What a mighty God we serve!

Let me preface this post by stating that this one is written by Todd and will be written from his perspective.

Tonight as Margie and I were posting some pictures on the Blog and I was feeling sick to my stomach (Haitian Happiness), it dawned on me that we should write about how we have been seeing God during this trip. This type of writing should be real and transparent so that God receives the glory owed to Him. This post is just that.

As many of you know, I am a manager by trade and I have struggled with the thought of how God may be able to use a "manager" in a place like this. Regardless of this thought, Margie and I have decided to totally trust God and allow Him to use us however he sees fit.

So here is the really cool part, this week I have set out to handle some of the repairs and tasks that some of the permanent staff would do, but they are all on vacation for the month that I am here. Now, as many of you know, I do many of my own repairs and upgrades on my house. However, back home, I always have access to Home Depot and Lowes to help me when I run into trouble. In addition, construction in the US is fairly consistent and standardized. However, in Haiti, there are no building permits required nor any inspections that are done. Also, there is no Home Depot and many times things are non-standardized or maybe even custom made by hand. This makes repairs that much more complicated and intimidating.

However, God is so awesome and when we totally rely on Him and take away any excuses that we make up; He can accomplish amazing things through us. This is what He has been doing in my life and this week it was demonstrated so clearly. God has done things through me that I have no business or experience knowing how to do and they have been accomplished with no effort on my part.

As an example, there was a toilet that needed to be replaced and they had purchased some American made toilets and had them shipped down here to replace the French made toilets. The replacement seemed easy enough since I have installed a toilet or two in my homes. However, in Haiti they had cemented the toilet to the floor of the bathroom...I have only installed toilets when a toilet flange is used to secure the toilet to the floor. By the time I realized there was no toilet flange, I was too far into the replacement to turn back. So, with no experience in this arena, I went about breaking away the concrete floor around the toilet drain and installing a toilet flange. Once this was completed, the toilet installation was easy to accomplish.

As I removed the old toilet and saw that I was entering an arena that I had never been in, I admittedly became concerned. What if I did it wrong? However, I went forward trusting God and He accomplished, through me, something I could not have done through my own wisdom or intelligence. He did this time and time again in my life this week. From fixing a flash on a camera to fixing a leaking water hose. From getting a chain saw to work when no-one else could to repairing a fluorescent light fixture. God is amazing! He has demonstrated to me that He can and will use me, even if I don't have the earthly capacity.

One final thought on this week from my perspective. I was given the opportunity to lead a small Bible study on Friday morning with all of the volunteers. It was amazing to see how God used this time and re-affirmed to me that God has definitely given me the Spiritual gift of teaching...it is something I would not be able to do outside of His supernatural empowering in my life!

So, there you have it. I am not sure what it all means, but God is great... as if it should surprise me.