Haiti Again

It's the first week of November, and, already, we're talking about Haiti.

They are juggling dates for next summer, trying to ensure that it will fit, pushing to see how much leeway they can find in the other bits and pieces that make up their lives.

Somehow, this is that important.

Not that it defines everything, but that it is somehow there, just under the surface, waiting to be woven into the fabric of who they understand themselves to be, who they understand God to be.

A God who lives in poverty and wealth. Who is always on time, even when the actual time isn't important. Who provides and comforts but allows for sickness and pain.

A God who soothes fears but pushes them beyond the limits of comfort. Who exists in community and in solitude. Who paints the night sky and the sunrise.

A God who allows for destruction but trains hands to rebuild.

A God who has made them.

Made them bold and brave and strong and scared. Who watches them laugh and dance and cry and grieve. 

Who has built them for honesty and late night talks on the roof. Who has designed them to help heal each other's hurts and stand guard over each other's fears.

A God knows their name and remembers their faces.

A God who delights every time that they come to Him and who cares deeply for a deeply broken world.

So, it's barely November, three months earlier than last year, but it is Haiti season.

Not yet the all consuming everything that will tinge every conversation and every interaction, but the rumbles are building, next year's team already beginning to sort itself out.

Because, it is in their blood. Deep enough in the fabric of this youth group that, if we choose, everything can be drawn back to Haiti.

It could be named as a strength, but also as a weakness. Whatever it is, it is infectious. And, not four months after we came home, they are talking about going back.

Even kids who have never been before use that phrase, talk about "going back." 

It is that much a part of who they are as a youth group. VBS in Haiti is something that "we" do. 

A week and a half that lasts all year.