A national law against Christianity or converting to any religion, churches
being bombed, and rebel groups actively seeking Christian pastors with only
one intention; killing them. These are all realities here in Nepal. As you
can imagine, our ministry contact Pastor Reuben Rai lives in a state of
unrest because of things such as those, especially with a wife and two
children at home. For Reuben, his family and all the members of Churches
Network Nepal, persecution because of Christ is a part of their daily
lives. "God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the
Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and
persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against
you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a
great reward awaits you in heaven." Matthew 5:10-12. Even though those are
more than just words, it is still a big pill to swallow while still here on
earth.
Nepali people are raised in a culture of showing little to no emotion
except joy. This means no matter what is actually going on with a person,
they have been raised to smile and act joyful. As world racers, we were
instructed on our first night here to never cry in front of crowds of
people, it is inappropriate and offensive. Nor were we to touch and be too
playful with anyone of the opposite gender when in public, again,
inappropriate and offensive. These rules weren't drastically different than
India therefore it wasn't a difficult task for us to abide by these rules.
Our month goes on and as most of you have read in my blogs we had the whole
mountain experience and some fun stuff along the way. The last 12 days in
Nepal we were to help Reuben and Churches Network Nepal host a bible
college for about 20 students. Our duties were to make sure the food was
prepared to feed them and to teach a computer class to the students. The
students however had worship first thing in the morning and last thing at
night. They also had bible classes and and several other subjects to be
studying for. As it turned out, our second to last day teaching we were
given a break from our normal duties to take an afternoon with the students
and clean the four story church building from top to bottom. This was
really fun because we had a chances to just talk with the students and
spend some time getting to know them while we cleaned.
Of course we didn't realize this also meant we would be eating with the
student that night and worshiping with them. It was actually really neat to
see how a group of Nepali believers worship. Reuben had asked us racers to
pray for the country of Nepal and for the youth and for the students. This
is nothing out of the ordinary in the world race lifestyle. But as we began
praying, the student, nearly all of them, begin weeping. As we understood
it, this was supposed to be inappropriate, but sometimes God just moves you
so much all you can do is weep in His presence. Then we were a little
excited to see Gods presence so strong in the room. "But let the godly
rejoice. Let them be glad in Gods presence. Let them be filled with joy."
Psalm 68:3.
But then, Reuben asked us to pray for him because of the things in the
first sentence of this post. We had never seen this man anything but joyful
and playful and joking, but as soon as the prayers began, Reuben cried out
into the darkness of the room and sobbed with his students. Sometimes it
takes to uncontrollable sobbing on a man of God to get the attention of 7
American kids. All this talk about persecution, danger and hardship became
a reality for us in an instant. I don't think we had ever prayed harder
collectively than we did in the moments of Reuben's crying.
OK, so that is the story. Are you ready for the God moment? As we are
praying for Reuben, his ministry and the church, we asked for this church
and the students in the school to be the light of the Kingdom in this dark
country. Fancy this, the power comes on and the church is the only building
with light shinning out of its windows on the whole block. BOOM!! Back in
the states, things like that are called coincidence but out here in the
places where God is still loved no matter the cost, those things are called
miracles. He is not dead, He is alive! Have faith and seek after Him and
you will see how He is the same God yesterday, today and forever! I ask of
you who are still reading if you could add this to your prayer list and
maybe even check out Churches Network Nepal online and see what is going on
here.
As He leads me,
Jason
