If I Had A Cow...

It’s outright shocking and marvelous to see a 3^rd world people overflow with thanksgiving.  They’ve learned to see past what their physical eyes are capable of.  Holding their babies tight they sing from their souls.  

But, I’ve walked their streets, sat in their mud hut homes, and watched death take their family members from completely preventable diseases.  I have to sit in wonder, so curious.  How can a broken people who don’t even know what justice looks like have such grateful hearts?  Disease, poverty, oppression, earthquakes, hurricanes…this is their reality yet they rejoice and I see them smile.  I can’t believe how they smile.  They must have a treasure mound of gifts stored up that can’t be seen but surely they are just as real.  Somewhere in giving thanks to God just because He is God, they enter into a holy place of communion with Him, escaping their suffering for a short bliss moment.  God bestows the gift of His presence covering rich over the lowly and I decide there’s not a gift greater than His presence.  Poor and needy they soak deep in His presence and tears stream down my cheeks because it’s the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever seen.  I want this gift and so I choose His presence as my heart’s only great desire forever and ever. 

Once a year, at the end of August, the people in Pastor Nahum’s village come together for a week long thanksgiving revival at Gilbert Christian Church.  With undivided hearts they come every night despite being weary after long days of working the fields or selling in the markets...

they bow down low on their knees and raise their hands high to the heavens offering songs of worship, praise, and thanks to God. 

It’s a time of thanksgiving.  A time to thank God for all He has done for them...for provision and protection...for their daily bread.  

Pastor Nahum said they are having lovely blessed nights of thanksgiving revival this week but he would like to invite all of us to share in this with them.  He said if we were there with his Haitian people we would worship every night with them and we might bring some money, clothes, or a cow to offer for their last day for a thanksgiving celebration which will be on Sunday. 

I’ve been in Haiti when Pastor Nahum’s church has celebrated revival and ended it with a huge feast to feed all of the church people.  They cook a whole cow and when I say whole cow I mean whole cow.  Head to toe they eat it all and serve it with Haitian rice and beans...a cow is a huge blessing for them...a wonderful yet rare treat for his church.  

 

Now, if I had a cow I would give this most beautiful plain Haitian church my cow.  The problem is I don’t have a cow and even if I did have a cow, how does a girl get a cow from Texas to Haiti?  I can’t take them a cow and neither can you (scratch that plan) but we can still celebrate with them in heart and spirit.  We can lift our praises and thanks to God for allowing us the opportunity to love and know such a beautiful people.  We can close our eyes and imagine sitting side by side our Haitian sisters and brothers on wooden benches under the sheet metal roof at Gilbert Christian Church, we can stand up, walk to the front of the church, reach in our pockets, and pour out joyfully a love offering in their offering plate to help them buy a cow and provide a magnificent feast to celebrate their final day of revival.    

I’ve got a feeling pouring out what we’ve been given to offer our needy Haitian sisters and brothers a special feast to celebrate thanks to God is something that pleases Him.  When you click on the donate tab at the top of this blog and scroll down just slightly you will see the first option to donate safely through Google Wallet as a General Donation to Back to Life Ministries.  All of the donations given under General Donation for the next 3 days (between now and Sunday) will go directly to providing a thanksgiving feast for Gilbert Christian Church’s annual Thanksgiving Revival.  May you all be blessed with the gift of His presence.