Feeding on the crumbs

We have been in Haiti only a few days now and are just beginning to learn about the people and life here.  There is so much already that I look forward to sharing with all of you but time will only allow for a short blog.  This week we are preaching a pastors training in the morning and afternoon; and then a rival in the evening.  Today the people were blessed with rain which the pastor here tells us is a good thing because they are coming to the end of their rainy season.  This however, meant that the revival was canceled for the evening because people must walk a distance to get to the church and although they will walk in the dark or rain, the two combined creates a greater challenge for them.

“Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table” – Matthew 15:27b

On Sunday and in the mornings during the pastors training, coffee and a slice of bread is served to everyone because many are without food.  A lunch of rice with beans is also served after the service and at break for the pastors training.  The Canaanite woman and her statement to Jesus came to my mind as I watched the hungry dogs that wonder around the church hoping to catch just a crumb from the bread that is dropped.  They know that there will be food there and although no one offers them anything they are able to find just a crumb here and there.  Their bodies are skin and bones and even if you are not a pet person you can’t help but have compassion for them. 

On Sunday, I was presented with a large plate of rice and beans and I could tell it would be more than I would be able to eat so I asked the pastor what I should do with if I cannot eat it all.  He said “just give it to one of the children. They are hungry and would be happy to get it”.  I noticed a group of children standing in the middle between the pews of the church.  Although, I would have been able to eat more, at that statement, how could I deny these children food?  He was right; they were very excited to get it and wasted no time beginning to eat. 

Today during the pastors training, I noticed the face of a young boy who had come to the church every day when we were there.  I sat near the back leaned against one of the pillars.  It was obvious he was at an age he should have been in school but most likely his family did not have the money to send him. When he arrived, we had already received our morning bread and today there had been enough for everyone to get two slices but I choose to eat only one and had left the other wrapped up in the napkin.  As I looked back at this little face I thought again of this verse and I thought of the dogs and how they know that there will be food at the church. It was then that I realized this little boy(and the group of children on Sunday) also knew that there would always be food in God’s house.

So he comes and he waits and he hopes that he will get food.
I walked back and sat next to him and offered him the slice of bread which he wasted no time eating. 

At lunch, the plates of beans and rice were passed out to everyone. I watched as he waited with anticipation in his eyes that someone might give him just a little of what they had left.  Denver went and requested that he would receive his own plate and so it was along with a second plate.  He set his plate down and ran out of the church with great excitement as of someone who had just given him a great gift.  Then he returned to eat is food.

Later, we asked the pastor who the little boy is and they did not know his name but they say that he comes always hoping for food.  I am a bit sad that no one knows his name and he does not understand me when I talk to him, but I am determined that before we leave I will find someone who can ask him his name for me.

He comes to the church hoping for food but while he is there he also sits and feeds on the word of the Lord and we do not know who this young boy will someday be and how God will use him to change Haiti because he knows that there is always food in Gods house.