Ministry

In my New Testament class we are currently studying 2 Corinthians. One of the main themes of this book is Christian ministry. Reading some of the scripture took me back to India because I saw a mark reading "India 12/09". We used this passage throughout our trip last year.

Check out this whole passage! It will change your life if you let it.

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died."

2 Corinthians 5:14

Ransom

"A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act."

Mohandas Gandhi

I don't know what Gandhi meant by this but I love it. For all I know he was talking about himself but either way, I think about Jesus. Jesus came to earth to become the ransom for us, his creation. He is the best and most perfect example of love.

Invisible

Last night some 'roadies,' as they call themselves, came to Gardner-Webb to share with us about the Invisible Children in Northern Uganda. The video we watched brought the room to tears. The reality of this war was something most of us had never heard of even though it has been the longest war in Africa. So many men, women, and children have been killed, displaced, and mutilated.

Three guys from California saw first hand the carnage of this war and knew they couldn't stand by and let it continue.

www.invisiblechildren.com

Stealing gods

This man and his son have a pretty solid company. They sell coconuts and flowers to worshipers that pass by them. There are many people who worship where they are from and they have prime real estate for their buyers' convenience.

They live a sad life.

Despite how profitable their work may seem to an outsider, they have one of the saddest jobs. They sell their coconuts and flowers to the worshippers of the Rantek temple. Here they are preparing offerings that worshippers can purchase at the temple to present to the gods. The gods and their carnal forms, the monkeys that overflow the temple grounds, help themselves to the offerings even before they can be purchased. This means there is less to sell and they lose money to their gods' stealing. And what are these men supposed to do? Nothing. You can't really just chase away the gods or scold them. It's their offerings anyways, right?

How unfulfilling.

http://www.nagpurplaces.com/temple/ramtek.aspx

Message from Hillsong

"How often do we see something then just simply just change the channel?"

"Who are we to judge as if we were any better?"

"We say that's not right. That's not fair. All too often that's all we do because to do anymore is actually going to cost us something."

"When we ignore the orphan and the widow in their distress we actually add to their pain."

http://www.theiheartfilm.com/

One Man's Trash

Throwing garbage on the street is just a part of life in India. It made me mad when I first got there. I didn't understand why they would just continue to put trash on the ground. Why doesn't someone start a movement and clean up the country? If people would stop throwing trash out their car windows and everywhere, eventually the place could be clean, right? This was how I felt until I was told by a local, "Even if I stopped throwing my trash on the ground, others still would and the mess wouldn't be cleaned up. I would just be working harder for nothing."

It is interesting to think about. Could one person who stopped littering really change a country?

Could one person really loving people change a world? One person's love might not change everybody in the world, but it could change one heart. Is that one heart worth it? I'm taking the stand to live in love. I don't think I will change the world just as one person but I will make a difference to someone.

What are you waiting for? DO what it SAYS

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

James 1:22-27

Feet

I have always hated the way that my feet look. One verse that was brought to my attention over and over again in India was Romans 10:15. I had a hard time really grasping that feet even humanly ugly ones, can be the instrument of God. It is so true though. God really does love to use unlikely tools and people to do his work.

Here is that scripture. Read it and think, what are you doing to use your beautiful feet? Where do they take you?

Romans 10:14-15

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2010:14-15&version=NIV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+52:7&version=NIV

The World of Stolen Women

The New Internationalist magazine tells a story of a girl, trafficked into India from Nepal by close friends, but rescued by the Rescue Foundation. It is a powerful story. I don't know much about the organization but from what I have read thus far, they are going some great work. Check out the article (below) from a few years ago of a rescued girl and the dark world she lived in for a time.

http://www.newint.org/columns/makingwaves/2006/06/02/rescue-foundation/

Skyline

It can be so powerful to take some time and pray over a city. One time during my first trip to India, for our group morning devotions, we had a time of worship and then spread out around our rooftop and prayed over all corners of the city. We took time to pray for God to move mightily in the people of Nagpur. It was amazing individually and as a team to pour our hearts out over the city. That can cause you to really fall in love with a skyline.

www.crosspointofindia.org

Love146

I was reading a friend's blog the other day about her recent travels and some of the things that she had seen and how they were really affecting her. She posted a link for an organization called Love146. I was very curious to see what their work was. The first thing I did was watch a video, an overview of the organization. I was blown away, yet again by the massive amounts of people TODAY being enslaved and trafficked.

This book that they have put together sums up lots of the information and stories in order to be easily found. The stuff in it can be very hard to believe. One page that blew my mind was when I learned that menus for girls in brothels are sometimes used. A picture of the girl is given along with her services and charges. Children are being treated like a hair salon.

Love146 works in prevention and aftercare "to combat the issue of child sex slavery and exploitation." If you are at all moved by hearing about slavery and human exploitation, you need to check this organization out. They are doing some great work across the world.

www.love146.org

The Power of Your Heart

Pooja is a sweet-spirited girl that I met on my first trip to India. She, at the time, was one of the children in the children's home and was attending school. She had been in the children's home since very close to the opening of it. Her English was good, which made it much easier to talk to her. One of the best things that I learned quickly about Pooja was her giving heart. She could have done what most kids would have and just used her English to hog the time of the team members by talking us herself. Instead, she became a bit of a translator for us. When we were in a group setting, she would gladly help interface between the languages. She gave the chance to many of the girls to talk with us and us with them, that wouldn't have happened before.

When I returned the next year, Pooja was still living in the children's home but had completed her regular schooling (our equivalent of graduating high school) and had started her year in the Bible school. Her English was better than ever and because of her willingness to serve, the ministry had given her a job that utilized her gifts. I know God has blessed her because of her servant's heart.

I am also thankful for the insight I gained while getting to know Pooja. She has a quite voice but leads the girls that live in the children's home. She allowed me to ask quite a few questions in our time together. Oddly enough, her name Pooja means worship. Right now I don't remember all the specifics of her story, maybe I'll tell it sometime. I do know that it is amazing how her given name reflects her total attitude of worship, even in the small tasks.

www.crosspointofindia.org

Pollution

The sunsets in India are magnificent. The colors are so brilliant, unlike anything I've seen before. One night watching the sun go down, my team and I were discussing how awesome the sky looked. Someone brought up the fact of pollution in the air creating the colors. I had never thought of that before. How could chemicals so terrible create sunsets so beautiful?

This reminds me so much of God's love for us. We do all this crazy stuff and work hard on our own but all we get in our lives is clutter, trash, and pollution. The haze is so strong that often we can see what's right ahead of us. God loves to take the trash of our lives and use it to teach us. He takes the pollution that clouds our view and paints a beautiful sunset before our eyes. Isn't our God great?

www.crosspointofindia.org

Dry and Thirsty Land

For He says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6:2

The spiritual condition in India is as diverse as the terrain of the country. There are mountains with snow, deserts with hot, dry sand, but also luscious green fields. You can find Hindus, Muslims, deists, Catholics, atheists, and Christians living within the country's boundaries. God is evidently moving in one area but seemingly absent in another. He is always moving and acting,we just don't always see how. It is important to keep that mindset when observing countries like India. I feel this need to be a "knight in shinning armor" out to save the world from Hell, but God reminds me that in his time the people will know him.

45 years

While learning about missions in India, you are bound to hear about Mother Teresa. The Catholic nun moved to Calcutta, India in 1950 and spent the next 45 years ministering to poor, sick, orphaned, and dying people. She is known for all her good works to the people of India and it's easy to forget about the personal life she lived. By reading some things that she said, I really trust in the heart that she worked and gave out of. Here are two of my favorite quote from Mother Teresa:

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

"We can not do great things. We can only do little things with great love."

www.motherteresa.org