The Trap

Since I have been back, the United States has started to feel more like a trap than my home. My house, my town, and my family are comfortable, familiar, and makes me happy, but the United States in general seems like a trap of the enemy.

In Haiti, I really don't care about the clothes that I'm wearing, if I have the latest gadget, or newest technology. My life is simple in Haiti. I thought that after being there for three months that those attitudes would carry over while I was home. Within days of being back in the states, I was already fighting to stay out of the "trap" of the U.S.  Stores filled with all the "must haves" of the holiday season and thoughts about what I could "have" if I simply settled down and got a job were hitting me left and right.

Satan has such a powerful and seemingly undetectable stronghold in this country that it is startling.  In Haiti, Satan's effects are very obvious: extreme poverty, corruption, violence, etc.  In the United States, the problem is harder to see.  Satan has decided to use a different tactic here, and I think it is more effective and more harmful.  American's lives are so filled with crap (excuse my language): Houses, cars, money, vacations, fancy cell phones, clothes, jewelry, electronics, and the list goes on.   Our lives revolve around our jobs, making money, saving money, investing money, etc.  All for what?   So that we can "provide for our family".  I think that statement is another lie from the enemy.  I have seen families in Haiti that are perfectly happy and content with very little.  A family does not need very much if there is love. Somehow, we Americans use that phrase to justify our need for more stuff.

We think that we are so fortunate, that we are so blessed, that we have so much.  Really, I think that all the things that we have are the problem. We are content. We continually fill our lives with things that we don't need. On the outside, we look like we are happy, blessed, rich, and "living the good life". However, on the inside we are broken, poor, beaten down, and hungry for God.  We fill our lives with "stuff" in an attempt to fill a God sized void.  This quote by Mother Teresa explains it well: "I think that the work of the Church in this developed and rich Western Hemisphere is more difficult than in Calcutta, South Yemen, or other areas where the needs of the people are reduced to the clothes needed to ward off the cold, or a dish of rice to curb their hunger--anything that will show them that someone loves them. In the West, the problems the poor (aka you) have go much deeper; the problems are in the depths of their hearts."

Personally, Satan has been whispering lies to me since I have been home. He says things like: "If you live here, you can get a good job.   If you live here you can have so many nice things.   If you live here, you will be with your friends and family. Who will want to be with you in Haiti? That place is never going to change.  No one wants to go to Haiti.  You will be all alone in your mission."

Sometimes those lies come in the form of thoughts that pop into my mind. Other times those lies come from people who think they know what is best.

Instead of choosing to listen to Satan's lies, I am choosing to expose them. I apologize if this sounds rude or blunt...please don't take it personally.   For those of you who can't understand a calling from God, here is another reason why I am going back to Haiti: stare into the eyes of a sick child who has no family and YOU try and walk away.  For those of you who believe that Haiti is too far gone to be helped, you obviously do not know the same Father that I do.  For those of you who think I am stupid for not settling down and getting a job, I have a rich Papa.  For those of you who think that I am missing out on something here in the US, you've never met my kids.  For those of you who think that this is just a "phase" that I am going through, I told God that he could have my life.  He told me to go to Haiti.  He has not told me to give up on Haiti.  So, I am going back.