The Barataria Baptist Church is located in the town of Jean Lafitte, named for the infamous pirate whose headquarters were hidden in those wetlands and who assisted General Andrew Jackson in defeating the British at New Orleans early in 1815. The pastor at Barataria is Eddie Painter, a down-home son of Mississippi who has brought his wife and teenage daughter to live among the people down there in the swamps.

I’ve told on these pages how Eddie wasted no time in connecting with the people of this fishing village: he bought himself a boat and some crab traps and went into business for himself! He moved into the pastor’s residence next door to the church and commuted to the seminary, perhaps 25 or 30 miles upriver and across town. Eddie is 40 years old and sports a salt-and-pepper beard.

Under Eddie’s leadership, the church has been prospering. A few months ago, they went to two morning worship services–the first time I recall that happening at Barataria. And then Hurricane Gustav hit.

Most of us in and around New Orleans had little damage from that hurricane and from Ike which followed on its heels.(I’ve mentioned how two of our churches–Williams Boulevard in Kenner and Memorial in Metairie– lost roofs and had interior damage to parts of their facilities.) But the town of Jean Lafitte was completely underwater.

The church is built up somewhat, so they had no flooding of the building, but lost portions of the roof and had some water damage inside. Next door, however, the pastor’s residence was drowned and suffered total loss of furniture and appliances.

Eddie tells me they managed to get his family’s clothing out before it was ruined. The minister of youth–Matthew–suffered lots of water damage and total loss.

Sunday, I drove down to Barataria Baptist Church to worship with this congregation. They were holding only an 11 a.m. service, which was filled. (Eddie says the bathrooms are out of commission and will have to be rebuilt, so they’re unwilling to ask the congregation to stay beyond the time for one worship service.)

How to describe this congregation….

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If you love all things Cajun or most things Louisiana, you will enjoy “Poor Man’s Provence,” the new book by Rheta Grimsley Johnson.

First, a little about Rheta.

We met nearly 30 years ago when I was visiting with her (then) husband, Jimmy Johnson, the editorial cartoonist at the Jackson (MS) Daily News. Jimmy was in the process of leaving the paper to begin his own comic strip, a fantasy of everyone who ever picked up a pen and doodled. At his home, he showed me the new strip, “Arlo and Janis.” (Some of our readers see this strip in your local paper; alas, it does not run in the Times-Picayune.) That’s when I met Rheta.

Rheta Grimsley Johnson was a features writer for the Memphis Commercial Appeal. She traveled over the South interviewing characters. Really. Sounds like a dream job for a writer. And that’s how she came to interview me in Tupelo in the Spring of ’82 when I was preaching a revival at Calvary Baptist Church there. (Not that I’m a character, you understand.) Somewhere around here, I have a clipping of that article. Being written about by Rheta Grimsley Johnson is akin to being mentioned in a sermon by Billy Graham.

In the late 1980s Rheta wrote the authorized biography of Charles Schulz, the cartoonist, called “Good Grief.” I own a copy and have it dog-eared from all the great stories it contains. (www.alibris.com can find you a copy cheap.)

And now, Rheta has written “Poor Man’s Provence,” the subtitle for which is: “Finding Myself in Cajun Louisiana.”

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The most bizarre thing is happening: my 92 year old mother has become intensely interested in the presidential campaign this year for the first time in anyone’s memory. Is it because her husband of nearly 74 years died last November and this is the first election she’s endured without him? Dad watched it all and had convictions on everything and everyone. (I still recall sitting by the radio with him listening as Harry Truman campaigned against Thomas Dewey in ’48.)

Dad was the dyed-in-the-wool labor Democrat and Mom the Republican-because-that’s-how-I-was-raised. Now, without Pop to interpret the debates and comment on the political shenanigans, she keeps up with them and wants to discuss them with her children. She thinks women are jealous of Sarah Palin and that’s why they’re not supporting her.

As I say, it’s totally strange and unlike anything we’ve seen from her all these years. And, we think it’s absolutely wonderful.

How many 92-year-olds do you know who don’t have a clue which century they’re living in? We’re more than blessed and know it.

Watch yourself, Governor Sarah and Senator Biden; Lois is watching.

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