The sun sets on the cross at St. Christopher in Titanyen where thousands of victims were buried in mass graves. Preparations were made for the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake as workers built stands and monuments in Titanyen, Haiti, on January 10, 2012. 

CARL JUSTE / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

It's here.

That day, 2 short years ago...when in moments, an earthquake changed the fabric of Haiti forever...and God began to reveal His plan for weaving this country, the people and especially the orphans…into the eternal tapestry of our lives as well.

Unlike the Haitians we have not lost anything or anyone, but rather gained an additional “homeland” here on earth, filled with friends and lessons we never dreamed of. Most of all, we have been gifted with a little better perspective of what our heavenly world will be like. You see, the “new heaven and new earth” will be filled with the joy and beauty and love of countless Haitian brothers and sisters and we will worship together there, just as we are here and now.

As we enter this marked day of remembrance I have a picture in my mind that is due to our many experiences here over the last few months. You see we have learned that the Haitians have a HUGE faith and that they LOVE to worship!

So, I can imagine a very similar gathering in heaven today…of those that have gone on before. I can see them clearly, a huge and beautiful throng crowding around the presence of their Savior, blessing him with their heavenly voices and raising their perfect arms in love and praise. Rather than broken bodies and crushed lives, this year, I am able to envision thousands of the redeemed, standing before him and basking in His glory as their loved ones despite their mourning and grief rise up here to do the same.

From the first morning rays of the intense Haitian sunrise, people will gather in crowds throughout the city, at churches, and in their homes to celebrate the memory of their loved ones and to thank the Lord for sustaining them through these years of unimaginable tribulation. What is more incredible to me is that God has brought us here to stand with them on this very personal day. I pray that we can join in with the depth of praise and worship that is due him for the path that He set our feet on 2 years and for the grace, mercy and faithfulness that he has even shown us, who are so less deserving.

Haiti suffers still, but for most, today is a day to stop and cherish life and memories and blessings. No one can appreciate the importance of those things more than the Haitians can. Reminders surround them and the wisdom that comes from a first-hand experience of its fragility is marked on their souls.

I was reminded today of a short passage in CS Lewis’s “Screwtape Letters” where Satan’s well – versed helper, Screwtape himself writes to advise his nephew and demon protégé’, of various methods and pitfalls in gaining souls for their “Father Below”. He writes “And how disastrous for us is the continual remembrance of death which war (tragedy/disaster…) enforces. One of our best weapons, contented worldliness, is rendered useless…” Rather during such times, we are jolted into the fact that we cannot live forever, our hearts are turned toward the eternal perspective and finally, we are drawn back to our hope, our faith in God.

Americans received a rude but more subtle awakening with tragedy of 9/11, but this generation has never been rocked to the core in any comparison even near to the Haitians experience with the quake. The church in America has so much to learn from the testimony of the body of Christ in Haiti though; their faithfulness in many ways reminds me more of Job’s. He was not tested to strengthen his faith as much as he was to prove it. That is what I see here & it’s remarkable!  Faith is the cornerstone of my Haitian brothers and sisters lives, perfected in weakness, and their joy in the Lord is truly infectious!

Please stop and take a moment to pray with us for three things today.

1 - The people of Haiti…we always receive the same request from them - not for money or food or better houses or health - but “that they would grow closer to God in everything and be strong.”

2 – That the people of the U.S. and other self –sufficient countries would desire the same prayer as their first thought each day…and remember to pray less for themselves and more for others as they reach out and learn to sacrifice themselves, for the Haitians & for others who are suffering around the world.

3- Remember the orphans. Haiti remains strewn with an enormous population of fatherless since the quake, as well as those whose parents cannot afford to raise them. They are vulnerable and often alone.

May you each be blessed and be a blessing in some way today!