Glad to Be Back, But Experiencing Mixed Emotions
Well, it's 2am and I'm up. Jet lag is doing it's worst, as I passed out exhausted around 6pm. I tried to stay awake as long as I could, but to no avail. The trip back was rather grueling, and 36 hours later, I walked into my house around midnight on Friday. I did get to spend several hours in Paris, though. That was cool. On Saturday, I rested and hung out with my family. It is good to be home.
When I have returned from past trips, I have been happy to be back and didn't really miss the area that I had been too. I've appreciated America and all the blessings that we have here. That is changing, however. I am thinking about India and the grinding poverty that I encountered there. India has VERY wealthy pockets, which elevate it on all the global statistics of poverty in the world, but it also has around 800 million people who live in horrible degradation. It really is the tale of two countries.
What is changing in me is a sense of anger over our wealth and waste. We have so much, yet so few doing something constructive with it. I am speaking primarily of Christians here. This is not some rant against the church (that's too easy of a target), but rather, we all need to be doing more. Global travel and communication is so easy now. There is no reason for all of us not to be on the front lines of God's Kingdom work, whether it is locally or globally. The only thing that holds us back is sin, selfishness, and our own grasping at security. When and how will we trust God for the nations? We can no longer send off our missionaries as proxies to do it for us. We must be involved. Marty Duren put up a post the other day saying how we could be involved and he was relatively ignored. I'm going to be giving some ideas this week, I hope, and I expect almost no comments on it either. Oh well, I write for me and the few that want to see change come to a broken world.
India has grabbed my heart. I am tired and weary right now, and I am getting ready for Sunday service. I don't know if I'll be able to go back to sleep or not, but I pray that I am able to communicate some of what I have seen and heard. God is moving in North India and I pray that we join Him. The task is large, but so is our God.
I look forward to your pictures. Thanks for sharing what God is doing.
Posted by: Kevin Bussey | March 11, 2007 at 01:21 PM
Glad to hear you are back safely. The jet lag is tough. Give it about 2 weeks to fully recover. Sounds like the Lord is really speaking to you upon return from this trip. I have been there. India grabbed me a year ago this week, and I have been changed forever since. God Bless!
SAM
Posted by: SAM | March 12, 2007 at 05:56 AM
I was going to say, "Glad to have you back," but actually I was "Glad to have you there." Your reports have been both encouraging and challenging. I've been reading Ron Sider's Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and it has really been a challenge to me. I look forward to your future posts on this.
Posted by: Paul | March 12, 2007 at 09:52 AM
Alan,
I am so glad you are back. I was praying for you while you were away. It is great to hear of how God spoke to you while you were there. Thanks for your heart and thanks for always sharing with the rest of the world.
Posted by: Steve Wright | March 12, 2007 at 10:27 AM