Introducing Reimagine Haiti

One thing I’ve really enjoyed since starting this blog is the opportunity to promote other authors and social causes. I met Jason and Erika last year when I was on a missions trip to Haiti. I even got to play Santa for Oak, their son. In the past 6 months things have changed for them and they’ve launched a new mission in Haiti called Reimagine Haiti. Over the next year I will be featuring them every-other-week (hopefully) on this blog. I’m still madly in love with Healing Haiti and will alternate posts between the two and the other charities I have run across. I thought the readers would like a little glimpse into some other things from time to time.

Without further ado, I introduce the folks at Reimagine Haiti. All content is theirs, and I claim no credit for what they write. But it is interesting that Matthew 25 keeps popping up in my life…

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Reimagine Haiti is the brainchild of three long-term missionaries, living and working in Haiti. With 10+ combined years on-the-ground, we concluded the need to REIMAGINE the non-profit concept and create something fresh, unique and innovative. We have entrenched our peppy new organization in the SE region of Belle Anse and pledged to be tenacious advocates of total community advancement! By tossing aside the detrimental practice of hand-outs in favor of galvanizing relationships, we will be a catalyst for change today and lead a renaissance of prosperity and sustainability for the future generations of Haiti.

Thirsty to know more? Intrigued? Just plain confused? Be enlightened in all the usual places.

On the web: www.reimaginehaiti.org

Facebook: facebook.com/Reimaginehaiti

Twitter: @ReimagineHaiti

And of course, our blogs. http://ordainedchaos.blogspot.com/

Today’s blog comes from co-founder (and Zen Master), Erika.

haitiboatkids

(End scene…)

(And now, the excerpt from Erika’s blog…)

when i was thirsty…you gave me a coconut

since moving to haiti, i have learned a lot…a lot.

my views have also changed about a lot….a lot.

one might argue that these go hand-in-hand and i tend to be one of those…”ones.”

…the thing is, ignorance is never an excuse.

over the past two years this passage out of matthew 25 has become more and more foundational, not just to my thinking…but to the very core of who i am….

“i was hungry and you fed me,

i was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

i was homeless and you gave me a room,

i was shivering and you gave me clothes,

i was sick and you stopped to visit,

i was in prison and you came to me.’

….i’m telling the solemn truth: whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ “

i love eugene peterson’s translation in the message for one reason….

there is no real separation between whom jesus is talking to and whom he is talking about…everyone can relate to at least one of the places listed.

all my life i heard this same passage…in various other translations….and they all said, “least of these.”

i don’t believe that the original meaning of the text was at all meant to be what it has turned into…but it essentially has become a term with which christians can express…

judgement.

pity.

self-righteousness.

superiority.

piety.

…and all of those other things that we christians do…to make the rest of the world hate us…and want nothing to do with jesus.

i know…that stings. brush it off…deep down you know it’s true so don’t pretend to be shocked…we all do it and we need to fix it.

when did we, not just as a society, but as the culture of christianity, decide that we have the right or even the ability to determine that one life is more valuable than another…that one life is more useful, or successful, or legitimate?

how many times have each of us been “the least of these?”

i cannot count how many times i have qualified for the title….

but the longer i live in this amazing country…with these amazing people….the more god is teaching me about how he sees humanity…about the value that he puts on each one of us and as a result…

(End scene…)

Find out what happens next at:

http://ordainedchaos.blogspot.com/2014/01/when-i-was-thirstyyou-gave-me-coconut.html

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