1.To a new battle,
Jesus is calling us,
And here we are faithful
Ready to follow Your step
Lead us to the battles
We are your soldiers
Refrain
Arm our arms, arm our hearts
And we will be
More than conquerors
2. Arm us, O Lord
With faith, with boldness
With strength, with wisdom
With love, and with zeal
Embrace us, Lord
With one invincible ardor
At 11:00am yesterday morning, many Haitian
churches across the US gathered for worship with
an even more somber spirit. El Shaddai, Miami,
was one of them. The above French hymn
(translated, of course) was the opening song.
The congregational reading was taken from 1 John
3. How very appropriate the opening song
seemed. Sometimes we forget that the battle is
really a spiritual one and so we forget to pray
along that end. God has a mighty army to fight
the battle and has equipped that army, the
Church. Then the Scripture reading reminded
us of the God's love and how we, as His
children, should show His love. Praise God for
His Holy Word.
After the tempo of the music died and the
singing voices silenced, sobs were heard, even
from those leading the worship. There were
tears for their beloved Haiti. As poor as it
is, it's home. Then there were the sobs for
loved ones that they haven't heard from since
Tuesday. Where are they? Are they OK, dear
Lord? And probably thoughts like, "Will my boss
give me time off? If I go I may lose my job and
then how do I support the rest of the family in
Haiti?" Or, "How can I find more money to send
to my family? I already sent what I had last
week."
Latest from Haiti
Widly, the 12-year-old boy found walking in the
streets of Gonaives, was left with other family
members in Lester. Dony and DouDou never made
it to the south. Two dear brothers, Mike and
Joe, from C3 Missions, flew in via DR, to do the
coordination of the food with Mission of Hope.
They all stayed Saturday night there on that
mission's complex which is on the outskirts
north of Port-au-Prince. Hurricane Ike caused
more damage. In a city near Cabaret, about an
hour away, flood waters came through and about
30 people died that night in that city alone.
Yesterday, efforts were made once again to get
to Gonaives with 5000 pounds of military food
and purified water. Hired men loaded the food
on the bus, took it as far as they could go in
front of a damaged bridge. Another group of
hired men took the food off and put it on a
truck on the other side of the bridge, and then
the drive into Gonaives began. Then they came
to a road blocked by vehicles. No one was
allowed to pass that point. Relief effort would
once again be delayed. However, on the way,
they were many who had left Gonaives in search
for food. Food supply and water was given to
them.
This morning, the team is at the airport waiting
for the two helicopters from the DR to arrive.
With bridges broken down, roads damaged, they
will try this one more time.
In your prayer time, remember also the spiritual
warfare that is going on. Pray also for the
other ministries that will try to get into
Gonaives.
The services at El Shaddai ended with the
preaching of the word from Psalm 29 given by
Rev. Bresile St. Germain, Dony and Louis'
father. Here is how that Psalm ends with verses
10 and 11-
" The Lord sits enthroned over the the
flood; the LORD is enthroned as king forever.
The LORD gives strength to His people; the LORD
blesses His people with peace."
To God be the
glory!
