Yesterday after I taught at the church we went to Cosco and bought some things that we needed and had lunch there.  It was a good time...Lovely is always able to make such things special even though normally it would be an uneventful thing to do.  We came home and Love had decided to bring Gabby out for a photo session because the light in the evenings has been really amazing.  The golden tint to the light right now is something to be enjoyed!  There's not any spectacular orchids in the prairie behind our house or anything but I love it none the less.  They are planning to develop it back there much to my chagrin...I knew it was coming but that doesn't make me happy about it.  It just looks so "Montanaish" out there .  The common is beautiful out there and as the sun continues to set it just gets better .  The grasshoppers are big and sluggish, getting ready to "plant" next years crop .  There's a pond near our backyard formed by the excess runoff from rain and the ditch that the farmers use for irrigation.  The ducks love it back there but they are skittish and don't like it if you get to close.  The Cat Tails are thick back there .  I broke a few off to provide our little autumn princess with her scepter .  She wouldn't really put them down and it was hard to get a picture of her actually holding still.  I liked the whole idea of her being in her princess outfit ushering in the season...like something out of an old Disney cartoon .  She wanted to gather many "scepters" but it was too muddy to get that close so she had to settle for looking at the pictures I took .  The ducks were not about ready to cooperate with me so I took the picture of the pond without them...I like the reflectivity anyway .  Now that I reflect on it I'm not sure who liked the Cat Tails more...Gabby or me...they make for a great picture you know?  This next shot shows the Montana I love so much so well, there's a large tree out there in field near where the whitetail deer roam and it looks so majestic and strong  .  We have what I like to refer to as fair weather roads...like the name implies they are only passable when it's decent weather .  We walked further along this road this time to reach the irrigation ditch and again I just was struck by the simple beauty of it .  The sun was kissing the tops of the prairie grass in such a way that it looked really special too .  I don't know why I didn't come out here sooner .  It made me wish I had a lawn chair out there to just sit there and soak it all in .  The problem is that during this season the perfect light and the perfect temperature is very short lived period of time so if you want to get out there you have to do it without delay or you miss it all.  The deer and antelope aren't always near and easy to photograph but their sign is everywhere .  Finally the light was fading too much and it was getting too cold for us all so we headed back home.  I was so glad for the road less traveled and so blessed to share it with my wife and little girl!

Today I had the hardest time getting up, not as hard as yesterday but still tough.  I looked outside and the view inspired me enough to goon my walk.  Things like the sunrise in the Big Sky country are enough to brighten the day of even the most stalwart hater of mornings...that admitted it's good to have a cup of coffee before hitting the road .  I've been thinking about how to approach the next entry in this series and the walk kind of helped solidify it and the view didn't hurt at all.  The clouds went from reds and purples to an incredible bright golden color .  It is looking a bit more like fall though there's still some good weather...no frost this morning in fact.  We get some really amazing mushrooms that perk up and believe it or not that was what hit me for the next part of my story.  Some things start out looking pretty good when you start .  You think that everything is really falling into place and now at last things are going to work out but if I've learned anything in life it's that you don't take the good for granted because before you know it that which started out so nice can look pretty rough in a hurry .

We ended our trip in India on a pleasant note.  We had a really great picnic with everyone.  We all went to the beach where the fishermen were pulling in their fresh caught fish and we bought them directly .  It was raining but I felt better than I had for a long time and I just loved the people there so much...I can't explain it.  We were going to have a picnic in a forested area where we'd cook the fresh fish .  It was so awesome to be there doing this...it was fun on every single level .  We had to gather wood and make a fire and began to heat up the wok to fry the fish .  Samuel was in good humor and everyone was really enjoying just hanging out ...notice our makeshift rain "coats"?  I don't know how we kept the fire going but we did and the fish tasted awesome!  Nothing beats fresh ocean fish!  It was a perfect thing to do before we left the country.  We had only a meeting left in the church before heading back home and this left us in high spirits.

Our last meeting was a lot of good byes and final pictures .  Truthfully I don't even remember what was being taught, it was time to head back home !

         Going home was a time of healing on many levels.  I started feeling better the very moment I got back on board the plane.  My stomach wasn't great but at least I wasn't losing fluids from vomiting and diarrhea for the first time in weeks.  It was a long flight and I want to say thanks be to God and the many medications there are to help in situations like this  .  The problem was some of them would stop you from going but the cramps were enough that you'd need pain killers to survive that....oh so much fun!  By the time we had spent some weeks at home my illness mysteriously disappeared as quickly as it had come on leaving me none the worse for wear.

We had begun to have meetings again and I felt a strong urge to return to India again on my own.  I felt that this was my hour and that it was time to be on my own doing something for other people.  We had a song that I remember so vividly.  We were singing it in a meeting we were having in Idaho.  We were singing the chorus that said:  "We give ourselves as living sacrifices unto God and unto Jesus..."  I felt tears come to my eyes and I really knew that I had to go, I was compelled to go.  I knew that things had been tough but never in my life had I been more sure about something.  I felt that I was ready to go even if it would be the death of me.  Now I look on it as the conversation Peter had with Jesus where he said he would follow Jesus even if it meant he'd be crucified with him.  Jesus said that before the rooster crowed three times he deny him several times.  If you think that your faith is so strong it could never be bent or broken you've never been tried in the first place.  Something chilled my heart to the core though as I sang that song with my hands raised.  I heard the still small voice clearly say to me:  "I'm sorry for what's about to happen."  Have you ever felt so sure you were supposed to do something that you put everything you had in it?  Your whole life, you money, your everything?  This is was what I was about to do and my faith was about to be tried until it was nearly the death of me.  I put that voice away from me and embraced the chance to go back to India with open arms.  I would leave on my own, travel there on my own and I would stay there...perhaps indefinitely on my own.  I never had a clue how bad it might get except that chill I felt when I felt God speak to me.  The tickets were purchased, Samuel was made aware of my trip and said I could live with him and I felt sure I was ready.  I trusted him 100%, I trusted God 100%.  I believed that if this was the will of God, and I felt that so strongly, that this would all work out for my good.

Have you ever heard of a literary technique called foreshadowing?  Have you ever experienced déjà vu?  Sometimes these moments happen and you don't realize it until later and it's like wow, that was profound.  Looking back on the experiences I had in India I can see moments like that with more clarity now than I did then.  We had finally returned to Madras and were so glad to be back in Samuel's home and to be away from the chaos.  Something happened in Madras that at the time seemed unrelated and uncharacteristic of what we'd know with Samuel and the students.  We had a lot of time with the students and with Samuel and Romilla  .  We believed in them and trusted them so much.  We were beginning to see a vision for what we wanted to do in America from the things we'd seen.  We were talking about it and were very excited about the future.

We had some time off and decided to visit a beach.  Samuel seemed a bit distracted but brought one of the students along to be our guide.  We were surprised that Samuel didn't come with us but instead remained at the van....none of us really felt good about it but went along anyway.  The beaches there have a way of lulling you into a false sense of security of you're not careful .  The primitive fishing boats were there nearly deserted...quite a serene setting don't you think ?  We walked along peacefully for some time when a crowd of rough looking guys started following us...can you feel the here we go again feeling?  The men started again approaching us...closer and closer.  I was there but was very sick and the other guy that was there was not a help at all...the student that came with us was getting further and further away, he wanted nothing to do with what was going on.  The men began to make advances on the women and it was clear what was going to happen in a hurry.  The other man with us turned and said in a weak voice:  "Now you guys stop....", the men were neither impressed nor intimidated and now we as guys were about to likely be beaten or worse.  Mom turned and in a voice I did not even recognize as hers addressed the hostile crowd that was surrounding us.  I don't remember all she said but she said:  "...in Jesus name!"  Next thing I knew the crowd dispersed and we were again alone .

We went back and met up with Samuel and the student came along again behind us.  We told him about it all and he sat in silence.  He never said sorry that happened nor did he talk to his student about it...we just went home in silence realizing once again things could have gone very, very wrong.  This seemed so strange to us, why did Samuel do nothing, why didn't the student at least go get some help?  What just happened?  This was a moment of foreshadowing of things to come.

Looking back on all of this now I realize that we had a lot of bad stuff go wrong on beaches, around beaches or supposedly on the way to beaches.  Why continue to go you might ask.  Well, here in Montana we don't see beaches all that often so maybe it's some sort of primal urge that defies all to go there and witness it, I honestly don't know.  There was another beach we went to visit and this time we didn't have trouble from any outsiders at all .  We had a really good time checking things out and it was really beautiful.  Here is the student named Cristodus holding Samuel's daughter Betina .  Nothing in the world seemed it could go wrong...ah, but this is India.  Pristine or not, empty of people or not, things have a way of coming to you even when you least expect it.  We had a lot of tense moments and having some fun was a great relief.  We had decided that it was time that one of us needed to go for a little...swim.  It took several in the team to even attempt this. During the struggle one of the women cried out and had apparently hurt herself.  She had actually broken her toe by kicking the shin of someone else.  The fun turned to horror as we realized this wasn't something that would just go away.  We had to get to  a clinic.

Realize now that when you go to a clinic in some of the countries it just isn't like going here in America...some speak of the glories of affordable medicine but if the quality is sacrificed it not only leaves a lot to be desired it can leave you dead if you have a serious enough condition.  Samuel brought us to a little clinic I could tell just from looking at it on the outside I couldn't tolerate to go in.  They brought our wounded companion inside and after a while she came out biting her lip in agony while her toe was over wrapped with some gauze.  The next few nights were sleepless as our partner thrashed about in bed with that unset broken toe.  We later found out they did a terrible job with it and it had to be re-set in America.  That lady made a good set of teachings out of that experience.  She talked about how if the even the smallest member of your body is out of wack it effects everything....how true.  Now keep in mind that I don't remember exactly the order in which these events occurred I just tried to place them together as they come to me.

We had come to a genius conclusion that we would have an exchange program of sorts.  The students had just graduated  and Samuel, Charles and we officiated the graduation .  I never forgot mom teaching and as she was making a point she put her finger out and by mistake caught the graduation cake with her finger and came up pointing with a huge glob of cake on her finger!  We had a good laugh at that and later as we were having a meal together on the balcony of Samuel's house we discussed the future .  We all decided that in return for the student's visit to us I would stay there with Samuel when I returned next...sounds reasonable don't you think? I thought my dream was about to come true for me, I wanted this more than I'd wanted anything.  This trip was soon coming to and end but my nightmare hadn't even begun.

Hello fellow bloggers this is another intermission of sorts from the continuing saga that I've had for a while.  Lovely has been asking me to go out and bring our cameras to see what we could do with the beautiful full moon out there so I finally got my act together and we went out and took pictures...I found some of these to be suitably creepy to be honest .  There are some nice big trees out where we were so I thought I'd go for something a little different than the standard moon shot .  The second one there was taken in macro mode and had the main focus on the eaten up leaf, I really like that shot somehow.  I then switched to shutter priority and took a picture of the whole scene and this is what I got .  That moon was so bright you could easily see your shadow and everything was lit with liquid silver effect that makes everything look so amazing .  I really like night shots, it's a whole different ball game.  I should have had the tripod for this one but thought it's blurry I like the effect...does it have a spooky vibe or what ? I had to get one standard moon shot, you knew that right...again I needed a tripod but I will include it  .

We also got out to visit our dogs and that was such a great thing to do...it always is.  We were eager to see them and they were eager to see us .  I know there's always difficulty when inevitably a pet passes on but my gosh I love them so much .  We bought Sam first in a nearby town and I carried him in my lap all the way home...I loved him instantly .  I want to bring them back home again someday...but don't know how or when I can do that.  Gracie is another character altogether...Sam's the gentleman but Grace is the clown...we lover her very much too .  We got her a little later than Sam, they are inseparable though they are complete opposites .  I've always had a dog in my life one way or another and always appreciate their simple love that asks no questions...

I think every kid should have one in their life .  Don't you

These people take dog rescues and have a huge yard which the dogs run around in.  Seems to me they've got at least 12 Dachshunds there if you can imagine that.  They had some grapes that were growing this year .  They were beautiful and plentiful .  The hornets are bad at this time of year and they've decided to hang around the grapes too...look at these ...who can blame even the hornets for wanting a piece of the action?  There were some green ones too that were actually the sweetest .  Judy had a very nice flower on the deck too...sadly they die and have to be replanted every year .

Gabby was having a great time playing with the dogs and being in the huge yard .  What's more fun that making a big jump ?  This is what I love so much about summer !  Some things you just can't see or do in the winter !  Little girls just have to have a swing in the summer time you know ?  Danielle was enjoying herself a lot too .  Me?  What was I doing?  Well, who did you think got to pick the grapes ...no really, I was smiling inside....

Now to finish this blog off I will share a little family tradition.  We like to go to the store and check out the Halloween stuff to mess around with and get some funky pictures ...like the Freddy Kruger glove?  There's so much to try on and have fun with you know .  I realize that some pictures shouldn't see the light of day but I had to take these from my wife's memory card for you to see, I'm not always serious!  I assure you that we are normal though because after all we've got kids .  That must mean something right ?  We might be a little unique but one thing is sure ....we love each other !

Samuel's arrival at last in Cochin meant that we finally got some reinforcements.  It was like we had someone else there at last that would stand with us and help us to walk through the darkness of the situation there.  He stayed in my room and his humor as always was a welcome thing.  We planned on going with Jacob on what later would be a trip that held once again more adventure than we would have wanted.  He promised to take us to the tip of India to see where three oceans mix.  He had a vehicle...a large van that would take us all.  I was so sick that I thought I'd die but didn't want to miss this opportunity to see such an amazing site.  We felt so glad to have Samuel accompany us.  He had witnessed the things Jacob was doing and knew exactly what kind of con man we were working with.  Jacob was very insistent that we go on this trip and we though perhaps he was trying to make up for the riot fiasco.  I figure that without Samuel we would have never gone with him.  I remember lagging behind everyone as they went down from their room and getting sick in the hotel hall....nobody saw it...as I said before...let the maid who washes drinking glasses with toilet rags clean it up.

I didn't know how I'd make it through this trip but I was going to give it my best effort.  The minute we got on the van and started down the road there was that dreaded buzz in the back of our minds that said something was wrong...why do we so often ignore that little hunch that things are about to go wrong?  Maybe it's the obsession with the mind with always being in disagreement with the spirit...that little voice of "reason" that sounds reasonable but is always wrong.  Too bad that voice usual dominates our days.  For better or worse we were on our merry way. 

Keep in mind that the riot of the other day was because of political upheaval at the time.  The government did much as ours might do in such circumstance and had police and/or soldiers on patrol with check points set up.  What we didn't know is that there was a strict curfew and there was no way we could make the kind of trip we were talking about and get home without breaking curfew.  Sometimes it takes a while for the things you can't see to hurt you...but oh, they really can hurt you.  We traveled along and even though I wasn't feeling at all well the beauty of this place still rocked my world.  The beaches there often had oriental nets that were different from anything I'd seen before .  Palm trees lined the road in rank upon rank.  It looked like paradise to us.  We went for some miles and stopped at a five star hotel resort to witness the spectacular sites that there were to see in safety.  I still remember looking out on the beach and being awe struck by it .  I don't know how to explain this ecstasy I feel at such moments when my eyes behold such beauty  and here I am more than half the world away being allowed to see it .  I feel hollow and full at the same time...emptied out and filled up and I feel that God is smiling down knowing I'm so honored for the opportunity to see it and blessed at His creative hand in what my eyes are witnessing.  I blew me away.  It was something like that moment when African Joe held his hands up and breathed free on the coast of Ghana not far from that old slave castle.  This was destiny that I was meeting here and now.  Sick as I was I loved it, as miserable as Jacob was I loved it...I thank God with all my heart. 

The hotel there was spectacular as well, it had a mini shopping mall in it and all sorts of restaurants and spas...to this day I wish I could spend some time in a resort like that here...just to experience without such turmoil.  Getting in the car Jacob said that he wanted a place like that for his bible school...keeping in mind his school was not glamorous but actually very nice .  We just sat there...well, all of us but Samuel who started laughing.  We were shocked at first then in English Samuel says:  "What kind of man would want a five star resort like this for a school here?"  I had to stifle a snort because it was so true.  Jacob's school didn't need millions of dollars with endless beachfront property...it needed a complete moral overhaul starting with the leadership...that being him foremost.  Here he was with his delusions of grandeur but Samuel called him on it....Samuel once again had earned our respect.

Thinking of one of those beaches with a lighthouse on it I now think of how awful it is when you have a leader in position to do great good and instead they refuse to serve God or others and rather serve themselves.  I've seen this so often...from the big stars of Hollywood to the tiniest church in small towns and villages throughout the world.  We are accountable for what we've been given.  The gifts on our lives and the blessings are for us to squander on our own lusts.  There's a day coming when we will be held accountable for what we've done with the precious gifts we have.  Telling God that we really never valued those gifts will never be and excuse.  There's always something we can do for someone else.  I've never found greater satisfaction in my life than going abroad and just being a part of what others are doing to better someone else.  I think it's what we're really meant to do.  Free will is meant to be exercised to do what's right before God and for our fellow man.

The day was growing dark and Jacob's irritation had become more and more evident.  The sun was setting on our little adventure .  We were nowhere near the tip of India and Jacob announced that we must get back to Cochin.  He mentioned something about the sign board being wrong.  Later I realized that he was referring to the license plates on the vehicle.  There were two kinds in those days...white board and black board.  One was for civilian use and the other was for commercial use...somehow the plates were wrong on this vehicle and even knowing this he had brought us out on a day when curfew was being enforced by police and soldiers at checkpoints all over the city.  We began to pray fervently...even Samuel joined us.  Jacob kept trying to make us be quiet but the more he protested the more the spirit of God fell on us as we prayed as we've never prayed before.  I was compelled in spite of feeling so ill and prayed earnestly with them.  I had a vision in my mind's eye of a bright and shining star in this dark place...growing brighter and brighter as we prayed.  We felt joined to Samuel and we felt that God was going to get us home safe somehow.  Jacob began to shout saying that the police would think we're fighting in the car...that was lame and we ignored him.  Finally we quieted and we passed several checkpoints which not only didn't stop us but didn't have any police or soldiers anywhere to be seen.  We got out of the vehicle without looking back and went to bed.

This was such a miracle and brought us close to Samuel...we would board the plane soon and fly back to Madras with him on the same flight.  Our first trip was edging towards it's end.  We had another evidence of God's ability to keep us from harm in spite of man's foolishness...in spite of our own foolishness.  My heart belonged to India...sickness or not.

Today is a day of remembrance for me for two major reasons.  1)It's my mom's birthday and 2)It's the eve of the 9/11 attacks.  I just want to pass on a tribute to my mom who has been such a great example of God's love and faith in me.  It was through her and my grandmother that I received Christ in the first place and without that I truly believe I wouldn't be alive today.  I have been very fortunate in my life to have a physical example of God's love and faith in me in my mom.  Having someone that you can see be an example of faith and love is a treasure that is truly priceless.  If mom ever had any doubts in me she never has ever let it show.  She's stood with me in thick and thin and never has shown me anything less than love.  We've literally been through life and death together on the mission field and here in the United States, we've ministered together, laughed together, cried together, watched the birth of my children together...really everything.  I can't say how much I appreciate this amazing person in my life.  Nobody speaks of her accomplishments on TV nor is she up for election but I testify that she's an amazing woman and to me a complete success.  Thank you for being who you are and for relentlessly standing for what's true and right and for being a bastion of faith.

I think most every American can remember where they were when the twin towers attacked.  I was sitting in the house we had rented in the Philippines checking e-mail one more time before bed on my laptop.  I started up on MSN's home page to see the first pictures of the terrorist attack.  The smoke rising into the New York sky horrified me.  I felt like I couldn't move.  I thought that it must be a movie that they were showing and that surely it couldn't be reality.  I rushed up to tell the others what had happened and we all got up and started trying to reach home to find out what was going on.  It was after 11:00 PM in the Philippines.  We were planning originally to stay for a long period of time but this changed it all.  Who would have thought it would be our last time to go to the Philippines....and now here we are seven years later.

I would be remiss if I didn't pass on a huge thank you to all of our troops that fight around the world to keep us safe.  I have several friends in the US military.  Some are serving in Iraq while others await deployment this year.  I want them to know just how much their service has meant to me personally.  I want to say thanks for keeping my family and I safe in these dark days.  So often these heroes go unnoticed but that doesn't make the sacrifice any less noble.  Your fight is not in vain.  Thank you for your service to your country.  Might I just say this goes for my mom too. 

Flying Air India was an exciting experience.  I know it might sound odd but I had never considered before the reality that it really is possible to crash on an airplane.  Odd considering I'd already been on major flights and even flown through some nasty storms.  This flight was relatively uneventful until we landed in Cochin.  One thing I didn't really think about until we were beginning our landing was the fact that the overhead baggage wasn't enclosed...it was open...meaning if the anything in the flight was rough we'd have our carry on baggage become projectiles.  I don't quite know how they provided air conditioning but through the vents a mist flowed that looked like they were using dry ice...very strange to me.  Coming into the landing I saw a very short run way...the shortest I'd ever seen for such a large air craft.  We hit the ground very rough indeed...some of the baggage did in fact fall down.  I knew easily without being a pilot that we were in trouble.  The end of that run way was coming up very quickly for sure.  Somehow we managed to come to a shuddering and abrupt halt...well, welcome to Cochin.

Something you must understand about India.  I've mentioned before that it is sort of chaos in motion, it's the world's largest democracy but they carry that freedom so far that you wonder how the country can function.  Imagine a democracy where you could have a state say that it was going to be communist for example...this is possible in India and in fact the state of Kerala within which sat Cochin was at the time in fact run by a communist party.  It was so weird to see the symbol of the hammer and cycle and unlike Madras which was staunchly Hindu this place had it's fair share of Muslims so you could hear the criers at the local mosques calling the faithful to prayer...the difference was like night and day.

We checked into our hotel called the Green Lord...maybe a remnant of colonial thinking as far as the name was concerned.  The hotel wasn't nearly as bad as the Blue Nile and was clean and safe.  I say clean in the relative sense.  Remember that my stomach problems were worsening and here that took a violent turn.  We were once in our rooms and watched as the maid cleaned the room.  She faithfully swept and cleaned everything.  She had a rag with which she cleaned the room and then used the same rag on the drinking glasses before sealing them in little paper bags which proudly proclaimed:  "Sanitary".  It was a stunned moment in which my room mate and I looked at each other in dismay and instantly decided never to use a glass like that ever again.  Sadly for me it was too late.

I figure that it may have been dysentery that I was suffering with.  I couldn't keep anything down at all.  I don't know how to say this delicately but the fact was I had lost all liquids in my body from both ends almost constantly.  I lived literally by drinking anything I could as often as I could.  I don't know how I managed to go to meetings and do what needed to be done at all.  During this trip I was more there in a support role thankfully.

We met with our connections there in Cochin and immediately were aware that this was not going to be an easy trip.  The woman that was from America or Canada...can't remember which now was totally unhelpful and ill informed about the customs of India and the pastor was one of the most religious men I'd ever met.  His name was Jacob Mathai.  We would travel in his vehicle and he'd insist we would remove all jewelry even wedding rings...I guess it's good I wasn't married or having my ears pierced then.  Jacob would have a group of women sing for him like his own religious radio station.  He would shout:  "Sing, Sing, Sing" to the women and they would sing rather unenthusiastically behind us...it seemed they didn't know very many songs...or perhaps this was because Jacob had his favorite and he was going to stick with it.  The woman we knew seemed bent on being obstinate and worked always against us. 

It's always tough not knowing what your day has in store for you especially when your in a totally new environment.  Kerala was so different that our experience in Madras seemed to hold no relevance here.  India as I said before is a land of extremes.  You can have it be utterly peaceful to being a deadly struggle in no time flat.  Cochin was actually stunningly beautiful but here like elsewhere in India all it could take was a political rally and everything gets ugly in a hurry.  Jacob had no concern for this if it put us in danger he couldn't have cared less.  He was very much obsessed with himself and what he was doing.  He ran things with his nephew  who was really a dashing sort of guy.  He rode a motorcycle and I would sometimes ride with him...being sick and driving with him at the speeds he rode and taking the chances he did made me wonder if I was delirious.  Jacob had a little compound where he grew some things  for his students.  It was quite beautiful there too  .  The problem was is something just felt wrong there, wrong with students , wrong with the place and after we would teach it felt that Jacob spent way too long speaking in their dialect afterwards...we knew he was contradicting us and he'd work them up into a huge lather where they'd be shouting and carrying on to the point where we wondered what would happen.

Jacob decided that he wanted us to speak at some sort of convention he was holding.  What he didn't tell us before we went to the location where the meetings were was that they were holding a huge political rally which made travel impossible and terribly dangerous.  We finished our first highly unpleasant meeting and were more than ready to go home.  Jacob informed us that we wouldn't be going anywhere.  Things between us had deteriorated so badly at this point that sleeping on the floor without the basics was impossible.  He didn't tell us so we had nothing but the clothes on our back.  We said we wanted to go home but he refused to help.  We said then that it would be fine with us if we walked back to our hotel...he basically said fine but I'm not helping you.  This turned out to be one of the most dangerous moments we would ever enter into abroad in our history of travel.  To this day I don't know that we've ever come closer to serious injury or death.

We walked as the rain began to softly fall.  It seemed pleasant enough at first but as the rain began to fall harder we began to notice that more and more people were hitting the streets and gather at first in small groups and then bigger and bigger groups.  we had nothing but flip flops on and we just wanted to get home so we continued our march.  Now we could hear shouting over bull horns and angry groups of people yelling and waving signs.  Some of them had red bandanas and were shaking their fists in the air...many appeared to be drunk or stoned.  Keep in mind there were mostly women in our group and I'm terribly ill.  The men in some crowds would follow us and began pinching the women....now there were police on the sides of the street but they seemed unconcerned for us.  They rather put up barricades that prevented us from getting out of the developing riot and we were being filtered though narrow streets with it like it or not.  Someone stepped on my slipper breaking the top so I was forced to walk barefoot in the muck that was now flowing out from the open sewer.  The crowd's anger at this point was beginning to turn more and more towards the strangers in their midst:  us.  We knew that if we didn't get out of here the pinching and feeling would go to rape and likely murder.  We decided to do something that in retrospect may have been foolhardy.  We decided to brave the police barricade and plead with them for mercy.  Many times in India the police or military will speak Hindi..the national dialect but you see though it's the main dialect it is often not spoken in the communities out there.  Not that it would have helped because we didn't speak Hindi or the local dialect.  We approached the barrier.  The police had long clubs made of wood and had khaki shorts and brown turbans...they looked quite fierce but we thought they were cops, they'd surely help us right?  I don't know how it happened but I approached the cops as mom and others tried to reason with them and suddenly I was hit squarely in the chest...not a warning tap...a full on hit to the chest with a policeman's baton.  I grabbed my chest in surprise even more than pain at first...stunned and not believing that I'd been hit like that.  I knew then that I could likely be severely beaten and couldn't even plead for mercy in a language the cop would understand.  I swear to this day I don't know how we got through but someone pulled my sleeve and we were suddenly out of the crowd and past the barricade.  There were things going on behind that barricade that were unbelievable...drug usage and all sorts of terrible things...right next to the police who did nothing to stop it...I don't know why.

Getting back to the hotel we breathed some and realized that we all nearly ended our time on this earth.  Jacob didn't care one bit and we were in awful trouble.  Madras and Samuel began to seem like heaven and we felt we must get out of this place and back there.  I never felt more relief than when we called Samuel and he said he would come to be with us until we could get out of there...it was like we were about to be rescued at last.

I remember something that happened on one of the visits I had to India that really struck me.  I can't remember for sure when it happened but that doesn't really matter.  We had been talking about Jesus for some time and after listening to us for a while a family came forward and said that they wanted to become Christians.  We would often visit families like this and see how they were doing and see if they needed anything or had any questions.  I went with Samuel to visit the family and as we took our slippers off and entered the home I could see that there was a foyer with many gods...statues and paintings.  I was a bit taken back to see that with the gods that had various offerings next to them was a large picture of Jesus with a woven string of flowers on it.  I began to understand some of the complexities of ministry in India with this.  You see for them any god that could bring them some favor or some good luck was welcome in their life.  They would offer up something to the picture that to them represented Jesus and if he was having a bad day they would simply beg favor of another god...with the problems this world has I began to see why they felt they needed 600 million gods.  The problem with this is that Christ is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.  Here in the United States Christians are often criticized for this point of view because some feel it is intolerant and inflexible.  This however is not so.  Let me put this in a parable that we can all understand.  If we put water in our gas tank it is a fact that the vehicle will not run, this doesn't make the owner of the car intolerant nor does it mean they are unreasonable it simply means that if they want to get anywhere they must put the proper fuel in their vehicle.  Christians believe this as far as eternity is concerned.  Without Christ we can't arrive to heaven.  Does this mean we hate people?  It should not nor does it encourage us to be judgmental against those that do not believe the same way.  It simply means we believe that Jesus is who He said He is and we stand by that.  That's one big advantage to believing in one God...you don't need six million deities to beg favor from...how on earth could you even keep up with it?

The other thing that struck me about that picture was the fact that Jesus looked different from any picture I'd seen before.  It wasn't the benign look nor the pose he had rather it was the fact that he had a decided Indian look to him.  I realized that whether it be the way these people managed their churches or followed Jesus culture played a huge role in their walk with the Lord...this is true of us as well.  Here in the US in particular we are very intellectual about our Christianity.  We like logic and tend to spurn spiritual things as being "out there".  If we dance it's often seen as "getting out of hand".  India was much different.  They would reach such fervor with their prayers that they would often shake and then collapse in ecstasy.  They have a firm belief in the supernatural.  Both Africa and India were filled with things that made me see the spiritual war that is being waged over mankind.  The problem was that it's very difficult to make the case for Jesus Christ when He's often seen as just one of many ways, just one of many gods.  What do you do when all that you know of the bible is no longer a tool because those you are witnessing to don't accept the bible as the Word of God?  I began to see that I wouldn't not be able to just walk away from this challenge.

Churches in India could be in a wide variety of places.  Sometimes they would be held in a crowded alley with no roof at all while other times you'd be on a flat rooftop or in a thatched roof hut with a cement floor...the people there are nothing if not creative.  The churches of India were often crowded  and you were never allowed to bring your shoes inside.  The floor was often very hard and had mats placed where you'd sit through the service...I never did get used to sitting there for any length of time.  I was always amazed at how many people could fit into such small places and in spite of the heat they would come together to worship God as they knew how .  I realize now what a privilege it was to witness such things  . 

We began to get a feel for how the churches functioned and we were enjoying working with Samuel who had such a great sense of humor and was an excellent translator .  We also really enjoyed his co-pastor (standing to Samuel's right in the picture) Charles.  He has an amazing testimony.  He used to be a gang member and during a gang fight he was stabbed and seriously injured.  During the time when it looked like he would die Samuel cared for him and the witness of his loving care is what brought him into the church...I could hardly believe Charles was ever a gangster...walking with God had really changed him to a gentle and very kind hearted man.  Working with them seemed to serve a purpose.  I would often talk to them to find out what made them tick.  I wanted to be as they were and do the work they were doing.  I wanted the love and care for people to be the greatest tool to show what Christ is about.  I would sit in the front of the vehicle and talk with Samuel...I felt that I could easily spend my life helping him do what he was doing.

During our time my health was edgy at best but seemed stable enough to do what I needed to do.  We had some very interesting times in Madras.  We had held outdoor meetings under tube lights in the evening that brought lots and lots of unpleasant bugs...many of which would bite.  Some would leave nearly indelible red marks when you squashed them.  The first time this happened to me I thought sure I'd picked up some terrible skin disease...even soap wouldn't remove it.  Later I began to realize it was from the bugs...I didn't have leprosy...I don't even smile as I type this...I really feared it.  We had visited villages for outdoor meetings where we'd set up our mics and sing and praise God out in the middle of nowhere.  People would come to listen and they'd bring the sick and the deranged.  Once there was a woman that came that they said was possessed.  She would be locked up in a hut and they said she could walk through walls to escape...I don't know about that but I do know she looked very much like a scene from "The Exorcist".  There were people with cancerous tumors that were huge.  We prayed for them all and offered any comfort and help we could before the long ride back to Samuel's house.  I'd seen my religious friend...who was tired of the the bats that would come and feast on the bugs squash a bat under his feet during a meeting in a little church with a very low roof.  I don't remember who was teaching but I know the sickening crunch of the bat's demise made it very difficult to concentrate.  I remember the vehicles painted with horrible demonic faces to ward off the "evil eye".  These faces would have crossed eyes, red faces and vampire teeth with it's tongue stuck out.  How shocked I was when we'd have a mad man enter the meeting and display the same crossed eyes and an impossibly long tongue roll on the floor as we tried to keep some kind of order.  We never once would refuse to pray for or with anyone no matter how long it took.

I begin to think that I may have gotten more and more ill because of the things we'd end up eating and drinking after meetings.  Families would show their appreciation by brining you things to eat or drink.  Pastor's would also customarily bring drinks with crackers after a service.  If we were in a remote area the drinks could be really strange.  Once were were offered a local beverage..the bottles were really not clean and the beverage inside was much like Peptobismol.  The problem was it had the opposite effect.  I took one sip and knew I was in trouble.  I had wiped the top of the bottle thoroughly as I could but it was not enough.  We were about to embark on journey to the other side of India to visit Cochin.  Samuel wasn't coming with us, this was to be a work with another pastor and a lady we knew was going to be there to minister with us.  Sick or not I was preparing to board our first Air India flight to Cochin.