Wrecked is a word we’ve been hearing around Long Hollow and will continue to hear in the days ahead. What does that even mean?
I vividly remember being “wrecked” on my first visit to Haiti. This particular trip was a vision trip to explore ministry opportunities for Long Hollow. We were visiting all of the orphanages that Global Orphan Project had helped to start. At each stop we made we would see the children and realize they had no parents or home, yet at each orphanage they were being fed, cared for and loved. It was an amazing sight! But the thing that wrecked me most were the “Mamas” at each home who cared for these children 24/7.
I’ll never forget standing off to the side watching them. Before I knew it, this overwhelming feeling of love and concern for them engulfed me. I wasn’t expecting it and was caught off guard by my feelings. As well as I could, I tried to interact with them. Although language was a barrier, I was reminded of lyrics from a song Sandi Patty sang years ago. “Love in any language, straight from the heart, pulls us all together, never apart, and once we learn to speak it all the world will hear, love in any language, fluently spoken here.” So I just tried to love them. I hugged them and smiled at them and tried to let them know that what they were doing was so important by giving them a thumbs up. Who knows if they understood what that meant?!
We visited several orphanages that day, but at each one, it was the Mamas that I was drawn to. I tried to imagine what life would be like for them day in and day out with no break. God placed a burden on me that trip that I have yet to get over. Each time I go, I experience the same feelings…wrecked. It’s hard to explain, but if you have been, you know the feeling!
Two weeks from today a group of 24 women and 3 men (brave men) will be in Haiti. Our group is a mixture of women. Some have been on several trips, while this will be the first trip for others. One thing I know, we will all leave different…all of us will be wrecked in some way through the experience. You can’t go and not be!
David Nasser shared a curse word in his message yesterday. The word was: INDIFFERENCE. And then we sang the song Hosanna with this line, “break my heart for what breaks yours, everything I am for your kingdom’s cause, as I walk from earth into eternity.” That’s wrecked! Moving from indifference to having a broken heart for the same things that break God’s heart. Have you been wrecked? Would you dare to ask God to move you from indifference to action?
You are invited to a WRECKED Night of Prayer this Wednesday, from 6:15-7:15. Find out more details here. Come join us as we seek God’s face and ask His direction for the next chapter in Long Hollow’s history.
I would love to hear your “wrecked” stories! Take a moment to comment and share you story.
Julie