You Don't Need to Wash Your Hands.

Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of man are what defile the man.

Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him; because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?

That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. - Mark 7

For one just returning from Haiti, this is GREAT news, to know that none of the soot and muck we gather traversing that land stains me. This is an encouragement, that what was embedded on my skin, in my hair and on my clothes does not affect my heart. As well, it removes an impediment before me which attempts to keep us away from the unclean world.

There is no unclean world, only unclean people. I have cleansed your heart and you will not be stained by the world. Go into the world, amidst the dirt which will cake your skin... and be a heart-cleansing source for others.

Our position before the Lord God Almighty is not based upon the state of our hands, our clothes, or our body; nor is it based upon our activities or inactivities. Rather, our cleanliness is "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe... being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ."

Somehow...

Somehow He is the God who has already overcome

as well as the God ever-present in our times of trouble

He is the God who is both here and over there

He has it figured out

while allowing us to figure it out

He is the BIG

the small

the BIG within the small

and the small within the BIG

Grace’s Mission and Our Mission

This is the first of two posts that have been stolen from Spring 2011 EMI intern Samantha Rowell (I believe a recent VT grad). I found the post in December 2015 while surfing. Sam had not touched her blog since the trip, but I wanted to hold onto the memories. I’m a cad, a thief, a man with no soul.
Sam’s blogspot site: http://samrowell.blogspot.com/

It was hard to resist the feelings of hopelessness that crept in as we drove around Haiti, but the people and mission of Hatian owned and operated Grace International was inspiring. Their vision is to bring opportunity to the Haitian’s and in doing that empower the people. One of the ways they are trying to do this is by building communities, not just homes. In the 2010 earthquake displacement camp tent village that Grace runs, we saw that they were applying expectations to the people who lived there and enforcing strict consequences. It seems simple, but I think this is a huge value to the Haitian people.

View of a portion of the displacement camp on Grace International’s property

Soccer game in Grace village

Our mission was to provide Grace with a master plan for a new community. We achieved that, but could not give as much detail as will be needed in the future for this site. EMI has worked with Grace for several years. It is very likely that this partnership will continue and we will be involved in helping them realize this long-term vision for the community at Lafiteau.

Our EMI team (Ash Wednesday)

The beautiful planning work of Dan Ford.

Our presentation at the end of the week to Grace Int’l