First impressions are often the first ones you get.

“Poverty is a lack of opportunity accompanied by a defeated spirit.” – Journal, day one of our mission trip with KTIS and Healing Haiti. (May be plagiarized, but that’s what I wrote at the top of the first page.)

Some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. The hands and feet of Christ.

I promised no “And then there was a goat 400 meters down the road, and Jesus loved goats” posts on Haiti. This is probably as close as I’ll come to breaking that rule.

On our first day in Haiti we were given journals with our names on them to record our impressions. I’ve already published some of what I wrote on other days. Today we go back to the beginning. It’s below the fold because the pictures take a while to load. Continue reading

Lame excuse day.

Let me begin by apologizing for my absence the last two days. I had good intentions on Thursday of posting something in the afternoon, but the woman in my life needed me to participate in our marriage. Imagine that!

Friday was a sink-hole of a day doing work for a long-time client. Tied up with the task all morning. Sort of. I did take a few hours to watch the “Amish Mafia – Exorcism” special. I think my brain died at the 118 minute mark.

But I had really good intentions about doing a post this afternoon. My tablet, my portable keyboard and I headed to Starbucks to work. Keyboard will pair but not work with the tablet. Which is identical to my last tablet where it did work. NO work at Starbucks. Just playing Atomic Bomber. (I made it to the point of level 20.)

So, lame excuse day is underway. As a result you are all going to get a free one-year subscription to the blog with an option on next year being 1/2 price as well.

There is a post in my head that just needs to hit the keyboard. It will appear tomorrow. Unless “Moonshiners” has a special as well. In that event, all bets are off.

As a palliative I’m throwing in a slide show of some of the best Haiti photos. I hope that holds you until tomorrow. We’ll start with a video from Michael Stoebner.

and now a gallery. *if you are looking at this in email it will not appear. you need to use a full blown browser with flash.*

[fgallery id=3 w=450 h=385 bg=ffffff t=0 title=”lameexcusedaygallery”]

**********************************************************************************************************
Today’s keyword bingo is played with: Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. Hah. Anything for traffic! Hope he gets the max.

This is a “holding” post.

Yes, holding your breath, waiting for me to get up and do some work. I’m too knackered to do any blogging this moment, but I promise to do a post when I get up later today.

In the meantime… well, please continue to send up your prayers for my friend Steve. I saw him last night and while he’s improved a bit he really needs you in there praying for his recovery. And pray for his wife Holly as well. She’s in there pitching while he’s on the sidelines.

**********************************************************************************************************
This morning’s keyword bingo word is: A TWOFER!!! North Korea & Psychotic. Seemed to go together since they threatened to nuke us yesterday. I think Kim Jong-un needs a little tour of a Trident Boomer so that he understands the meaning of consequences & deterrence. As we used to say, “24 Empty Missile Tubes, A Mushroom Cloud, And Now It’s… Miller Time!”

Dain bramage kind of day.

I had a first yesterday: I was late for work. 13 years without a late and I popped one! I woke up with 11 minutes to go before my shift started. Probably took a full year off of Stormy’s life when I leapt out of bed and bolted for the stairs.

Boss was understanding, no problem. Quick shower and then in to work. I can take a few hits like that without any problem but it was a point of pride to have never been late for any reason beyond my control. My marathon snow shoveling evidently took a little more out of me than I thought. My body decided that it wanted more time to recover.

It is a problem when you’re about half deaf anyway and then have to wear earplugs to block the smacking of hockey pucks across the street. You sleep right through two very loud alarms. Eh, that’s life.

So I’m taking today light. Maybe some snow blower video for my friends in Haiti later today. Maybe a visit to Steve in the hospital (keep praying for him, he really needs it!) I have to tone back the Haiti stuff for a day, too many people liked it. Don’t want to ruin my track record of consistently mediocre posts.

And, in light of that last statement, perhaps I’ll just watch one of my favorite movies today: The Blues Brothers. Yup, always good for a laugh, only seen it about 75 times. Saw this video today and it sparked me to get the DVD out of the box and ponder spending a few hours laughing at the best stuff of the 70’s and 80’s.

Here’s the video:

***************************************************************************
Today’ keyword bingo winner is: New Iron Man III trailer. Reminder, these keyword bingo entries are just to drive traffic, nothing to do with the blog.

It’s not just a team, it’s a family.

Our mission to Haiti consisted of 14 people from all walks of life who met through our mutual listenership at KTIS radio. That’s a pretty tenuous link. It’s really thin when you’re headed to one of the poorest places in the world to do mission work.

I’ve been a member of other groups that were thrown together through some mutual interest. The two biggest ones were the police academy and basic training. Neither place would be described as “fun” nor would it be a place to go unless you were really motivated and dedicated. In both places people did a lot of yelling and badgering. You were under the force of discipline in both places. In the Navy they could chuck you into jail if you failed to comply with the standards.

There was no yelling or badgering in Haiti. But there was a strong sense of spiritual leadership that moved the group. A good share of it came from Jeff Gacek, the founder of Healing Haiti. I suspect Jeff would deny that, and say that it’s God leading the way and he just helps out. Perhaps that is how it works. But I witnessed a man with a huge heart for the people of Haiti, and for his missionaries. Jeff gently guided us, he laughed with us, he read scripture with us, and he gave us opportunities to serve and pray for the group.

It wasn’t “my way or the hiway” as some leaders do things. He just opened doors for us. And he had the greatest partner in Becky Nelson, our other leader. Becky is younger than I am but she was like my mom during that trip. Not just because she looks like my mom and is about as tall as my mom, but because she loved us all like we were her children. She was concerned that we had used sun screen, that we had clean water, that we felt well, and that we were emotionally able to deal with all of the things we saw on the trip. Becky is one of those servants that Christ counts on to get His work done on this planet. He’s more than happy to delegate and Becky, just like Jeff, is there to pick up the load.

There are three other leaders that need to be recognized – Jason Sharp, Julene Holt, and Rich Branham. These three members of the KTIS staff were there to help with whatever was needed. The three were inseperable, as was witnessed by their close bond and having to be scolded to sit at least one seat apart at every meal and meeting. I shared a room with Rich and Jason. It was fun. And all three of them were Spirit led in the truest sense of the words. Their quiet concern over the rest of us was a welcome anchor in a time of emotional and spiritual turmoil.

While the leadership was wonderful, it was the people (including the leaders) who chose not to take a vacation to Haiti and see what was in it for them, but to instead love each other and the Haitian people. They did it through service. It was the quiet way in which each task just got done without anyone having to be assigned. The tables got set, the water cooler got filled and put in the vehicle, the pancakes got mixed, and the fruit and vegetables got sliced and plated. And it all was done with a smile on people’s faces. No “dogging it.” No grimaces. No frowns and muttered words. Smiles. Laughter. Love.

Consequently we arrived in Haiti as 14 people on Monday night. By noon on Tuesday we were a functional team, looking out for each other and making sure thing got done. And by Thursday morning, before breakfast, we were a family. I felt the shift when we got up and got moving about that morning. No longer were these people the ones I travelled with across the ocean, but they were my brothers and sisters in Christ. And it showed in our love for each other.

While the police academy produced friends, and basic training produced friends and classmates, Haiti gave me a new family. One that I love dearly. And one that I’m proud of in the extreme. I have nothing but good memories of living with and working with them for those 8 days. And I look forward to seeing them again in the coming years.

I’ve got a picture show below that shows my new family. I’m pretty sure they all appear in at least one of the photos. And if you look at the photos, they are always helping someone else out with a smile. Them’s my peeps.

[fgallery id=2 w=450 h=385 bg=ffffff t=0 title=”Teamwork”]

How many families are you a part of in your life? And what can you do to strengthen that relationship?

*************************************************************************
Today’ keyword bingo entrant is Whitney Houston. (Just a reminder, the keyword of the day has nothing to do with anything except driving more traffic to this site.)