First Hello from K-town

I don't have a tremendous amount of time for an update, but just wanted to say hello, I made it here safely, and so far things have been wonderful. For which I am very thankful.

The trip was pretty decent, if really long. Here's the highlights:

-Individual touch screen monitors makes a 15 hour flight much easier and seemingly shorter. However, 3 movies in 15 in hours is too many. Not doing that again.
-Good conversations with some fellow passengers, most of whom were heading home to India instead of visiting.
-I had a nine hour layover in Delhi, during which time I managed to ride a bus that broke down, sleep in about 7 different parts of the airport, and have my passport and ticket checked about 27 times.
-Mexican omelet on a domestic Indian flight. Wow. Amazingly, it was pretty good.
-Watching the himalayas in the sunrise on my flight. Incredible.

It's been a fantastic couple of days. We've been seeing some of the city, getting to see a few different ministries here, and meeting some fantastic folks.

Currently up early because the jetlag wouldn't let me sleep, but I'm thankful that I seem to be slightly more awake each day. Today we get to explore some more of the city and go to orientation at Mother Teresa's ministry.

Time for Trusting

Deuteronomy 1:31 ...and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.'
...
33 who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.

About to go get on an airplane to the other hemisphere. Feeling pretty excited, nervous, joyful, unready, and blessed. Prayers appreciated.

Go. Set. Ready.

Orientation in Vancouver was lovely. Fantastic to spend time in community again, to learn more about what I'll be doing in India, and hang out with a bunch of fantastic folks who are also interested in moving into the margins.

Also, the whole thing was just affirming. I may not have everything figured out yet, but it's good to feel that at least this step is right.

However, that sense of affirmation was tied to another strong feeling.... that I am not at all ready for Kolkata.

Everything I gather points to it being a hard place. Not that I didn't know that. But I kept hearing (and continue to hear) of overwhelming poverty, stifling weather, continuous noise and smells, and oppressing spiritual darkness. I am not ready. I am never going to be ready.

If we wait until we are ready, we are never going to go.

As Mark Batterson has been known to say, we need to switch from "Ready. Set. Go." to "Go. Set. Ready."

God uses the unready. The weak, the meek, the foolish. And God calls us to go, regardless of our readiness. So what are we waiting for?

PS
I did go backpacking in the Olympics. However, I didn't make it to the lovely beach area previously mentioned... as Port Angeles doesn't run any buses on Sunday. Boo. However, I did hitchhike into the mountains and had a pretty fantastic time camping anyways. Yay! Although, it did snow on me, and I picked up a wee bit of a cold.

Orientation Extrapolation

I'm off to orientation in Vancouver for a couple of weeks, followed by a side trip to visit some fine folks in Victoria and then some backpacking in Olympic National Park.

Looking forward to learning more about what's coming, meeting people who are exploring similar journeys to my own, exploring Vancouver, spending time in community, seeing some old and new friends, and other unforeseen goodness.

Oh yes, and camping here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel_nature/3124429102/

Entrusting Myself to the Updside-Down Gospel

In case you aren't yet aware, I'm planning on spending the next 3 years living in a slum in India. I'll be living incarnationally with the poor and as much like them as I am able. I'll be trying to become a real neighbor and friend, and trying to do my best to love my neighbors.

I wish there were an easy way to explain this choice. But I'm failing to come up with one, so here's just a few of my thoughts that hopefully will help.

This has been a journey of trying to follow and listen to the Spirit. There have been many questions about poverty and suffering. More than anything, I think this comes from a desire to follow Jesus and his example as best as I can.

Christ's example is one of commitment, of risk, of dangerous engagement. He joined us in our poverty and our suffering. Jesus didn't come down from heaven during the day, heal the sick, teach, etc. and then head back up to heaven at night because we were too dirty, sick, or sinful to stay with. Why should missionaries or development workers retreat to middle class gated communities at night away from those they go to serve?

Maybe these will help:

And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. (John 1:14)

The Message says the Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. Jesus joined us. He incarnated.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

And then he said, "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." (John 17:18) So we are sent, somehow, in the same way that Jesus was sent to dwell among us, poor and vulnerable.

I'll be spending the next 3 years or so doing my best to live up to that. I'll be living simply, trying to learn another language and culture, and trying to practice wholistic development and servanthood.

In just over a week I head to Vancouver for orientation, in November I'll be visiting India for a few weeks, and then, God-willing, I'll be heading out early in 2010.

In the mean time I'm in western PA raising support (and I'd love your help if you're interested), preparing, reading, and organizing my life to move to another continent.

We validate hope by showing our neighbors we entrust ourselves to the same upside-down gospel we proclaim. - John Hayes (To whom I owe much for the articulation of this post).

One Step Enough

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom
Lead thou me on

The night is dark, and I am far from home
Lead thou me on

Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene--one step enough for me.

John Henry Newman, Hymns

Grace Embrace

I've recently had a few rather negative experiences with people on the street. In particular, there is one man who occasionally roams around our metro station asking pedestrians for money.

But he doesn't just ask. This guy is insistent. He stops you. And he gives a long, intricate, and rather dubious story. But we're called to "give to the one who asks". So I did. The first time.

Let’s say I was less than impressed when a few months later I got the same story (my suspicions about its truthfulness now heightened) from the same man who didn't recognize me. And let’s just say he wasn't very excited about being called on it.

Then one of my housemates and another coworker had similarly frustrating encounters with the same questionable story from the same guy. They are both white men in their early twenties. So not only do I feel that I'm being taken for a sucker, I get the lovely feeling that I'm being profiled as such.

So a few weeks ago when he approached me on my way to the metro and seemingly didn't recognize me again, I chose to keep walking. He'd just been rejected by another (surprise) white guy, and didn't seem in a particularly good mood. I wasn't in a particularly good mood either. He asked me to stop, and I told him I was in a hurry and kept walking. He walked right along with me. He said some not so pleasant things which I chose to ignore. As I hopped onto the escalator down into the metro he yelled after me, "how can people move to this neighborhood and not expect there to be poor people?”

As I calmed down I began to realize a few things. I'd been really rude. I'd just told someone who needed help that I was in too much of a hurry to even stop and listen to them. What was I in a hurry to get to? Oh right, that would be church.

I spent the rest of my day feeling decidedly unlike Jesus.

So yesterday when a homeless man near Eastern Market started mumbling at me and some friends I was visiting with, I didn't feel particularly excited about the interaction to come. Especially when the mostly incoherent stream of words began to clearly include some profanity. But then, just as he was about to roll over, he said, "I'm hungry".

Now there's something I can deal with. The Spirit must have been moving, because I somehow found a pretty decent sized sandwich for not that much money with no line and I was at Eastern Market on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of tourist season.

When I brought it to the man he slowly stood up, asked me to "come here" and then gave me one fantastic hug.

And I was reminded that there is opportunity for love and hope, even in really challenging situations. And that God gives me grace, even when I am too busy to notice.

Here's hoping that next time I run into my insistent friend near the metro, I'll remember to show some grace to him as well.