Looking After "Neverbugs"

There is a line in one of my favorite movies, Hook, where Peter Pan (Robin Williams) is leaving the “lost boys” and heading back to reality. He is giving them instructions and choosing their new leader. When he gives the chunky kid the leadership sword he tells all of them that they are responsible to take care of anybody who is smaller than they are. The tiniest lost boy? He is responsible for taking care of "neverbugs"…little ones.

That line reminds me of one of the coolest kids that I know, Christela Nelson. Christela is the oldest sister at Freedom House Grace girls home in Jacmel and she takes care of all of the "neverbugs" there. She is the constant mother, for all of her soon-to-be 13 years of life. She looks out for the group, counts heads, dishes out food, and carries smaller kids to bed when they pass out on the floor at night. I have begun to call her Manmi Christela, I am hoping it rubs off on some of the girls because I think she has earned the title.

Christela came to the home in the first group of girls back in 2009. She came from being a child slave, or restevek, as they are called in Haiti. I have not talked at great length with her about that time of her life; it would serve little purpose other than to quench my appetite for knowledge. I am certain it wouldn’t be helpful for her to replay those scenes in her mind just for my sake. What little I do know about her specific case is that it was abusive (as by definition any restevek case would be) and that she worked really, really hard.

As she turns a page in her life and turns into a teenager in the coming weeks, I am struck once again by the change in her situation. She is a giver. She gives. This is what she does. It’s who she is. She used to give out of fear, abuse and because she was mandated to by the adults in her life. She gave, and gave and gave of herself to no end. Today, she still gives, but for a different reason. Christela gives out of love, a love that seems to ooze out of her. If you ever have met her, you know what I mean. She used to give because she had to, now she gives because it is the language of her heart. Once a servant to man; now a servant to God.

As her 13th birthday approaches, I am hoping to be a little more like Christela, a little more able to look out for those smaller than me, a little bit better at giving out of the love that God has put in my heart. I want to be a little bit more like her, taking care of the "neverbugs" that God has put in my life…

Heroes in their Superman Underwear

Superman. Spiderman. Anikan Skywalker (before he became Darth Vader). Tim Tebow. Tom Brady. Michael Jordan. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mother Theresa. These people are all heroes to somebody. They are all heroes to more than somebody, they’re heroes to millions. They have all accomplished great acts of rescue and of getting the bad guy (even if just in a movie or comic book). They have performed a great feat of athletic greatness or changed the lives of millions through their moving service and speech. Legitimately, they are thought of as heroes, and that is ok with me. It is not my place to tell anybody who his or her heroes should or shouldn’t be.


My kids will tell you that I secretly like watching Star Wars with them. It is hard to find a bigger sports fanatic than me, you can verify that with my wife who will regale you with stories of me watching a football game on TV and while tracking two basketball games on my laptop. I am a big fan of Mother Theresa, MLK and plenty of other activist leaders. However, none of these people are heroes to me. To me, the word just takes a different meaning I guess. I find my heroes in people who overcome situations that they didn’t choose to put themselves in. I am not saying that is a universal definition that we all should follow, that is just how I look at it.

So who are heroes to me then? There are plenty I cold choose from, but I keep coming up to these 12 boys. These heroes do not seem to have superpowers or a platform to show their greatness to the world. In fact, nobody really knows them at all. Their names wouldn’t be found with a Google search and they don’t have a Facebook page. They certainly don’t look like Supermen, in fact they wear Superman underwear, secretly hoping, perhaps, to have a little bit of his super powers themselves…if they only knew.

The 12 boys at Freedom House Grace Boys Home in Jacmel, Haiti are, for me, a group of heroes. They do have superpowers; they have changed the world. Maybe they haven’t stopped genocide or saved a sinking ship. Maybe they can’t see through walls or fly above the city fighting crime. Superpowers don’t have to work like that though, do they? Isn’t it a superpower to overcome being a child slave? Is it a superpower to lose your mom and dad at age 5 and still thank God everyday for His faithfulness? The powers to smile and have hope, despite the hopelessness that you have known your whole life is a super power, isn’t it? I think that it is, I think that they are doing something that I am not sure that I would be able to do. That is heroic. Their example has changed my life. Their ability to smile, hope and praise God for what they have, despite all of the garbage that they have been through in their short little lives is something that changes my life every single day. I want to be more like them. I think that they have a lot more in common with the heroes who adorn their underwear than they think, in fact, to me, Superman’s got nothing on them.

24 Months Later...10 things to remember

January 12th marks 2 years since the devestating earthquake that struck Haiti.  We all remember those harrowing hours and days right after the devestation.  Our friends in Haiti, both Haitian and American, were on all of our minds and in all of our hearts as we yearned for information that we couldn't get.  We couldn't get phones to connect to our loved ones in Haiti.  Even though Anderson Cooper did great reporting, he couldn't report on everybody.  We scoured the news and watched the broadcasts for a glimpse of one person that we were dying to see alive and well.  Those first 48 hours, though nothing in comparison to those in Haiti of course, were dreadful and terrifying for all of us who could only watch the news unfold on our TV screens.

For weeks Haiti was on  the front page of all of the major newspapers and was the lead story on almost every newscast on television.  People sent money to the Red Cross, World Vision and dozens of non-profits that did heroic work all throughout the country.  Rappers, rock stars, country singers and teen pop stars came together and sang songs to raise awareness and money for the survivors of the devestation.  Governments around the world sent money, troops and supplies that saved countless lives.  For a few weeks Haiti was the center of it all and a bright light was shining on the needs of the people.  The world came together, at least for a short time, and united around the common goal of saving the lives of the Haitian people.  

It has been 24 months since the earth shook and breath was snatched from so many.  For most people Haiti is now a distant memory, surpassed in their counciousness by other stories that have come and gone, other diasasters, other needs.  I am not going to complain about that.  This is the reality of the world that we live in.  People move on.  It is what it is.  Do I wish that the world was still enagaged with Haiti and committed to working together to lift its people out of the harrowing life that so many of them are entrenched in?  Of course I do, but I also understand how this works.  If you are not personally connected, you move on.  I was touched and moved by those who suffered in Japan last year, but I don't think about them now.  I don't have a connection there, so my mind moves on to where my heart is. 

As this anniversary comes and goes, I have 10 things that I would ask that all of our friends and family remember on this day when Haiti will be back in the news...

1.  Remember my friends Jeff and Deb Denlinger (AWAKEN Haiti), Gerritt and Julie VanWagenen (Haiti Under God) and all of the other missionaries from across the world serving the needs of the Haitian people full-time on the ground in Haiti.

2.  Remember Freedom House Grace girls Edna and Nailovy and the other kids across Haiti who became orphans 24 months ago.

3.  Remember that for all of the bad things that happen in the world, it is still a good enough place that when confronted with suffering and pain, we can still come together and reach out to those in need.

3.  Remember that God is really big and that no matter how scared and frustrated we are sometimes, He can take even the worst circumstances and find ways to make something good come out of them.

4.  Remember how you felt when the first pictures came out of the devestation that happend that late afternoon.  For a few minutes remember the how you felt, what you thought and the prayers that you said.

5.  Remember how it made you think about who is important in your life.  Remember how you squeezed your kids a little tighter that night or rememebered to tell your spouse how much you loved them.  Whatever extra you did that night, when you thought about how devestated you would be if this happened to your family, do it again today in honor of those that lost children, parents and spouses in the wreckage.

6.  Remember the 2 million or more in Haiti who are still living in a temporary tent or shelter.

7.   Remember all of those who are suffering from the after effects of the earthquake, like the cholera epedemic that has struck hundreds of thousands who were already living in the worst kinds of conditions.

8.  Remember that each person who died, along with each broken heart that they left behind, isn't just a number in a news report or a statistic to look at, but that they were each created in God's image and loved by Him.

9.  Remember how you wanted to just fly over to Haiti and snatch one of those cute kids up and take care of them.  You know you can't do that, but you can still take care of them in other ways.  Remember how you felt and ask yourself if you still want to help those kids.

10.  Finally, remember that though we live in a world full of tragedy and pain, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is Jesus, who will walk with us through both the good times and the tragedies in each of our lives. 

Matt