And so the blog continues after a couple month hiatus.....
As promised, I'll talk about India.
7300 miles away there is a country 1/3 the size of the U.S. with over 1 Billion people.
Their beliefs look like this: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, Other 1.9%.
It is a very intriguing place with way more diversity than I could have ever thought. Delhi especially, was one big melting pot of people. You would see communities of Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and people from all around India. My stereotype that all Indian men are distinct from Asia and have dark skin and a mustache was quickly broken. The city was filled with those who looked what most would normally typify as Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. You can go shopping in a first world mall with all American advertising and stores and then go across the street to find families living under tarps and digging through trash. The difference between those that "have" and those that "have not" is enormous. You can find places to stay even more expensive than America. See, in India there is a small upper class, small middle class, and then a huge lower class. It makes the country look much different than the U.S. where we have a small upper, huge middle class, and small lower class.
One thing that really stood out is that there isn't really a sacred/secular divide. You see worship all around you. Worship happens at school, home, work, recreation and nearly all activities. Unlike the States where most keep things about faith private, most Indians are very outward with their worship. Shrines to their gods are set up in every hotel, shop, taxi, and home. When you give money many of them kiss it and put it to their forehead as a sign of worship. Most won't be afraid or shy and will lie prostrate on the ground as a sign of submission and worship to their god. Could you imagine a church in America full of believers who would lie prostrate to the Lord without so much as a hesitation with their friends, family, and visitors watching??
With all the worship of hindu gods going on there for a few thousand years and just the generations that have been brought up to believe in millions of gods ranging from fire to education to luck, it is a very dark place. The evil one has a might grasp on the minds and it's his playground. In us going to bring the light of Jesus Christ into the dark place we encountered a lot of resistance. Sickness came, nightmares came, sleepless nights came, anxiousness came, sadness and disappointment came, and rejection came as a result of living for Him and as a ploy of the devil to get us off track. About 5 days in, in the midst of this attack, we all came together and prayed through all of these things and focused our gaze on Him and for the rest of the trip we had a much different outlook and approach. It was much different trips than the others I've been on and we all saw the difference of living and staying in a place that has prayer covering. Most overseas trips, you stay at a mission house or church and then go to do outreach to bring light into the dark. This trip, we stayed in the dark places like hotels filled with shrines and then went out to have fellowship in the light with other leaders and believers working in India and then returned to the dark. It's hard to rest in the dark. We saw evidence of this with sleepless nights and nightmares and sickness.
I was extremely blessed to have this opportunity to go and see what God is doing on southeast Asia. We were able to meet and learn from as well as encourage and pray with over 20 people pouring out their lives for the nation of India. This was a trip that was only 3 weeks but I know that I'll be drawing from it what I learned for the next 30 years. I saw very clearly what long term ministry overseas is like. We would have 2-4 hour meetings talking about everything from where and what the needs are, platform, visas, business, contextualized work vs westernized, urban vs rural, raising a family over there, dress, roles of foreigners, and so much more!
In my next blog, I'll share some thoughts and stories from Delhi, Lucknow, and Varanasi.
As promised, I'll talk about India.
7300 miles away there is a country 1/3 the size of the U.S. with over 1 Billion people.
Their beliefs look like this: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, Other 1.9%.
It is a very intriguing place with way more diversity than I could have ever thought. Delhi especially, was one big melting pot of people. You would see communities of Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and people from all around India. My stereotype that all Indian men are distinct from Asia and have dark skin and a mustache was quickly broken. The city was filled with those who looked what most would normally typify as Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. You can go shopping in a first world mall with all American advertising and stores and then go across the street to find families living under tarps and digging through trash. The difference between those that "have" and those that "have not" is enormous. You can find places to stay even more expensive than America. See, in India there is a small upper class, small middle class, and then a huge lower class. It makes the country look much different than the U.S. where we have a small upper, huge middle class, and small lower class.
One thing that really stood out is that there isn't really a sacred/secular divide. You see worship all around you. Worship happens at school, home, work, recreation and nearly all activities. Unlike the States where most keep things about faith private, most Indians are very outward with their worship. Shrines to their gods are set up in every hotel, shop, taxi, and home. When you give money many of them kiss it and put it to their forehead as a sign of worship. Most won't be afraid or shy and will lie prostrate on the ground as a sign of submission and worship to their god. Could you imagine a church in America full of believers who would lie prostrate to the Lord without so much as a hesitation with their friends, family, and visitors watching??
With all the worship of hindu gods going on there for a few thousand years and just the generations that have been brought up to believe in millions of gods ranging from fire to education to luck, it is a very dark place. The evil one has a might grasp on the minds and it's his playground. In us going to bring the light of Jesus Christ into the dark place we encountered a lot of resistance. Sickness came, nightmares came, sleepless nights came, anxiousness came, sadness and disappointment came, and rejection came as a result of living for Him and as a ploy of the devil to get us off track. About 5 days in, in the midst of this attack, we all came together and prayed through all of these things and focused our gaze on Him and for the rest of the trip we had a much different outlook and approach. It was much different trips than the others I've been on and we all saw the difference of living and staying in a place that has prayer covering. Most overseas trips, you stay at a mission house or church and then go to do outreach to bring light into the dark. This trip, we stayed in the dark places like hotels filled with shrines and then went out to have fellowship in the light with other leaders and believers working in India and then returned to the dark. It's hard to rest in the dark. We saw evidence of this with sleepless nights and nightmares and sickness.
I was extremely blessed to have this opportunity to go and see what God is doing on southeast Asia. We were able to meet and learn from as well as encourage and pray with over 20 people pouring out their lives for the nation of India. This was a trip that was only 3 weeks but I know that I'll be drawing from it what I learned for the next 30 years. I saw very clearly what long term ministry overseas is like. We would have 2-4 hour meetings talking about everything from where and what the needs are, platform, visas, business, contextualized work vs westernized, urban vs rural, raising a family over there, dress, roles of foreigners, and so much more!
In my next blog, I'll share some thoughts and stories from Delhi, Lucknow, and Varanasi.
