Barnabas Task

Children are left without care

I originally intended to crop this photo on the left but felt what I was trying to say is better said by the photo itself. There is a very real sense of hopelessness for the kids in Haiti, and for that matter children in urban areas throughout the world.

Let me explain what I believe has been one of my lifetime messages. I don’t write or speak because I need to.  I do it because I think I have something to say.  What I am going to share is a primary reason I do what I do.

• Generally speaking, many children are born into a world of hope and promise.
• Generally speaking there are many children that are born into a world of rejection and anger because their mothers (or
  

  Many kids are born into poverty, disaster or war

  fathers) never wanted them in the first place.

• Generally speaking, many children are born in geographic areas where disaster, war and poverty are as normal as a rainy day in Seattle.

Kids accept reality as is

All three scenarios seem different don’t they?  Hope and promise, rejection and anger, war and poverty. At a very young age children do not know the difference.  They accept reality, as it is, not knowing how or why to compare.

At some point in their young lives children “get it.”  Whether it is at age seven or fifteen, many children began to realize that life is a hole they want out of.  They have repeatedly walked into the same pit day after day, doing the same things and one day a light goes on and they say “Wait a minute,” even at age seven or younger.

“My daddy molested me.  My daddy is an alcoholic. My mama is a prostitute.  There is another world besides this one.

A little girl's dream can be shattered

Other moms and dads are different.  I am missing a mom, a dad, and a family.  I have no one.  Perhaps there is another world.”

This moment of clarification and reality check is happening throughout the world, every day.  This arrival point is a strategic, cutting edge shift in a persons’ paradigm.  What happens next is a painful reminder of why we do what we do.

Here’s the deal:  at this crucial point in a child’s life they say, “whatever will be will be.”  “Que sera, sera.”  Their mental, spiritual, emotional and psychological growth is truncated.  For many, life stops.  They give up.  There is no hope.  There is a no salvation.  There is no way out of the hole.  The growth timeline becomes a flat line.  Many kids think this way and parents do too.

Many kids have nothing, not even a crayon

This is Haiti today as you read. I observed kids on the street that have nothing.   No one looking after them.  Their lives have been shattered and broken not only by the earthquake but also by rejection, poverty and previous disaster.  Think about it.  They are in a dark hole without sight and nowhere to go.  They give up.  They finally just sit down and say,” This is life.”  They accept it.  They can’t color their own world.

The answer for them is prostitution, drugs, human trafficking.  Some choose to sell themselves (not forced) because it is money to feed their own kids.  What an open market for the wrong people to “lend a hand” with false, wicked motives.

However, this is where you and I can make a huge difference.  Precisely at the place where “kids” around the

We can make a difference

world have come to this juncture in their life, you and I can be difference makers.

I preach Christ because He makes a difference. He changes people, inside out. You and I do what we do because we know that besides medical care, hope is given.  My prayer has always been, “Lord do a work that is so profound that  this little girl/boy will be able to see outside the hole.” And when that happens, they know who lives and they can face tomorrow.  The flat line of growth stops and life begins.

Anybody want to start an orphanage with me?

When people ask me what I do, the simplicity of it all surprises even me.  I connect people to people and resource and along the way I make friends and together the Kingdom is advanced.  Your faithful giving  to Barnabas Task is making a difference.

Dear Bill Clinton:

Haiti is off the front page.  It is a natural thing.  Other news will take its’ place and life goes on.  The Disaster Relief First Responder stage is over.   The Olympics are here.

Haiti will now move into the new territory of starting over again.  I talked with officials from Japan while in Haiti.  They were at the border of Jimani, Dominican Republic and Haiti.  What they told me made sense.  Very matter of factly they are pulling out their medical “first responder” teams and replacing them with engineers who will help rebuild the devastated port of Port Au Prince.

There is still a need for the medical personnel.  However they will deal with infections and post-operation issues and the depth of concerns that come with trauma and physical issues.

The shift though is in process. Relief workers I have talked with are wrestling with “how to do this when this has really been done before.”  Millions of dollars have been invested in Haiti by governments and organizations throughout the world.  There is little to show for this.

Can I ask a question?  What about including the church at large to help set priorities and goals for Haiti’s future? What about being able to tap the money that has been promised by so many and allow the church at large to have a prophetic voice in the re-construction of Haiti?  I am not talking about a “back seat” “glad you are here guys.”  I am talking about a “front seat” question like, “You guys have years of experience as missionaries, have developed infrastructure, have a handle on culture and the priority of sustainability.  What could we do different?  Where is the starting point in all this?”

I know it may seem a far-fetched idea.  I am sure they would cooperate with you.  They don’t want the glory for all that happens. But I do feel missionary sending agencies could give you a perspective and voice that must be heard. I guess if we look at the response and long-term efforts after Katrina, the 2005 tsunami in Southeast Asia and other major disasters worldwide there is a strong history of what “the church” can do.

One other thing, Mr. Clinton, there is a spiritual dynamic in Haiti that needs to be addressed.  What about including this dynamic as part of the overall plan to rebuild Haiti.  Believe with me  for Haiti’s spiritual deliverance.

It is a new day for Haiti.  What an opportunity to see what God and His people can do.  I include you in that statement by the way.

I write with conviction and deep concern that this is Haiti’s greatest opportunity ever in its’ history. Perhaps there needs to be church led protocol collaborating with others, playing a significant role in decisions that effect destiny.  Is there really anything to lose?

The task is daunting. With hope, I reach my hand to you along with many others and make this one request.   Let a prophetic voice be heard for Haiti’s new day.

Bill Clinton is the UN Ambassador to Haiti.

Several weeks ago, I was driving early in the morning to speak at a church service.  I started the day before the sun came up. When we are alone, we can think about so much or so little actually.  I had thoughts about harvest.

I wondered why some corn fields were growing better than others.  I asked some farmers.

• Different type of corn
• Fertilizer
• Rain in one place does not necessarily mean rain in another
• Some farmers plant later (earlier) than others
• Better soil
• Patience

After being educated and I am sure there is more to this, I thought more about harvest and harvest workers.

• A good harvest is hard work.  It is thought through and planned.
• A good harvest demands more hard work.
• The X factor in harvest demands patience and understanding
• When harvest comes, there is an urgency.  I remember talking to grape farmers in Chile that articulated the urgency of reaping ripe harvest.  Grapes must be harvested when ready, cleaned, taken to market etc.
• I am grateful for those that prepare for harvest, think harvest, plan for harvest and reap the harvest.
• Howbeit we have an X factor in our harvest terminology (the Holy Spirit), and I want  to totally depend on this, I think we all need to spend more time talking strategically about harvest.  We live for this.

Think about it.  If you were a farmer, would you keep planting, doing the same thing every year, if there was no result.  Maybe we should change how we do things.

I wept today.

I have been visiting my Mom and Dad. Dad will move into an Alzheimer’s/Memory Care unit. I struggle with this. My Mom’s reality of always being with him is a paradigm that is being changed as I write. Siblings and friends express concern, give counsel, provide prayer from a distance. This is not about me. My sisters and brother have been heroic in attempting to discern what is best. I write though. I blog.

Mom cannot care for Dad, medically, physically, and emotionally. She has courageously given of herself. They both have done so well. “A time has come for a change Dad, I am sorry but we must do something different. I have tried but I can’t go on any further.”

I wept today.

I was eating lunch with mom and noticed four ladies sitting together. Their husbands have passed away. All the residents sit at tables of four. They were like four sisters chatting, telling stories, and laughing. I went to them after lunch and thanked them for their example of courage. I thanked them for the joy it brought me to watch them and listen to them. I was so happy for them; they had each other between the visits of loved ones that would visit.

I wept today.

In the course of four days, I visited five Nursing Homes with mom, my brother, sister and friend of my sister. We walked around, asked questions and had consultations. As we passed through the Alzheimer Unit or Memory Care areas, I held back tears. Then I wept. Is this it? Is this what happens when Dad moves into a place like this?

I wept today.

She waved at me from a distance. I waved back. She waved again. I waved back. Then I realized this elderly lady was waving at someone else, behind me. By this time, I was waving at five or six people. It was silent, no talking. Just waving. I guess I was not ready when the lady that started it all came up to me, pushed on a wheel chair by a caregiver. “Thank you,” she said. Such simplicity.

I have made friends with some of the residents. They stop by to say hi or goodbye.

I wept today.

I did little errands for mom. She was so grateful. I listened. We talked. We had our little daily routine. We processed a theme that kept coming to my mind: “I want the best for Mom with excellent care for Dad.” My siblings do too. Grateful I am to them. Dad wanted to watch the Seattle Mariners. He slept most of the time. We always talked about a desire to go to the College World Series together. He can’t remember. We never did. He coached me in Little League, taught me how to be a catcher. He had played semi-pro baseball. He knew the sport. He can’t recall.

I wept today.

As we sat with the Community Relations Director for the Memory Care Center at Emeritus Oaks I heard her say, “We will join your Dad’s journey, where ever he is.” I liked it. “If he is missing the smell of an apple pie, we will join him and bake a pie.” I heard a little Starbucks philosophy, that teaches baristas to say “yes,” if at all possible.

I was so encouraged. I loved the thought of “joining the journey.” Shouldn’t we be doing that with each other anyway, like now?

It is time to leave Poulsbo, WA, a beautiful Scandinavian town on Liberty Bay. Due diligence has been accomplished. Some huge decisions have been made and will place in motion other decisions. It is 4:30 am. I need to catch the shuttle that will take me to the airport, an hour and half drive as the sun comes over the Narrows Bridge connecting Kitsap Peninsula and Tacoma.

I say goodbye to Dad in the dark. He is snoring. I kiss his forehead. I touch his feet.

“I will join you in your journey Dad.”

Grateful I am!

I wept today.

There is a Chinese proverb that speaks to me and I believe to my leader friends like you.

Here’s the proverb:

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

We are learners, you and I. We have different styles of learning. It is neither necessarily linear nor predictable. I hunger to learn more, even as to how others learn. Will you tell me a story of how you learn?

Pragmatically, I submit that we study and read much but my observation is that we probably are not engaged enough with the rank and file of those whom we lead. “Doing” would do us some “soul” good, make lasting impact and connect us to so much understanding.

How do you learn? Are you learning? Does learning bridge new relationships because you have asked questions humbly? Do you listen?

For me, if I do something with someone, I “learn” him or her. If I am “doing” something in ministry with someone, I am learning “how.” I was thrown into Disaster Relief Work, for example. I was asked to give administrative oversight to seven refugee camps in Albania during the Kosovo war. What I “knew” was nothing compared to what I needed to know and learn. I asked and I listened. I did. I understood. My hands were dirty from the trenches.

This is my encouragement today for you. There is a whole lot to learn out there. Don’t live in a box. Get out of your routine. Do something and understand. I am so excited for you.

(Editor’s Note: I intentionally made myself available to be a substitute teacher this past year, as time permitted. I did something different. I wanted to learn (and relearn) youth culture. Instead of just read the latest, I had lunch with students and bantered with them in the hallways. I understand more now. By the way, I love the youth student culture, believe in this generation and am so impressed.)

We lost everything we had entered, a major blow to what we are trying to communicate. It was painful beyond words to see an empty website. However, God’s wisdom and grace prevailed.  It will take some time but we will be back in no time.  Thanks for your patience.  

Nancy and I feel more than ever that God has orchestrated a plan for our lives.  We declare  that plan and do so not only with fear and trembling;  but with a Holy Spirit directed boldness.

Hey Everybody!

Barnabastask.org has been down for maintainance these past few days. But we’re back up! So stay tuned for more. God’s doing some amazing things!