Worth the Risk

“What do you mean?...”
“I mean maybe Haiti isn’t your safe haven. Maybe it was never meant to be. I mean maybe you are called to danger.”
“But… Why?”
“Because I made you dangerous.”
 
This was a conversation I had with my heavenly Dad right after I was informed about the recent events occurring in Haiti. If you haven’t seen or heard yet, the Haitian government has raised the gas prices to almost 50% which has made the citizens of Haiti very upset for good reasons. Gas for Haitians is everything-- transportation, cooking, and even power. Raising the price of gas means raising the price of EVERYTHING. So of course the people weren’t too happy with this decision. They were so upset and desperate to have their voice heard that they took to the streets, burning tires, putting rocks in the road, blocking the airport, and setting grocery stores on fire. The majority of this chaos was happening in the capital, Port Au Prince, which is about 2 hours from where I am staying. While nothing too scary has happened in Gonaives, it was still a little unnerving watching what was happening not too far from me and wondering if it would make it’s way up here.

            When I first heard the news my first thought was, “What am I going to do if things go really bad?” Considering that the airports have been blocked off and I hadn’t really thought about a situation like this in advance, its safe to say it's not something I’ve prepared for. Luckily, things have quieted down and I am still safe, but it made me wonder, “Why now? Why is it the one summer I spend in Haiti is the summer everyone starts setting stuff on fire? Why must this happen three weeks before I head back to the states?” The answer seemed to pop into my mind almost immediately; “Maybe you were made for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14) Yeah, that doesn’t seem right to me. I’m a 5’2”, 130 lbs seventeen year old kid from Ringgold, Georgia and this is telling me I was made for this? It seems debatable considering the circumstances, but if He says so, it must be so.

            I am reading a book called “The Barbarian Way” by Erwin Raphael McManus that gives insight to what Christianity was intended to look like. For some people, Christianity looks like a prayer before meals and church every sunday. But how does Christianity look biblically? McManus uses Hebrews 11:36-40, “Others were mocked and experienced the most severe beating with whips; they were in chains and imprisoned. Some of these faith champions were brutally killed by stoning, being sawn in two or slaughtered by the sword. These lived in faith as they went about wearing goatskins and sheepskins for clothing. They lost everything they possessed, they endured great afflictions, and they were cruelly mistreated. They wandered the earth living in the desert wilderness, in caves, on barren mountains and in holes in the earth. Truly, the world was not even worthy of them, not realizing who they were. These were the true heroes, commended for their faith, yet they lived in hope without receiving the fullness of what was promised them. But now God has invited us to live in something better than what they had—faith’s fullness! This is so that they could be brought to finished perfection alongside of us.”  To say “The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will,” is saying that John the Baptist, Paul, Abel, Zechariah, and even Jesus Christ weren’t living according to God’s will.
           
Now I am in no way saying we are all called to be martyrs, but I am saying we must be prepared if we are. To be a martyr for the gospel is an incredible honor, but we are all the body of Christ, and while one person might be called to be the foot, another might be called to be the arm-- both serve completely different purposes, but both are equally as important to make the body function as a whole. The point is; sometimes we are supposed to be uncomfortable to serve God’s will. But why should we complain? That’s what we signed up for when we gave our lives to Christ. Or at least that’s what we are supposed to do. When we tell Jesus that He can have our lives, that means ALL of our life. That means our love life, our home life, our work life, our comfortability, etc. We are sacrificing something that was never meant to be ours.

            Okay, so I know God sent me to Haiti. I know that I am in the center of His will. So why are all these riots happening? It’s simple; The enemy sees me as a threat and hates that I obeyed God, so he is trying to get in my head. The funny thing is that it’s not working very well. I see right through him. One huge thing I’ve gained this summer is a deeper familiarity of the sound of my Father’s voice. And I think I can tell the difference between my Dad and a snake. So (Lord forbid for my parents’ sake) what if I do become martyred for Christ in my three weeks left in Haiti? Would it be worth it? Would the six weeks that I have been here be worth laying down my life for the One who laid down His for mine? Absolutely. Who am I to say the price He paid for me isn’t worth everything I have? There’s nothing more I want in this big silly planet than I want to be completely and fully His. I am laying myself at the altar. There’s nothing of me that I want. I only want Him.

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  “My true life is the Anointed One, and dying means gaining more of him.” (Philippians 1:21 TPT)

“ I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us.” (Romans 8:18 TPT) ​