India! What a beautiful beautiful place! It was a country so full of peace and calmness. It was a place so uniquely and perfectly crafted by God.
India was THE place I most wanted to go on the race. I had been dreaming of India since 7th grade. India was the place I thought I’d end up living for a life time. I’ve now been and I don’t know if I will ever go back. I deeply love the people and the scenery. I even love the culture.
But India wasn’t a place of peace or me. It wasn’t calm or joyful. Most of my time spent in India was stressful and overwhelming. I wanted to be there with the people and anywhere else all at the same time. In India, I wasn’t another face in the crowd or another believer in the church.
In India, I was a celebrity. People I didn’t know took my picture while I walked by. They stopped me on the streets and asked for photoshoots. Children wanted my autograph. I was looked on like we look on those who are professional athletes or famous actors or musicians. I was suddenly a celebrity.
I was a celebrity because I looked differently. My skin color told people I was beautiful, smart, and wealthy. My accent told people I had everything they ever wanted and I could fix so many of their problems. In India, I wanted to be invisible. I wanted to hide the beautiful skin God gave me and just be a brother or sister in Christ or a stranger on the street. But I couldn’t.
India was amazing but I dreaded going out. I dreaded the people who followed me, the attention, and the pictures. I dreaded being known. God made me the way I am for a reason. He made me to stand out in India and blend in in the USA. He made me that way for a purpose. I walked through India trying to hide who I was. I hid out of anger because it was often times me they were seeing and not Christ but I hiding myself I was hiding the Christ in me from the people.
I want to go back to India one day. I want to go back and be okay with all the attention. I want to go back and be more like Jesus.
Jesus was followed around by large crowd and couldn’t escape them. Instead of being angry or frustrated about it, “he had compassion on them because they were sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:47). I am not the shepherd but I can point them in the direction of the shepherd and show them his love.
I want to go back to India with a compassionate heart. I want to go back and teach people about the Jesus I know. I want to go back to India and be a celebrity for Jesus.
