To begin with... a big thanks to Pradeep... not only can we keep in touch, but its great fun too!
Especially good to hear about all the exciting stuff Safina and her parents are upto...!
Well life's been good. Crazily paced for Cheryl, but reasonably so for me. Meeting people and journeying with them has definitely given me a high. Sharing smiles, chais, and bus rides with people has been wow. Lows have been the overwhelming problems that people experience. I find myself crying out to God each night on behalf of someone or the other. Where poverty is the cause for someone's death, I consider myself guilty of homicide. So pretty intense feelings and experiences, but I'm glad we are going through these together (me and Cheryl).
The fact that we can debrief together at the end of the day is a big support. Additionally, family being a phone call away or a metro ride away is also great. Then besides our church we're also a part of a small group of people recently christened "the Eastenders" because all of us intentionally live on the east side of the city across the river (the dodgy end of Delhi) trying to live with the poor. So belonging to this group is great since we tend to discuss very similar struggles like how to respond to seeing a naked destitute man on the side of the road.
Hmmm...
Now could I use this blog to ask you guys to pray for my new friend Nazeem. I was devastated when I heard yesterday that the doctors have given him 3 months to live. Both his kidneys have failed... and he's had a stroke, and lives with a really high BP.
In the night I read that the
I've just found a pearl in Nazeem... can I live the kingdom by selling everything I own... just to buy that pearl?
Please pray for Nazeem and pray for me as I try to be his friend.
Sorry that my first post was a little intense.
Love to all,
Anugrah
2 comments:
I've been thinking about what you have written; it was something new for me.
I have heard the parable about the pearl of great price being interpreted in two ways:
1. Jesus is the pearl of great price, and we should be willing to give up everything in order to 'get' Him.
2. I am the pearl of great price, and Jesus was willing to give up everything to get me.
But this way of looking at it is new to me:
My neighbour is the pearl of great price. Am I willing to give up everything to 'get' him?
This goes along with the other passage that says a man's soul is more valuable than the whole world. (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?)
Very thought provoking and unsettling!
Thanks!
Just a thought I'm thinking...
Scripture becomes filled with life when we use it to make our everyday decisions.
We often interpret scripture so carefully so as to minimize its direct implication on the way we live our lives.
For instance, interpretation 1 - Implication to how I live my life - Give up everything to 'get' him. Well I kinda already HAVE him, so I don't have to do too much.
Interpretation 2 - Implication to how I live my life - Gratitude to Jesus - again not a whole lot of onus on me.
Interpretation 3 - Huge onus, because here there is an actual giving up at stake. And this I believe might be the starting point for spiritual transformation... coz action/obedience works to change me.
Did I confuse your reflection?
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