Uno and Harley's Flight on Agape

Agape Flights has Gone to the Dogs!

As missionary Dan Lynch’s cell phone rang, he answered by saying, “No, the plane isn’t in quite yet, I’ll call to tell you they’re here.” A short while later, Dan’s phone rang again, “No they should be here any minute now. I promise I will call you as soon as it touches down.”

The King Air’s return mission flight on September 24th wasn’t a routine arrival; there were DOGS on board! And not just anyone’s dogs, these were the beloved dogs of missionary family Dan, Sheila Alyssa, Madisen and Parker Lynch.

As the King Air’s engines wound down, Dan called home to announce that Uno, their 65 pound chocolate lab, and Harley, the family’s 100 pound mastiff puppy had arrived safely! Harley was a special gift to the Lynch family from fellow missionary partners, John and Beth McHoul of Heartline Ministries.

The Lynch family is also known as “God’s Plumbline Ministries” an independent non-profit ministry with Heartline Ministries. For the last two years, Dan and Sheila served in Port Au Prince, (Tabarre) Haiti to establish a self sustaining sewing school for women. First, they started a math and literacy program so the women could read the sewing patterns, and then equipped the women with treadle sewing machines and the needed sewing skills. The sewing school is now run by three Haitian women who continue to teach more women. The women make and sell beautiful purses. (www.haitiancreations.com) The ability to earn money gives these women the ability to be self-sufficient, to support their families and to have the independence they need in a society where this is often difficult. Dan and Sheila praise God for His power to open the sewing school doors, be up and running and self sustaining in a record two years timeframe!

Maddie's School Paper

Madisen Lynch
09/08/09
6th Grade Language Arts
Hightower Middle School

When you stare in the deep warm brown eyes of a Haitian boy, it is like a winter day, but you are inside, warm by a fire reading a good book.
Actually, your on the streets of Haiti where it smells, there is garbage everywhere, and it is hot everyday. Very Hot!
Haitians stare at you forever when you are waiting in traffic but then you start to move, so we are not going to go there,
Yet, with hands out, the Haitian children lean against our windows to see into our locked doors, behind the doors are you and your family but all you see are their sad faces.
"Mom, can I give this little boy some money?"
I asked my mother.
No, she replied to me.
"Why Not?" I whined.
It's because if they see you giving all the time they will ask you over again for more money."
Haitian money has an exchange rate of 8 to 1 right now so Haitian money is only a few cents.
"Fine", I mumbled to myself.
We finally started moving but I looked back and he was still standing there with that same sad look on his face.
It is hard for many children to grow up in a third world country.
In Haiti, many children beg for money on the streets to live each day.
My parents are missionaries and we lived in Haiti and have just come back to the States.
We are lucky as Americans when we get something like food. You eat some of it and then throw it away.
People in Haiti would love that in their tummy's.
So feel lucky for what you have.
I can't stop remembering that boys face.
It's like a bumper sticker on my brain.

Haitian Hobo

Sunday arrived and we set out with coupons in hand for what we thought would be a free trip to the science museum.
It seemed like it would be a fun thing to do, might I dare say, a "normal" thing to do.
Our plan was going off without a hitch, that was until we got to the ticket window.
It seems, we missed the fine print that said,
"everyone had to be a Bank of America card holder to enjoy free admission".
Since Maddie and Parker are only twelve and nine they are not card holders and fall into what is frequently know as the "loop hole" factor.
With an awkward silence now standing at the ticket window with us, the not so happy to be working on a Sunday afternoon employee just stared at us.
We decided that since we had driven all the way downtown, it was still a good deal, in a sorta, kinda, maybe way.
We handed over our Bank of America debit card, paying full price admission for two children.
As we walked into the wide open space of the second floor over looking the life size dinosaur we felt hopeful that this would be a fun day after all.

As we made our way around three sparsely filled floors, we found it necessary for a quick refresher for on just what exactly the Creation facts are vs the Big Bang Theory that was now being broadcast in surround sound as we watched a really lame movie on their version of how this whole thing here on earth got started.
This was clearly not what we had in mind.
We finally got to the "hands on" part of the museum, finally some fun stuff to do.
This helped redeem some of our expectations of what a science museum should be.
As we walked into the special exhibit for the day, there was a line of kids standing, waiting, wanting an adventure as well.
We made our way to the front of the line to find a lizard!
Hold the phone!! What the heck!
We are standing in line to pet a lizard?
Suddenly it was like I found the missing piece to the puzzle. This all started to fit together.
Why on God's green earth would a family just moving back from a third world country consider this to be an adventure?
We have lived in a country where lizards are part of our every day life constantly crawling across the walls of our house.
This was our norm,l not a special exhibit to stand in line for, and guess what, we didn't need a squirt of hand sanitizer after touching the darn thing.
This kind of stuff just wasn't gonna qualify as an adventure for our family!
The only place we felt normal in this bagillion dollar building was in the room full of artifacts and pictures from all over the world talking about the different cultures and their customs. The room was filled with clothes, instruments, jewelry and tools explaining how the culture functioned, both physically and socially.
I wondered about our lives and the lives of these different cultures without saying a word to my family.
Could we just sell all of our stuff, buy plane tickets to Africa and tour of all of Africa.
I couldn't understand why would we come back here to collect stuff so we could live here for awhile, only to sell our stuff again to live in another country and follow the call on our lives to work in different Nations.
What was God thinking? We didn't fit here and yet we are here for a season.
We left the museum headed to our favorite noodle house in a very funky part of town.
In the past, taking the peeps to a noodle house was off limits and reserved for date night.
Now, it was part of our Sunday afternoon adventure.
As we sat outside, I enjoyed the warm, humid Atlanta afternoon, I hate air conditioning that is kept on a meat locker setting.
I was still processing a few things, so I threw my unspoken thoughts out on the table about selling all our stuff and traveling across Africa.
To my surprise, the only question Maddie and Parker had was "can we be home schooled".
That went well.
We had finished our meal, making our way down the street to a real Ben and Jerry's ice cream store.
Everyone was eating their favorite flavor ice cream that was melting quickly as we sat outside again, this time on a roof top.
Parker, at the edge of the roof top said, "Mom, I hate to tell you this, but, they have Haitian Hobo's here".
If you think in pictures like I do, you know at this point I had to get up, walk over to the edge of the roof to see what on earth he was talking about.
Ah, yes, my children's first experience with a homeless man in the States looking in the trash cans for food.
I am not sure where he got the phrase, "Haitian Hobo".

It was ironic on so many levels, a homeless man looking for food in a trash can next to a Ferrari.
It was irritating to think we could have lived in Haiti for three years for what it cost to buy that car.
We finished our ice cream and made our way back to the freeway, we thought we would go over to see the Blood N Fire warehouse off of MLK.
As we drove through the streets some things looked familiar, but after being gone so many of the traditional land marks had been torn down.
This is where I should explain that odd things seem to find us no matter where we live.
Dan says, it is me, odd things find me, not him and that they are attacked to me in every way, shape and form.
It may be true!
As we made our way through the streets we noticed another "Haitian Hobo" standing on the sidewalk, pants down around his ankles, pooping!
Yes, pooping!
Dan's observation was the fact that he wasn't bending over enough to miss his pants and was unloading all over his pants.
Maddie was screaming - GROSS!
Parker said, I am just gonna pretend I didn't see that!
I was laughing so hard I was crying!
Thankfully, as we turned the corner we could see the warehouse.
The warehouse is not the best neighborhood in town, so we didn't consider it all that odd to find a brand new Elliptical machine sitting in the middle of the street with the timer still running.
We guessed it had just been stolen and left there for a later pick up.
Pick it up we need!
Stomachs full, heavy duty exercise equipment loaded, a good laugh for the day and quality time spent together.
We made our way north on the freeway.
Our adventure was over for the day, we had learned a great deal on our free adventure.
Some things in life are not free, we can't ever go back to the way it was, adventure is in the eye of the beholder and most of all we learned we are a family that has been put together for a greater purpose than living an average, normal life.
We look forward to the days of new beginnings and trust that God is the creator of all things, it didn't happen with a big bang, He has created the perfect adventure for us as family and as individuals.

WARNING!

I love Thai food. So last week when I found a few packages of Pad Thai spice on clearance for thirty-seven cents, it was clearly a no brainer, I put them in my cart and took them home.
I was pretty pleased with the flavor of my random find, so after dinner, as I read off the list of ingredients to see just what was in this little bargain, I was surprised to see a "WARNING".
WARNING this package contains anchovies.
I knew you used fish sauce in a lot of Thai cooking, I just wasn't thinking anchovies.

I get that the connection between an anchovies WARNING on a package of Thai spice and my own personal struggle with grasping my inability to deal with the things my heart has seen over the years can be or should I say.... a stretch of the imagination.

Yet, at this time, I feel compelled to post a warning for those who may not understand the cost of finding your passion.
For me, the battle is for my heart to remain tender with the ability to love.
I mean the kind of love that can change a persons heart. The kind of change the will make them question behaviors and direction and ultimately draw them closer to Jesus.
As I try to fit in my own skin dealing with things I have been thinking about over the past few weeks here is a sample of a "WARNING" for those who are considering yielding to a deeper calling.

WARNING:
You won't be able to eat enough to fill the empty ache in your gut.
There is no pill to take for the pain in your heart.
There isn't enough rest to avoid being overwhelmed.
There isn't enough chocolate to sweeten the bitter taste left in your mouth.
There isn't enough sun block to help you not be burned by the injustice you have seen.
There isn't enough alcohol to drown the sorrow.
There are days your thoughts are no longer your own.
You will never be able to buy enough stuff to fill the void you feel for those in need around you.
White noise has an all new meaning.
There will never be enough medicine to bring healing to the sickness in the soul of a nation.
There is no magic answer, cure or pill that you will be able to produce in your own strength.

So if you think for one second you can do this thing on your own, you should really reconsider what you can and can not do in your own strength. It will be important that in our willingness to yield, you ask yourselves if you are willing to be what Desmond Tutu called "wounded healers".
A people that have an empathy or an authority on a specific pain.
A heart willing to forgive, a heart that is tender, a heart that will not betray you.

If you have come to a place that you are willing to say yes to all of the above and accept the WARNING to be something that you believe to be a "God" thing.
You will be given a measure of grace and peace that will be beyond your ability to comprehend.
You will have an understanding of the scripture "deep calls to deep" and yet you may not have words to explain to others the things you now know to be true.
You will also be given a new understanding of just who Jesus is.
You will understand that you can't go very far from his feet before you start to feel like you just can't "do it" any more and some how when you are seated at his feet you can do anything that he has placed deep with in your heart to do.

Maybe you don't like Thai food, but I do hope that you will consider living a life full of passion.

Happy Birthday Madisen Grace!

Today is Madisen's Birthday - she is twelve years old today!
Happy Birthday Madster! We love you!
Maddie adds so much to our family - she is a very special girl!

Fatherlessness

63% - of youths are from fatherless homes

85% - of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes

80% - of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes

71% - of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes

75% - of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes

70% - of youths in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes

85% - of all youths in prison come form fatherless homes

You don't have to be in Haiti very long before you begin to notice it is mostly women you see working and taking their children to and from school.
The next question in your mind is generally, "what are all the men doing"?
You see men on the streets, but most of them are not working.
Maybe they are talking, watching soccer or playing domino's.
Some are selling ice cream, phone cards, frozen ice drinks with flavored syrup, water or cokes.
Some do odd jobs on cars, tires, cement work, tin art, drive tap-tap's or paint.
As you get used to the day to day activity and life of the family, you notice that there are very few "in-tact" families.
I know of only a hand full.
Yes, you see it in the States, but you see the devastation so much more clearly in a place like Haiti.

So when I came across these statistics I wondered what the numbers would be in Haiti.
Yet, truthfully, some of things could never be accounted for, weakness is not allowed and so many aspects of fatherlessness are not ever verbalized.
Life means something different in a third world.
Grown women cry and have a panic attack about getting a shot, yet they don't name their children that took hours, maybe days to birth.
There are issues with self worth, authority, love and respect that we are not even aware of.
Life with a soul that has holes in it has become normal.
Yet you see a very broken government, a worthless economy and entitlement.
You see, for lack of a better description, a hole in the soul of Haiti the country, not just the people.
Many are lost, powerless and hopeless, yet they are strong and crazy smart in ways you can't imagine.
I wonder if it can be that they haven't moved past the mind set of being slaves into being free men.
I wonder what that looks like here?
And I wonder how would you do that if you didn't know and you had no one to teach you?
Half, if not all, of your identity, your name, your history comes from your father.
Haiti has generation after generation of fatherless who don't think twice about it.
Or do they? I had a young man tell me he lost his soul when he didn't live with his father.
I once heard a man say, "the sin of Africa is that they always choose the darkness".
I think the sin of Haiti or of any nation, if you can say that about a place, would be "fatherlessness".

You Will Know Who I Am

Hosea 2:19 says, you will know who I am because I will give you....

Justice - Fairness - Love - Kindness - Faithfulness

I have been thinking about this for days letting it mill around in my head.
I have been asking myself a lot of questions and I wonder, if this is what the Lord gives his bride and this is the bride price that he has already paid, I am guessing that most of the world doesn't know or get these things on a daily basis or He wouldn't have needed to say it and have this guy Hosea take the time to write it down for us.
When I read it, it was like getting a Post-It Note in my lunch box that said,
Psst, this is what I will give and this is what will make me different from all the others.
No prenup agreement needed here.
I am thinkin' if we are in a relationship, church, ministry this should be your guideline.
You should be asking, "Am I getting these thing?"
If not, I am guessing that there are some dynamics that need to be looked at and evaluate either in you, in them, or maybe both.
On the flip side we need to ask ourselves some hard questions about our character.
Like, if this is the example of who Jesus is, am I treating everyone this way?
Do I bring these things to the table in every relationship that I have?