Stop and Go

Boarding the tap-tap this morning, Brynna and I got to set up front with the driver! The radio was on and it was sweetly singing in English! It made me stop and go, "WHAAAT... a(nother) treat!?!" What have we done to deserve all of these treats? It was Chris Tomlin singing, "and like a flood, His mercy reigns; unending love, amazing grace." Honestly, I'd never paid much attention to those words in particular. But, today, I couldn't get them out of my head. 

As we waited for the tap-tap to be "full", I looked over and saw a man half as tall as most. He was walking on his knees. He was wearing very worn kneepads. His legs from his knees down were warped. His feet were the size of a child's. He had a nice dress shirt on tucked in to nice looking dress pants with a belt, but they were torn and frayed hanging just above the kneepads. His feet were bare.

Over and over all the way down the hill to Pettionville I could't shake the all too familiar line from the song we'd sung quite possibly a few thousand times. I couldn't stop the tears from gently streaming down my face as I thought of all the ways that the Lord has shown us grace in the last few years, but especially the last few weeks and months.

"and like a flood, His mercy reigns; unending love, amazing grace."

Since last Friday night, when we sat outside as the sun was setting and sang Amazing Grace from the hymnal, I think my heart was trying to finish singing "the rest of the song" that it knew so well. Have you ever gotten a song just on the tip of your tongue and couldn't spit it out? 

Almost to the bottom of the hill now, our tap-tap slowed down and cautiously crossed the center line to avoid a completely naked man crawling on the busy road. I just couldn't believe we didn't stop to help him! We slowed down and made sure not to hit him, but kept on going! I couldn't believe that so many vehicles had gone on before us and not stopped. Then I looked to the side of the road and there were plenty people just walking on by. I couldn't get his face out of my mind. What danger he was in!? And who would ever stop to help him!?

At Kreyole school, I asked our "pwofessor" about what may have been going on with this man. He said that he was probably out of his mind, maybe drunk and that someone would eventually come and take him to the hospital. And he said he'd seen it happen before.

Living in a third world country is eye opening... and gut wrenching.

I had to wonder if just maybe the first man who was half as tall as most may just know this Unending Love. In Haiti most handicapped people are looked at as a curse, thrown out like trash, forgotten. But, this man managed to get around and appeared to be a man on a mission. He was out on the town, in the crowd, "blending in", doing some sort of business. I couldn't imagine facing those physical handicaps in our first world country! What a wimp I am. What made him GO on?

Then I wondered about the other man. Did he want to die? Did he realize what danger he was in? Did he not know that like a flood, His mercy reigns?! Had no one told him the Good News? I couldn't imagine what he had faced to put him in that scene this morning? What made him STOP?

Just like after last Friday I couldn't spit out the rest of the song, today, all day, I felt the same way. The only thing I could repeat in my head was that line, "and like a flood, His mercy reigns..." But, my heart had something else it wanted to scream! "My chains are gone. I've been set free. My God, my savior has ransomed me. And like a flood, His mercy reigns. Unending love, amazing grace." 

Grateful for His mercy, His love, His grace, His constant treats in our lives. I deserve none of it. So many times I've failed... oh, wait! That's a WHOLE NOTHER SONG! Ugh!!!

Tell us what verse, phrase, song has gotten stuck in YOUR head lately? What makes you go on through trials? What makes you stop and give up? What ways have you seen His mercy reign like a flood?