In the Waiting

     Waiting is hard.  No one likes to wait.  A couple of months ago, I took the kids to go and visit my mom in Bossier City, Louisiana.  While we were there, my mom needed to run to the bank before we went to have dinner.  When we got to the drive thru, we were approximately the sixth car in line.  After about forty-five minutes, we were still waiting in line.  My children, who have lived their entire lives in Van Buren, Arkansas, with a considerably smaller population, began to have a meltdown.  They have never had to wait this long at the bank, and they could not understand why we were sitting still.    They began to whine and complain, they were so hungry, they were so bored, this is taking so long. 

         The kind of waiting my children experienced that day is typical of the type of waiting most of us experience, it is a bit aggravating and inconvenient, but we are not pained in this waiting.  What about the waiting that hurts, the waiting that tries us, the waiting where we begin to loose hope?  Waiting in the uncomfortable, waiting for God to show up and deliver, waiting because you are being persecuted because of your faith, with the consequences involving prison.  Transforming the Map has such a story.  Pastor Son is the son of a very prominent voodoo priest, and he was being groomed to take over his father’s temple.  One day, Pastor Son heard a Christian minister speak and his life changed.  Pastor Son no longer intended to take over his father’s voodoo temple, but began preaching the Gospel of Jesus, and preaching against voodoo.  Due to Pastor Son’s vocal assault on his father’s religion, he was falsely accused of raping the woman he was engaged to marry.  Despite  no evidence of this crime occurring, Pastor Son was sentenced to almost nine years in prison. 

         For nine years, Pastor Son has sat in a prison and waited, but while he has waited, he has taken the opportunity to share Jesus with over one hundred other men who are in the same prison.  Pastor Son has not spent the past nine years complaining that the wait was too long, that he was bored, that he was hungry.  He has taken every day and used it to glorify God.  He has been the light in a place that is filled with so much darkness.  Much like Joseph who was sent to prison with the same false allegations, he has taken what is a terrible situation, and has made the best of it, because like Joseph, Pastor Son know that even in the prison, even in the darkness, God is with him. 

         Pastor Son was scheduled to walk out of the prison in Petit Goave on December 31, 2016.  But a week ago, Roody called to inform us that Pastor Son had fines, court costs and other fees that must be paid before his release – grand total $6,000USD.  Roody was able to use the connections made during Kevin and Schanon’s visits to get the amount reduced. Tonight, Kevin and I sent the money to pay the fines to have Pastor Son released.  Isaiah 1:17 tells us: “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, please the widow’s cause.”  We will continue to fight, we will not be silent, we will seek justice for those that have been wrongly imprisoned, we will fight the oppression, and we will care for the orphans.  If you are looking for a way to help, if you are watching the news and see the crisis that is befalling our world and you ask yourself “How can I make a difference?” consider partnering with us.  Be a voice for those who have no voice.  Help us to seek justice.  Help us fight.