The Highway to Haiti

We have been particularly impressed by the teaching of Ray Vander Laan and the Faith Lessons DVD series produced by Focus on the Family. Dr. James Dobson says, “Nothing has opened and illuminated the Scriptures for me quite like the Faith Lessons series.” One particular lesson puts an interesting twist on a familiar passage in Matthew, and steers it in a beautifully missional direction. Though the advantage of the Faith Lessons is that Vander Laan teaches on location, we have summarized his exegesis of the Matthew text and attempted to preserve his stream of thought in a way that we hope you find insightful. To learn more about Ray Vander Laan or the Faith Lessons DVD series, visit: www.followtherabbi.com

Banias (or Banyas), at the foot of Mount Hermon, is where the Jordan River begins in northern Israel. More precisely, the Jordan River is fed by several springs that come together in this region, and Banias is one of the springs. Banias is also the place known in the New Testament as Caesarea Philippi. Herod the Great built a temple at Banias and dedicated it to Caesar Augustus. Later, his son, Herod Philip the tetrarch, made his home there and renamed it Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was a pagan place, notorious for its evil.
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I, Matt, had the distinct privilege of going to college with Ben Piper. Ben is the classic opportunist. Once he had nothing better to do in the summer, so he decided to see what it was like to be homeless for a couple months. When he heard an attractive Brazilian girl got a job as a librarian, Ben immediately found his library card and met his future wife. Using peas and mashed potatoes, Ben convinced a prof—in the student dining room—that he didn’t need to take an Ancient Near East geography exam. Pam and I, and Ben and his wife, Melissa, enjoyed those sweet years in Chicago together. But as it was with all of our friends at Moody, what brought us together there is ultimately what pushed us apart.

Whether or not you know Ben, you may be familiar with his dad, John. John recently shared his thoughts at his granddaughter’s funeral. Having known Ben and Melissa, and being expectant parents ourselves, there is a sense of closeness in his words. It’s worth your time to read. The article is called: What I Said at My Granddaughter’s Funeral

The following letter was mailed to our family and friends in December. Since then we have received a considerable amount of positive feedback and felt it appropriate to post online.

December 4th, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

There’s a story about two farmers who desperately needed rain. Both of them prayed for rain, but only one of them went out and prepared his fields to receive it. Which one trusted God to send the rain? God will send the rain when he’s ready. We must prepare our fields to receive it. (more…)

A few months ago I (Matt) was riding with another missionary named Bill. Along the way, Bill was telling me about his family’s experiences in their first year in Haiti. He told me about strange noises they used to hear. He said every night they would hear something walking on and in their roof. Whatever it was would walk from one end of the roof to the other, and stop right above their bedroom. The tin roof would crunch under its weight and the wooden rafters would shiver and creak as the prowler moved through them. Night after night, they would hear it, but they could never see it.

Bill told me his family began praying over their house—and they prayed with their son who was in elementary school at the time. Sometime later, Bill was talking with another missionary named Ray and the topic of strange noises came up in the conversation. Ray told Bill that the same thing happened to his family in another town pretty far away. Ray said that he had some relatives visiting and they actually tried to trap whatever this roof-walking creature was. In the daytime they planned how they would stakeout the corners of the roof as well as access points, such as trees. In the evening, like clockwork, the intruder began making noise. Within minutes, everyone had a flashlight and got into position. They found nothing. Ray told Bill that in Haiti there is actually a spirit being that is believed to walk on rooftops.

Later that day I came home and told Pam about my day and recounted some of the things Bill and I talked about. I told her about the roof-walker. Just then, she reminded me of something unusual that happened to us when we lived among the Haitian community in Miami last year—something I had totally forgotten about.
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