My team is becoming famous in Andrah Pradesh, India. We have been on television four times and pre-recorded for another appearance in December. We have been in the newspaper at least twice as well as other print publications. Yesterday we met one of the state senators and were invited to have lunch with him. We are in high demand as people continue to call and ask our pastor to bring us to their homes, villages and churches. Besides constant stares, often we will look up to find people pointing cameras and phones in our direction.
This morning we gathered around the TV to watch and laugh at ourselves singing and preaching for a television program of the ministry we work with. After it was over Helena and Amanda had cell phones handed to them to pray for people who had called to ask for prayer.
I often laugh and say "If only they knew how terribly unimportant we are in our own country!" But something our pastor said in our first few days here has stuck with me. It was after we had been ushered to the front of a crowd to sit on red velvet seats at some sort of celebration. The last will be first. That we are bestowed honor because of the God that we serve. Sometimes it doesn't work like that, sometimes His children are persecuted and downtrodden. But sometimes it does. Joseph and Daniel were intimate counselors to foreign kings, ruling over countries not their own because of the wisdom bestowed upon them by the Lord. Although Paul was eventually killed, he met hundreds of important people, including Caesar, because of His relentless dedication to the Gospel.
Our "fame" is humbling. Sometimes I worry that people asking for prayer think I have something different or greater than they do. Sometimes I get annoyed when people yell "America!" or slow down their motorcycles to gape as they drive by. The other day someone yelled "Send greetings to Obama!" from a bus. Sometimes it is frustrating, no matter how cute they are, when I cannot even sit on the porch outside without multiple children yelling "Lydia Miss! Hello! How are you!"
I honestly do feel famous sometimes.
And here's what I've learned from it all. The moment I step out of my room I am under scrutiny. People are looking. They might look initially because I am white, but they keep looking because of the God I serve. As a Christian it isn't my job just to present Jesus when I am preaching or singing, it is my job to represent Him in every action I make. Every little thing counts.h
I urge you to know that people are watching you as well. Every action you make either proclaims Jesus or denies Him. You might be in America, surrounded by people who look and sound like you, but if you are a Christian, there is something different about you, something people will notice. And if there isn't, there should be. You have been given honor, importance and status because of what you believe. Because you are a child of a King. THE King. Act like it. Always.
