I'm on the road speaking, but every minute I'm in my room, I'm watching the tragedy in Haiti today. I've been there, walked some of those streets that are now canvasses of death and destruction, made friends whose fate is unknown, seen their misery and their amazing resilience, and recorded indelible memories of the precious little children. I'm a words guy, but words fail me. Heartbroken is as close as I can get to describing how I feel.
My mind keeps flashing back to a Haitian memory that will be with me the rest of my life. My wife and daughter and I were on a ministry trip there when we were invited to visit a children's hospital. We saw a large room crowded with cribs and beds, filled with AIDS babies and children with diseases from which some of them would never recover. Their language is Creole and it seemed they didn't understand any of our English. But they understood our hugs and probably the name we continued to share with them, because for us, hope has a name. His name is Jesus. We sang to them the song that has introduced kids around the world to the Savior who died for them, "Jesus Loves Me." They seemed to know the song, and we found every way we could think of to let them know we love them, too.
I had to speak at an event in Port-au-Prince that night, so we had to leave. Besides it was time for their dinner. They were starting to line up for a portion of some indistinguishable food to be plopped on their plate, and then came the moment I can't forget. Those who were able to get around came running to the door. They stretched out their arms and looked at us longingly with eyes wide open. And they appealed to us in what may be the only two words they knew in English, "Hold me! Hold me!"
Today a nation is reaching with outstretched arms, crying "Hold me!" They are broken beyond imagination; desperate beyond words. Please go to your knees for them. Ask the Jesus who really does love them to walk the broken streets of Port-au-Prince, to be real on those streets, to be powerful in doing in their souls what no human agency can do. He is, as Scripture promises, "a very present help in time of trouble." Pray for the many who know Jesus and serve Jesus in Haiti, for they are His face and His hands among their people today. Pray that the grace that truly is "amazing" will give them enough comfort and hope that they will have enough to give to those who have no Savior.
Pray for all those who are flooding into Haiti with resources to rescue, help, and heal. And pray for yourself. Ask the God of heaven if there's something He wants you to do. I ask God to break my heart for the needs He wants me to do something about. Give Him the opportunity to connect some of what you have to some of what Haiti needs; if that's a part of His heart He wants to put in yours. And if you're directed to give, put it in the hands of those who can not only help Haitians live a few more years on earth, but who will give them the Jesus who alone can give them the hope of heaven forever.
This is another wakeup call from heaven to blast us out of our self-focused cocoons and be about the world God loves so much; to live for the cause for which Jesus lived and died. He is there tonight on the streets and in the rubble of Haiti, for all who are desperate for someone to "hold me."