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  Ok, so let me start out this blog by saying that India is a crazy place. The moment that I stepped off of the plane (onto the tarmac and then into a rickety bus to be driven to the airport) all of my excitement about coming here turned into apprehension, insecurity and straight-up fear. Let’s just say I hit culture shock big time. Cambodia and Thailand were nothing compared to the craziness and chaos that is India. A squad mate who had visited India previously had described it to me as a “vibrant chaos,” and I have found that a pretty accurate description. There is a colorful, vibrant beauty here, but sometimes it is hard to see amidst all of the chaos.

 

“Oh India!” It has become an expression we use daily (multiple times a day, usually) on our team. “Oh India,” we mutter when our feet are black after walking all day, when the water makes us break out in hives, when we can’t sleep because people parade the streets into the wee hours of the morning after a cricket victory, when street vendors practically fall on top of you trying to get your attention, when we aren’t allowed to do our laundry because there is “not enough water” in the hostel, when the McDonalds ice cream machine mysteriously breaks right when you finally get to the front of the line… “Oh India” has become a go to phrase, and nothing else needs to be said because everyone understands (and usually agrees).
 

I think God looks at this country and says “Oh India” too. Maybe sometimes He rolls His eyes like I do at all the craziness and the chaos. But I think God says “Oh India” with a different tone than I typically use; a tone that I desire to cultivate within my own heart.

When Jesus looked down at Jerusalem before the triumphal entry, He mourned for a city that had rejected the One promised to her. He cries out “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” Ok, so India isn’t exactly the Promised Land, but I can hear the same heart-cry from the Lord for this place. I think that God looks at India with the same broken heart and the same longing to gather His beloved children together under His wings.

So I am praying for a change of perspective in my own heart this week. When I walk down the streets and get asked twelve times if I want to be in a Bollywood film, or if I want a trinket for good luck, or if I want to buy a scarf or shawl, or if I want a taxi, I don’t just want to say “Oh India” out of frustration and discomfort. I want my heart to break for a country and a people whose eyes are not yet opened to the transforming love of Christ. I want to see past the dirt, the noise, the smells, and everything else that disguises the beauty of a country created and dearly loved by God. I want to see India with His eyes; with Kingdom eyes that see the hearts of broken people and that desire to bring hope and healing. “Oh India,” I pray you find the peace and hope that only come from the Lord, and that you embrace it and let Him transform you into the image of Himself. “Oh India,” there is Hope for you in His love…