TREASURE THE QUESTIONS

One of the most challenging aspects of a visit to India are the sheer amount of moral dilemmas and difficult theological questions that you cannot avoid. In fact, they almost jump up and smack you around the face so startling are they. Here's one for example: On our final day in Hyderabad I took the team plus Prasad and his friend Annand into a top hotel for an all-you-can-eat buffet as a nice way to round off our trip. For eight of us, including soft drinks and coffee, the bill came to about £85. Good value for eight of us you would think, then Annand reminded us (not with any condemnation) that for the same amount we could have fed close to 500 people in any one of the villages we had been ministering in. Just how do you respond to that?
Here's another one. Along with a few other pastors, Prasad has been faithfully ministering to a group of leprosy sufferers who have been abandoned by society.
We visited their church and gave out packs of curry and rice. If someone had made penicillin available to them in the early stages of infection then none of them would be crippled and in severe pain now. What about this one? On last year's trip I'd experienced a bit of tension in one village from a Hindu temple when we started to pray in the middle of the village- they cranked their loudspeakers up and pumped music to drown us out. What I hadn't expected on this trip was obstruction from a Seventh Day Adventist church, even though they aren't an orthodox Christian group. Relationships between different denominations and different ministries are often difficult in India, and unity even throughout evangelicals is not often seen. We were in a tribal village conducting a worship and prayer service in the open air when the aforesaid Seventh Day Adventists, who don't hold a meeting in that village on that particular night decided to do so and a small crowd of them gathered to use the same strategy that the Hindus had used- make more noise with their loudspeakers than we could with ours. Bryon and I wanted to wander over and have a chat with them but we were held back, Before long the two 'sides' almost came to blows- with us as bemused bystanders.
Family life in India is held in high regard, and we experienced first hand the values of hospitality, ceremony, celebration, respect for elders, and family pride. Even most Christians still adhere to the tradition of arranged marriages and it seems to really work.
Yet India is a land of orphanages filled with children, especially girls, who have been abandoned- often for financial reasons. Our visit to one such orphanage was emotionally draining for the younger members of our team.
Perhaps the greatest mysteries are the ones where we are totally dependent on the Lord. Conversions for example- I understand what goes through someone's mind when they give their life to Christ, at least I think I do, and I preach to Hindus in a way that focuses on the divinity, uniqueness, incarnation, and sacrifice of Jesus. Yet in Asia there are also people converting to Islam. How does that happen? What goes through their mind? Last year for example, Pakistani cricketer Yousuf Youhana who had been a practicising Catholic converted to Islam (He was the only non-Muslim member of the team). Now he praises Allah in every interview he gives. Healing is another great mystery. On my final day on mission last year Sagar got electrocuted, stopped breathing, and was 'dead' for a number of minutes. Crying out to the Lord, our prayers were answered when Sagar 'came to' fifteen minutes after Prasad announced he was dead and seconds before he was carried into a medical centre. On this year's mission, in a tribal village, the team and I prayed for a blind man to receive his sight. In fact we got the whole church- 60 or so people in the same place as the disturbance with the Seventh Day Adventists- to pray for him. The spirit of the Lord was undoubtedly present and our faith levels were high. Eventually the man conceded he could see a small glimpse of light. We weren't convinced we'd seen a miracle, and I don't really think he was either. We're still going to continue to pray for him, and for a girl I'd prayed for earlier in the week who was deaf and dumb. I won't forget the look of desperation and confusion on her face as I prayed for her with seemingly no positive results. I've seen miracles in India, and signs and wonders are certainly as commonplace there as in New Testament times, but on this trip we were left wanting more. Have I got an answer for that? No I haven't, but I believe God is sovereign and faithful, that's enough for me.