Lesson's in Love

(Abhay and Hoinu's family. Live in Bombay)

"Were you mentally prepared for what you saw in India?", my boss asked me yesterday. I looked at here intently and gave it a serious thought. "No, most things do not shock or surprise me but I was definitely not prepared for what I experienced over there."

We've all seen the pictures and read the stories of third world countries but experiencing it for ones own self is quite different. Out of sight and out of
mind. How sad but painfully true those words are. Before I was a Christian I remember watching those tv ads showing starving African kids with bloated bellies and thinking, "yeah that's bad but they are just trying to use guilt to make me give money," and then switch the channel. Now I wish more people would give to causes that are actually making a difference and being effective at what they do. While I was in India God broke open stony ground that was in my heart as He showed me the importance of love and relationships.

One day while we were walking the streets in India a scripture came to mind, "knowledge puffs up but love edifies." Over here in America we have a superabundance of knowledge while the God type of love is a precious and rare treasure. I could see that knowledge has the ability to be used as a wall to separate the mind from the heart. It can also be a link between people and used as sort of a pseudo relationship. Meaning that people can gather around knowledge and certain truths while missing the most important elements of Christianity, love and relationship. I don't intend to teach about this because I know so little about it. I just know that when me place a higher value on knowledge and learning than we do on loving God and loving one another we are setting a serious trap for ourselves.

I could see that the ministers in India could not afford to buy into a Christianity that had a form of godliness but denied its power. It was an honor to be able to meet these servants of God and learn from there lives. We were privileged to be able to stay with YWAMers in all the cities we stayed at except Delhi. And I will say that I was very impressed with the effectiveness of the people in this movement in sharing the gospel and doing the Lord's work. YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission and is a ministry that trains people up in the ways of the Lord and then sends them to evangelize the nations. We developed wonderful relationships with a handful of these YWAMers and look forward to staying in touch with them throughout the years.

India is the second most populated country with 1.2 billion people and less then 5% Christians. 1949 is the year it achieved independence form Great Britain and the country is still developing its own identity. Right now it seems like everything is changing in India, all the way from the government and economy to the people and culture. So please pray for India and that God's blessing would be upon the country. We want to see the name of Jesus lifted high as the light of the gospel chases away the darkness there. When sin abounds grace abounds even more. It is not too difficult for God to move in a mighty way and to touch the lives of millions of Indians in the upcoming years.