Smells Like Bacon

In India, we often joked that Americans smell like meat because when asked to describe the smell of America, people apparently say meat. This was only a joke until, to our surprise, when we arrived at the airport in Chicago it actually smelled like bacon. Weird. Anyways, we have been safely back in America for 2 days now! It’s hard to believe we just spent 6 weeks in India, but it did happen. In the next weeks and even months, we will continue to process what we saw, learned, and experienced. And though we are glad to be back, I think most of us still have India on the brain in some way or another. Some days I find myself filtering America through Indian eyes whereas before, I filtered India through American eyes. I think that just goes to show that G0d gives us the ability to adapt to another culture because we have the universal g0spel to deliver to them.

Before we flew out, we spent a few days in Delhi shopping in the markets, debriefing, and adapting to the real heat, which is similar to South Carolina weather. J Amy Chasteen came to Delhi with us for a few days, and we loved getting to see her! We had a great time talking through our trip a bit, laughing about the funny things (of which there are a lot), and just enjoying each other.

There is too much I could say in a concluding blog post for a six-week trip to a third world country. But I think I would say, G0d has shown himself faithful. He provided for all our needs and has blessed us immensely by teaching us new things and hopefully changing our hearts to reflect His more. Thank you for all your pr@yers and support throughout these past weeks! It was evident that He was holding us tightly everywhere we went. We will miss the place, but our hearts are burdened for the people. For now...

Namaste, India.

Flight info

Parents,
We will be leaving from Delhi in a few hours at 12:30am India time. We are flying American airlines and our flight number is 293. Our flight from Chicago to Charlotte is also American number 285. Sorry for not emailing you, my computer is currently down. See you in the states!

Upward ponderings on the Taj Mahal

Six of us who hadn't been to the Taj Mahal before took a road trip yesterday to see it. Left at 6 AM and got back over 12 hours later. Long and tiresome but definitely not regretted.

Reading Isaiah 40 for my QT on the way there was appropriate: "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.... Surely the nations...are regarded as dust on the scales.... To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare Him to?... He...reduces the rulers of this world to nothing" (v. 6, 15, 18, 23). This I had in my mind while we were there. The yards and architecture is awe-inspiring; but the inside, being just the mausoleum of the Shah and his queen, felt quite empty. "All this for this?" was my thought.

I was seeing firsthand one of the Seven Wonders of the World, standing in person within its very immensity. Then in subsequent thought, the word points me to the "incomparably great power" that is our God (Eph. 1:19, end of Job). Set above all is He. My concept of God's majesty has been informed and greatened by reading Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy:

All our thoughts about Him will be less that He, and our loftiest utterances will be trivialities in comparison with Him.

The Taj was a pretty tremendous thing to see. I can say I've seen one of the most majestic man-made structures the world has to offer. Yet I am left to dwell upon this thought: "What image will you compare Him to?"