Exchange, Calculate, Convert, Translate

On the roof working on the latest post

This morning on the ‘motocross’ ride from our place in Savanette to Pignon for our Creole lesson, a thought came to mind.... As we are getting acquainted with Haitian life, we find ourselves learning to adapt to a different system for money, a different measurement system, and of course a different language.  These systems we know must take on a different form. 

The words exchange, calculate, convert, translate come up daily.  We seem to spend a fair amount time carrying out the action of these words….Exchanging US dollars for Haitian gourdes and then calculating the value of gourdes into Haitian dollars and then calculating back the approximate value again in US dollars; Converting kilometers to miles, Celsius to Fahrenheit; Translating English to Creole and Creole to English.  It can be exhausting to think of the ways the culture we know and the culture we are learning can be SO different. 

BUT… the thing that doesn’t have to be exchanged, calculated, converted, or translated into a different form is GOD.  The God we know is the SAME God we know in Haiti.  GOD is GOD.  God hears the prayers uttered in Creole and in English. God loves Haitians, Americans…the World.  And… the system in place for salvation through God’s son, Jesus Christ, is available to all, no matter where your journey begins or ends.   

Listen to 1 Corinthians 8:6 from THE MESSAGE  …They say – again, quite rightly – that there is only one God the Father, that everything comes from him, and that he wants us to live for him.  Also, they say that there is only one Master – Jesus the Messiah – and that everything is for his sake, including us.  Yes.  It’s true.

Now… a couple of things that are NOT hard to get used to…It is not hard to adapt to a place where you say ‘Bonjou’ as you pass people along the road.  It is not hard to adapt to a place where a ‘midnight mango’ is a great late night snack.  Just think…the moon you see tonight is the same moon we see here in Savanette, Haiti.  (Thanks John, for that thought!)

Midnight Mango

Bonjou!