india, beautiful india

India is glorious. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the people, the culture....God is so creative. Friday I went along with 2 of my friends to visit a pastor working in a slum area right outside of the city. We had gone to do antenatal checkups with pregnant women, but since we were coming the pastor insisted on calling some of the brethren together for prayer and worship. At one point as I sat on a mat surrounded by 15 Indians singing their songs to our Creator, I so wished that i could capture that fleeting moment in a box. Each of my senses was heightened to absorb the beauty going on around me. Sounds of Indian voices singing in a style all their own, while the pastor beat a tamborine with his son in his lap. If i hadn't seen him playing it i'd have thought he had a set of drums. captivating. the sight of children playing and men and women crying out to God. the bright colors of the women's clothing. the sweet smell of sweat and chicken curry. the body of Christ communing with God in the middle of a slum....

after praying for the pastor and his family we set off to the bus stop. we passed a field where several boys were playing cricket, a sport that i'm still trying to figure out. their game paused as we walked by, they said "hi". i thought they were beautiful. on our bumpy bus ride home i gazed out the window at the passing sights. people's lives were happening. women sat on sidewalks selling fruit. old men were driving their ox-carts. little girls were drinking cokes and giggling on steps. crippled people were extending their hands to passer-bys. muslim women walked down the sidewalk veiled from head to toe. hindu men gazed at the different "gods" at a road-side stand. i sat on the bus thinking of Jesus. "...Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done one earth as it is in heaven..."

and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 we have been busy on the hospital grounds hanging out in the antenatal wards, doing checkups in admissions, and assisting in deliveries. my desire is to do it all full of this grace and truth that is found in the person of Jesus.
"..we must seek purposefully to share our increasing light with the fellow members of the household of God. This we can best do by keeping the majesty of God in full focus in all our public servises. Not only our private prayers should be filled with God, but our witnessing, our singing, our preaching, our writing should centre around the person of our holy, holy Lord and extol continually the greatness of His dignity and power. There is a glorified man on the right hand of the Majesty in heaven faithfully representing us there. We are left for a season among men; let us faithfully represent Him here." --Tozer