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*Quick Update: I and the rest of the January 08 squad have safely arrived in New Delhi, India. Our plane arrived around 7 p.m. of the 26th. Right now, we are in the middle of our debrief with our coaches Michael and Kathy Hyndes.

Debrief time ends on August 1st and then we will begin our ministry time here. We will be all-together as a squad and will be working at an orphanage and a leper colony assisting a local missionary here in New Delhi.

I would greatly appreciate your prayers. We are under constant attack from the enemy and the heat, bugs and culture have been very difficult to adjust to. I will have Internet connection and I look forward to giving a picture of what the Lord is doing here in India.

 
 

My life situation and a couple recent movies have caused me to be especially contemplative. It started after we watched a movie called, ‘Into the Wild’ on the way to Johannesburg. It’s a movie about a young rich kid growing up in America.

After he graduated from college he got rid of all his money, credit cards, social security card and left to travel around the states. With the eventual goal of living in the wilderness of Alaska. And that’s exactly what he does. He reaches is goal but dies in the wilderness of Alaska at the age of 24.

He was rebelling against materialism and the numbing effect of western living on the soul. He was striving to find purpose and male initiation.

And so he died at the age of 24 but in so many ways, he LIVED more then many other people.

Some people live long lives with all the food and money they will ever need. They physically live longer but in reality the never really LIVE.

So wouldn’t it be better to actually LIVE even if only for a brief time then to live for a long time.

It all ties into “losing your life so that you can save it”. Which is something a guy named Jesus talked a whole lot about.

In ways I don’t even realize I am constantly trying to save my life. Holding onto my false self. My small self. And even though it’s so fragile and so fake, it’s all I have ever known. And so I cling to it with all its sense of security and entitlement.

But in my heart of hearts I long to abandon everything like Alex did in “Into the Wild” and like I know Jesus is calling me.

Wouldn’t living in a community like Mama Rita’s and just having my basic needs met, not worrying about things or desiring things I don’t need be exactly what my soul needs? Being free of materialism and having my selfishness constantly stripped away and held in check. Wouldn’t that be freedom?

Wouldn’t that be LIFE worth living?

Like I say a lot. Being Mother Theresa isn’t impossible – it’s just hard.

And yet even though I say that, I find myself clinging to life, as I know it. Scared of sacrificing everything that has been life to me for so long and has at least been a part or mixed in with the LIFE Jesus has bringing me into these past 4 years.

I think that movie struck with me because I realized not only the beauty in simple living but the TRUTH in it.

And so my soul awakens and my heart beats with desire to live a life completely abandoned to God. Free from all the trappings of comfort, security and entitlement. But then the enemy reminds me of the difficulty of losing my life and the pain of the death of everything I have ever known.

Will I ever have the courage to let my small self die; the false self fade away and step into the LIFE Jesus is calling me to?

I sure pray so.