1. The woman on the far right is why this picture is important. Her name is Mrs. Beulah, and I was able to have several conversations with her and just sit at her knee and glean from her wisdom and spiritual insight. This woman is dialed in to God, and she was able to shed some light on what God is doing in India and how to pray for the people there.
2. Let's just say I am very adept at using the squatty potty. I carried my own TP and antibacterial everywhere for such a time as this because it was hardly ever provided for you. In relation, let's just say you don't shake hands, eat, or gesture towards people with your left hand.
3. Spending New Year's Eve at a convent in India burning an effigy of Anselm with the sisters definitely is one of the most random events in my life, but this is how we heralded in 2010.
4. On New Year's Day, we were driving to Guwahati from Shillong, and suddenly, we looked outside of our taxi's window and saw these elephants just walking down the street!
5. Early one morning, we got up and walked through the slums of Guwahati before its inhabitants left for the day. I've seen the ghettos and homeless of America and the Roma communities of Europe, so I am not unfamiliar with poverty and desperate circumstances. But nothing prepared me for the slums of India. There is so much brokenness. So much disparity. Such hopelessness. It was heartbreaking to see. I only took a handful of photographs because I wanted to demonstrate dignity towards the men and women whom I passed - people who do not even know that they have value and worth because of the God Who created them in His image. They reflect something completely unique and special about the Creator, and they do not even know Him. And unless we tell them, they may never know. Unless we help them, they are doomed to die in the squalor that I saw, the disparity that is their reality.
6. I passed by this baby girl while in the slums, and I pondered her future. Unless someone intervenes, her trajectory is firmly set towards poverty, an early death, and an eternity in Hell. Who will heed the call and go to her?
"Does it not stir up our hearts to go forth and help them, does it not make us long to leave our luxury, our exceeding abundant light, and go to them that sit in darkness?" (Amy Carmichael)
7. Cricket is to India as SEC football is to the South.
8. The platform in this picture is an altar at a Hindu temple where they perform animal sacrifices. Although I was not able to take pictures, there was an Hindu temple that we visited in Kolkata where the priests would place the offered goat's head between two stakes, chop its head off, remove the body, and the person making the offering would put his head between the two stakes and put the goat's blood on his face. The priest told us that they do this to emphasize substitution, the animal taking the person's place. It is such a stark reality of how Satan twists the truth into a lie. They don't know that the One true God has already sacrificed His Son on our behalf. They don't realize that the gods to whom they are appealing cannot see their offerings, smell their incense, or hear their prayers. Why? Because the gods that they worship are not real. They are not living. And they cannot save them.
9. This is a line of people waiting to see the image of a god at a Hindu temple. The cage in which they were waiting is indicative of their spiritual bondage. They are so lost, and they don't even know it. How much money, time, and effort they put into worshipping these gods - especially when so many of these people are destitute. And what is truly tragic is the children who were waiting with their parents in these lines. It's reinforcing the cycle of idolatry. What will it take to break this cycle? Who will share with them the Truth?
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound." (Isaiah 61:1)
10. This is a Sikh man with his daughter, and it is one my favorite pictures from the trip. They may not know God, but He formed them in the womb. Before they were born, He knew the length of their days and the events of their lives. And, oh, how He loves them! He has made them in His image.
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27)
11. I was unprepared for the enormous number of beggars and homeless that I encountered in India. There was one night when I was walking down the street to purchase some water, and I could barely walk on the sidewalk because of all of the sleeping bodies of the homeless. Kids would grab at my clothes and walk with me holding their hands out and calling "Auntie, please!" I could not help them all, and at times, it even became a safety issue to help them. I often felt hopeless because there are so many homeless - I could not help them all. I could not even make a dent into solving the problem. A man at breakfast one morning reminded me that I was simply called to be faithful in helping the people God put before me. Imagine if the whole body of believers were to be faithful in helping the "least of these."
12. The street children. Our group helped teach English at two different schools while we were in Kolkata. One of the schools picks up street children and tries to educate them. Education is not compulsory in India, and as a result, only about 65% of India's population is educated. While riding the bus with these children one morning, I had about three of the toddlers in my lap, and my hands could feel the rattling in their chests that comes from inhaling so much of the pollution from the heavy traffic. It's what happens when one is homeless and lives on the sidewalks of the street. These children are often ill because of inadequate healthcare, poor sanitation, and wretched living conditions.
13. While riding around the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, I saw this young child begin to just urinate on the sidewalk. When I turned back around, this same child was playing in his own urine. There was no one around him to watch him. He was all alone. I wanted to gather this little boy and so many of the other children that I saw and take them home with me - to provide for them a home, to show them love, to give them a hope and a future, to introduce them to Jesus.
14. Our group went to Kumar Tuli one afternoon, which is the section of Kolkata where the idols are made. There were thousands of idols lining the street, sitting out to dry. I watched one man making the fingers that would be attached to one particular goddess, and I saw other men adding paint to other idols. How can people believe in something that they make with their own hands? We talked with several of these men, and they told us that they worship these gods and goddesses. While we were there, I watched people come up and kneel and pray before these images - images that were not even finished yet! My heart burned with anger and with sorrow. Anger that so many people worship something other than the one true God, and sorrow that so many people believe a lie.
15. This photo is a stand-in for something that I saw while inside this temple and that I will never forget. This is the Birla Mandir, a Hindu temple devoted to RadhaKrishna, and we had gone to tour and to talk with people here. Because I was there at dusk, I saw the call to worship, and as I was leaving, I watched a little boy imitate his father in kneeling down before Krishna's idol and praying to it. My heart screamed to God for this precious child to sift the truth from the lie and to follow a path different than the one taken by his father and ancestors. It was like watching a soul enter the courts of Hell and pay homage.
16. The school in which I taught is a Christian school, and looking at the children in this place was like a bright ray of hope. The kids coming to this school are from Hindu and Muslim families, and because their families are poor, they would not have been educated unless this school was present and offering free education. Plus, these kids are hearing the Gospel. The little girl in the right of this photograph is a little jewel - so intelligent and precious.
17. We volunteered with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, and I went one morning to visit the exhibit and mother's tomb. I was struck by her dedication and by the service done by her and the sisters in Kolkata - particularly after walking through and praying with some of the inhabitants of Khaligat (mother's home for the sick and the dying). This phrase written in flowers on her tomb stems from Matthew 25 when Jesus tells His followers that whatever they do to the least of these, they do unto Him.
"How can we love God whom we do not see, if we do not love our neighbors whom we see, whom we touch, and with whom we live?" (Mother Teresa)
18. The people are so beautiful - so reflective of the imago dei. It reminded me that even in the midst of so much brokenness there is still great beauty to behold.
19. Getting henna is definitely out-of-character for me, but I was able to have a great conversation with a Hindu woman who came up to Lindsay and me while we were having it done.
20. I spent one afternoon in a village outside of Kolkata, emphasis on village. It was like being in the jungles of South America or the grasslands of Africa - no running water, although I had cell phone service. And when it got dark, I could not even see my hand right in front of me. There was a precious teenage girl who held my hand and guided me through the narrow land bridges between the ponds and rice fields in the village as we visited several homes with some native church planters and shared our testimonies with the families. Initially, we began in the center of the village, where the well was located, and had some activities for the children and women. Here, they are gathered while we explain one of the activities. At the far left corner of the picture, the tip of the idol and altar in the village's square is visible. Even in the villages, there were idols, which emphasizes the great need for God in the country of India. While I was at church over there, a pastor made the comment that God loves India more than any other country in the world except for China because God loves people and because India is the second largest country by population. God has so much love for these people, and they do not even know Him or know how much they are loved.
1 comment:
Ashley, thank you so much for posting these top 20. I enjoyed reading your stories; actually, grandma and I have BOTH been looking at them! haha, talk to you soon!
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