I Remember…
I remember running down the street with everyone else as the ground beneath us moved like waves; the buildings above us swaying like trees in the wind.
I remember holding a teenage girl in my arms as she cried in terror. I didn’t know her and she didn’t know me, but in that moment we became family.
I remember going into my apartment only to find books and dishes strewn over the floor,large cracks on all my walls, plaster falling like snow.
I remember sitting in the park with terrified people, all of us waiting as the aftershocks kept shaking us.
I remember talking with hospital patients who had just had surgery, sitting outside with us all because the hospital had been evacuated.
I remember them asking ME, “How are YOU?”
I remember waking up dozens of time through the nights as the angry ground continued to rumble.
I remember panic as predictions of more quakes spread like wildfire throughout the city.
I remember walking through the streets in the middle of the night, thousands of hopeless eyes staring to nowhere, thousands of people sleeping on the streets.
I remember sleeping with hundreds of others on a sports field as we waited breathlessly for another “big one”.
I remember watching live, uncensored TV as rescue workers pulled screaming, mangled people out of the rubble.
I remember being frozen to my couch, unable to move my hand to click “off” on my remote, frozen with grief and horror as I saw what was happening just a few miles away.
I remember not knowing if all of my friends were ok. It was 2 weeks before I knew.
I remember finding out that a village I had visited only a few months previously was completely destroyed, the people I had met there presumably dead.
I remember seeing the pain in the eyes of a man on the bus, he the sole survivor in his family.
I remember driving through towns of rubble, blue and grey UNICEF tents hot and crowded with the displaced.
I remember soldiers digging through piles of rubble, their faces drawn with exhaustion from the work and with the heaviness of what had just happened to their country, their countrymen, and their comrades.
I remember the TV over the fruit stand constantly tuned to live coverage of the tragedy, the fruit seller oblivious to customers, just staring at the screen with wide eyes, her hand over her mouth, just shaking her head and muttering, “Why? Why?”
I remember bing jolted awake in the middle of the night with the force of a large aftershock, dust falling around me.
I remember my heart racing as I grabbed my bag and my shoes and ran down four flights of stairs in fear that my building was going to collapse.
I remember running in the rain in the middle of the night to find out if my friends were ok.
I remember a tent village that suddenly appeared in the park, full of people who had either lost their homes or who were simply afraid to go home.
I remember children, singing and laughing next to the ruins of their school in the center of their flattened town. Their voices carried hope for the future.
I remember people who used to yell speaking kindly, rebuilding bonds that had been broken, echoing the realization that life is precious and every moment should be meaningful.
I remember parents holding their children and spending time with them where there was no time spent before. Every parent recognized their children as gifts, more priceless than they had ever before imagined.
I remember a teenager with a limp holding a girl without an arm in her lap, beaming and smiling heroes that had risen from the ashes of tragedy with the victory of love in their hearts.
I remember a four year old boy being pulled from the rubble after two days of being trapped.
I remember how he saluted the soldiers who carried him out on a stretcher and…
I remember how he became the symbol of destiny and hope for a nation that was broken…promise nearly lost but rescued.
Haiti, these are the things I remember from May 12, 2008 and the following months. During those days, China suffered as you do now.
It is indeed dark and terrifying and hopeless. But as I pray for you in your loss, I also pray for your future. I pray that somehow, beauty would rise from these ashes. I pray that your children would show you how to heal and hope. I pray that families that were once divided would be united once again.
I pray that the orphans would find homes and the the widows would be cared for and loved once more.
I pray that Haiti would be washed in the love of God and that His light would shine brightly forth from a place that is now being consumed by darkness.
Jesus, rescue Your children in Haiti! Raise them up as mighty warriors, strong in Your strength! For who knows but that they are in Haiti for such a time as this!
You are the Hope for the hopeless, the Strength for the weary. You bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free!
We, Your Church, are Your body! So may we be Jesus to hurting Haiti through our unwavering prayers, our finances, and our skills.
And come, Lord Jesus, come and receive the reward of Your suffering!
Haiti be comforted. For just as the little boy in China saluted his rescuers who pulled Him from the rubble, so Jesus has received so many of your loved ones as He rescued them from the ruins of homes, offices, schools, and churches. With open arms He greeted them, saying, “Well done, good and faithful servants. Welcome Home. Cry no more. You have entered my Rest.”
Amen.
