After watching the news over the past several days,  I turned to my wife Diane last night and said, “The world is watching the church in action.” Thousands of believers who were themselves suffering personal loss are serving the poor in Haiti.  Many have been there for years making a difference even before the earthquake struck. The efforts of these who are God’s feet on the ground can’t be hidden. You couldn’t miss the faces of hundreds of college students and high school groups from churches across America who were in Haiti before the disaster with a mission to help the beautiful people of this impoverished country.  Hundreds if not thousands of them are among those who perished.

Okay, be forewarned! This is not for the delicate or faint of heart. Yesterday, I ran 8 miles.  That’s farther than I have ever run before. The sun was shining for the first time in over a week.  And it was warm!  A few days before I had biked 20 miles in 30 degree weather and almost froze to death.  My left ear broke off when I removed my helmet. But today temperatures were in the high fifties.  Two deer stood at no more than 10 yards and watched with big eyes and long lashes.  I could almost hear them whispering, “That guy only has one ear.”

I broke out in a cold sweat. I would be speaking to five hundred managers of a Fortune 500 company only ten minutes from now—and my notes were still in my hotel room on the ninth floor. I sprinted to the elevator, diving like Indiana Jones through the doors just as they closed. Whirling to face front, I frantically pressed the button for the ninth floor. Then I crouched, panting like some predatory cat, poised to spring through the doors the second they opened.