{"id":1433,"date":"2011-09-06T12:54:26","date_gmt":"2011-09-06T16:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flunkingsainthood\/?p=1433"},"modified":"2011-09-06T12:55:52","modified_gmt":"2011-09-06T16:55:52","slug":"palmer-chinchen-on-why-he-hates-regret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flunkingsainthood\/2011\/09\/palmer-chinchen-on-why-he-hates-regret.html","title":{"rendered":"Palmer Chinchen on Why He Hates Regret"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a guest blog post from activist Palmer Chinchen, author of the new book God Can’t Sleep<\/a>. Here’s what Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/a> had to say about it:<\/p>\n

GOD CAN’T SLEEP: Waiting for Daylight on Life’s Dark Nights<\/em>
\nPalmer Chinchen. David C. Cook, $14.99 trade paper (240p)<\/p>\n

A former missionary kid in Liberia and now pastor in Arizona, Chinchen (True Religion) writes an all-in book about life lived full-on. This is not your father’s theodicy; it aims higher than chirpy preacher platitudes and tells the stories of people in international settings from Haiti to Liberia who embody God’s goodness to overcome evil in the world. Chinchen’s chapter on heaven is powerful and moving, interweaving the little that Scripture has to say about it with God’s “snapshots” of heaven on earth.<\/p>\n

His writing is low on religious sap and backed up with life experience. His fresh voice is as good as Rob Bell’s or Donald Miller’s, but a cut above them theologically<\/strong>, and he offers more authentic global stories to boot. The 20- and 30-something generation will devour this one like termites in a lumberyard. This isn’t the next Blue Like Jazz<\/em>; it’s better.<\/strong> (June)<\/p>\n

Today, Palmer reflects on a moment of opportunity to do justice in Haiti . . . a moment that came and went. I think all of us who are flunking sainthood can probably relate.\u00a0 –JKR<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Palmer in Haiti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Palmer Chinchen<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just returned from Haiti with an incredible team of 22 people from The Grove. My mind swims with rich moments and stories and experiences from our week in the mountain community of Les Penez. But sinking in my gut amidst a sea of beautiful memories is the gnawing feeling of regret.<\/p>\n

After almost a week on Bellevue de la Montaigne (The Mountain with the Beautiful View) with Pastor Felix and his people, our team was making the drive down to Port au Prince when I caught a glimpse down the road of someone throwing a punch. \u201cHey, everyone,\u201d I said to the six others crammed in the crew-cab with me, \u201clook, a fight.\u201d Just as everyone turned, the truck in front of us cleared and I couldn\u2019t believe what I was seeing, a man was whipping a woman with a branch. She was swinging back to fight him off.<\/p>\n

\u201cArr\u00eat, arr\u00eat,<\/em>\u201d I yelled as a grabbed our driver\u2019s shoulder from behind. Mark hit the brakes and slowed quickly. I reached for my door handle to jump out\u2026 but just as I thought we were coming to a stop\u2026 Mark accelerated.<\/p>\n

I blurted, \u201cArr\u00eat, arr\u00eat,\u201d<\/em> a couple of more times but Mark just \u2013 kept \u2013 driving. I know my French isn\u2019t perfect, but I do know how to say stop! I can\u2019t explain why he kept driving.<\/p>\n

My next thought was, Ok, I\u2019ll tell him to turn around. But that felt so impulsive. There were three vehicles in our convoy packed with our people, one was already ahead. I vacillated. But with every passing second we sped further down the mountain.<\/p>\n

That night I laid on my cot in Port au Prince full of regret. I couldn\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it. There is no story. We\u2019ll never know her name. It\u2019s too late to go back. I could not go back now if I wanted to. No one will rescue her from the shame of being publicly humiliated by her boyfriend or husband. No one will stop the cowardly blows. On that day, no one will tell her she is loved and beautiful.<\/p>\n

All I\u2019m left with is gut-gnawing regret. It\u2019s a relentless beast. I can\u2019t stand it.<\/p>\n

I say all this to remind you that life is like that. Your life is like that. The glimpse out the window is very fleeting. When you see something messed up and God screams at you do something<\/em>, the time to act is now<\/em>. Or, the moment is gone forever; and all you\u2019re left with is sinking regret.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I hate regret.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Act Now<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I was on a flight to Haiti a few months ago, reading USA Today<\/em>, when I came across an article that read, \u201cA number of colleges have shown interest in helping Haiti<\/a> after its earthquake.\u00a0 But they’re being discouraged\u201d from going because it\u2019s too soon. (Betty Klinck, \u2019Alternative\u2019 spring breakers steered from Haiti missions.<\/em> USA Today, March 8, 2010, Life D10)<\/p>\n

What?<\/p>\n

If today is too soon, then when will the day be right? What greater disaster must a nation suffer before the time is right? Because the CIDI (an ominous-sounding acronym for the Center for International Disaster Information) is advising volunteers to \u201cwait until conditions are better to serve \u2026 at least one year.\u201d<\/p>\n

What tragic irony. How will conditions ever get any better if people don\u2019t go and help make things better?<\/p>\n

This same kind of reasoning is what vexed me when buildings came crashing down in Port au Prince. It took five days of sitting and watching and assessing and evaluating before our government felt it was \u201csafe\u201d enough to allow earthquake rescue workers into Haiti to begin digging through the rubble for survivors. FIVE DAYS! I was sick. We should have had people there in five hours.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I traveled to Haiti with a team of doctors and nurses from my church, The Grove, just days after Port au Prince collapsed. That\u2019s why we sent twenty-three people back to Haiti a few weeks later to build a dorm with a concrete floor for orphans who were sleeping under a tent on a dirt floor.<\/p>\n

Circumstances will never be perfect or perfectly safe. So act now<\/em>. That\u2019s when you\u2019re needed most.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t want to live with regret, begin to act now.<\/p>\n

Palmer Chinchen is a popular speaker and author of God Can\u2019t Sleep (David C. Cook, June 2011). He grew up in Liberia, West Africa, witnessing firsthand the ravaging pain of the AIDS and malaria pandemics, the atrocities of civil war, and the daily burden of extreme poverty. For many years Palmer served as a College Pastor in California and Wheaton, IL.<\/em> <\/em>Today he serves as Lead Pastor of The Grove in Chandler, Arizona. Palmer is passionate about the need for Christians to respond to the problems of affliction and injustice, and share the love of Christ. He holds a PhD from Trinity International University (TEDS) and a BA and MA from Biola University.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a guest blog post from activist Palmer Chinchen, author of the new book God Can’t Sleep. Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about it: GOD CAN’T SLEEP: Waiting for Daylight on Life’s Dark Nights Palmer Chinchen. David C. Cook, $14.99 trade paper (240p) A former missionary kid in Liberia and now pastor in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5],"tags":[22,686,687,21,685,688],"class_list":["post-1433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-emergent","tag-flunking-sainthood","tag-god-cant-sleep","tag-haiti-earthquake","tag-jana-riess","tag-palmer-chinchen","tag-volunteer-opportunities-in-haiti"],"yoast_head":"\nPalmer Chinchen on Why He Hates Regret - Flunking Sainthood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flunkingsainthood\/2011\/09\/palmer-chinchen-on-why-he-hates-regret.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Palmer Chinchen on Why He Hates Regret - Flunking Sainthood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here’s a guest blog post from activist Palmer Chinchen, author of the new book God Can’t Sleep. 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