T. David Beck: The Simple Way of Jesus

One of the unforgettable things we got to do on this last trip to Haiti was have the first ever "Church in the Ben's" service. The Ben's is the area beside the boys' home where the kids play soccer and basketball. It's a cement area the size of a tennis court and a half. On Sunday we held a church service there. All the orphanage kids were present, and I think a few kids from the neighborhood as well. About half way through worship, I heard the gate rattle, and in walked a proud procession of well-dressed Haitians in single file. It was Pastor Gabriel and his congregation from the Ravine. He is the one who hosts the Ravine feeding every week, and the day before we had invited him to come to Church in the Ben's. Pastor Gabriel's congregation had on their Sunday best -- maybe not fancy by American standards, but for the little those people own, they were dressed to the nines. I had the privilege of preaching the sermon that morning. I preached in English...

We are back in the U.S. now, tired and emotionally wrung out. Going to a place like Haiti, which is so different from our home here, cannot help but affect you emotionally. But what is more, I cannot help but give my heart to the kids and leaders of the MDL orphanage, and it is really tough to leave them. I didn't get a chance to blog the last two days we were in Haiti because we were too busy winding down the trip. But I want to tell about a couple of things that stood out in those last few days. This post is about little Dillickson and his sister Mylin. On Saturday, we went down to this slummy area called The Ravine and did a feeding for the kids there. I have been told that the average Haitian eats one meal a day. Those kids aren't living up to the standard of the average Haitian. If the Manasseros weren't feeding the kids, many of them would be badly malnourished. Some still are. We hold the feeding in a ramshackle hut used for a church. It has four walls made of cinder...