Post Trip Thoughts

I don't even know how to begin this entry. My trip in and around Mumbai could hardly be described in a way that would do it justice. The experiences, the emotions, the sights, the sounds, the smells - all these could only be understood by one who is there. For that I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to be there for myself, and I hope that you might have the opportunity to do so yourself one day. I don't have the time, energy, or interest to share with you every detail, but I would like to share with you a few experiences and thoughts that I really can feel God using to shape my heart. I hope that they are a blessing and a challenge to you.

001. New Life - I understand now a little more of what new life is. When Paul writes "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17) it is no trivial matter. New Life is God taking your brokenness - your past history of shame or abuse, neglect and hopelessness - and replacing it with love and purpose and hope. I saw that at Navjeeven. I looked into the eyes of children who have been raped and abused. Who were told and believed they were nothing more than objects of a cruel world. They have visible scars and unseen brokenness. They were beaten and taken advantage of by wicked men. They were abandoned by mother and father. But in every single pair of eyes, there was New Life. God has used good men and good women to take them into good homes. He has poured hope and love into their hearts. He is speaking truth to them that they are worth more than the dirt they once felt they were. They are children of God and are precious in his sight. Oh how shamed I felt to look into the eyes of a young girl knowing how cruel the world has treated her and to think that I do not hold close to my heart the New Life that God has given be by His Grace!

002. The Temple of God - We visited Elephantine Island our last day in Mumbai. We ferried about an hour to this ancient place of temples carved into the rock - temples to Shiva. As I wandered and looked I saw beautiful sculpture hewn from the stone. Magnificent large columns and carvings that must have taken hundreds of years to complete. Throughout the several cave temples phalic shrines to Shiva by a people who believed that appeasing this God would give them blessing and fertility. I thought of the early Christians living under Roman rule. They were surrounded by glorious temples of huge proportion. Temples built of columns just one would take a man 50 years of his life to complete. Amazing sculptures to beautiful and ominous gods. Temples unrivaled by many of modern man's own structure. And where was the temple to this God of the Christians? Where was the dwelling place of this Father we speak of? Not in temples made by man - but in the heart of those who follow Him. I stood among temples long past their days of glory. The beautiful murals a mere memory. The sculpture crumbling. The columns glory fading away. But the home of the One True God lives well inside of those who believe. And not by exclusive invitation - as if the Christian has bragging rights to have God dwell inside them, but by the free Grace that is offered by God to every person. Jesus said himself: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20). And again: "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23). The temple of God may not stand as great monuments of the work of man, but He reveals himself in the beauty of the changed heart.