Last night
was our last night of ministry
as this World Race collective (whoa).
This last year has been straight up incredible.
I can hardly think of another group I’d like to spend so much of my time around
for almost a year solid.
And it has been quite solid.
There’s a part of me that writes this blog with a heightened sense of hesitant grief.
It is just enough to make time slow down a little bit.
Time to deliberately count your blessings, or what have you,
right before they slip away into my mental backdrop of memories.
This year’s been unbelievable at times and draining at others;
yet, always refining if you let yourself remain teachable.
I can’t help but smile wildly, even in the letting go.
I can’t help but be elated for my return home despite the losses.
According to my God, I have a future and a hope.
Jesus loves furiously and has creativity and an imagination to match;
plus, we’re on pretty good terms (a pretty bright prospect).
So, I have no intentions of being trapped mourning over former glory forever.
But for all of you who weren’t in India, let me paint for you a picture of our days here:
We lived in a boys’ home, occupied by orphans of various circumstance.
Our contacts spoke broken English at best, but always made us feel warm and welcome.
We ate with our hand all manner of rice, curry, carbohydrate, and fried thing.
We slept in our tents and were thus protected from the strangely motivated mosquitoes.
We left our house at around 4-5pm each day.
This is when our ministry started.
It ended as late as quarter to one in the morning (but that was a special case, the norm was 11).
We saw all kinds of healing this month- more than any other month in my personal experience.
We made countless house visits, praying for people and sharing about Jesus.
We saw the lame walk about, grateful and joyful.
We saw demons manifest, cast out, and new life ushered in.
Jesus is so good- all the time.
Apparently some of the police didn’t like what we stand for,
or thought we were high risk and suspect (though here, documented and legal, etc.),
or both (no, really).
We were relocated with one week left in our ministry with urgency by our organization.
The police had interrogated one of our squad members, suspecting we were quite harmful.
To avoid further interrogations, ministry shut down, and political red tape we fled.
Perhaps this is where they coined the title Adventures in Missions, heh.
So we’re all safe and tucked away in a different little village, hidden from our federal friends.
We head to Hyderabad tomorrow to have a most unique Thanksgiving with the squad.
We’ll then have our final debrief (the stuff of legends, surely).
Finally, we’ll touch down at O’Hare at 2:05pm and what a day that will be!
I can’t thank you all enough for your support.
You’ve made this happen: enabled this mode of healing, life, wisdom and joy.
To say thank you on behalf of all the least of these wouldn’t do it justice;
however, it’s all I’ve got.
So, thank you.
Thank you seventy times seven times.
“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8
All photos credit to Daniel Auzenne~
Thanks, man.
