The necessity of forgiveness
Ambassadors in Sport bi-annual Leadership Summit
About 40 leaders from about 22 countries met this past week to share best practices and discuss our common vision to help evangelize the world through soccer. According to the internet, there are 196 countries, so we are now present in more than 10% of the countries of the world!
One of the leaders works with inner-city children in Pittsburgh, PA. It turns out that Pittsburgh is only about 2 hours from Twinsburg, OH, so when he learned about some of my adventures in Haiti, he asked me if I would like to come and talk to his teams.
On Wednesday morning I sent out an email to my prayer supporters asking for prayer for the Leadership summit and I also mentioned that I would be in Pittsburgh that night.
It turned out that one of my long-time supporters was also going to be in Pittsburgh that night, so throughout the day we communicated.
So on Wednesday night, we drove in very cold weather, to Pittsburgh and arrived at Northgate church in time to participate in a “soccer 4-square” tournament. I jumped right into the game with the teens while Lenny, my host, prepared for the meeting. Lenny told me that he has been doing soccer ministry in two locations in Pittsburgh for many years, and then a few years ago he learned about AIS and started to partner with them. This was the first Leadership conference Lenny had attended and it just so happened that he sat next to me! Now I was on my way to Pittsburgh to share with his players.
Since I could not show pictures of the ministry in Haiti, I had the children sit down and come close so I could tell them stories of Africa and Haiti. It turned out that many of the teens were from African countries, while others were from Thailand, Iran and Colombia.
I started out by telling the 50 or so children the story of a young man I met in South African prison who had kidnapped and killed a popular South African entertainer. Through the Ambassadors in Sport soccer ministry in his prison, he had trusted in Christ and asked forgiveness. Then I told them the story of how I was shot by a robber in Haiti. Some of the prisoners in the South African prison had shot people, and I was able to tell them that through Jesus, they could be forgiven.
After I told them I had been shot, one of the older boys asked me what I would say to the man who shot me if I had the chance. I said I would tell him I would forgive him because Christ had forgiven me. This lead into a discussion on forgiveness where I reminded the children what it says in the Lord’s prayer: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of others”
Later I learned that many of the children were dealing with anger and unforgiveness. One girl said “I never realized that God asks us to forgive others in the Lord’s prayer.” Another was very angry with his Father for certain things done in the past.
So I rejoice that God guided me to speak about a topic that touched the hearts of so many children.
Then I had the opportunity to go upstairs and share our ministry with adults who were there for the Wednesday night prayer meeting. These dear believers asked lots of good questions and then prayed for me and the ministry.
Then I went back down to tell the children a quick story about the earthquake in Haiti and challenge them to trust in Christ.
Later that night we went to see my friend at the house of his best friend who is a Pastor. It turns out that part of the church’s outreach is a bookstore. When I showed he and his wife the jewelry that Francoise makes from cereal boxes they purchased $135.00 worth to sell in their store!
Needless to say, I left Pittsburgh at 6 AM the next morning rejoicing in what God had done during my short visit!
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Today is the 3rd anniversary of the earthquake. Many churches are holding fasts and there are other events going on to commemorate the dead and pray for the living.
Yesterday by chance, we had a mini-reunion with two families that lived with us for a while after the earthquake: Francoise Duverger, a single Mom with the young children under the age of 10, and Venita and her husband Bejanot.
Francoise is our friend who makes the lovely beaded jewelry we sometimes sell when we are in the US. Yesterday she was sad for many reasons. Her mother was in the hospital recovering from an operation, and a goat she had purchased as an investment died suddenly. What made matters worse was that the goat was just about to deliver two kids. Someone said they saw someone beating the goat a few days ago, and this could have caused internal bleeding. The goat represented a significant investment. For a woman who only makes about $800 a year, the goat cost $50 and she had offers of people who wanted to buy the kid-goats.
On top of that, Francoise is the only one in her family that has a somewhat steady source of income, so her family kept calling her all week to pay for an operation that her mother needed. When she couldn’t reach her relatives on the phone to send money to them, she was even ready to take a day off work and deliver the money herself. But I was able to reach a friend who lived near her family village, and he, through much effort, was able to deliver the money for the operation to her mother.
You may wonder why none of her relatives has a bank account where she could send the money, but to get a bank account, you have to have identification of some kind. Many do not even have a birth certificate, and then it costs money to get a government ID card.
Francoise’s sister is also in the same hospital as her mother waiting to give birth to her first child. As in most developing countries, childbirth is a leading cause of death and Francoise is concerned about her sister’s first birth experience.
All these factors reduced Francoise to tears yesterday afternoon with her three children and sister-in-law standing around her. I urged her to eat and gave her some Tylenol and she seemed a little better when she left.
It is hard being a single mother in any culture, but in Haiti with all of its daily challenges sometimes it is overwhelming.
Since the earthquake Venita and her husband Bejanot have had their marital struggles. Bejanot often does not come home at night because he says it’s hard to face his now 4 children with nothing to give them to eat. Since the earthquake he has not been able to find steady employment. They also had another child in July of this year named Esther. She is a healthy baby, thank God, and is healthy.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, I was able to give them about $100 to start a small business selling cold drinks. I was able to lend them a cooler as well. Please pray that the business goes well and Bejanot can start supporting his family. Bejanot will be mentored by another friend who went through my business training program a few years ago, and who I also gave some money to start a business that is going well.
Another couple we helped after the earthquake is Isidor and Johann. You may remember that their 8 week old son died in the earthquake. Now they have a new son who is about 6 months old. We had them over before Christmas and they are doing well.
So as we reflect on the day that changed everyone’s life in Haiti 3 years ago, we are thankful for you, our supporters, who allow us to walk in the good works God has prepared for us to walk in here in Haiti.
Yesterday by chance, we had a mini-reunion with two families that lived with us for a while after the earthquake: Francoise Duverger, a single Mom with the young children under the age of 10, and Venita and her husband Bejanot.
Francoise is our friend who makes the lovely beaded jewelry we sometimes sell when we are in the US. Yesterday she was sad for many reasons. Her mother was in the hospital recovering from an operation, and a goat she had purchased as an investment died suddenly. What made matters worse was that the goat was just about to deliver two kids. Someone said they saw someone beating the goat a few days ago, and this could have caused internal bleeding. The goat represented a significant investment. For a woman who only makes about $800 a year, the goat cost $50 and she had offers of people who wanted to buy the kid-goats.
On top of that, Francoise is the only one in her family that has a somewhat steady source of income, so her family kept calling her all week to pay for an operation that her mother needed. When she couldn’t reach her relatives on the phone to send money to them, she was even ready to take a day off work and deliver the money herself. But I was able to reach a friend who lived near her family village, and he, through much effort, was able to deliver the money for the operation to her mother.
You may wonder why none of her relatives has a bank account where she could send the money, but to get a bank account, you have to have identification of some kind. Many do not even have a birth certificate, and then it costs money to get a government ID card.
Francoise’s sister is also in the same hospital as her mother waiting to give birth to her first child. As in most developing countries, childbirth is a leading cause of death and Francoise is concerned about her sister’s first birth experience.
All these factors reduced Francoise to tears yesterday afternoon with her three children and sister-in-law standing around her. I urged her to eat and gave her some Tylenol and she seemed a little better when she left.
It is hard being a single mother in any culture, but in Haiti with all of its daily challenges sometimes it is overwhelming.
Since the earthquake Venita and her husband Bejanot have had their marital struggles. Bejanot often does not come home at night because he says it’s hard to face his now 4 children with nothing to give them to eat. Since the earthquake he has not been able to find steady employment. They also had another child in July of this year named Esther. She is a healthy baby, thank God, and is healthy.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, I was able to give them about $100 to start a small business selling cold drinks. I was able to lend them a cooler as well. Please pray that the business goes well and Bejanot can start supporting his family. Bejanot will be mentored by another friend who went through my business training program a few years ago, and who I also gave some money to start a business that is going well.
Another couple we helped after the earthquake is Isidor and Johann. You may remember that their 8 week old son died in the earthquake. Now they have a new son who is about 6 months old. We had them over before Christmas and they are doing well.
So as we reflect on the day that changed everyone’s life in Haiti 3 years ago, we are thankful for you, our supporters, who allow us to walk in the good works God has prepared for us to walk in here in Haiti.
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