Comings and Goings

At our church each week we have new people stand up and introduce themselves.  We also have people stand if it is their last Sunday with us.  One guy who was visiting stood for both the comings and goings since he was just there a week.  I thought that was pretty funny.

Yesterday we had quite a few new people.  Each year at this time we have people moving to Delhi to either work in the schools or the embassies.  There was only one lady who stood to say it was her last week.  She was returning to Denmark or somewhere.  The pastor said, "We aren't going to let you go."  Then he prayed for her.

As the pastor prayed I started thinking about saying good-bye.  It reminded me of death (which I probably think too much about).  I was thinking about saying good-bye to someone when they are dying.  How the person will be going to a better place (if they are Christians) and how they are happy and ready for the homecoming.  Sure they will miss parts of their lives while they were here.  They will miss people.  But what is waiting for them when they get home is even better.  They have family and friends waiting for them.  The culture is familiar or at least feels more normal.  There is food that is exciting to think about.  So many good things.

And that is what heaven is like.  We have family and friends waiting, but we also have our heavenly father waiting for us.  It will feel like the place we were created to be.  It will probably feel familiar and we will be at home.  And the food!  I bet the food will be better then anything we have ever tasted before.  So many good things!

It is hard to say good-bye.  It is hard for those we leave behind.  All those people who are also wishing they could go home, but it isn't their time yet.  Our home going from India will feel good, but imagine how our home going from this life will feel.... Amazing!

Trafficking and Foot Massages

I think way too much about trafficking.  I guess it is a hazard of my job.  So when I went for the foot massage course last week I started thinking about how easy it would be to trap someone and traffic them.

My friend and I signed up for the course online.  We were sent an email to meet at a specific place and we would be picked up by a driver.  A lady showed up on a scooter to pick us up.  But she could only take us one at a time.  So I sent my friend first (brave of me).  Then I started thinking as I sat and waited.  "What if she is trafficking Sarah?"  "I don't know where she took her."  "We should have gone my tuk-tuk and just followed her on her scooter."  The massage lady came back for me and I got on, trusting that she wasn't going to sell me too.

On my ride to the massage course the lady stopped at a 7-11.  I thought, "She could be in there buying drugs to drug me."  She came back out and we drove on down small roads to smaller roads.  "She could be getting me lost so I won't be able to find my way out of here."

We got to her house where she apparently teaches her massage course and I was glad to see Sarah.  We sat on our mats and were ready for the class.  It was just the lady and Sarah and I.  The lady made a phone call (or received one, I can' remember).  I thought, "That could be the person she is going to sell us to.  She is telling them that she has us."  Since she was speaking in Thai we didn't know what she was saying.

Not too long into our class, three men showed up at the house.  She let them in and gave them water and one man sat down and faced us.  Awkward.  "This is probably the man who is buying us."  Two of the guys left.  As I thought about how they would get us, I thought they probably needed to drug us.  So I stopped drinking the water the lady had given us.  I kept my eye on Sarah to make sure she didn't fall asleep.  And when you are relaxing while getting a foot massage you look like you are getting drowsy.  But I was alert.

Finally the guy left.  She said it was a friend that she hadn't seen in 10 years and he was in town just for the day.  She went back to the massage class.  We finished up our training and were able to leave.  So thankful that we were not sold into slavery.  Probably because I was so alert.  Sarah should thank me.

Foot Massage

Today I went with a friend to be trained in giving Thai foot massages.  It was actually pretty simple.  So we went to this lady's house where she would first show us what to do on one foot of each of us, then we got to practice on the other foot.  We also got a nice little book with pictures to remind us of what to do.  So now I am ready to give massages to people.  It can be my fall-back plan.  If I am ever jobless I can go around offering foot massages.

Hummus

I'm sure hummus is easy to make.  I think you just grind up some beans and add garlic, lemon juice, and maybe some salt and pepper.  Something like that.    Jen, whom I am visiting right now, made some yesterday for dinner.  I should have watched her make it.  But I get to enjoy the end product.  We had it for dinner with other greek food and now I am having lunch of toasted french roll, hummus, tomato, and a cucumber.  Oh the joy of having friends that enjoy cooking!

Oh Indians

We flew to Thailand last night with a plane full of Indians.  It is not surprising to be on a plane full of Indians when you leave from India.  And it is probably 90% men usually.  It seems like many of those people on the plane feel like college students going on a Spring Break trip.  They are loud, having fun, and drinking.

I got irritated with the people around me.  This also happens after being in India for six months.  I am usually at my cultural stress breaking point.  The three men in front of me where probably brothers in their 50's.  They are all quite large.  Most likely they had a bit too much to drink.  So when we were around an hour from landing they wanted more food, but the food service was closed.  So they were giving the flight attendant a hard time and pushing the call button over and over again and asking for food.  Then they said they would have water.  But when the flight attendant brought the water they said they only wanted water with their food so if there was no food they didn't want the water.

I also got irritated that we were in turbulence and the people wouldn't sit down.  Young guys were standing up leaning over the back of their seats to talk to their friends and singing songs.  I kind of wished they would get knocked over. 

The thing with Indians on air planes is that they aren't concerned with safety and there are strict guidelines that all air planes have to enforce.  But how do you make people wear their seat belts?  And people almost always stand up to get their baggage down before we get off the tarmac.  I think they are so use to trains, where you have to rush to get off, so they act the same way.

I like rules.  And I like people to follow rules.

The Body

Last week we were on a spiritual retreat with a group of people up in the mountain.  We were surrounded by lakes.  Beautiful!

During communion one day a friend sang the song, "How Beautiful" which says,
  How beautiful the hands that served
The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth
How beautiful the feet that walked
The long dusty roads and the hill to the cross

How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ

How beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sin and bore it instead
How beautiful the tender eyes
That chose to forgive and never despise

How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ
 

I was thinking about the dead body of Jesus and how the ladies came to put spices on his body.  Even though it was broken and bruised and bloody, it was still beautiful.

While we were at this retreat, a guy drowned in one of the lakes.  He was there with two buddies and they were drinking.  He jumped in and didn't come up.  His family came from Delhi to find his body.  It took 3 or 4 days before the police could snag his body from the bottom of the lake.  I imagined his mother receiving his body and washing him and putting clothes on him.  And how to her, he was still beautiful because it was her son.

Then I thought about the church.  We are the body of Christ.  We are also not so pretty to look at by those who don't know us or those who don't love the body.  But for those who love the body of Christ, the church is beautiful.