Verbatim prayer: “…and please help Daddy fly like a bird and bring manna to the hungry people.”
Talking to God, different day: “…and go to the hungry people and bring them manna, and take the earthquake out of their house.”
“I dreamed about Jesus last night because He is in my heart.”
“I also dreamed about ponies and Strawberry Shortcake.”
As I write to you Matt is on his way to the airport to assist in the massive undertaking of Haiti Relief. This may be surprising news because it has all come together so fast, but we have peace and joy knowing that this is an opportunity from the Lord! After the first earthquake happened in Haiti, Matt was just itching to go. He wanted so much to help out, to use his piloting and mechanic skills in this desperate situation. MAF (the mission we had been with in Latin America) is in Haiti and Matt is very familiar with the kind of flying and the type of work that needs to been done in a crisis situation. We started praying about how to do this and Matt contacted MAF about being a volunteer over there for a couple weeks. Our biggest set back was financial. We were pretty sure he could get unpaid leave from work, but we honestly cannot survive without his paycheck, even for two weeks. Still, his put his name in and we watched and prayed. Well, the Lord answered with a surprising solution. Last week his company (who is contact with the aviation ministries if MAF, MFI, and AGAPAE) decided to lend a King Air to help out. Last weekend Matt volunteered his mechanic skills to work on the plane and do all the coordinating for that flight. They loaded it, sent it off, the plane did a couple of runs, and came back broken. It got grounded, so Matt spent all of THIS weekend fixing it and getting ready to send out again. (That airplane actually leaves tomorrow with construction supplies.) THEN, Dynamic donated a second airplane! This time they asked Matt to go on the flights, for an entire week. He is flying with a retired airline/missionary pilot who speaks French and with his Spanish – they are the perfect team! So he leaves today and flies to Ft. Pierce (Miami) where he will be flying for MFI and, dat dat dat, MAF! His company is keeping him on payroll AND he gets to help out! The plane is to based out of MFI headquaters for the week and fly to Haiti everyday. The idea is he will sleep in Florida every night (which is good news to me). He will be ferrying doctors, medical supplies, relief workers, construction supplies, emergency food rations, etc. He is excited and I am excited for him! Please pray for his protection. Pray for good health (he has a cold right now). Pray that the plane doesn’t encounter any technical problems. Pray for stamina, energy, wisdom, balance (that he would rest when he needs to), sleep well at night, be a blessing and be blessed, etc. Pray for me holding down the home front. And, pray for our kids who always miss Daddy desperately.
The company I work for is trying to send one of our airplanes to Haiti again. This time to carry housing supplies, but the windshield got broken on the last trip. Carlos and I spent all day working on the windshield and ran up against an obstacle we couldn’t solve. The trip is going to be delayed. I came home frustrated and a little angry with God. God, why couldn’t things go smoothly today? Don’t You see we are trying to send this airplane to Haiti? Those folks need so much help! I was pretty discouraged.
Dinner came and Madelyn didn’t want to eat her soup. I was a little frustrated with her and said the classic dad line, “Eat your food. There are people in Haiti that don’t have any food to eat.” Madelyn looked upset and truely sad for them. She paused and said, “ They can come to our house.” She eagerly offered her soup. 
We explained that that was not possible. So, after thinking about it some more, she said, “Daddy, maybe we should pray and ask God to send down white bread from heaven for the people to have food.” Manna, anyone? You know, she is right! Why don’t I have that kind of faith? My faith is limited by a broken airplane, her faith is limitless with a powerful God that can do the unthinkable.
In the end… thanks, Madelyn, for growing my faith a little tonight and reminding me how big our God is.
For the last two weekends Matt has proved to be my hero in two different, but equally important ways: as a dragon slayer and as a servant. First, the dragon. For the last couple of weeks we have been hearing that annoying tch-tch-tch-tch sound of a little animal gnawing away at something. In the middle of the night the sound was coming from over our heads in our bedroom and in the hall. (I had nightmares that I was going to wake up to a furry rodent falling from the ceiling into our bed.) One night we were entertaining guests and the sound, now coming from the hallway utility closet!, disturbed us so abruptly that Matt jumped up, flung open the door, and saw the tail end of my most feared infiltrator — a rat! A rat! IN our house! Ugh! That night he set a trap in the closet and we waited. In the middle of night again the rat returned, but he did not immediately fall for our ploy of carefully placed peanutbutter. Instead, he spent a couple of hours continuing his feat of gnawing on wood. Finally, that heavenly peanutty scent must have become too much because we heard the trap snap! But instead of peaceful silence, the initial clamor was followed by a terrible thrashing commotion of a caught rat unwilling to die. This continued for awhile to no avail; something had to done. So around 3AM Matt had to get up out of bed to dispose of the rat. (He said it was about two feet in length from nose to tail.) I have yet to discover his method of execution. All I know is, he took it outside half alive and now it is dead, and gone. YAY— my hero!
Servanthood. This Friday Matt was finishing work for the week when his company called to inform him that they are lending a plane to AGAPE and MFI ministries to aid the relief work in Haiti. All weekend long Matt was on the phone coordinating pilots and the the details necessary to send this plane safely and legally to Haiti. Saturday night the plane arrived. Matt and a couple pilots loaded it full with 1,500 pouds of medical supplies for Haiti. Sunday, he was up at the crack of dawn to prayerfully send off the plane, the crew, and its load intended to bless those in such desperate need. I am so proud of him for undertaking this project and working in his free time to make this happen. He didn’t have a weekend and has gottten so run down that he is now sick, but he presses on. What a hero! He makes me proud!
God, where were You when….? Where are You now…? Don’t we all have a time (or times) in our life when we ask that very question? Whether the question be asked in accusation, frustration, or desperation, it is hard to find and accept a satifying answer. In the face of national diasaters, our loved ones take ill and do not get better, or any pain that is colossal in magnitude, it comforts me to know that 1) our God is big enough to handle such a question. He can handle all of our anger, all of our doubt, all of our broken-heartedness… and 2) He is ever-present. He promises “to comfort those who mourn;” to be there right in the middle of it and walk through that pain with us. We are not alone.
I was in agreement this week with the words of Tim Ross, one of our favorite pastors and dear friends, on the subject of Haiti. He wrote, “What we know is this: Our God does not cause or delight in natural destruction or retributive mayhem. God is not vengeful, exercising wrath on Haitians, who already suffer enough as the poorest nation in the hemisphere. Instead, we believe that God is among the people of Haiti, suffering with those who suffer. The answer to those who ask: Where is God? is: ‘He’s right there, walking with the poor, the injured, the hungry, the afflicted.’ ” A similiar sentiment, sung by Matt Maher, also comforts me. Listen to this if you ever stuggle with the question: Where is God?
Last night Matt and I got to go see Matt Maher live in concert. He did a FREE concert at a Catholic church in St. Pete and it was glorious! We loved every minute of it! Maher is such a talented worship leader and song writer. He is very humble and down to earth. MY Matt shook his hand during the concert and we got to meet him afterwards! He is our new best friend. Okay, not really. But I wish he was because he is so awesome! My only complaint about the concert: it was WAY too short! Maybe an hour and half, not even…come on! I know it is free and everything, but… we want more! So, here is my new favorite song by Maher: “Hold Us Together“ Wait. That was yesterday. Today my favorite is “Shout to the King.” You’ll have to look that one up because this blog won’t let me have more than one link in here at a time. Hold on. While I was typing, my favorite changed. It is now ”Sing Over Your Children.” Or is it “You Were On the Cross”? Or “Christ is Risen”? Man! They are ALL my favorite! Have you downloaded this albulm from iTunes yet? If you haven’t, you are really missing out! What are you waiting for?!
Go to mattmahermusic.com right now and download his “Alive Again” CD from iTunes. It is only $6.99 (what a deal!) and the whole albulm is so awesome! You cannot wait. You must own it! NOW! I’m serious. Trust me. You NEED this music. I’m doing you a huge favor. I know you will thank me profusely later, and I will let you so don’t ask questions now. Just go get it. What are you waiting for? Shew, shew.
I know, I know, most of you have been suffering out this winter for many weeks now, but we are not used to this! It is cold! For the first time, I have had to explain to my daughter what frost is… we had to turn the heat on! We are experiencing chapped lips, chapped skin and going through gallons of body lotion. My kids are wearing down jackets with wool hats and mittens. Even Matt has given into wearing long underwear, and when our second skin is in the wash we sucumb to our full body biking spandex to keep us warm. Is that too much information? I just want to you know that we live in south Florida and it is bloody cold! How we are ever going to survive two more weeks of winter??
I’m having one of those moments when I realize that everything could change in an instant. One of those days when the news isn’t so good, and I realize that my life isn’t that bad, not at all… a friend at church, a father of three, his tumor is getting worse, bigger and more painful by the day…our neighbor’s van was totalled on Christmas Eve by a garbage truck; he could have lost his wife and kids in one final swoop…our friends with a new baby, and no car, may be moving out of state to try to find a better job situation…No we aren’t guaranteed a thing, are we? The words of Nicole Nordeman’s song “Gratitude” flow through my head as I thank God for all that He has given us and blessed us with today. Gratitude.
Both of the kids love Christmas lights. We smiled the whole way to church this evening listening to Jeremiah joyously shout from the backseat, “Ohhh! Mo yites!” which of course means, “More lights! I like them!” We went to a beautiful candlelight service for Christmas Eve. It just about made my entire Christmas listening to the violin soloist play “O Holy Night” in a perfect tone of worship and beauty, absolutely glorious! There was a live nativity scene and the service ended with entire congregation going outside to sing “Silent Night” by candlelight under the stars. Ahhh!
It was a deliciously warm night, so after we went home, we walked over to the neighboring street . 12th Ave is renowned for being a prime destination viewing spot for Christmas lights connoisseurs. Cars lined both sides of the streets; we were so happy to be on foot. Almost every house on the street has an elaborate lights display—blow up figurines; musical everything; Santa on a hammock between two palm trees; electric train, Ferris wheel; one guy had Merry Kissmas on his lawn and projected rock videos (from the band Kiss) on his garage door; a clock counting down the seconds to Christmas Day; sea creatures of all kinds in Santa hats: manatee, octopus; plenty of my personal Floridian favorite: alligators in Santa hats! The best part was the neighbors sitting in their driveways in lawn chairs, passing out candy canes wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. (Man, I love Florida!) After that we went home for Christmas cookies and an early bedtime!
Christmas Day was great. The kids delighted in their gifts and we had a ball playing with them, uh, the kids that is. We got to “see” a lot of family over Skype, what a blessing when you live far away! We were so happy to have family come stay with us for the night. Peter and Jen helped us in our classic Christmas “cracker” tradition. ” (If you don’t know what that is, you will just have to join us next year and see. ) It was a beautiful, relaxing weekend celebrating the birth of our Lord. See a few pictures an videos here.