January 27, 2010

 

We made it!

 

What does it mean to say that I don’t choose to participate in this world’s economic downturn?  What does it mean to say that instead, I choose to operate under the principals and bounty of God’s Kingdom?  Does it mean that I’ve found some magic Biblical formula and that no matter what happens, the same amount of money (or more!) will just keep coming in no matter what?  Does it mean that I can just snap my fingers and hold out my hand and God will always fill it up with earthly riches?  Well, no.  There are many I personally know, who without any doubt at all are people who live lives of faith, and yet this year faced financial hardship and loss of income.  Those are just the facts.

 

So which is true?  Which is real?  Is all the big faith talk just that--brave, empty talk in the face of a hard reality?  Or is there some mysterious element to faith that no one can really understand?  If I lose my job, or have to take a pay cut does it mean that I have missed the faith boat, and that no matter how much I have, it was not enough, or the wrong kind, or…something?

 

As with so many things in this strange, half temporal half spiritual world, they’re both true.   In the worldly reality, people are losing their jobs, businesses are closing down, and times are hard.  In the spiritual reality, we are children of the King, and heirs to this world and all its vast wealth.  As God’s kids, we can’t be beat, and will never be left destitute.  And…they’re both true.  It’s just as silly to put our blinders on and pretend that the recession isn’t happening as it is to just give up and act like God can’t take care of his own.  What’s the answer to this riddle?  How do we find the promised victory in the face of such a contradiction?  We do it by remembering two very important things:

 

First, we have to live in both realities, but we get to choose which one we live by.

 

Second, the spiritual realities of God’s Kingdom always overpower the temporal realities of this world.

 

Just like every ministry or work that operates on charitable donations, AOP has had a tough year.  We are thankful beyond words for the faithfulness of our sponsors, many of whom gave beyond any worldly reason.  All of us on the board make our living the same way everyone does, and have been affected in the same way by the economy.  We know how hard it is to find enough to get by, let alone to give.  This is where that vital faith comes in.  At the end of a very difficult year, we’re still here.  Every single week in 2009 funds were sent to Haiti to feed and care for the children.  There sometimes wasn’t any extra, but as God promised, He met our needs and provided for His own.  And he did it all through you.

 

Now, as if providing for everyday life in Haiti wasn’t hard enough, we face even greater challenges.  Haiti as we knew it is gone.  What is eventually rebuilt may be better; there is great hope for this.  However, for now we have to try to pull some order out of the chaos in the wake of the earthquake, which leveled much of the village of Titanyen, including the building we were using for the orphanage.  We count ourselves mightily blessed that in the shaking of the ground none of our workers or children were killed or seriously hurt.  Would you take a moment from reading this letter to thank Almighty God for keeping his hand on them?  He has truly been good to us.  Now, we must help them rebuild.

 

How are we going to do it?  One good thing that God has brought from the difficulties of this past year is that we on the AOP board have been toughened, refined and strengthened.  Our resolve was already tested, and we’re still here.  We have examined ourselves, looked back to the vision and purpose which drives this ministry, and braced ourselves for the road ahead.  In order for AOP to reach the vision and purpose that burned in the heart of its founders, we will have to grow.  There is no other option.  Despite the bad economy, we’re going to have to grow.    In the face of an almost unimaginable need, we must grow.

 

Many thing are poised to happen, which I anticipate telling you about with joy in the coming months.  Connections are being made, divine appointments kept, and plans formed.  I can sense God telling us that the time for digging in and holding on is coming to an end.  There is work to be done.

 

We hope and pray that you, our wonderful sponsors, will continue to partner with us in the coming months.  I pray for each of you that in these times which are so uncertain in the worldly realm, you would find your residence in God’s Kingdom, where nothing is uncertain or insecure.  God bless you for your faithfulness.  We don’t take lightly that you have trusted us in this way.

 

Finally, I pray that this year you would be blessed in your spirits, and that the blessing would supernaturally spill over into the temporal world.  May God prosper you in every way as we partner together to serve Him.

 

Thankfully,

 

Walt Jaquith

President,

Amber Outreach Project