Our prayers continue to go out to Rodney Smoker and his family as they are recovering here in the States. By the time Rodney finally escaped the rubble of his home/church building, it was dark. He was already exhausted from the escape, but spent the remainder of the night pulling his friends out of the rubble of the church, both the living and the dead.
He and his Haitian brothers worked for hours and hours prying, lifting and digging with their bare hands in the dark until they were all utterly exhausted. Rodney freely shared all of this with Bryan, periodically breaking down as he recounted the horrors of that night. And the days that followed.
Rodney said that when he and the other workers could not continue physically, they were forced to quit, leaving one poor man pinned under a big piece of cement. They couldn't remove him because their strength was gone, the cement was just too heavy. They couldn't pull him out from under the slab because a piece of rebar had pinned the man to the rubble through his abdomen.
Rodney apologized to his friend, promising they would all be back soon when they regained their strength and had some daylight with which to see. The man said it was OK and released Rodney to go with his blessing.
When Rodney and the others had regained some strength, they returned to try again. But their friend and brother was dead.
Pray for the completion of healing in the hearts of these who have experienced such loss.
Travis did not cry in Haiti. He didn't cry when he came home. But this morning, when he shared in church, his tears were mixed with the tears of so many others as he began to experience the cleansing power of God.
Travis is withdrawing from his college classes for this semester. He said college will be here when he gets home. I know he is right. This is right. He says he has to go back to Haiti.
He goes with our prayers and blessings.
Rodney is preparing to fly back to Haiti on Tuesday, to continue the work that his parents began so many years ago. Pray for him and his task ahead.
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Travis,
ReplyDeleteI have such respect for your decision. I know God will bless you beyond measure for this choice. I can only hope that as a mother of two sons, I can look upon their lives and be as proud of them as I know your mom is of you. We want to hear more from you. My mom is an MK from India and I know how it feels to have the love for a country and its people flowing through your veins. You are continuing a wonderful heritage that your children will speak of and carry with them always.