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| Bangalore |
In traveling for AIM, I've
learned that a mission trip is the perfect
opportunity for God to turn your world upside down, and I have had the "privilege" of experiencing the feeling myself. It will wean you of the addiction to technology and artificial
"social networks."
By spending a week eating, sleeping, and living in close quarters with
those that were serving beside me revolutionized how I related to others, it
broke my attachment to emails, texting and cell phones, because I realized
that in those exchanges I was longing for something deeper.
Fervent prayer can cure you of your obsession with endless
knowledge and dead orthodoxy. I didn't need to read another book about
spiritual discipline or participate in another program. I got to live it. Since
prayer was a means of survival on the trip, I actually experienced the Father's heart and walked
away a different person.
In India,
the abundant joy of the people we were serving helped displace my cynical
worldview and general distrust of others. Laughing and praying with them restored
freedom to my faith and chased away a snobbish uncertainty of the church.
But when I returned home, I didn't know what to do. How is such an experience maintained,
I wondered, and should it be?
Everything felt weird and uncomfortable; some things seemed even ridiculous (do
we really need 100 different kinds of breakfast cereal to choose from?).
I believe we
need to "fast" from our culture. We take so many things for granted -- like
countless choices of places to eat out, much less the fact that we'll actually
have food in our bellies each day. While a missions project is just one means
of this, even so, the "fast" is crucial to our spiritual growth.
When
we stand together with others in need, we learn that real life can't be
contained, distributed, and purchased in mass quantities at your local grocer.
The real kind of life that
we're looking for is a “narrow road” that few find. It's the sort of thing that
you need to really search for, and when you find it, it demands everything of
you. You sell all that you have for it. And as you lose everything that seems
to be your life, you gain what
is most important -- your soul.
Now, please don't misunderstand, I'm happy to be back where I can understand the language, drink and bathe in clean water, and soak up the air conditioning, but
part of me longs for the "not normal." Because
it seems that God works most powerfully when I'm out of my comfort zone, being
stretched. I don't know how to do this without going on a journey that calls me
to sacrifice and surrender.
A
mission trip helps you do that. It reminds you that your agenda isn't always
God's agenda. You end up feeling like a whole person. I
don't know about you, but I need more of that in my life--more of my world
getting turned upside down. I need to remember that Jesus' definition of
abundant life looks more like dying or being "battered" than
it resembles a perfect resume or portfolio.
And I need to remember that feeling a bit messed up after
such an experience is a good thing. It means that I was not made for this
world. It reminds me of a story I heard years ago in Sunday School about a
mustard seed and a tree, and a kingdom that was coming.
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Jewels of India
"Changing Lives, One Child At a Time"
Just a reminder that you are cordially invited to our "Jewels of India" Fundraising Banquet this August 4, 2012. It will begin at 7 pm, and will be held at "The Pines" on 110 E. Lakeview Rd in Stillwater, Oklahoma. So if your in the Stillwater area please stop by for a meal and an opportunity to hear about what God is doing in India through Asia International Mission. Look forward to seeing you!
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Prayer Requests
Pray for our ministry partners who deal with issues of
bribery in their country. Ask that they would have wisdom and creativity to
respond to the demands made of them.
Pray for a great
revival to spread across India
and around the world.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will speak clearly to the people and that many
will turn to the Lord.
Asia International Mission is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry.
All gifts are tax-deductible and 100% of donations are used as designated
