India - what we've been doing

12:30am, our plane arrives and we take our first breath of Indian air. It isn't until 2am that we arrive at the place that we will be staying the next 3 nights. 7am, we arise - so as not to miss breakfast. Breakfast is some kind of spicy Indian chili curry poured over a kind of pancake - friends... we have arrived in India. The next few days are spent finding our feet and being briefed on the ministry we will be partnering with in the weeks to come.

On our third day in India, we board a plane for Pune, India. On arrival we are taken to the home of the family we will be staying with. Pastor Ilangovan, his wife Ruby and their 2 children, Joshua and Daniel. Present in the home also is Sanju, who has been with us ever since our arrival as a connector to all the ministry happenings in the near-by slums. Sanju himself lives in the slum area with his family... he is amazing.

Since our arrival in Pune, our role has mostly been shadowing Sanju while getting to witness the amazing work God is doing here. Our days have been consumed with walking through the slums - the heart and focus of the work here. While in the slums we've been visiting homes where families welcome us with huge hearts and a cup of tea or even a meal. There we spend time hearing about the family and then join together with them in prayer for their families. We've also had the chance to attend several prayer/fasting/worship gatherings. The worship is so full of life and deep from the heart. The prayer is real and powerful. We have visited homes that host children's ministries - kids singing songs with laughter and glee, storoes being told and biscuits handed out. On Sunday was church - 100 or so people longing to enter in with the Lord.

All along the way, we have been asked and invited to join in the ministry takingplace. At the prayer meetings, we are asked to shaer a word from Scripture after having all worshipped together. At the children's ministry we're asked to shaer a story and hand out food as we interact with the kids. On Sunday, I was even asked to give the sermon. In the homes we visit, we are asked to pray for the familes. It has been a joy to be alongside the people here and enter into what God is doing through His faithful ones. Thank you, Lord, for India.

Aside from being in the slums, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning the game of cricket. Several times now the guys have taken a few hours out of their day to play cricket. It is a wonderful game. Confusing at first, but easily understood after a while. It is a very fair game also, in that you don't switch from offense to defense until everyone has had a turn to bat.

The presence of God. More than life itself?

Rev. Dr. Louie Angone once told me if you want to see God's kingdom in all it's granduer go out and get your passport. I haven't reflected much on this exact thought since beginning this journey, however it was heavy on my heart this morning as I thought back over the past few days in India and how alive the Kingdom is here. Our time here thus far has been a mix of emotions. It's been hard and frustrating, while in the next moment amazing and life-giving. The hard and frustrating part is Tina and I are on culture overload. We have been in many extremes of cultures, all one right after the other. To add to this, our bodies and souls are beginning to feel the effects of having no place to call home. Yet, there is LIFE!

I've especially been encouraged and rejuvinated as we've been the shawdow of 19-year old Sanju since our arrival. Sanju lives in a slum in Pune, India. However, the past few days he has been staying in the same home we are (Pastor Ilangovan's house), while the mother of the house is away at a women's event. Sanju has been there mostly to help out with the kids but has also served as or connector for everything going on in the nearby slums.

A question I've begun asking myself recently is, "Do I want God's presence today more than life itself? Do I want his presence more than sleep, a morning cup of coffee, being on time to a meeting--more than life itself?" As I've observed Sanju and been a part of his routine for the past few days, the way he lives his life answers this question with a resounding YES! Every morning in the slums there is a prayer and worship gathering of men. Our first night in Pune, Sanju invited me to join him at this gathering the following morning. In order to arrive on time we had to leave the place we were staying at 4:45AM. Sanju, knowing in his heart he wouldn't make it through his day without the presence of God, wakes up at 3AM to sit with the Lord and read Scripture before beginning his day. When was the last time I did this? Probably never. Everywhere I look here in India I see people who live their lives this way... desperately longing for more of His presence. Those early morning prayer meetings with the men happen EVERY DAY, and is full of young men whose heart is exactly this. THey meet for at least 2 hours every morning to shout praises to their King. Many of them work, so the option is to get up early and invite the Lord's presence, or sleep and miss out. In this early morning meeting, these men aren't timid in their praise. There's no concern of waking up the entire neighborhood with loud joyous sounds - in fact it seemed at times that they were hoping the whole neighborhood would wake up to them declaring praises to Jesus. And then, after a long time of worship... they pray. And boy do they pray! These are not soft spoken prayers, but loud hungry prayers... wrestling with the Father and proclaiming His promises in their lives - prayers they believed! These men want the presence of God.

Being wth Pastor Ilangovan has been equally rich. When some down time comes around, this time isn't wasted (in the sense that I often waste time with T.V. or other soul draining activities). Instead what I've witnessed is Pastor Ilangovan making the most of every opportunity to call a few people close by to come over for prayer. My heart again was gripped yesterday as two sales people came to the house selling mobile SIM cards. They left having been covered in prayer and given a Bible. One of the men even came back a few minutes after leaving to share more about his brokenness in greater detail and asked for more prayer. WIthout Ilangovan first having the presence of God, these kinds of things would never happen. But because he is living every day inviting God's presence, God is more than delighted to bring times like this about in Ilangovan's life.

Louie Angone is right... get your passport, and you will see God's Kingdom in new and fresh ways.

Israel, a parting word.

We are currently a week into our time in India. Before moving on to what we have been living and experiencing here I believe Israel deserves a few more words. After a few days of touring around Jerusalem we were able to connect with a group of college students from America. All the students were from the Christian college coalition (Westmont, Gordon, Seattle Pacific, Wheaton etc...). However there were none from Westmont. This group was spending a semester studying in Cairo Egypt and was at the time traveling around the Middle East for a few weeks as part of their program. Two days of our time in Israel were spent with this group. It is because of them we were able to go to Galilee, eat dinner in Nazareth and swim in the Dead Sea. Of notable mention is the man who was working for the program in some student life coordinator type roll. It was a small world connection. Steve Beyers (sorry Steve if I spelled that wrong) a graduate of Gordon College brother of Chris Beyers. The significance here is the summer I lived on the east coast and feel in love with my wife it was Chris's house I stayed, his room in fact, while he was away for the summer working at Noah's Ark in Colorado. Crazy. The two photos here are of Tina and me at the Dead Sea. I am floating, without any effort while Tina is rubbing on her skin the mud that supposedly does wonders.

Our final night in Israel was spent having dinner with Matt and Rebekah Pine. Rebekah is a graduate of Westmont, however while at Westmont the two have us had probably shared fewer than 10 words. Regardless, our time with them was a gift. Matt and Rebekah have recently been married and made the choice to set their first year of marriage apart--simply to be with each other and Lord. They are doing this while living in Jerusalem. They aren't doing ministry, they aren't working. Just them and the Lord. It was encouraging to see this as this is a huge piece of the trip Tina and I are currently on-- a time for Tina and me to cleave and grow in unity and in the Lord. Our dinner with the Pine's was spent with Spirit filled, buzzing conversation. I know Tina and I left feeling encouraged to press in even more to the time we have left on this journey before we come home.