What made my day yesterday and today (from Dave Beck)

I didn't blog last night because in the time we have available for blogging and such, a "God thing" happened. I was sitting on the back porch talking with Morgan Keach and David Jones about life and Haiti and God. About 10:00, Markenson, one of the orphanage graduates and and currently a Maison de Lumiere employee, walked by with his bedding to go sleep up on the roof. (The flat roof of the guest house is a very desireable place to sleep when it is so hot.) As soon as Markenson passed us, a little voice in my head said, "Pray for him." That little voice is a good one to follow.

A couple minutes later, David, Morgan, and I were on the roof with Markenson and his friend Robinson, the night security guard. With the cool evening breeze drifting over us, we gathered around Markenson, placing our hands on his back and praying quietly for him. Markenson aspires to be a pastor, but he lacks the means to go to Bible school. We found ourselves praying for his future, growing in confidence that he will indeed preach the gospel as he desires.

Not wanting Robinson to be left out, we asked if we could pray for him too. He replied, "Yes. Mesi" (thanks). He laid his shotgun on the ground in front of him. The barrel happened to be pointing at my feet, which made me a little uneasy. But again God spoke to us about Robinson as we prayed for him. God has dreams for us, and as we pray for people God often shares his dreams with us. In essence, we prayed that Robinson would live up to the potential God sees in him -- a future that can include being a security guard but is far beyond just being a security guard.

Those were the 15 minutes that made my day yesterday. Out of the blue, God invited us to participate in his work in the lives of Markenson and Robinson. Since we don't speak much Creole and they speak almost no English, prayer was the best way for us to bless them. You don't need to know the same language to build someone up through prayer.

Today I did normal weekday things -- walked the kids home from school, had a Bible study with orphanage leaders, played with the kids, and hung out with teammates. Tonight we got the added treat of celebrating the birthday of Erta, one of our very dear friends here at MDL. What a blast! Because Erta is a caretaker of the girls, they joined our team for the party. It was crazy. When they sing "happy birthday," you would think it is the last party before the world self-destructs.

At the party, I spent a few minutes talking with Cherley, one of the teenage girls who has become a precious friend. She wants to be a doctor someday. Aspirations like this are not all that common here, so I was very impressed. I asked her how she decided to become a doctor. "Because there are a lot of sick people in Haiti, and even if I can't help them all, I can at least help some of them." I replied, "You can bring them Jesus, and you can bring them medicine. You can help their souls and their bodies. What a doctor you will be!" Today Cherley made my day. I am deeply happy to see the kinds of things going on in her life -- she is first in her class in school, she is learning English at a tremendous pace, she has long been known for her servant's heart, and she has big plans for the future. Please pray a blessing for Cherley. That would make my day too.