What Goes Around

I start my new job tomorrow. I got a job at Barbarian Gym here in Delhi. I will be teaching aerobics three times a week. I already teach at our house, four times a week. So now I will have three classes at Barbarian also. Way too much if you ask me. So this is how it happened... One of the ladies, who comes to my house for aerobics and use to come to the gym, has a son who works out at Barbarian and is good friends with the owner. So she told her son to tell the owner that they should start aerobics. And since I am a foreigner I seem like an expert. So I went with the son for an interview last week. The area for aerobics is about half the size of my front room. Maybe 6 people could do aerobics. One of the funny things about this gym is that many famous people come to it. When the movie stars are in Delhi, they come. So there are pictures on the wall of all the movie stars who have worked out there. The only problem for me is that I will only recognize Shah Rukh Khan. I ho...

I did it. I crossed over to the dark side. I dyed my hair darker. I would show you a picture but I have a zit on my forehead so I can't. But I like it.

I am thankful for marble floors. They aren't really marble, but some sort of granite, but you get what I am saying. They are so easy to clean. And when you have a dog it is good to be able to easily clean up his messes. Like last night. I had fed Spot some of my left over chicken Korma. It is a bit spicy and quite oily. He gobbled it up. Well I think it didn't agree with his tummy. When it was time for him to come in for the night, I opened the front door and unknowingly smeared poo-poo on the front porch (which is also marble). He had poo-pooed right in front of the door. And it wasn't just poo, the poor dog had loose motion. And now it was all over his hairy bottom. So everywhere he sat would would leave a mark. It appeared he had sat in quite a few places. We decided to let Spot sleep outside for the night and deal with it in the morning. Steve had to go to work so it left me to deal with it. I tried bathing him and scrubbing him clean, but I almost puked...

This is Tajidul. Yesterday Tajidul died in a tragic accident. He was playing on top of a train with a friend when the train started moving. He and his friend were quickly getting off the train when he grabbed an electrical wire. He was electrocuted and fell onto the platform at the train station. He was burned over 90% of his body. A friend went and got his sister who was able to ride with him to the hospital. He lived for about 8 hours in a lot of pain before he died. Tajidul goes to a school that Steve teaches at. The kids in this school are very poor. Many collect garbage for money. Many of them sniff glue to get high. At the school they learn about Jesus and His love for them. Tajidul was learning to skateboard with Steve. The Friday before his death he went with Steve and other boys to skateboard. We didn't know it would be his last time.

One thing I love about India is the flowers. You can buy flowers here for a couple dollars. These flowers were for Valentines Day. Aren't they pretty.

Maybe it is because there are more people here, but it seems that we know of more people who die here than in America. Yesterday a lady died in a bizarre accident. To heat up water for a bucket bath people use an electric coil in the water. Well this lady slipped and somehow got electrocuted. A few weeks ago a child of someone we know got sick and died. Our househelp had a brother in-law die a few weeks ago of a heart attack. People are touched with death all the time. In America I know of people who die, but usually they are old. Here they seem to die early because of sickness or strange accidents.

This morning as I walked to a friend's house for chai, I passed a man on the street. He is always there. Today he seemed to be squatting, maybe going to the bathroom, so I didn't look at him. I just walked by. Then he said something to me. I didn't understand or look his way, but it was probably him asking for help (money or food). I kept walking. I thought to myself, "What would Jesus do if he was walking along like I was?" I doubt he would keep walking. Every day I can be faced with a poor person who needs help. Many of them actually. The presswali (lady who irons clothes) comes to the house and always asks for things. Right now her grown son is sick. He has been sick for over a month. I will probably help her with some money for medicine. But she also wants shoes. She asks me if I have gone to the market to buy her shoes yet. She will look around our house and see lots of shoes or our laundry hanging and she will ask if I have anything to give h...

This is a quote from a book I am reading, Abba's Child, by Brennon Manning. "While the impostor draws his identity from past achievements and the adulation of others, the true self claims identity in it's belovedness. We encounter God in the ordinariness of life: not in the search for spiritual highs and extraordinary, mystical experiences but in our simple presence in life." Now doesn't that make you want to run out and buy the book?

Yesterday was Holi here in India. Holi, also known as the Festival of Colors, is the end of Winter, beginning of Summer. People stop wearing their winter sweaters after Holi. On Holi you throw colored powder on people or colored water. It is a very messy time. For days now we will see pink faced people. Steve is going to be one of them. He went out to play Holi with some kids. He came back with a colorful t-shirt and face. The color does not come out of clothes. A Hindu festival, Holi has various legends associated with it. The foremost is the legend of demon King Hiranyakashyap who demanded everybody in his kingdom to worship him but his pious son, Prahlad became a devotee of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashyap wanted his son to be killed. He asked his sister Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap as Holika had a boon which made her immune to fire. Story goes that Prahlad was saved by lord himself for his extreme devotion and evil minded Holik...

I bought vegetables this morning. Half kg of potatoes, half kg of carrots, half kg of cauliflower, and some onions. It cost me about a dollar. Usually I send my househelp lady out to get them since she is the one cooking. But today she was late so I did it. Now she is cutting it all up to make lunch. So she just asked me where I got the vegetables and who picked them out. If I picked them or if the seller picked them out. I forgot that I should be the one to pick my vegetables and just let the guy give them to me. Because of this, many of the vegetables are bad! She said that they are all bad and dirty. He gave me cauliflower with worms in it, carrots that are a bit on the old side and who knows what is wrong with the potatoes. I was ripped off again! Cheated! Used!

That is the question I was asking myself yesterday. Does God want me to be happy? I don't really think that is an appropriate question because I don't think that is God's main plan for my life. Nope, it isn't. But the Bible does say that God gives us life, life abundantly. I do believe that God's desire is for me to have an abundant life. So why don't I. I'm not content with my life these days. I'm tired of being in India, teaching aerobics, not having deeper relationships with people. No matter where I am I want to have deep and meaningful relationships. But is THAT what God wants for me? Probably not. I know He wants to have a deep and meaningful relationship with me, and yet I don't crave that as much as I crave it of other people (who continue to disappoint me). Oh, that I could be like David who wrote many Psalms. He seemed to be yearning after a deeper relationship with God. Or Paul who was content to be in jail at times because t...