Leaving India:

So I have begun the total 44 plus hour trip home.  From the time I awoke Sunday morning (which is Saturday night Alabama time) until I arrive at 4:33pm Monday evening (if we make all our connections) I will have been traveling for over 44 hours.  Whew!  What a trip.  The travel is as immense as is the garbage in India.  Take a look at these photos below…they were taken on my drive to the airport of a roadside dump. 

My group has done some processing and we have said India is just a complete overload to ones senses.  There is over stimulation everywhere from crowds, to smells, to noise, to lights, to beggars, etc.  People literally have very little privacy here.  People commonly bath and potty on the street in full few of others.  There seems to be nowhere to go to escape the intense life that is constantly throbbing in India.   As we had to be out of our hotel by 3pm and our flight did not leave until 12:50am we spent several hours at a local mall.  A large mall.  It pumped LOUD music everywhere.  Songs in the atrium, songs in each store, songs in coffee shops and songs in restaurants…all different songs, all loud.  Smells were everywhere…good smells of cinnamon and coffee and bad smells of too much incense and body odor.  SO MUCH BODY ODOR!  And have I told you all how much you are stared at if you are white.  Everywhere you go men and women (but mostly men, as women keep their eyes down a lot) stare relentlessly at you.  They will walk over and stand in front of you to just stare at you.  My frustration with this grew and grew to where by the end I could not have but just stare back with the “What the heck are you looking at?”  gaze in my eyes.  Again one more way there seems to be no solitude in India. 

But there is life.  Despite how different it is from mine people here are living life as full as possible.  The city thrives with life constantly.  People are working here constantly…every spot of land or street or sidewalk is taken up by someone trying to make a living.  Despite the dirt, despite the clamor, despite the injustice (which there is so much especially for children) there is life.  And I will try to see God’s grace in that life.

India can bring out what my group has coined “our ugly American” in us all.  The part of me that wants things my way, NOW.  The part of me that is accustomed to being comfortable and familiar.  The part of me that feels entitled to space and privacy from staring eyes and begging hands.  The part of me that can get more frustrated over my room not being ready when I am tired than the families living on the street corner outside my hotel.  Yes India has taught me more about myself and “the ugly American/Educated/Wealthy/White/Christian” in me than I expected.  It is not such a pretty sight to behold when one comes face to face with their own JUNK. 

India was not South Africa for me... emotionally. South Africa awakened me to the plight of others around me and it helped me see beauty in greater diversity.  It awakened me to the suffering of others in a way I had never experienced and it convinced me that the “Kingdom of God is so much greater than I had ever imagined it to be”.  I felt utterly compelled to come home and to live my life in a way to step further and further into the Kingdom of God.  I felt compelled to serve a church that wanted to look more like the Kingdom of God.  I felt compelled to challenge my life to love God and my neighbor more.  I am so thankful for Africa- where I saw pain and I saw beauty at the same time. 

India is not a new awakening, but a confirmation.  A confirmation that yes our world is not yet what God hopes it would be and yes I am encouraged to continue to strive to usher in the Kingdom in this life.  The statement that I take home with me from India is one the I learned Mother Teresa said regularly: “You can find Calcutta all around the world, if you but have eyes to see!”  I am convinced Calcutta is in Birmingham, Alabama and everywhere else.  I am convinced that it is a part of my call to come closer and closer in contact with Calcutta (the poorest of the poor) in my midst.  I am convinced it is part of my call to help build relationships and bridges between those of us who have with those who do not have enough…and that we are meant to give GENEROUSLY of ourselves and ALL our resources to lift others into a life of dignity that we would all feel good about living.  For me this is what it must mean to love my neighbor. This is what I understand it means to follow after Jesus.  And it is hard and I don’t do it very well yet, but I am convinced I am to spend my life trying …and teaching my children to try as well. 

First Church I have thought so much of the work you have done in the last year with children and the communities in our area. Children and communities that are honestly not too unlike the ones I saw in India.  I am utterly convinced this ministry is life for us.  For me these relationships are the essence of Jesus walking in our midst.  I am so proud to be at First Church and to be continuing to struggle with how to incorporate more and more of the totality of God’s Kingdom and love into our life.  Thank you for giving me this opportunity and for allowing me to be a pastor in your church.  You clearly see my struggles and imperfections but I am so thankful to be walking this journey with each of you!

See you in Birmingham!!!! YEA!!!!

All the beauty and splendor of the Taj Mahal and right outside its large balcony sits a huge river...filled with sewage and trash.  Makes no sense to me...and this river, as are most rivers in India, is a sacred spot where rituals of purification are performed and where loved ones ashes are thrown.

So today we began traveling at 7am and returned to our rooms around 11pm.  It was an incredibly exhausting day…6 hours to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort and then 4.5 hours back.  I felt pretty nauseous all day because of the travel.  And someone has stopped praying for my toilet experiences J after two weeks of mainly rice and soupy curry…I am in need of some broccoli and fiber!  Today I had to pay to use a bathroom (very common here) and the floor was sopping wet…not sure what it was, but GROSS.  I opened a stall door and to my surprise the stall was filled waist high with trash and a rat jumped off the top of it.  I screamed and the guys in my group heard me across to their side.  Needless to say I am ready for some good ole American bathrooms and American food!

I have really tried to embrace the differences here, as I was encouraged to.  I have tried to see beauty in all the experiences.   Yet I must admit that I am overwhelmed by how unfamiliar all of this country and its culture is to me.  I am longing for something familiar at this point.  In the midst of all our political drama back home I am struck by the fact that you have come to a country like this you have no idea how thankful we should be for the government we do have.  We have decent roads.  We have police who actually enforce laws.  Our communities have clean water, trash pick up and animal shelters. Our restaurants have FDA rating and regulations for handling our food.  We don’t have garbage dumps anywhere and everywhere.  We don’t have street vendors bombarding us constantly to haggle for a deal

I am struck by the lack of emotion I have been able to feel.  It has been hard to really sit and think about all I have seen.   I just have the images running through my mind.  It feels almost as if a wall has been built around my heart.  I am numb in some sense by this point.  I need a few days or months to assimilate this experience and figure out what to do with it.

I have heard much about Islam and Hinduism, which has been interesting, but I am missing some Jesus.  I have never experienced that feeling before on a trip like this.  But before have been in places where Christianity is a major religion.  Tomorrow my group will head to a Methodist Church to celebrate World Communion with all of you.  And while it means another early morning and I need sleep…I am not sure I have been so ready to take communion before.  And just the thought of that makes my eyes well up.  I need to experience some beauty and some grace…and while I know God is present and around everywhere here…tomorrow I look forward to experiencing the mystery of a sacrament that transcends place and time…even in India.   And I am betting that in that moment my heart is able to find a safe place to breath deep and exhale some of the stored up emotion that seems locked inside me.   

May we all experience God’s movement in the world tomorrow as we drink from the same cup!  

Finally today we had some plain old FUN!  We went to a mall, a local theater for classical Indian dancing, and then @Live a restaurant/bar.  It was great to unwind and laugh with some good people!  This is Mashed and me doing what he calls the Banabibi dance…Banabibi is the goddess of the forest... who if you pray to her, Muslims and Hindus believe, will protect you from being attacked by a tiger.  Like a rain dance we developed a Banabibi dance in hopes we WOULD see a tiger J  But to no avail 

Where I have been today in New Delhi and what I have seen:

Elephant walking down a major roadway...

India Gate...

Oldest minaret in India...

But this is who I am thinking about and missing!     My family...

Sawyer aka Bro Bro, Booger, Sawyerman...

Georgia aka Sissy, Georgie, Bunny...

And Steve aka...I won't share his pet names :)  

Sunderban:

Me heading to the ridiculously gross toilet on the boat...so gross but my team is so supportive 

 This is our boat and as we get off at our location...

 Riding the boat looking for tigers

 pictures of us playing All in The Family

The only tiger we saw...as a part of a cultural dance for our group!

Rice patties everywhere....we are in Asia.

Do you think you could find tigers in this think of Mangrove trees...we couldn't either.

So even though Sunderban is known as one of the world largest tiger reserves and each year more than 80 people are eaten by the tigers here…apparently the tigers are so elusive that unless you are to be eaten you will never see one L We have seen no tigers even though we have perused the rivers at a agonizingly slow pace (wake speed and slower) for hours upon hours!  All we saw were a few spotted dear, one egret, one kingfisher and one monitor lizard.  Alas we leave tomorrow to head 7 hours back to Calcutta before boarding a place to fly to Delhi…Have I mentioned I am tired of traveling???