Discouraged
Somewhere in time, January 12, 2010 a massive earthquake struck
Haiti with catastrophic results. Haiti
was already an economically depressed country, so the homes were not built to
codes common to homes in America. The
epicenter was Port Au Prince, Haiti’s capitol.
Three million people were affected by the earthquake, most left homeless,
and a little over three hundred thousand dyeing as a result of it.
I was recently out shopping and I found a book called
“Unshaken” by Dan Woolley. Dan is an
employee of Compassion International. He
was in Haiti to take pictures and film the work done with Compassion’s Child
Development Programs. The hope was to
encourage people to give to their efforts so they could reach out to more
children. Sounds heart wrenching to see
people so poor, but it helps to see them getting aid and a chance to better
their lives. I don’t think Dan expected
and eventful trip, but yet, the unexpected happened.
His Haitian drivers had just dropped him off at the Hotel
Montana. He was going to rest before
heading out to dinner. He had just left the lobby and went towards the stairs.
When he heard what sounded like an explosion and the world rocked. The building came down around him. Dan came to in total darkness, his head was
bleeding and his leg badly injured. He
couldn’t see anything, but he could feel the warm sticky blood on his hand as
he touched his head. An aftershock struck and
more debris rained down. Using his camera to get a small amount of
illumination, he decided to head for the elevator by crawling and dragging his injured
leg. With the aftershocks rocking Haiti, the elevator may off some form or protection,
the area he was in was very unstable.
In the elevator he wondered if he would survive. He wrote letters to his family, reminding his
kids not to blame God for the tragedy and expressing how much he loved
them. There were other people trapped,
not with him, but around him: A person
in the next elevator shaft and a group of five under debris in the lobby and
another woman in another part of the lobby.
It helped having people around; they could talk, and encourage each
other. He was even able to lead the
young man in the next elevator car to Christ.
It was a good way to pass the time, but they didn’t expect so much time
to pass.
After about 48 hours after the earthquake, a team of
rescuers were able to rescue the six trapped in the lobby and the rescuers promised
to send help for Dan. Hope, he had
hope. People knew he was there, people
were coming. Minutes drug by, then
hours, but no one came. He again began
to wonder if he would make it out alive and he became discouraged.
Discouragement gets all of us at one time or another. Discouragement is the lack of hope. Reading this story, I really identified with
his discouragement. I’ve never been
trapped in an elevator under six stories of rubble, but discouragement isn’t
that picky. It can strike you wherever
you are. When you feel stuck in a
situation and see no way out, you face discouragement. When you are trying so hard to get ahead and
you only seem to fall farther behind, that discouraging. Lasting discouragement leads to depression
and that is much harder to battle.
Today, I want to give you hope if you are feeling
discouraged. Life gives us time of
discouragement, but God never leaves us.
Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV) “The Lord himself goes before you and
will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do
not be discouraged.
Dan, at his lowest point, would feel the need to give praise
to God. Whether he lived or died, it was
up to God and he was amazed at how much better he felt when he offered praise. It raised his spirits and returned his
hope. It’s amazing that when we are able
to get our eyes off ourselves and our circumstances and concentrate on our God
and Father, Jesus Christ, as least for the moment, our discouragement will be
lifted.
Dan did make it out, after almost three days, 65 hours, trapped
with no food or water, but God never left him or forsook him.
Haiti is still struggling to rebuild and compassion is still
at work in the country helping to pull families out of poverty. I have link to compassion if you would like
to check it out.
Audio Adrenaline - Kings and Queens (Exclusive Music Video Premiere) from audio-adrenaline on GodTube.
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