"Soley la Toujou Leve"

In church on Sunday, the congregation here in our community took some time to praise the Lord because, after the hurricane passed us by, the sun still rises.  The eye of Hurricane Sandy did not actually strike land in Haiti and we were fortunate in that, but we still got plenty of rain that caused flooding and the loss of many things and over several lives.

Last week, when Sandy was on her way through this area, Almando and I were leading a trip in Gressier, Haiti, so I kept a close eye on the storm.  Our teams were great and we continued working as planned.  Our day to see more of Haiti was changed to a morning of worship and an afternoon of seeing more of Haiti.  Our teams made it home safely on Friday, but the rain continued.  

Flooding was a major problem especially in the south and in low lying areas.  Rivers that are normally just more than small creeks quickly turned into raging rapids and people crowded to the bridges to watch the river expand and gain depth.  The rain in the mountains washed much dirt and gravel across the main road and into the ditches and beaches on the other side.  We ventured further than our home to see the river in Leogane and were surprised to see its depth too.

That was Friday.  Everything was wet and chilly.  On Saturday, though, the sun rose.  Praise God!  The sun rose!  Everything started drying up and warming up.  Soon, we won't even see evidences that there was so much rain last week.  We will just remember the sun.

The message at church goes through my mind often.  The sun still rises after the trouble times, the dark times, and the gloomy times.  The sun still rises.