In Haiti, homes that Jesus built

Twelve other people and I recently had the opportunity to spend a week in Guibert, Haiti, doing construction at a boy's orphanage. Our work including pouring concrete, putting new windows into one of the rooms and painting two other rooms, one of which became a new living area for the youngest boys at the orphanage.

Stuart Harris with children at the orphanage in Guibert, Haiti.

Throughout the week, I couldn't help but feel some pride over the work we were doing. Many of the boys had never had much room to live in, and some had even had to share a bed for the past couple of years. With the new room we were painting, we gave many of the boys their own bed for the first time, plus a bigger room with more space for them to sleep in. I felt like we were doing this great work for a country that was in desperate need.

One day late into the week, I was reminded of a verse in Deuteronomy 8. God was speaking to the Israelites before he brought them into the Promised Land. He told them: "Beware lest you say in your heart, 'my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to make wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is to this day."

God's desire was to keep his people from becoming prideful, and his way of doing that was to remind them that he—not their own strength—was the source of everything they accomplished, even the things they built with their own hands.

Harris and friends

Group that ministered in Haiti through GoNowMissions.

I realized that my pride had been souring the whole week, thinking that it was my gifts and the work of my own hands that had built these walls. The truth was, God had been doing an amazing work long before our team ever got to Haiti, and he would continue working long after we left. Since the earthquake hit two years ago, God has provided 42 new houses for people in the village where we were working, plus the surrounding area. The church where the orphanage was located, although small in size, was filled with the life and joy of people knowing and worshipping Christ, and our team did nothing to create that. With all of the problems with poverty, hunger, and voodoo worship in the country, God was rebuilding homes, feeding his people, and raising disciples that honored and glorified his name as a nation.

We may have offered our hands to help build a house for a few orphans, but God was the one giving them a home when they had nothing. We may have laughed and played with the boys all week, but he is the one who fathers them and gives them a hope and a future. I went to Haiti to offer an amazing service, but I can't offer the eternal life that God can through faith in his Son. He has been working in Haiti for many years, and simply let me be a witness of what he was doing. For that, I am thankful.

Stuart Harris, a student at the University of Texas, served in Guibert, Haiti, with Go Now Missions.