India Trip June 2009

A smell of putrid garbage, mixed with the oily smell of Indian curry fills the air; the ride has been nothing short of a near death experience along the narrow road leading into the ancient city of Latur, India. The many disjointed sounds of a third world culture fill the hot humid air, so humid and rancid that it is difficult to breath at times.
The high pitched beeps of the sea of tiny three wheeled taxis and dilapidated motorcycles, the mechanical chant of a Muslim prayer, the ear splitting squeak of an ox-cart lumbering along pulled by the frail figure of a man, begrudgingly eking out 75 rupees a day in this dark corner of the world.
This is India. 1.1 Billion People, 100 million idols. Spiritual darkness seems to attempt to deftly swallow up all those who willingly succumb to its deceptions. The enchantment of the enemy is so thick you can almost physically feel its oppression. It’s almost as if evil has pasted itself as the norm, but without telling anyone.
Blinded by the thousands of years of tradition steeped in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Islam, and hundreds of other sub-culture syncretistic religions, they are truly “blinded by the god of this world” as the apostle Paul so revealingly described it in the New Testament.
They are masses of people, people who are loved, people who are dear to the heart of God. But they are lost. Lost in a sea of spiritual darkness, they are plagued with disease and poverty, riddled with cultural traditions degrading women to a little higher than a bond-slave, and embracing evil like zombies marching to their grave.
The overwhelming reality of hopelessness is the ever excepted currency of the soul. Children with skin pulled taught over their bony figures and protruding stomach, wide hungry eyes, all in search of belonging in this black hole of humanity. How could you even dare break the mold? Is it possible to have meaning and belonging when you are just one out of so many? Is it possible there could be a pinhole of light in the pressing darkness?
Yes. You see the infinite Love of Christ has no boundaries, no limitations, and no criteria to meet. You can be loved by Him! I can be loved by Him, and yes, the masses within the bulging borders of India can be loved, are loved, by Him. Do they deserve to hear of the One who can calm their fears? Are they worth the trouble to hear of the One who can heal, and truly meet their needs unlike the mute idols they are so committed to serving faithfully every day?
Yes. Without a doubt, if God cared so much to send His only Son as a sacrifice for their salvation, if He shed His precious blood for you and me, then they are not excluded from His reach of Grace. Not only do they desperately need to hear of His love, but we are commanded to go. Our duty to “go into all the world” must be carried out….even in India.