Yes, its India again, after the last trip in March,i almost didn't get to make it this time, coz i hv just taken over a 6 years old class upon resignation of a teacher. But God is good; boss said ok, so i was freed to go again to this land that's always on my heart and in my prayers... 10 days doing God's business there...
This time involved a lot of travelling ... my old bones got jolted hard on loooong trips, 5/6 hrs at a stretch over hundreds of kilometers of roads.. the 11 of us had split into 3 teams, ministering in old and new territories. The first two days was spent in the hot hot hot south....trying to sleep in enclosed quarters was like steaming in a sauna. Besides nitely preaching at open-air rallies, we put in some time at a drug rehab centre and a home for old folks and unmarried single mothers; my heart was pierced to the core by the sight of babies and kids of these abandoned young females rejected by family and society. In the face of such hopelessness, I can only bring them a message of the God of hope who loves them even if no one else does...
Moving up to Bangalore,the weather thankfully improved a lot, as it is some 3,000 ft above sea level, thus accounting for refreshing cool breezes thru out the day. It was my first in this large mod and relatively clean city; even the slums were quite decent compared to the one i saw in Mumbai. I was assigned last minute to preach to a class of young bible school students... wondering wat on earth to say to a bunch of people who knew much more than me about theology, doctrine and all that stuff.. but God showed me that its not what i know that matters ; its wat He puts in my mouth that can move even the most seasoned student to tears ..i simply shared with them the vision i had gotten in one of the earlier church services i had preached at,of a bloody cross over India.. the message was clear that God was calling forth His people in India to sacrifice as Jesus sacrificed and died for India. It was a sobering message, but one which assured victory for the blood of Christ is the good news of salvation to all. As the pastor told me later, it was a most appropriate message, in the face of growing persecution of the church in many parts of the nation..
Another day of travelling after leaving Bangalore for a small town in Dharmapuri really taxed the body. On the lighter side, we had time to spare for a short (if you call 2 hrs short) trip to the famous Hogenakkal waterfalls outside the town. It was quite an experience, not just admiring the vast expanse of falling waters, but also ogling the male species who were publicly being massaged with shiny oil all over the place. The oil massages are apparently available for ladies as well, which obviously, none of us were keen to try!!
Workwise, we had to contend with rain at the nite rallies. During 1 session, the small crowd squeezed into an empty lorry parked near the rally grounds; as the rain drizzled on, the men ingenously rigged up a make-shift tent with a plastic sheet stretched over 4 poles, and everyone simply gathered under it ; even in the rain, there were people with open ears and open hearts... But the session that really amazed me was when some of the people who came forward to receive Jesus,after hearing the Word of God preached, simply started crying... and i knew, indeed, i could feel, the very presence of God's Holy Spirit in our midst... it was totally awesome,i myself ended up in tears as i prayed over them. Some would be quick to dismiss it as mass hysteria, or emotional hype, but i know it is not. The team had prayed daily for God to move, and in that rally, He had answered in a very real, tangible and mighty way.... i m so so blessed to be at the receiving end...
This is the 2nd time i hv seen people - non Christians - reduced to tears, for no apparent reason. The first had happened just last month, when i was ministering at the KL street-feeding one Sat. We had spent some 20 minutes just worshiping God with songs of praise, when a young man, who had been enthusiastically dancing away at the beginning, suddenly sat down and started weeping; and to my own surprise (and i would add,embarassment) ,i found myself crying along in full public view , tho we had not exchanged 1 word even...
i knew then the overwhelming touch of God on the human heart is very very real, i understood then what i had only been reading about in books that detailed how people can just come running out of pubs in England or supermarts in America,leaving everything undone, and heading for churches where services were being held, to fall down on their knees at the altar and cry out to God. I had wondered, did it really happen that way? And can it happen in these days? I hv prayed ever so desperately God, won't You move once again to touch hurting hearts in our world today... Well, God answered me very definitely... Yes, it did,yes, it can, and yes, He will..again. Praise God He does not give up on humankind, tho many choose to give up on Him..for such is His promise...
"Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, they are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness... The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.." Lam. 3:22-25
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