Independence Day - True Freedom

Well a few weeks have passed since my last post and we've celebrated the US Independence Day as well as the Bahamian Independence Day a week later.

Whenever we attend a Bahamian holiday, the difference between the US and the Bahamas always strikes me as amazing. The difference is that the Bahamas is an explicitly Christian nation. Unlike the US that tries to be tolerant of all cultures and religions, the Bahamas is Christian and has no fear about making that plain.

Here, on Independence Day, the stage at fairgrounds is full of priests and ministers, as well as government officials. Whoever speaks, be it the Town Administrator or the Baptist Minister, they all praise Jesus, and thank God that because of Jesus Christ we are free, and an independent nation because Jesus Christ died for us. True freedom only comes from Jesus, without Jesus we're not free - thank God we are a free independent nation!

To have this as part of the Minister's presentation is one thing. To have it also be from the Town Administrator, or the Member of Parliament is radically new for us Americans. In the Bahamas Christianity is in the Constitution and everyone here it totally comfortable with Christianity being proclaimed publicly.

This time of year is also the time for the daily downpour. We have blue sky sunshine all day long and then - BOOM - torential rain and thunder and lightning and power outages and rain coming at you sideways - then its done and the sun is out again. A few days ago we drove from Cargill Creek back to Fresh Creek and mid-way had about 3 minutes of a downpour. Then we realized it was a strip of rain that we basically, drove through. There was no rain north of that downpour, nor any south of it, but if you lived in that strip of rain you probably had your 3 hour rainstorm.

A few days ago it was a terrific storm, that actually ripped a strip of flashing off the roof of the church. A 10' strip of copper strapping was now held on by 1 nail as it rapped against the side of the church. I had loaned our ladder to a parishioner and it took 2 days to get it back and, when he returned it and saw the flashing he said, "Deac, You're not going up there are you?" I said that sure I was, it was only about 10 nails to put the flashing back in place, and he said, "Oh no, Deac, I don't want you up on the roof of the church. You call Leonard and if he can't do it, I will, you're not going up there" (Leonard is a parishioner who does roofing). I thought to myself, 'this is what Ginni would say', but held my tongue.

Anyway, I tried calling Leonard but his phone was out of commission so I drove to work sites where I expected to find him and still couldn't find him, but while trying to reach him I remembered another parishioner who is a carpenter that recently lost his job (this economy is a killer here) and drove by his house. "Sure Deac, I can fix that, want me to come over now?" So he came back, and in 10 minutes all was well. I gave him $20 and it was like I'd saved his life. With that $20 he'll get some rice and a few other things to get his family though the week.

I guess the last thing I should mention with this post is our work to restore the church in Calabash Bay. St. Gabriel's has been closed for quite some time, the windows and doors were all smashed in and termites had begun to take their pound of flesh. Ginni and I would really like to restore it and so, last year, I put money in the budget to restore it. Well the contractors who have looked at it have come in with bids well in excess of what I put aside. So now we are trying to figure out how we can change what we 'want' to what we 'need' and come up with other sources of support to get the job done.

It will be a struggle, but hopefully some of you reading this blog might be willing to help restore St. Gabriel's so our CCD classes might actually have tables and chairs instead of sitting on the floor and using the pews in church as desks. We need to replace 13 windows, 4 doors, install water and electricity, repaint the interior and exterior, plus add a septic system for the toilet. (The Anglican Church had a fair and I won $100 of plumbing supplies in the raffle, so with that, I bought a toilet!) Anyway, we are about $4,000 short so that's our next challenge.

Feeling generous? Let me know.
Love Ya - till next time.

Deacon Frank and Ginni