Yesterday as I came out from the study station I noticed an older man sitting in “The Journey Begins”. A woman sat intent two stations away listening to the Gethsemane message on CD. They both smiled at me as I walked past, looking to see if they had any need of me.

After awhile it became apparent that the man was sleeping…was he a homeless person looking for a place to sleep one off? Do I wake him? What do I say?

I peruse his appearance: unshaven, tennis shoes without laces, the rust-colored cardigan from the station draped over himself.

The woman approaches. We share together about the Space, about her church and our apparent homeless man who just so happens to be her husband who simply fell asleep while praying in the peace of the prayer room. Oops! You know that old adage about not judging a book by its cover? I failed this one.

They speak of Haiti, their burden for the wounded island nation which remains under a relentless cloud of suffering and oppression, where our Ben and Alexis have gone to pour out their young lives on behalf of the souls that have been waiting for them there.

They hoist me up to an unadorned brick high up on the wall to memorialize their burden.

We must all pray for God to liberate this place from the darkness which holds it captive and for the workers whom he has sent into this environment of desolation, both physical and spiritual, that they will not be overpowered by what they have been sent to conquer, for our enemy does not let go so easily. His fingers must be pried off one digit at a time, one prayer at a time, one life at a time.