David Bahn – Reflections

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. ²³ But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. ²⁴ Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. ²⁵ Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶ But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷ For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
    break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
    than those of the one who has a husband.”

²⁸ Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. ²⁹ But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. ³⁰ But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” ³¹ So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

Our trip to Cuba was under a program called, “Support for Cuban People.” This allowed us to travel to and in Cuba, but we could not do business with any government business. No hotels. Nothing that could be beneficial to the Cuban government. So we could stay in privately owned casas. These mom and pop entities reminded me very much of the mom and pop motel my parents built and in which I grew up. Some of these casas were very nice. Others were more serviceable than nice. We managed to survive in every situation – including the one in which we had no electricity the whole night.

Some of us wondered why the people wanted to live there. Recent reports indicate that Havana lost 15% of its inhabitants over a three-year period, bringing its population below two million—a level not seen since the 1990s. Cuba’s population as a whole has been declining in recent years. Since 2022, over 850,000 Cubans have emigrated to the United States, marking the largest exodus in the nation’s history.

The United States is large in the view of the people of Cuba. It was the good news to them that Cuba has been removed from the list of nations that support terrorism. Many expressed worries about how the Trump presidency will impact the Cuban economy. They see the United States as a very desirable place to be. Families are often split with some in the US while those in Cuba long to be with them.

So much of this is about freedom. And although the Cuban government supplies education and medical resources for all citizens, there is also a parallel (gray) market. And people will find the way to pay for better quality.

Every day bread vendors hit the streets. They blow whistles to alert people that bread is available. They provide loaves of bread to those who have the ration tickets. But there are also bakeries where people can buy bread. The ration-bought bread is inferior quality and people will do what they can to earn money to buy the parallel market bread.

I don’t want to establish a direct link between freedom in Christ, governmental freedom, and higher quality of life. But it’s difficult to ignore what seems to be a correlation. Furthermore, missiologists have identified a phenomenon called, “redemption and lift.” This concept is rooted in discussions about how Christian faith and redemption in Christ can lead to positive transformations in individuals, families, and communities. It highlights the idea that when people come to faith in Jesus, they often experience tangible changes in their lives, which can include moral, social, and even economic improvements.

Our motive for sharing the message of Jesus is not so that we raise the living standards of those who come to faith. It is so that they can experience the fullness of God’s love in Jesus, and give him the honor he rightly deserves.

And he deserves a lot of honor and has much love to shower upon us!

If you wish to see some of my photos from this trip, you may see them in my smugmug gallery.