Five Minute Friday: CARRY

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday series. Five minutes of free-flow writing shared with whoever wants to read it. This week’s prompt is: CARRY.

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In another life, I used to travel back and forth to Haiti ever couple of months with my non-profit Hope for the Hungry.  For a while, I had a bag of my 'Haiti stuff' ready to throw into a suitcase when needed. When we started having kids, they just hopped on board with us and we went about our way.  Then COVID.  No more traveling for a while. 

However, on one of our trips, we went down to help put a roof on a new home that was being built after the 2010 earthquake.  This particular house was far away from any road, and could only be accessed by foot.  We knew right away it was going to be an adventure and had to come up with a game plan. Not only did we have to get there, but we had to get all of our supplies there too.  I think there were 12 of us total, 8 Americans and 4 Haitians. 

If it didn't come with us on the way there, we didn't have it.  We are talking tools, sheet metal, lumber, snacks, and water.  We would be there all week, and each task had specific supplies so we had to be strategic.  We were able to stop about half way to eat lunch in a church we passed.  Thankfully we were able to use the church as a drop spot so we didn't have to bring everything back and forth each day.

A small portion of the tools we brought with us.

It was over a decade ago, so I don't remember all of the details.  But one thing I will never forget is the 5 gallon blue water container strapped into someone's backpack.  It was our lifeline.  That was all of our water.  All of it.  There was no other option.  We each brought our own full bottles, but as soon as we burned through those, we were limited.

This was just one blip of an afternoon for me, but a constant reality for the 1.1 billion people who have no access to water around the world.

Lord, help me to always use my abundance to provide for those who are empty.