India Part 2 – Navigating

We arrived in India early in the morning and I was immediately struck by the contrasts of beautiful India. Everywhere I looked something surprised me. I had seen pictures, I had heard stories and yet I had no idea how it would be. My first regret was not packing a really good camera. I knew that I might regret it, but I had not anticipated wanting it so quickly or so often.

Leaving the airport in Delhi the roads were still pretty clear. Then I saw a tractor on a 6 lane highway.

Then I noticed the parking lot full of nothing but motorcycles.

Then I was struck by all the unfinished projects. Concrete buildings halfway up and no one working on them. Big holes dug into the shoulder of the road, lots of dirt, lots of litter and lots of unkempt buildings, yet there were beautiful tropical flowers very purposefully planted along the median of the road. There seemed to be a quiet order sitting beneath the wild chaos. Contrast and color were everywhere, beauty was pushing it’s way out like a bloom among choking vines, but darkness and poverty were doing their best to silence it. In one moment my eyes were feasting on flowering trees in front of a brightly colored building all set against an amber sunrise, the next I was doing a double take, completely resisting the belief that I was seeing three little boys still asleep, legs draped over each other to protect each other in their slumber, just lying in the dirt on the side of the highway.

The driving in India is something everyone should experience. In Nashville we would call it insane, in India I called it navigating. As the traffic thickened leaving the airport I could see that the white painted lines in the road were just part of the decorating and really had nothing to do with where the vehicles were on the road. There also seemed to be no limit as to what could be on the road. Bicycles, ox carts and tractors were traveling among dump trucks, motorcycles and tour buses. There was non-stop honking, everyone with a horn uses it. There were signs painted on the large trucks asking other drivers to honk. No one seemed angry with anyone else, it was just how they got around. There were close calls constantly, yet there were no gestures or yelling drivers. I was surprised at my own ability to stay calm as we pulled up so close to a cart we were almost touching it and honked mercilessly until the little driver moved out of the way. It was non-stop chaos, but again…something about it had an order, a continuous, seamless current that flowed around the city and kept everything alive. I told Kris later that he would probably enjoy driving in India. It felt like I were part of a video game at times, avoiding traps and pitfalls, pushing forward, taking risks and being aggressive. Other times, it felt a little like a ride at Six Flags, lurch, bump, climb, coast and wait.

I soon realized that it was a lot more than roads our team would be navigating. Sometimes our biggest bumps to avoid were each other’s personalities. We were, as a team, as full of contrast as India. Different ages, backgrounds, experiences, tastes and temperaments were brought together to fulfill a task and most of us weren’t even sure what that task was yet. We knew it would involve kids, we knew it involved a church that had a plan to reach those kids and we knew that we were there to serve, but actually fitting our different contours into the plan sometimes took a little effort.

When we got to the hotel the group that had flown directly from Amsterdam were already showered, slightly refreshed and sitting in the hotel restaurant. After a bit of a briefing on our options and requirements we joined them and caught up a bit over a delicious breakfast. They were to go across the street to the church lawn and begin working with the church to welcome the hundreds of children arriving by bus for the “Young Citizen’s Festival.” Our group were admonished to rest and refresh for work later. I felt bad not participating, but was told that Pastor Jeff preferred that we get some rest, so I took my opportunity and found myself relishing the gorgeous room and especially the shower I had long been needing.

As our luggage had not arrived with us, I was grateful that I had packed well. Extra undies, and extra pair of pants and extra socks were VERY welcome to my finally clean self and the t-shirt provided by the church for festival workers was donned with pride. Then I slept.

I slept for two hours and then awoke to absolute bewilderment. Where am I and how did I get here? A nap may have been more difficult to recover from than I had anticipated. I felt dizzy and heavy with tiredness the rest of the day. The tired factor was influencing others as well. I could see the edges of people’s patience making it’s way to the surface and I tried very hard to keep my own frazzled emotions in check. It wasn’t easy. I joined the rest of our group at lunch where we heard about the festival and what the workers had done. Some of our group was suffering from the heat and everyone was suffering from jet lag. Our Indian hosts fed us in the basement of the children’s home (I think that’s what the building was for) and our Team Leader, Chris, asked a few of us to meet him to discuss the evenings ministry plans. I was surprised to hear that the festival was over for the day and that we weren’t needed out in the heat. It actually made me feel guilty that I had not been with our team while they endured the high temperatures, but my time was yet to come.

Chris asked 7 of us to join him in participating in ministry to satellite churches of Grace Assembly of God, our host church. We were to go as two teams of four. Each team had two men and two women. One man on each team was to bring a message and then join the others for alter ministry at the end of service. There was to be absolutely rigid leadership and caution. Safety was an issue as we went out into some unseemly areas of the city. I was in Chris’ group along with my friend Kay and a man named Bill who I only met on this trip. The other team was led by Barry Kidd and other than my friend Deborah, I don’t remember who else went with that team. The rest of our large group were to minister to the children who lived in the children’s home with puppets, crafts, Bible stories etc. I saw pictures later and it looked like they had a great time.

We freshened up and rested once again then prepared ourselves to go to church. I had to borrow a skirt as pants were discouraged. I did have a fresh blouse in my bag that matched (sort of) and I was all set. We piled into a vehicle the church provided, three of us in the back seat and Chris in the front beside the driver. We were on our way on paved roads for quite a while and then suddenly we stopped without any announcement of why and someone started trying to open the back door of the vehicle. At first I wondered if we should be scared, what was going on? I finally realized the man (and his wife) trying to get in the vehicle was to be our interpreter for the evening. I believe Chris recognized him and was able to assure my already hazy mind that this was alright. I actually had to unlock the door for them and they climbed into the car (something like a jeep) as well. I thought at the time that this was a full vehicle. I found out later that I was wrong.

We soon turned off of the nicely paved road and traveled down what looked like nothing more than a dirt ally. How this constituted a two lane road I do not know, but somehow we managed to scoot our way over, around and through until we stopped at a nondescript location and walked around a corner to go to church.

This photo was taken by Chris Clark our team leader as he road beside the driver in the front of our vehicle on the way to the first satellite church on Wednesday night. At this point we were almost to the church if I remember correctly. He posted it on facebook and I STOLE it.

The small room, about 20×20 was painted in a pale yellow, there were people seated on rugs around the room and about a dozen folding chairs set up on one side facing a small podium. On the back wall was a banner and a cross. There was nothing to lessen the heat and I forced myself to overlook the added sweat that movement would bring and joined them in their lively worship. Songs in Hindi were accompanied by a small drum and lots of clapping and a little dancing as well. The voices rang out loudly, though few of the instruments could carry a tune. The smiles all around the room, most of them directed at the big white people who had joined them, were contagious and I struggled to keep my face focused forward and upward so as not to be a further distraction. I felt like a whale in a goldfish bowl, but I seemed to be welcome so I swam as well as I could in the space provided.

The best part was meeting some of the young women in the church. They came for prayer or encouragement and I could see the excitement and admiration in their eyes as they held my hands and asked me to pray with them. I cried a little as I prayed for one young girl who only wanted us to pray for her future. How complicated it must look to a girl in her situation, but how simple it is for a God who rises above it all, creating paths that never before existed for those who are willing to follow Him.

In my tiredness, and this is confession time, I had a bit of an attitude to overcome. I listened to Chris, worked with Kay and Bill and loved that God used us to minister to that little congregation. Somewhere in the mix though, I failed to navigate out of my pride. It clung to me and served to frustrate my own joy in serving. I was in a battle in those moments and prayed as we left that church, as we piled back into the car and as we drove back to dinner at the church. Each selfish thought that rose up I followed with prayer and the amazing and humbling thing was that God was answering through the folks in the car with me, as if they could hear my thoughts. Chris began sharing the journey God was taking him on, building his character as he was striving to heal relationship issues. He started talking about attitude and I just listened, realizing that I could begin right then to heal my own, by not separating myself from these brothers and sister I was working with, but by leaning on Christ in them and what they had to offer. I was frustrated by my own thoughts and how difficult it was to talk to God when I was unconvinced that even my prayers were from a pure heart. Chris began sharing a very similar concept and we agreed that it’s impossible to articulate your way out of an attitude problem. The only way out, is the Word of God. Which is what I dived into as soon as I could.

Over dinner the different groups shared their experiences and astonishment over the places we found ourselves. We soon took our tired selves back to the hotel and a much needed night of sleep. My roommate and I were completely new to one another but our brief moment of discussion found us cohesive and we easily adapted to one another as we approached the next few hot days of ministry in India.

Navigating became a favorite visual analogy for me through the week, veering past obstacles, overlooking close calls, taking risks and moving forward aggressively, all the while focusing on the goal ahead. Seeing the administration of His will for His people is a joy on the journey, but He is the prize.

To be continued.