Heart Ache in India

The last few weeks have been quite a ride. First it was off to Texas for
a week of fellowship with family and catching up with friends. Got to
sweat in the 105F heat and enjoy the best BBQ in the world from
Franklin’s in downtown Austin, and then swing up to see some family and
friends in Dallas.

Then it was off to DFW for fourteen hours of flying en rout to
Amsterdam, breakfast there, another eight hour flight and we landed in
New Delhi, India just in time to hug everyone and then head for bed.
Throughout the next week we had a fantastic time of debriefing the squad
on their last eleven months and worshiping the Lord and celebrating
what He had done through the trek around the globe.

We got the opportunity to take a six hour bus ride to Agra, where we
saw the Taj Mahal and thousands of people many of whom wanted to sell
us trinkets, clothing, live monkeys or cobras… Just about anything we
would be willing to pay for. Fear not Mother, tempted as I was, I did
not buy a cobra. I feel that customs in the states might not have
appreciated me bringing it through in a basket. It was a really great
experience though to get to see and feel the Indian culture.

What I really could not get over was how many people there were
everywhere. Walking on the streets in Delhi I would expect lots of
people but the reality is even heavier than I expected. You can not walk
three blocks without passing hundreds and sometimes thousands of people
headed this way or that, selling, buying… It is quite incredible. But
the population reality became even crazier when we took the drive to
Agra and literally in every small town or community we passed there were
thousands of people. Not just a small village here or there, but
thousands of people everywhere.

While the traditional idea of India to us back in the states is the
cobras in basket, the fabulously colored saris and dark skinned people
with red dots on their heads, that is not really the whole scope of it.
In fact that really only scratches the surface of what I saw there. One
experience was especially significant.

I was walking home one night with several of our missionaries and a
man approached us as we were buying a bottle of water to drink (the only
way for us to drink water). I knew he was going to beg from me and sure
enough he did, but it was how he did that effected me. In my travels I
have encountered countless beggars and while once in a while the Holy
Spirit leads me to give, usually it is not helping them to give them
anything. Many times they (especially the begging children) are being
run by someone who really ends up with all of the money you give them to
be used for less than healthy purposes. Other times, they have just
become used to begging off of the white people because they know they
can usually get something out of them and this lifestyle keeps them
dependent on begging and does not really help them out of their
circumstances.

As this man approached, I knew from observing him that my giving him
anything would not be healthy for him. But it was heart wrenching to
witness his pitiful begging. He came and bowed to me grabbing my feet
and putting his head as low as he could and pleading for a hand out. I
pulled him up and told him, though he probably did not understand me,
not to bow to me but that I could not give him anything. He continued
his pleas as we began to walk back towards our housing and continued to
try to put himself low to me. It was hard to watch. He was persistent.
usually after several firm “no”s beggars give up but he followed us for
many blocks pleading the whole way.

Now you might think me heartless if you saw the situation from afar
but believe me, my heart was breaking the whole way. I thought of Jesus’
words to give to those who ask you but I could not shake away my spirit
telling me that it would not help this man, in fact it would probably
harm him. Especially after continuing for so long, if I gave in and gave
him something, the next white people he saw might not be able to ever
get away from him as his persistent nagging would have paid off for him
in the past encouraging him to continue. I could also tell that he would
not use the gift wisely and that he was a man that did not have to be
begging if he chose not to.