“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
The windchill in Normal this morning is -11 and that is nothing to ‘rejoice’ about. I will say again…-11. As many of you may probably know by now, the book of Philippians is one of my favorite books in the Bible and the Apostle Paul is my hero, although I have surpassed him as chief of all sinners. In Philippians 4:4 Paul wrote, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!" There is a story you should probably know that goes with the attached photo of two girls, sisters who attend school at Bois Marchand which is located on the Northern outskirts of Gonaives.
The photo of them was taken back in the day, on my journey to Haiti in March of 2010. It was just two months after the terrible earthquake that took thousands of lives in Port-au-Prince. I traveled alone on that trip and was just blown away that I could capture this photographic moment in time. In the first photo, these two girls were about to eat their lunch, the girl on the left was in the process of getting up from ‘their’ desk and getting her plate of rice and beans.
After both girls ate their lunch, I took a photo of her plate that had been polished clean and this girl, the one on the left, let out a squeal of laughter that turned many of the heads in the classroom, as she was embarrassed that I was taking a photo of her empty plate. REJOICE for that sound of laughter, for that smile, for that gift from God through someone like you…and me. Your quarter put a wide smile on her face; you can barely see it in the second photo attached (that is my normal photography skills).
Back to Philippians, we read that Paul wrote about how the Lord had given him joy even though there had been so much suffering in his life. And as he served the Lord, Paul found a great deal of joy. Sometimes it is really easy for us to rejoice and to fulfill Paul's command. Sure, everything's going right in our lives even during this pandemic; house doesn’t need repairs, money is in the bank, car is running smoothly and heck, I have even managed to lose five pounds during the pandemic holiday season; rejoice, I will say it again REJOICE!
But there are some times when it is not so easy to rejoice. While I was interviewing these two girls, I learned that they had not had anything to eat before coming to school that hot day in March, nor had they anything to eat the night before. A plate of beans and rice is a reason to REJOICE. For you and for me as believers, we have much to rejoice in when we think of our salvation. These two sisters will prayerfully bring many reasons to rejoice in their lifetimes as they bring the saving message of the salvation of Jesus Christ to the lost in Haiti.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay