"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all that you do and He will show you the way. " Proverbs 3:5-6 After eating a delicious breakfast of fresh bread, juicy papaya, local honey, plantains and eggs we eagerly watched for the first signs of the kids coming to school. Pere Bruno, however, explained the dilemma. He tells us that there is a woman here in Haiti that has had a revelation that in order for Haiti to avoid catastrophe, all of Haiti must fast for three days in preparing for the two year anniversary of the devastating earthquake. In a country that is strongly superstitious, this information has passed rapidly by radio and the people of Hait are taking it very seriously. St. Bart's is the only school open today, in Haiti as far as we know. Only about 1/4 of the children showed up for opening exercises this morning ( I can only imagine teh morning battles getting ready for school.) The townspeople of Terrier Rouge are less than pleased with what seems to be a blatant refusal to acknowldge the severity of not heeding the warnings. All of this reminds me that this world here, in many ways, is vastly different than my own. I used to be afraid of a black cat crossing my path, or walking undereath a ladder and even for my mother to vacuum underneath my feet because it was said that I would become an old maid if she did so. Still, we hold onto our own superstitions, Jacob likes to run races in his Lynchburg tshirt because it brings him good luck. Each one of us has little quirks and quiggles that are in us only because we are superstitious. Most of them are harmless. So, what, you may ask, is the problem with not taking chances and heading this woman's warning? There is a great deal at stake. Pere Bruno is the most admirable man I know. His presence and demenaor demand respect not out of fear but because you know he is a man of God. His life is built on that dependance alone and nothing else. As I look out to the back of the compound I see the beginnings of a dream... another building to house the high school here at St. Bart's. It will cost $200,000. Pere Bruno has $62,000 in hand and another $15,000 promised. There aren't construction loans or mortgage loans to acess. It's cash or nothing. And still he builds because he depends on God alone to provide. It seems to me that in the face of such superstition, to open the school and say I do not believe in your rants and ravings he is clearly saying as well... "I depend on God alone." Whatever that might mean, God alone is my hope and my salvation. Whatever might come or not come... God alone will see me through. I don't question the faith of these wonderful people. I don't think any less of them for choosing to stay home and fast when obviously they are about to comue upon the most devastating event in this country's recent history. I wonder what the next few days will hold and how they will remember that fateful day. Still in my dreams, waking and sleeping, I remember how the earth shook and how fear spread throughout this country and into our own. I do know that for me, the peace and comfort comes in knowing in the deepest recesses of my heart that whatever the future holds - earthquake, famine, drought, disease or death - I am the Lord's, and for that I give thanks.