Formed from ... What?: Haiti Day 5 By Cortney Donelson

Genesis 2:7 (NIV)

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

God is the King of the creation business. Jesus Himself was a carpenter by trade. Have you ever had the opportunity to create something beautiful out of nothing? Perhaps you are an artist, a welder, an architect, or just enjoy a good sandcastle competition every once in a while. When you finish your creation, how do you feel? Multiply that a billion times over and that must have been how God felt when He created the heavens and the earth – the animals and mankind. No wonder He said, “And, it was good.”

I had the amazing opportunity to experience a minute portion of that feeling – the joy of creating something out of nothing and it being good. Welcome to Haiti Day 5!

After digging my way out of the hole, a new project had surfaced. “We need something that will hold 40 feet of hanging clothes, especially long dresses.” Count me in.

Some of the Haitian women who were students in the Heartline Ministries’ women’s program were graduating. The mission of the program is to create a place where women can learn valuable life skills and eventually support their families out of the cycle of poverty. The fashion show put on by the graduating class was in just two days, and they needed a large clothesline apparatus to hang everything they had made and would wear during the show.

My friend and I teamed up with Frank, an independent missionary who was assisting our group that week. Frank is a jack-of-all-trades. We would need his expertise … and our tetanus shots. We put our heads together and came up with our draft “clothes tree.” Our inspiration was “IKEA meets Sanford and Sons … in Haiti.”

Once the diagram was approved, we started to look around. There were no materials – none. The big hunt began. The three of us scoped the property for any scrap metal, iron, PVC piping, rebar, and other pieces of sturdy material to create our masterpiece. This was getting exciting!

Source: Photo taken on work site in Haiti

After an hour of picking through rusty piles of metal, looking under rooftop storage areas, and finding trashed items that may just do the trick, God had provided exactly what we needed to create our “something out of nothing.” We laughed at how unlikely it was to find just what was required to complete this project. God was near…

For the next 24 hours, I learned new skills that can only add comic relief to my previously medically weighted resume. The generator was wheeled in, and we cut, ground, sanded, welded, primed, and painted … metal. God makes beautiful things out of the dust. And, we made a king-size mobile clothesline out of scrap iron and steel. It felt good.

There is a song by Gungor that illustrates how God’s creations are beautiful. How we, made from nothing but the dust of the ground, are beautiful and good.

“Beautiful Things”

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

Haiti has experienced some financial, social, political, and natural disaster-type chaos over the years. But, God helped us create some beautiful things for them – this clothes tree, a bakery with electrical capabilities, and a brightly painted and hand-tiled café, to name a few. Hope was springing up all around us while we worked in Haiti.

Source: Photo of Clothes "Tree"

Do you know what felt even better than completing this monster project on time and learning how to use tools for which I can no longer recall the names? The look on the Haitian's faces when they saw the finished product; they were ecstatic and so very grateful. They dismantled it in record time to put it in the pickup truck and whisk it away for the fashion show. But before they left, I received a big hug from one of the women…

And, it was good.

Prayer – Father God, thank You for providing what we need, exactly when we need it. My prayer is that You continue to bring hope and love to the people in Haiti. Remind them they are beautiful in Your eyes. Thank You for the experience of serving on all these different projects. It was all good! In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

© 2013 As A Clay Jar. All rights reserved.