Now that we are in the purposed city I am using this phrase a lot. Our attitude is one of intentionality. Much of our intentionality, oddly enough for me, is found in hanging out in the malls here because this is where the young, college-age students flock to. You can pick them out by their Westernized dress. Often they are even the ones to approach us. We just make ourselves visible. We worked our way onto our first college campus today too.
But there is such a disparity between stepping off the street and its cow filth, mud, and the rubble of disrepair, and into malls that rival our very own.
Last week we went to Ujain, the city of temples. Entry wasn't unlike the State Fair -- handrails that corral you in line -- for hundreds of thousands of Hindus come through this temple annually to pour milk and throw marigolds (which they must buy from the temple salesmen) on the Shiva idol. Imprecatory psalms came to mind as we pr@yerwalked. As I am told, they have never been told inasmuch to do so; no code of how to worship. They come because they have always come; they bow down and kiss the filthy floor because that is what they have seen other do. If they come to this temple on a certain day of the year or on a full moon to do the ritual, then they are pretty much guaranteed to have positive karma and move up in the next life. "Their land is full of idols;" in innocence (relative to Rom. 1) and ignorance "they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made" (Is. 2:8).
They really love the H.S. here. He is not, as Francis Chan pointed out, the "Forgotten God" on this side of the world. For us in the West, faith is hard because we have a logical, scientific explanation for everything. They don't here and so rest much more upon faith and are sensitive to the Spirit. Many lives are transformed by JC here because, in ways illogical to us Westerners, prayers of faith for healing to the very Healer Himself, He indeed answers.
Our perhaps overzealous celebration of July 4th
Cute as they may be, but don't mess with these little B-29's.
No comments:
Post a Comment