The testimony of a life that lives forever

Several days ago our family, Rod Sprenkels and Levi Kauffman went up to Soliette to see the spot of the accident and to visit Pat and Cheryls house. Wow! as we walked up to their house it seemed so different to not see Pat standing at the edge of the garden and Cheryl there in the doorway. But what was exciting was to see the garden and how it was still growing. Thinking back to the time when Pat would describe all about his plants and their purposes.

For the christian these pictures of the sunflowers in their garden made me think of this verse in Isaiah: "the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever."

 

I love this picture of Pats tomato tag, he is now forever in his "Homestead". In Gods garden......

I just had to cut the flower that was just ready to bloom (I hope this wasn't out of place). It was so beautiful and lasted for a week! It was such a reminder to pray for Cheryl and that the testimony of Pats life and what he did for his Saviour will live on in the hearts of many. His testimony will last forever. 

By God's design

       

 

As we all went about our day yesterday, none of knew what was about to happen. Only God did. 

When Aaron first got the call from Mike Martin saying, "Pat has been in a very bad accident, send somebody up with the ambulance right away! " we knew this was serious. Aaron told all of us here to gather around and we needed to have prayer. Staff and Haitian employees, together we all shared in prayer time. Creole tongue and English, none of us knowing any details yet. Soon after that Aaron got a call from Matt, saying he had just met the pick truck coming down with his body and he confirmed that he was dead. Mike was on up ahead and he said he would go and find Cheryl and tell her. 

Those of us here at the mission waited for his body to arrive and for Cheryl. Several fellow missionaries came and also Phil and Beth Hollinger (Cheryl's first cousin), everyone pitched in and did what they could. Mike brought Cheryl down on his four-wheeler after telling her the news and then she gathered a few of the things she needed. As Cheryl arrived, she said she could already feel the prayers on her way down the mountain. We all could feel your prayers. We all had never really went through anything like this. What were we supposed to do with his body and get it to the States? This is where the body of Christ stepped in and everybody worked together. Simeon Shankster took care of making all the phone calls to connect to the right people. Many Haitians came just to see the "blah" (a white person) that had died. They never had seen us go through something like this, many stood around the outside of the house just to watch. Even our thief from a year and a half ago, wanted to come in and see. What do the missionaries do when death comes knocking at their door? 

Well many here know of the testimony of the life of our dear brother. We witnessed his full life purpose here: to spread the gospel, to teach and to minister to the hungry. He had devoted his life to do the work of an evangelist, giving up the things that were part of the carnal to something eternal. Aaron and I and our family have been richly blessed in sharing in their vision here. Pat and Cheryl have given us great encouragement many times and we will miss being here in Haiti together. 

And for all the family and friends out there mourning, we feel your pain, we love you and will continue holding you up in prayer. Lets pray together for the harvest of souls out of this tragedy. As many seeds have already been sown from our dear brother in Christ.

(Here is Pat leading the biblestudy

on Mark 3 at our missions biblestudy).                          Pats garden in Soliette

 

And as many of us may question the whys and what ifs of this whole thing. We know one thing for sure, this is the day God had chosen to bring his child home. It was all by His design will. 

Dis Kòmandman Yo

French version of the Ten Commandments we seen in a park in Saint Marc, Haiti

God is like any other parent. He wants to do good things for his children. Like earthly parents, His love towards his children isn’t earned. We can’t work hard and get God to love us, He just loves us anyway. We can try our best, but we will still fail, and He loves us anyway.

In His love for us, God set down some rules that we need to follow. What good parent doesn’t give their children rules to follow. Those rules that God gave his children are called the Ten Commandments. When we live inside these rules, we will be truly blessed, when we live outside of these rules, we will suffer consequences.

These rules are paraphrased from Exodus 20:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.

2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image…

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother…

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet…

Wow, what a lot of rules. Really, they are not that hard to follow. When Jesus came to this earth, he summed it up in two simple commands, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. And with his illustration of the Good Samaritan, our neighbor is anyone we meet.

My challenge to myself is how I am responding to the unearned love that God is giving to me. Am I still living for myself or am I being obedient to His commands and reflecting the love that God has towards me to every person that I come in contact with.