Weep With Those Who Weep

As I stated on the previous posting, during my time in Haiti, I visited a tent community which came into existence after the earthquake. I was also invited to be part of a meeting NET (Nations in Transformation) had with the five members of a committee that provide a level of leadership for the community.The lady on the far right in the above picture is the leader of the committee. Her husband was an accountant at one of the hotels in Port-au-Prince. On the afternoon of the quake, the hotel collapsed. and her husband was killed.

This young woman's house, which is located next to the tent community, was damaged but not destroyed. She allowed us to use it for the meeting we had with the committee.

However, as I entered, I realized that the house looked just like it did the night of the quake. A cabinet was tipped over and the dishes spilled out and broken. The T.V. was on the floor. A part of a block room partition had fallen onto some of the living room furniture. Everything was covered with a heavy dust created by falling buildings in the area. Nothing had been moved, nothing cleaned up. It was like this woman's life had been so disrupted, so filled with loss, that she didn't have the emotional energy to deal with the devastation in her house.

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At the end of our meeting, we asked each member of the committee how we could pray for them. We then layed hands on them and prayed, asking God to bring comfort and hope. And I realized, Nate, these people need food, shelter, water, and medical care - physical things, but don't forget, they also need healing of the soul. They need someone to care enough to hear their story. They need someone to walk with them in their grief. They need someone to speak words of comfort and to pray with them and for them.

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As we plan our staff ministry trip to Haiti, we will go equipped to meet physical needs. But we also want to be careful to not forget to "weep with those who weep" and to minister to the deep needs of the soul.