HUN Update, February 18, 2007

Hey HUN,

It's been a wild and crazy weekend. Jean and Marcia, thanks to a particularly exuberant staff appreciation day, are on vacation until February 23rd. They'll be visiting Florida and Jamaica and a few other parties, but according to Jean, the best part will be chilling out in front of a movie with no redeeming qualities whatsoever and eating pizza, knowing that there is nothing but nothing to be done.

So, since they left two days ago, me and the boys have been club-hopping, hitting crazy parties, drinking, and generally developing our stati (cactus->cacti, status->stati) as moral degenerates. ...Well, not quite. As it happens, they have school off Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so they have a five-day weekend (and since Jean isn't about, I do, too). Jean asked me to try to make it a productive time for them, so I've been giving piano, computer, and literature analysis lessons to Sarah and Jason. I'm also teaching typing, and have included Matthew in that endeavor. But there was still plenty of time for roller blading (in circles on the driveway), eating (a favorite pastime of mine), and playing games of Hide and Seek in-the-dark. Much fun was had by all.

Speaking of: It occurred to me as I was sitting under a fig tree (just kidding, and sorry to any Buddhists reading this) that, while C.S. Lewis wrote a whole book about The Problem of Pain (as in, if there is a benevolent God, how can there be pain?), there doesn't seem to be that many people squawking about the problem of pleasure. It seems to me that pleasure can be a powerful strike for or against religious ideas. To avoid spending too much on the topic, I'll condense: if an all-powerful god restricts pleasure for any other reason than to increase our pleasure in the future or keeping us safe, then that god is 1) willfully tempting us and 2) has a cruel sense of humor. Since I don't care to follow a god that fits in either of those two categories (and since I believe the god I do follow to be above both), I can thereby state, at least theoretically, that every pleasure not, in and of itself, harmful, has a rightful place in the Christian life .

That means that the church was justified when it finally let up and admitted out loud that sex was okay for married couples, and also when it decided that dancing (but "leave room for Jesus") was not a road to hell. But doesn't it also include pleasures that are under more scrutiny, like drinking and gambling? I don't condone alcoholism or being a poor steward of your money, but I do believe that the two pleasures can be handled responsibly and in a way that honors God.

I'll be very disappointed if I don't get a couple of argumentative responses to this e-mail.

Of course, pleasure is problematic on a very different front, too. The problem with pleasure is that it doesn't come equipped with the warning signs so common among accepted wrongdoing. Theft, murder, and deception all have personal and legal consequences that are painfully obvious. But laziness, tactile pleasure (I try to keep this newsletter family-friendly), and object fixation are all good things gone awry, and it's not hard to convince myself that what I want to do is perfectly okay.

For example. It was a bit of a luxury, but I haven't been spending money on myself, so I decided to treat myself to some grapefruit juice. It was wonderful--my first positive departure from water (dried milk doesn't fit in this category) in six weeks. Jason asked me yesterday if he could have some, and I started to say no. It's imperative to set strong boundaries here, and so I had plenty of moral justification. But that's not why I was refusing. It was because, dang it, this was something I bought for ME and it was my FIRST personal purchase and I DESERVED to reap the ENTIRE benefit of it. I told Jason that there wasn't much left, but that he could finish it.

There's so much to learn here--not just because I'm in a new culture, but also because with these new people my reasons for doing things is clearer to me. If I just keep my eyes open, I think I can really come out of this situation a better person. When I left the States, I was struggling with the fact that my attempts at morality were imploding into self-absorption. The words from Kiterunner rang in my ears as I left: "There is a way to be good again."

Thank God.

And now, let's lighten things up with some Creole. Today, we'll focus on time-related vocab.

Now : Kounya (koon-yeh)
Later : Pita (pee-tah) -- a compound word made of "pi," more, and "ta," late
Today : Jodia (zho-dee-ah)
Afternoon: Apre midi (ah-pray-mee-dee) -- literally, "after midday"
When are you coming? : Kile w'ap vini? (keel-ay-wop-vee-nee)
I am coming now. : M'ap vini kounya. (mop-vee-nee-koon-yah)

And here's a fun little tidbit. "Fe" is a verb that means "to make" or "to do," but it's very flexible within the Creole language. For instance, if you want to say "go away" or "don't bother me," you say "fe respe'w," which translates to something like, "go respect yourself." That made me laugh.

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If you are new to this newsletter and would like some background, please visit my blog, which contains an archive of all my updates. Here is my contact information:

Phone Number: 011-509-617-7720
Address for Letters : Pastor Jean Petit-Frére, P.O. Box 407139, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl, 33340
Address for Packages: Pastor Jean Petit-Frére, 2525 NW 55 Court, Hangar #24, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl, 33340

Important: Remember to address it to "Paster Jean Petit-Frére" and write "Attn: Dan" on the back of the envelope or package. Thanks!

God Bless,

Dan