The Highway to Haiti

Nothing quite says, Welcome to the neighborhood, like having your bikes stolen out of your backyard. Such was the feeling of violation in our new home last month. Incidentally, this is not the first time we’ve lived in a downtown urban area, nor the first time we’ve had our bikes stolen! When we lived on State St & Madison Ave in Chicago—same thing. Initiation? Rite of passage? Rookie mistake?

Years ago when I lived in Central America we used to joke about how easily things would “grow legs and walk away.” In Haiti, the easiest way to combat this is to live behind enough cinder blocks and bars, broken bottles and razor wire to rival a Supermax. Besides being ugly, living within utilitarian confines sends the wrong message and doesn’t quite jibe with the proverb in the previous post (which happens to be the November 18, 2008 post; we apologize for the long, yet intentional, hiatus). So, now we’re out a few hundred bucks in bikes—which had been great for getting around and meeting people.

About the same time the bikes were stolen, we had been planning a garage sale. We decided that we had enough stuff to merit a Thursday-thru-Saturday sale. On Thursday morning at 7am I set up a couple tables under the porch of a nearby vacant building and laid out the contents of a dozen boxes. Pam and I were going to work in shifts and we discussed in advance how much we wanted to try to get for the big-ticket items. Within minutes curious passersby turned into a crowd digging through all the stuff on the porch. By 9am, two hours passed, and so had the mob along with 90% of everything we had set out. When we counted the absurd wad of dirty cash and coin jammed into my cargo shorts—we made US$362!

Back to burglary: My wife could tell you that I’m a calculated individual. I study, research, and consider the risks at work or at play. When I gamble (don’t get the wrong idea, there’s a lot of theology here), the risk/reward ratio is the determining factor. The same could be said of the guys who stole our generator only two weeks after our bikes! We had an excellent little 2000-watt Honda generator that we secured to a concrete column outside. The heavy-duty steel cable was apparently no match for bolt-cutters, and the 45-lb. Honda that carries like a suitcase was easily handed over the fence in the darkness. It seems there are guys in this town who study and plan much like myself and share similar interests: in generators at least. I’m quite sure we could be friends.

This, however, caused us to step back and really think through home security and theft prevention. The idea is to create an environment where the risk/reward ratio, as it pertains to burglary, is so unfavorable that it isn’t even worth the hassle. Our neighbors say Dobermans work well. Ultimately, in the economics of our theology, the risk/reward ratio related to the choices we make in life only becomes favorable, or meaningful, when we live in obedience to Christ—even without guarantee of wellbeing or reward this side of Heaven. Sometimes it’s just the price we must pay to live in the hood.

Two weeks ago we were at the hospital getting health certificates—documents required for our residence permit. One of the requirements for the health certificate is sitting in on an HIV/AIDS counseling session and taking a “confidential” HIV/AIDS blood test. Another part of the process included getting a card indicating our blood types. So that day we dragged Silas and Luke around the hospital: to the exam room, to the counseling office, and to the lab for tests. After we finished, the doctor told me to come back the next morning to get the results—and the health certificates.

As instructed, I returned for the papers. On my way out a nurse stopped me and told me someone was looking for me. “Who?” I asked. She led me toward the radiology room and pointed me to the x-ray tech, a guy I didn’t know. He introduced himself and began by saying, “Eske ou ka ede-m?” On any given day, I find myself in at least three or four conversations beginning with these same five words (translated: Can you help me?), typically followed by a request for anywhere from $5 to $50—no joke. This happens so much, it becomes desensitizing, and it’s difficult not to tune-out and politely say, “no” and, “I’m sorry”. Since we were at the hospital, I presumed he needed help paying a hospital bill. But his request was different. (more…)

Thomas Malthus theorized that as the world’s population increases, the amount of resources available for each person decreases. Charles Darwin expanded Malthusian theory and proposed that natural selection (survival of the fittest) occurs when the weak in body or mind are eliminated due to defect or to an inability to access the resources needed to survive and reproduce.

While in Miami last month, some friends took me to see the documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, with Ben Stein. Expelled contends that those who champion the subtle views of Malthus and Darwin supply the building blocks for horrific applications of hereditary improvement by genetic control. Stein illustrates how opponents of an “Intelligent Designer” court a dangerous worldview that diminishes the sanctity of life.

The 869-page, Written in Blood: The Story of the Haitian People 1492-1995, by Robert, Nancy and Michael Heinl, is arguably the most complete history of Haiti in print. In the introduction, the authors state, “Besides having too many people, too little land and few roads, Haiti has practically no natural resources.” Among those who visit and assess Haiti, this is the simple definition of the problem and the majority view.

Why is this significant? (more…)

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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