We left Victor Samuel's in Pithapurum during the early afternoon of Friday 3-19. After 30 plus hours of travel via Vishakhaputnum, Hydrabad, Mumbai, Seoul, and Seattle We got back home in Wenatchee at about 5 PM local time Saturday 3-20. Try somehow to grasp the concept of the International Date Line - I dare you, particularly when sleep deprived.
During the course of this trip we dedicated two new churches, Tim laid the cornerstones for three new buildings, we participated in one wedding, danced with tribal villagers (well, Jordan and I did - and I'm sure that video will be seen at New Song Church sooner or later!) and worshiped with Indian believers in numerous indoor and outdoor services. We literally prayed with hundreds of individuals, both Christians and Hindus. Aside from the specific prayer requests that were communicated to us, such as for physical healing or a blessing for their school exams, we generally prayed for God's increased revelation in their lives, that He would meet the personal needs He was well aware and that He would be glorified in their lives. I have no doubt that our presence with the Indian believers during this trip provided them with encouragement and the support of knowing there are fellow believers in the United States who love them, pray for them and are unified with them in their faith in Jesus Christ.
However, Paul says in his book to the Romans that he desired to visit with the Roman believers in order that, "you and I may be mutually encouraged by each others' faith." We know, as Paul did, the encouragement the Indian believers gave us was equal to or greater, I'm sure, then the encouragement we brought to them. We get too insulated in our American Christianity and I firmly believe exposure to other Christian cultures is vital for us to understand our place and responsibility in the Christ's Church.
We in America need to pay attention to the parable Jesus told in Luke 16; the Rich Man and Lazarus. We in the United States, are the rich man, and Lazarus is at our door. We have to dismiss the mentality that we are somehow entitled to the consequences of the economic structure we were born into, the opportunities we therefore have and the fact that we can, if we so chose, prosper in a manner commensurate with our education, hard work and our cultivated abilities. The alleged "blessings" of being an American will only be blessings if they are so used for others, not to establish our own comfort and well being. If used solely for ourselves, the "blessings" we have come to take for granted will become a millstone around our necks.
Jaideep needs $2,000 to re-bore and expand his well, which during the current drought, does not currently provide enough water for his mango trees or to irrigate the property he has for rice and other crops; crops he both uses to feed his family and which provide needed income. For many years Pastor Samuel has needed a vehicle to allow him and his team to visit their large system of outlying village churches and continue their outreaches into the tribal areas of the interior. For years they've been hiring vehicles for this work; they need their own. With a concentrated effort here in our community these needs could be met and we would be participating in a valid effort for God's glory on the other side of our world.
Something else for us to consider. At the church we dedicated in Annavarum a woman was made to leave the service by her husband and then beat up when she got home, so we were told. After we left the country, in retaliation for Tim's baptism of an upper caste woman at Jaideep's campus when we first arrived, other upper cast Hindus attacked the driver of one of Jaideep's school buses, damaged the bus and later, we understand, also attacked Jaideep. We've been advised that the situation is finally under proper investigation but this incident reminds us that the price we pay for the public confession of our faith in our society is embarrassment at the most for many of us. How would we respond to outright persecution demonstrated by physical violence?
I say these things only to help us think, to consider the expression of our Christianity and to ask ourselves what we, as Christ's representatives on earth, in the social and economic culture in which we live, can do with our resources to promote the cause of the Church and to glorify God? Thanks for reading. Until the next trip . . .
We in America need to pay attention to the parable Jesus told in Luke 16; the Rich Man and Lazarus. We in the United States, are the rich man, and Lazarus is at our door. We have to dismiss the mentality that we are somehow entitled to the consequences of the economic structure we were born into, the opportunities we therefore have and the fact that we can, if we so chose, prosper in a manner commensurate with our education, hard work and our cultivated abilities. The alleged "blessings" of being an American will only be blessings if they are so used for others, not to establish our own comfort and well being. If used solely for ourselves, the "blessings" we have come to take for granted will become a millstone around our necks.
Jaideep needs $2,000 to re-bore and expand his well, which during the current drought, does not currently provide enough water for his mango trees or to irrigate the property he has for rice and other crops; crops he both uses to feed his family and which provide needed income. For many years Pastor Samuel has needed a vehicle to allow him and his team to visit their large system of outlying village churches and continue their outreaches into the tribal areas of the interior. For years they've been hiring vehicles for this work; they need their own. With a concentrated effort here in our community these needs could be met and we would be participating in a valid effort for God's glory on the other side of our world.
Something else for us to consider. At the church we dedicated in Annavarum a woman was made to leave the service by her husband and then beat up when she got home, so we were told. After we left the country, in retaliation for Tim's baptism of an upper caste woman at Jaideep's campus when we first arrived, other upper cast Hindus attacked the driver of one of Jaideep's school buses, damaged the bus and later, we understand, also attacked Jaideep. We've been advised that the situation is finally under proper investigation but this incident reminds us that the price we pay for the public confession of our faith in our society is embarrassment at the most for many of us. How would we respond to outright persecution demonstrated by physical violence?
I say these things only to help us think, to consider the expression of our Christianity and to ask ourselves what we, as Christ's representatives on earth, in the social and economic culture in which we live, can do with our resources to promote the cause of the Church and to glorify God? Thanks for reading. Until the next trip . . .
I have older cousins that are missionaries in Zimbabwe, have been there forever (since it was Rhodesia), had kids and grandkids there. Some of the things that happen are horrid, yet they stayed to help the people. I have only met them in person once, a few years ago, and they are just the most amazing, loving, kind and happy people I know.
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