Amazing, horrifying as well as incredible stories keep coming out from Haiti. One particular scene was on CNN which I saw this morning. A group of people, with faces covered in soot and standing in the midst of their crumbled life where singing a song in Creole. I recognized the tune to the hymn:

“Jesus knows all about our struggles, He will guide till the day is done; There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus, No, not one! No, not one!
“There's not an hour that He is not near us, No, not one! no, not one!
No night so dark, but His love can cheer us, No, not one! no, not one!”

Several things come to mind when looking at this. First is that there is a lot that I can learn from amazing people like this who have learned to live by faith in ways that show trust beyond what is seen. I also thought of Dr. Paul Orjala who was a missionary and linguist in Haiti. Paul loved music and a major part of his ministry was teaching Hymns to people. I don’t know if the legacy of missionaries like Paul Orjala was the source of these brave Haitian’s song, but due to the high influence that missionaries had in introducing hymns, there is a good change that the gift of music gave these Haitians reason to hope that Jesus not only knows, but he is with us.

There is no way to make sense of all that is happening in Haiti, but I lift up my brothers and sisters today who are bearing unfathomable pain.