Lucknow

Bathing Where you Can, originally uploaded by harrystaab.

I've just arrived back in Mussoorie from a project trip to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. I traveled with a small EMI team by taxi to Dehradun, train to Delhi, and train to Lucknow. In Delhi we met with two volunteers, a Canadian architect and an engineer from Colorado. I wanted to share with you a little about my experience so here we go.

The trip did not begin well. When I woke up the first morning in Delhi I was feeling far from well. I skipped breakfast and found myself releasing the contents of my stomach from my mouth. I spent the entire day sleeping. Any attempt to get up and walk made me dizzy. My entire being ached. I missed out on a day of sight seeing and my first meeting with our new friends was simply "Hi, I'm Harry. Nice to meet you." Back to sleep.

Fortunately, my health improved the next morning and I was able to join the team for our ening meeting at Safdarjung's Tomb. Though still feeling a little less than par it was great to get out of bed and see the city and get to know the volunteers. It is so cool how God pulls people from different backgrounds and places in life to come to strange lands to aid in His Kingdom. God is cool. We wandered around Delhi a bit, saw Red Fort, and caught our train to Lucknow.

I slept most of the way and the rest of the guys stayed up talking and reading. About two hours before our arrival a bit after midnight, I joined them. I learned our architect Kelly was a SketchUp guru, a beta tester since before it was bought up by Google. Martin enlightened us to the workings of the Denver water system. We played pictionary telephone and had a jolly good time. We arrived, packed ourselves into an SUV with little wiggle room, they had three young guys come pick us up so it was a bit tight with us and our equipment.

We came to Lucknow to aid a ministry with their latest facility in Lucknow. I had already met with the leader with my team leader a few weeks previous. A visionary and a dreamer, Isaac shared with us big ideas for their new place. On their 1.5 acres they wanted to host and teach 100 full-time students and for the campus to host monthly conferences up to 500. Prayer and worship were at the center of his heart. The site is flat and in the middle of a semi-suburban village district in Lucknow. I was simply ecstatic to see it had a definite boundary with walls and legal documentation! Currently, they operate out of a small 3 bedroom building that existed on the site to teach 6-10 students who come for monthly and yearly training courses.

Work work work, we wasted little time to get started. It was exciting to work with Kelly and Matt and we jumped straight into SketchUp, quickly generating massing models. I am never a fan of group projects but this was great! I learned a few new tricks, too and was very happy to hear Kelly affirm that I was well on my way to SketchUp mastery! Not much to talk about the week really so I'll skip a few days to Saturday.

Isaac Shaw came to visit to look over our work, answer new questions, and to comment on how we should continue in our design. He loved the work, blah blah blah. Skip the meeting.

Then he shared about his personal experiences with the Living God. Mmm. He talked about as he has been preaching the word for over 25 years now that he has been learning to preach to himself. To always fill his heart with God's Word and Truth. He talked about a British pilot shot down over Czechelslovakia in WWII. He was tortured and beaten to weaken him. He was determined that no matter how they try to destroy his body they could not destroy his heart. He walked 8 miles on a fractured leg. He was put up to the firing squad 3 times and never killed. He never lost hope and the Nazis never wounded his heart.

He shared about his quiet times with God - meditating every morning on the Word. Deliberately going through one word at a time. "The Lord is my shephard." The - the one, the only, absolute. Lord - Elohim, Alpha and Omega, The One True God, The King. Is - not was! not will be! right now and always. My - not my mothers, not some one elses, my personal friend and God. Shephard - not my hunter, not my teacher, not my landlord! My shephard who leads me! The verses he meditates on in the morning he will repeat through the day. Anytime he is reminded, he prays them to himself. It was quite like the repetition in the mantras of Hinduism, but a meditation on the Word of the King.

He talked about how as he has grown older he becomes even more acutely aware of his failure, his shortcomings, his sin. How he desperately needs to be sustained by the Truth of God. How important it is for even him, a righteous man by worldly standards to cry out to God in desperation for love and peace and affirmation. He shared of how the last 20 minutes before he falls asleep are the hardest times for him, when the mistakes of the day are all brought to light. He supposed that men in these times turn to drink, to drugs, to sex and pornography because in these times they are weakest and need outlet, a distraction, filling the hole in their hearts God placed inside each one of us with the things of the world. How important in these weakest times that we still press closer to God with all our being!

He shared about the religions of India. "My people perish for lack of wisdom." He shared about his mentors who were many and I hurriedly wrote down their names to research. I will share them with you though I don't know much of any of them.

Dick Lucas
Dr. John Stotter
David JAckman
Alec Mateir
Alexander and Robert Duff
Sadhu Sundar Singh
Bauth Singh
Zachariah Forman
Ian Bowns
Rev. John Hyde

I look forward to learning of them and I hope you consider googling them. Let me know what you find!

The next day (Sunday) we had two worship services. One for ourselves in English, praising God with some mp3s and a lesson from a podcast. Then in Hindi with the guys at the center. We were invited to share a song as well. We were happy we weren't asked to preach the Word on spot.

That day we wandered around Lucknow. We went to Sahara Ganj, a very nice mall and had KFC. Chicken never tasted so good after an entire week of rice and dal! We arrived to the begging hands of a woman and her daughter. Unable to look away, I gave the woman a rs 50 note - an average daily wage. She barely looked at it and stuck her hand again to me for more! I was shocked! I wanted to take the money back I was so upset. But I know God blesses even the ungrateful sometimes.

Then we wandered a market area. Much different from the modern, clean, gaurded mall. The streets were lined with vendors and shops. We stood out like a sore thumb, not another foreigner in sight. Everywhere we were met with stares, some of curiousity, others of disdain. What can you do but smile back and bobble your head like an Indian.

Then to Imam Bara. A huge mosque and a tourist attraction their were hundreds of Indians, some tourists, some Muslim pilgrims. It was interesting. As we approached I saw a man beggin on the ground. He had no feet. His hands outstreched. It didn't surprise me that no one else in the group saw him. I quietly walked back to him and crouched beside him. Rs100 was his. My heart would not be calloused from the ungrateful woman that morning. He put his hands together in thanks and pointed to the sky. How desperately I wished I could tell him about Jesus. I touched his shoulder and looked into his eyes. I wonder how many people simply drop a coin in his hand and walk away. On the way out I saw his crutches leaning against a wall around a corner.

We toured some more, seeing The Residency, the site of a rebellion in 1857. Only ruins and a gravesite remain of the British compound. Many missionaries were among the killed in the months of fighting. It was interesting to think how victory and defeat always have two perspectives...

That night I stayed up talking with Sunil, a young guy who is now a teacher for this ministry. He shared about his story, his family. He came to know Jesus through a radio program. He was looking for Bollywood tunes and came across a Christian radio program. By the hand of God his hand stayed off the dial for its entirety and he became determined to learn about this Jesus they spoke of. He wrote the producers and received a New Testament and other material. He put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. A young Christian man in a Hindu family, he struggled for acceptance and to share this new life with his father and mother. After a while they accepted his new beliefs. One day he challenged his father. "You put your trust in idols that have no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no nose to smell, no tongue to speak. You trust them to take away your sins. Why not put your trust in Jesus and see if His power is greater?" He accepted the challenge and soon after accepted Jesus into his heart. He could not deny the True Power of the Living God. Now his entire family is saved and is active in their community.

Oh how my heart ached as he shared. How desperately I long for my father to know Jesus. He is not a myth. He is not a great teacher. He was not just a good man. He was the Son of God sent to save every single one of us from the sin that keeps us from God. I do not worship him for a feeling. I do not follow him for adventure. I do not trust in him simply because I fear death. I trust and believe because he has come into my heart and changed my entire being. Where I was once a sinner lost in pornography, searching for acceptance from man, cynical of a screwed up world, desperate for a father's love, finding prestige in good grades and high position. I am no wholly redeemed by the God of the Universe who came down to this screwed up, undeserved world, saw me in the crowd gathered to watch and mock Him as he was raised upon the cross, looked into my heart and said "I want to save you!" I don't deserve anything from God. He set a standard and I fell so short. There is no thing I could ever do that would make me right before Him. But he saved me! He has changed my outlook on life, how I look at others, how I see the world. It has challenged my dreams, it will shape my future. I weep for the world that does not know the Grace and Love of Jesus!

If you do not know Jesus, if you think that Christianity is just another "religion," another way, then I challenge you, I beg and I plead and I pray that you will give it just one chance, if only one. Read just one gospel. Ask Jesus and challenge Him to live up to His promises and even to come into your heart. He will answer! My God does not stay hidden from those who seek Him.

I had a dream last night that my father met Jesus.