart and their commitment to the children of the Son of God orphanage. This is going to be a long journey and does not have any quick fixes but they are committed for the long haul and for the best possible outcome.

Scripture tells us that God has scattered His gifts abroad for the poor and it is good to know that He has scattered His gifts for Son of God Orphanage in Ft. Collins, Colorado and Timberline Church.