Climbing Mountains

   I created a site to use as a portfolio for my artwork.  If you made it here you shouldn't have too much trouble getting there.  It's katherinehodgesart.blogspot.com.  That's the best I could come up with for now- it's free.  I need to add examples of murals and pottery.  I know there's a ton of pottery I've done out there, so remind me if you have anything.  I don't know why I never took pictures of this stuff.  Probably because I didn't have an eternal perspective, or really, any perspective at all past college.  This kind of goes along the lines of what I want to talk about.
    We leave for Haiti in 17 days.  I've been trying to read up on Haiti and also short term missions.  It's frustrating as all get-out.  Jesus said to treat others as we would like to be treated (Luke 6:31).  If I was a child on the street in Haiti begging for water I would want someone to give me some water!  I'm learning however that if I were to give a child water, two different things could happen.  A: I could be mobbed by others wanting water themselves.  B: When I leave, that child is beaten until it hands over its water to someone bigger who is also thirsty.  The little W.W.J.D. bracelet isn't a comfort to me right now.  What would Jesus do?  He would probably brake the water bottle into 20,000 water bottles.  I used to think those were such lovely stories.  Now I say, "You cheated Jesus!"  Did he ever have to go through that kind of situation?  He experienced the poor.  He experienced mobs.  I wonder if he ever did together.  Should I just have more faith?  I don't doubt one bit that Jesus fed thousands on a couple baskets of food.  I don't doubt he walked on water.  I don't doubt Peter walked on water, so should I doubt I could do the same now?  This is what I'm wrestling with.  I want to do what Jesus would want me to do, but I feel like I have to go to seminary to figure it out.  I'm glad SafeWorldNexus is partnered up with people like the Livesays and Heartline Ministries.  They've been around the block now.  You really need to read the Livesay's post on the trouble they have had with short term mission teams not having the right perspective- CLICK HERE.  All of this is in the book When Helping Hurts by Steve Corett and Brian Fikkert.  If you want to go on a trip with SafeWorldNexus you will be required to read this book.  It's an eye-opener.
   Haiti is an absolute mess.  I'm actually reading the same book I was reading this time, five years ago.  All incoming freshman to USC had to read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.  I think I got a third of the way through and gave up.  I was too excited about Carolina and there were too many words to look up.  Funny what a couple years can do.  It's about Paul Farmer, a Harvard med. doctor who has truly made himself a living sacrifice for Haitians.  He never sees his family.  He sleeps like four hours a night, and from what it sounds like, doesn't eat.  Still, he never can do enough.  There's always crap going on in Haiti.  I'm frustrated and I haven't even gotten there yet!  Farmer said, "After a while I realized I could do just as good a job treating my patients without getting angry."  I don't ever want to get used to seeing the kind of poverty I'm about to see.  I hope it will always shock me, but I don't want to become so consumed with with anger at these injustices, or frustration over what I should do, that I can't stop for a second and get to know a Haitian.  Please pray that I would gain insight through my time reading God's Word and researching.  Then pray that I would love our Haitian neighbors like Jesus.


Beyond mountains, there are more mountains.
-Haitian Proverb