Ryan and I have now been home in Minnesota and Wisconsin for about two weeks and are preparing to travel back to Haiti on Thursday.  We have had a great time visiting family and friends, going to our favorite restaurants, shopping for items we need in Haiti, and maybe relaxing a little bit.  It is quite an emotional roller-coaster as life here is so completely different than it is in Haiti.

Tonight it snowed quite hard, and I was able to go for a walk in the freshly fallen snow, and then enjoyed sitting outside in a lawn-chair watching the huge snowflakes come down in the night sky.  It was absolutely beautiful, and I could have sat there forever.

Ever since we’ve been home, people have been asking how is our time going in Haiti, and how is it being back.  The first thing I say is that they are just two completely different worlds, and there is no comparison.  Tonight I was sitting in 30 degree weather, cold and bundled up from head to toe.  I was squinting because the snowflakes were flying everywhere and getting in my eyes.  Everything was as white as could be, clean and beautiful.  The night was peaceful and quiet and lovely.  In just two days we will be back in Haiti.  The weather will be hot and humid, and we’ll be wearing shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops.  We will be squinting there too, but that’s because of all the dust flying around in the air.  The scenery will not be as beautiful, as we will find piles of garbage on the streets everywhere.  It will be noisy from traffic, roosters crowing, and dogs barking.  Like I said, two completely different worlds.

It is very difficult to know how to live in either place, always knowing that the other exists.  I will admit that I love being in the U.S. and having everything orderly and making sense.  I love hot showers and going to my favorite restaurants.  But not far away is another place I call home now, with poverty and many hurting people.  It always feels chaotic and confusing.  There are so many visible needs that it’s hard to know where to begin or if you’re even making a dent in the problems.

I really don’t have an answer as to how we should coexist in the two worlds.  I guess as Christians, we are to press on and keep “running the race” wherever we are.  A meaningful verse to me is from Acts 20:24

“My life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love.” 

Wherever we are and whatever our assignment is, we need to keep serving Christ as our highest priority and looking to him for guidance.