Thursday, June 21, 2012

A Racing Frog and FlutterBy as a Form of Worship?

     After Jesus walked on water, saved Peter from drowning and calmed the winds as he got into the disciples' boat Matthew says that the disciples worshiped him saying, "You really are the son of God."

     I've always wondered... what did that look like? Did someone break out a guitar? Did they scratch their heads a little, say "Huh... you must be the Son of God," and go on about their sailing duties? (They had seen him perform several miracles at that point... maybe the supernatural was becoming more of a normal occurrence than an out of the ordinary event.) Did they get down on their knees or raise their hands? Did they sing the 1st, 2nd and 4th verses of Hymn #257? What would "the disciples worshipped" have looked like.

     Last week at Falls Creek my cabin participated in the 1 Hour of Solitude Prayer Walk. It's an area they have set up where students can go on a guided prayer walk through a very pretty section of the arbuckle mountains. There are stations set up every few feet with prompts and things to pray for. Students are encouraged to pray at each station for about 4 mins and when they are finished they will have spent 1 hour in prayer. In addition to it being a great spiritual exersize... it makes REALLY great camp video!

     After collecting a number of shots of the students I didn't have time to walk through myself. So instead I just sat on the bank of the creek and was planning to pray through a few of the prompts silently. While I was sitting there I spotted a brilliantly colored frog sitting 3 feet from me and started to think about how God designed his colorings to blend into the exact area he was sitting in. If you had taken him off that bank he would have stuck out like a sore thumb. He had two bright yellow "racing stripes" marking his back, but tucked into the blades of yellow/green grass he was almost invisible.

     Just then a butterfly landed on my leg! I guess I had been sitting still long enough for it to not be afraid. He was quite a brave little guy and I eventually coaxed him up onto my fingers. It was beautiful! Being someone who is slightly obsessed with "capturing the moment" I pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped a couple pictures.


     After playing with this butterfly for 3 or 4 minutes I thought, "Hmm... I should really be praying and setting a good example for the students." I even started to feel bad for getting off track, but almost as soon as that thought crossed my mind I also thought of Psalms 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God" along with some other places in Psalms and Job where we are told to be in awe of our the awesomeness of our living God.

     I don't know what worship looked like for the disciples on the boat that day, but I think that what is important is that they were recognizing Jesus as God. I also have to wonder if my sitting and marveling at my Heavenly Father's creation, recognizing that He is God, was more pleasing (and worshipful) to Him than my attempt to remember prayer prompts from the signs would have been.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Pictures from India

Internet has been REALLY spotty the last couple of days so this update is just a bunch a pictures with a tiny bit of info while I have a connection. Enjoy.



This little guy, Honi, walked up to dad and just hopped up in his lap. Such a cute little guy! (I find myself saying that a lot.)

VBS


Sin covers us and makes us dirty... but Jesus came to clean up our dirtiness and make us beautiful again.



Lokesh, what a cutie!

A couple more shots from our balcony.



This man sells our hosts the chicken they prepare for us. Let's just say that it's very fresh.

We got to leave the orphanage once to go shopping. They called a few rickshaws to take us downtown. It was a neat experience.

Shots from my rickshaw.








Dad looking at Curtas.

This is a traditional dress-up shirt for men.

These girls saw me across the road and wanted me to take "One photo. One photo."


Saree shopping. What a neat experience! The shoppers sit on the floor and shopkeepers bring out Saree after Saree after Saree. Dad is reassuring the shopkeeper that he did NOT want a Saree, he just wanted to help his girls look.


This was our "rejects" pile about half the way through.

What a cute couple!


This is in another shop where they sell another traditional women's outfit. It's a long shirt with pants. Shopping is in the same format, you give them a few colors and they will bring out cloth after cloth after cloth. :-)




Tuesday, May 29, 2012

India, more pictures and words than you probably want to see


Today was VBS day! While we were setting up several of these little guys scurried out from where they were hiding and soaking up the less-hot air. 


We had around 50 kids and few adults from a couple of other churches in Tenali. The kids we fair good at listening and paying attention to what was happening.



This is Amand and Samson from the orphanage listening intently. We love these little guys!


We're doing a color based system to help share the gospel with these kiddos. Today was Gold day. We made gold crowns let them decorate with jewels. The kids dressed up to come so the crowns looked very SOPAR!! ("Beautiful" in Telegu)


Some views from the roof. After VBS, I went up onto the top of the orphanage to see what I could see around the area. These men are tearing the top off of a building across the street. I couldn't believe it! This is during the hottest part of the day. The shops below him are closed-up for the mid-day rest from the heat.




This woman is sewing just inside her front porch. 


It doesn't take long for us to get noticed. I was on the roof for 5 mins before these kiddos spotted me and came running yelling, "Welcome to India!"


This is India. Beautiful people! 


A woman leads her family's water buffalo to a small pond so they can cool off.


This window belongs to a family that is a neighbor of the orphanage property. We've seen each other the past two mornings while brushing our teeth and the mother always smiles and waves to me. 



This morning their daughter spoke to me. In very clear english she asked, "Are you from America?" She was very sweet and easy to understand. Then while I was on the roof she spoke to me again. Eventually she said, "You will come into my house? Yes?" Just this afternoon John Paul told us it would be safe for us to go out on the few streets we can see from the orphanage compound, so I thanked her and said I was on my way.


These people are so hospitable! They brought me into their home and immediately brought me some mango and this fruit. I have no idea what it is but it was VERY delicious!



They also opened a new bottle of pop and offered me a glass of soda while we talked. The daughter is studying to be an engineer at a university in Tenali, and her older brother has just finished his engineering studies and is going to America to get a master of science. I believe it is at Mizzou. (The translation was difficult, but I think that is where he is going.) This is the same family that has the two pictures of Hindu gods in their window. Inside their house is a cabinet devoted to what I recognized as many more Hindu gods. This family was so loving and so open, yet they do not know the God that I do. I did not have a chance to share with them about my God, (the children from the orphanage came to bring me home, more on that later) but a small bit of a relationship has been started.


Amond (there is another picture of him at VBS up above) has a couple of sores on his feet. I'm really not sure what it is and if you can identify it please share with me if there is anything specific we can do for it. The kids don't hardly wear shoes here at all so I knew that if nothing else, cleaning it up will be good for it.


So we washed it.



And I gave him some Angry Birds Band-Aids. (Classy, I know.)


Here are a few photos of the orphanage workers.



The younger woman from above and her husband's (photo in the door) little girl.


Yes these birds are pink and green! We're not sure what kind they are. They keep telling us that they are chickens, but a really? A lime green chicken? They also swear up and down that they did not color them. "From hatch!" "From Hatch!"



The girl here is named Glory. She is beautiful and very lovey-touchy-feely. She was very quick to take me by the hand yesterday and is always by my side. Yesterday I did not eat any dinner because I was not feeling very well. When I resurfaced just before bedtime she came to me, gave me a tight, squeezing hug, and said, "I love you." It touched my heart for sure. I had only known her a day and she already wanted to tell me she loved me. 


When I went to visit the neighboring house she was the first to come and get me. She kept whispering in my ear while I was at their house, "Go, come, with me." I just kept telling her. "Soon" or "Later." At one point I thought that she looked like she was about to cry, but I wasn't sure why. When I finally left the house she held my hand tightly and pulled at my arm on the way back to the orphanage. 

Once back on the grounds she I saw her running towards the water pumps with giant tears streaming down her face. "Glory, what's wrong?" I asked as if she could understand me. She ran by saying, "no, no." I follower her to the water pumps where she began washing her face. Some of the older boys came over to help translate. (They don't know full sentences, but surprisingly we can communicate a lot with the few words they do know.) They told me she was crying because, "No mama."

Are you serious? Did they just want me to break down and cry right there? So I went to hug her, and pull her close, but she backed away. "No, no!" and she waved her hand in front of me. I then realized that when I went over to the other house she was afraid they were going to steal me away. After I realized that, I gently insisted that she give me a hug. Once I finally talked her into hugging me again it was very stiff at first, but when I didn't let go she kinda melted into me. 

All of this happened during the cleaning of Amond's feet sores so I took her by the hand and made her my "nurse." I thought it'd be a good way to give her some extra attention without having to divert from Amond. She walked up with me to get the band-aids and ointment. Once we got back down to the yard she was willing to skip with me a few feet and she smiled a little bit. 

I just can't wrap my head around what these kiddos have experienced… and trying to breaks my heart! School is not in session right now and many of the orphans have gone to spend the summer with family. I know what you're thinking, "If they have family why are they at the orphanage?" Many of them have extended family, and while they can't take care of them year round, they don't mind them visiting in the two months they have off of school. This means that the kids that are still here most likely have no family.

It is difficult to get their stories from them because of the language, but most likely Glory does not know any biological family except for Samson (her brother who is also here.) She was so worried that her new friend was going to leave her that it brought her to tears. Somehow, I'm going to have to figure out how to love on her while we are here, but also prepare her that I am going to be leaving at the end of the trip. God, help me to know the best way for me to be used here.

Once again, I know this update is horribly long. I hope that if you've read this far you have at least enjoyed the photos and stories. I've always loved getting to experience new cultures and this experience is no different. I'm so thankful that Christ calls us to Himself and wants to include us in His work. A friend of mine sent me a text with this yesterday and it was so encouraging. "You were called to freedom, but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." Gal. 5:13 God, thank you for my freedom, teach me how to use it to serve more and with more love.