“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalms 139:9-10

Recently I found myself reading in Psalms, which is not oddity and I’ve been there before, but I normally read or study one of Paul’s letters. One of my favorite verses, and what I call my travel verse, is Psalms 139:9. When traveling to Haiti, I normally fly into Miami in the evening, overnight there and leave on the first flight, which leaves right at sunrise, “the wings of dawn.” After flying several hundred miles over water, I land in Port Au Prince and “settle on the far side of the sea.” I can tell you for sure this verse came into mind after the earthquake and I said to God, “You really do have me in your right hand.”

But, when reading further, I came to Psalms 142, and after reading the first few verses, I had to stop because of what the last verse I read said to me. I had stopped with verse 4 and the last part of it says, depending on the translation you are reading; “no one cares for my soul”. Wow. What a situation the writer must have been in to feel that way, that they would feel that no one around them would even care about their soul, or life as some translations say.

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On this second anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, this essay by Haitian blogger Ilio Durandis provides a useful perspective on Haiti’s recovery. It is reprinted here with his permission:

Now comes time for remembrance. What history will surely describe as the darkest day in Haitian history, in terms of lives lost and unfulfilled dreams, the destruction on Jan. 12, 2010 is something that no other generation should ever have to go through again.

The colossal earthquake that shook Haiti, which left behind a river of blood, an ocean of tears, a city turned into a necropolis and instantly paralyzed a whole nation, could never be forgotten. Its lessons should be engraved in the soul of every survivor, children of this land, and witnesses the world over. As humans, we are indeed very vulnerable. Not only to the malfeasance of our fellow brothers and sisters, but most certainly to the naked and powerful force of nature, especially when we neglect and abuse the latter.

It took less than 45 seconds for Haiti to lose 2.5 percent of its population, among them teachers, students, heads of household, future leaders, people who were not so famous, but yet played a vital role in giving hope to some unknown individuals. The loss on that day is still immeasurable. No statistics can do justice to the people afflicted by this tragedy.

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