The Speed of Solution

No matter what your observation based opinion has been regarding the folks from Idaho taking Haitian children over the border to the Dominican Republic, the speed they chose to serve Haiti, the children and parents of the village, was entirely unappreciated by the Haitian government.

Why is their decision to aid hurting children in an earthquake torn country being called into question? Their cause was noble. Their desire to help children admirable. So what's the complaint?

Well, according to Haitian officials - everything. The folks from Idaho didn't follow legal protocol required to remove children from their own country and unfortunately, when asked at the border where the children were from and how they came to be on the bus, the group deceived the authorities.

An old sharp-shooter term comes to mind; slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

A hurried rush to remove the children from danger and a swift effort to aid the Haitian children to a better future in the Dominican Republic did not end well for those who were caught up in the crisis. As a matter of fact, their swift response to the crisis of others resulted in a very slow quagmire of legal and international wrangling.

And therein lies the problem. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIX AND SOLVE.

The speed of fix moves at the speed of the crisis, and crisis moves very quickly. For those of you who have been caught up in running after the crisis in someones life and have even from time to time successfully matched speed with the crisis - you just as quickly realized that the crisis has another speed and just as you were able to offer your fix, the crisis moved out in front of you once more.

Now that's exhaustion.

The speed of solution and unfortunately the speed less chosen, rejects legacy building, grand standing and one-up-manship. The speed of solution is much slower than anyone wants. But it is the right speed if we want to ultimately move faster. The speed of solution suggests the momentary relief of a problem through fixing it, is not valued over the arduous pursuit of lasting and sustained endurance.

Frankly, the consultation I would have given to my well intentioned brothers and sisters from Idaho, would have been to sell all that you have and follow Jesus. I would have encouraged them to take the proceeds from the sale of their homes in Idaho and instead of removing the children from the village and from their parents, move into the village themselves and spending the rest of their lives improve the life of the village by serving the parents of the children and actively participating in something truly noble - village transformation.

There you go. The problem of poor children not being raised in a Christian home without a good education needed to have a better life is solved. Solved for generations of villagers to come.

It's hard to follow Jesus, that's why so few actually accomplish it. To follow Jesus requires everything and everything is often harsh. The rich young ruler faced the same harsh dilemma in the Gospel of Luke chapter 18 verses 18-23.

Here's today's question; 'Am I living toward God in such a way as to answer His imminent observation with an everything response?

Dan