Thursday, July 15, 2010

Shakedown Cruise

Well, this is my first time on the computer this summer, and I have to admit - it's been very refreshing to be disconnected.  I also apologize, though, for failing to keep this thing updated.  I'm pretty horrible at writing consistently.

     I haven't been a lot of places in my life, but after being here for a few weeks, I have to say that India is the strangest place I've ever been.  Monkeys hang out by the roadside; people live in estates and shacks made of tarps by the roadside, right next to each other; women in the villages, miraculously strong, like ants, carry bundles of leaves on their heads larger than their own bodies, straight down mountains; the former pet dog here was eaten by a panther; there are absolutely no rules when driving; eating out can give you diarrhea faster than you can say tandoori chicken; and toilet paper is a rare and special commodity.
     And yet people here are very much the same as people in America.  People share the same needs, deal with the same problem of evil, share the same laughs.  People may worship concrete idols here, but we have our own idols in America (they're a little more subversive, more cleverly disguised, but just look for them, and you'll see).  When two Indians begin a conversation, they find out which caste each man belongs to.  In America, we do the same, only we're less straightforward (your hometown, what your parents do for a living, where you went to college, what kind of car you drive).  The human condition is the same, I think, no matter where you go or what cultural veneer it's covered in.
     Thankfully, the fellowship between Christians and the way that God redeems each of us is the same as well.  Hearing the redemption stories of two of the people working here was such a great blessing - listening to the way that God pulled them from their old lives and gave them a new reality, with the underpinning of their stories, their thoughts and emotions, very much the same as mine, very much the same as every story I've ever heard (though the physical details may differ).  The Spirit of God is the same all over the world, and the warmth and genuine love with which Christians receive one another doesn't change because it is the manner of Christ, which transcends time and space and culture.
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     On another note, we visit the villages here on 4-day camping trips about every other week, and they too are unlike any place I've ever been.  The trip starts with a 2-hour jeep ride to the first village (the only one we can reach with a car).  After that, we load our stuff on donkeys and our backs and walk the rest of the way in.  These places remind me of ancient towns out of Lord of the Rings.  The flies buzz around incessantly, water buffalos and cows live in front yards and in the bottom floor of homes, goats walk the streets, people farm on terraces carved into the side of sometimes impossibly steep mountains, and people invite you to sit on their verandas and drink tea without hesitation.  Though I can't speak much Hindi, I can still share a smile and a laugh with people as I ask them how they are, and it's a blessing for me to sit by as the Hindi speakers with us talk about family life, share the gospel and pray.  Little girls have fleas and lice, but it's a privilege to play duck, duck, goose with them, wash their hair, and hold them in my lap (they feel like little skeletons).
     Up until very recently, there were no Christians in these villages - not a single one.  I don't know if you can imagine a place with no church, no pastor, not even a single Christian.  People here still pray and offer food and who knows what else to their little idols at shrines in their homes and the concrete gods in shrines by the side of the path; processions of people carrying idols and playing drums in a frenzy still move through the village streets.  They estimate 9,000 villages in the region, and we've only visited about five or six.  Many people have never even heard of Jesus.
     Now, though, in one of the villages, three boys have accepted Christ - and one is telling others.  This is a big deal.  In America, religion is very much a personal thing - a decision often made on an individual basis, where your beliefs may not often have much of a consequence in the way you're treated.  Here, it's very different - to abandon Hinduism here is to abandon everything: cultural identity, family values, unity in the village.  One woman who attends church here in the city was forced to leave her village 15 years ago for marrying a Christian man and hasn't seen her parents since.  And so, these three boys are the first Christians out of Poojalti.  Another girl is very close, and many of the little children are learning a lot.  There is so much hope, if for no other reason than that God is moving and will accomplish His purposes.  And that's very exciting.  Pray for these kids - they have a big battle to fight.  And pray for our team - that we'll stay unified, focused on serving God in whatever way we can.  Pray for the long-term team here as well - that God will sustain them, give them energy and creativity, faithfulness and courage and determination as they minister to the people in these hard-to-reach (in more ways than one) places.
     I've learned a lot here in these past few weeks - about myself, about this place, about God - much more than I can write in a single blog post.  Hopefully I'll be keeping up with this a lot better from now on.

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