Daylight Savings always seems to be a difficult adjustment, even though it is only one hour, even though it’s simply going back to where we were a few months ago, even though a little more coffee takes the edge off. But it is especially confusing when you live in Haiti, where they sometimes follow Daylight Savings, sometimes they don’t, and most commonly, they do, but they don’t expect anyone to know about it and plan for everything to start late for a couple weeks…

Which brings us to last night’s EKS meeting, that only four people (including me and my translator) showed up to, when there is usually 12-15 in attendance. Without a leader or a plan, I suggested a short prayer and that we share with each other our favorite scripture passages and why they were important to us. This is an exercise I have observed a few times in Haiti now, and I love that no one hesitates. Beloved scriptures are always right in the forefront of memory and eager to be shared.

I was especially impressed by one woman who handed her Creole Bible over to the translator to read Psalm 46. As he read, she recited the words out loud with him in Creole and I read along silently in English.

“1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 8 Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. 10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

She explained how these words are important to her, to remember that God is her refuge and safe place. Not only does this chapter from Psalms perfectly represent the faith of the Haitian people, who have witnessed more than their share of quaking mountains and roaring waters, it represented something so personal to her. The words she recited were from her memory and her heart, and the Bible she proudly carries, she does not know how to read. But the words are written on her heart in something deeper than language.