Forgetting

 

This is an image from the powerful movie:

 

Slumdog Millionaire

 

The film tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of ,’Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

 

The journey of his life on the way to the game show depicts what life is like for an orphaned kid growing up in the slums of India.

 

I absolutely loved this movie. 

 

But I hated that I had forgot.

 

In August of 2008, in my last World Race journey, I had spent a month in New Delhi, India.

 

During the month there, we lived in a poor neighborhood surrounded by everything from Indian middle class homes to whole families living in a trash dump.

 

 

We also visited a local Christian orphanage daily and some spent time at a leper colony. 

 

These were a few of the beautiful faces at the orphanage:

 

 

Besides these two images I have shown you, I saw things I thought I would never forget. 

 

A mom scrounging through a trash heap to try to provide for her family.

Rickshaw drivers who peddle people around in 100 degree heat for 20 minutes – just to make 10 rupees (25 cents). 

The conditions that over 100 or so orphans we visited lived in.

 

 

Being told that women would use babies that aren’t theirs to get money from people. And that the kids begging were actually being pimped out and wouldn’t see any of the money – And then struggling as to what I should do to help them.

The awful smell that seemed to be everywhere.

The desperation on people’s faces and in their voices as they asked for help.

 

But here I was about a half a year later

Watching this movie in a comfortable theater in American

And what I dreaded might happen, had come true

I had forgotten.

 

The movie was such a perfect depiction of life in India.

And as the images of the movie flooded across the screen.

The images of my time in India flooded across my mind. 

 

All it took was a half of a year back in the States and I was already forgetting how the rest of the world lived. 

 

One of my favorite quotes is:

“It’s not that the rich don’t care for the poor, it’s that they don’t know the poor.”

 

I remember praying loudly on the way home from the movie:

“Lord, don’t let me forget! Impress those experiences in my heart and mind. Make my life count for the ‘least of these’, for the widow and orphan! Don’t let me become numb. Somehow make my life count for them!”

 

This season of life has been hard for me because that is not place He has me for now. And I have had to settle for financial support of people and ministries.

 

But I am praying that God uses this next year on the World Race to impress these things even deeper on my heart and prepare me in the future for an even more radical life of helping those in need.

 

So – Two Final Things:

to helping the least of these, widow and orphan. And what that looks like in my life.

 

 With the Race in January 2010

By clicking Here.