AJAY

His story begins something like this. Ajay was brought up in a Brahmin family. He was high caste. His family was poor but they knew they were set up well for their next life. Ajay, when he was just five or six years old heard about someone named Jesus whom he had never heard of before. What he heard about Jesus sent him on a long journey of discovery. One problem though; being from a high caste family few people were reluctant to share with him because of the potential consequences. Ajay had several friends over the years who knew about Jesus but not enough to satisfy his curiosity.

Ajay's two kids Appu (boy in blue) Kushi (girl in pink and white) and sister-in-law Kami in the dark blue.

In his early teen years, his mother became very ill. Ajay remembered a story from the Bible where Jesus had prayed for forty days. So Ajay committed to pray for forty days for his mother's recovery. On the fortieth day he went to his mother and asked how she felt. Turns out she felt good. They went to the doctors for a check up and there was no sign of the illness. Some time later, his father became ill, and again he prayed. The Doctors told his father he was dealing with kidney failure and did not have much chance to live more than 35 days. Again after Ajay prayed his father was healed and went on to live a very productive life.

At this point Ajay would say that Jesus was the god for him. As a Brahmin, they were very devoted to the Hindu form of worship. Many people pray to many gods. Jesus seemed to be the god who answered his prayer so Jesus was his god. Several years went by and Ajay continued his search for more understanding of who Jesus is at this point Ajay himself got very sick. It was the same sickness his father had. Ajay developed Jaundice, he had to quit his job and return home. His parents were so poor that there was one point where all they had for sustenance was the water that was left over from cooking rice at his uncle's restaurant.

Ajay and his family. On the left in blue is his wife's sister, next to him his wife, and his two kids are in front. It is uncommon for a family to take care of the wife's family if there is a need. Usually the familial connection is to the husbands family. So inviting his sister-in-law into the home to provide her with an education is uncharacteristic of a Hindu, but very characteristic of a Christian.

Ajay had been so sick for so long that once again he turned to his god, Jesus and prayed for healing. The night he prayed, he had a dream. In the dream he was slapping Jesus in the face. Time after time right hand then left hand. Then he noticed a tear in Jesus’ eye. He stopped and asked Jesus why he was crying. Jesus said, you always come to me and ask me to bring healing. Ajay replied, “yes you are my god, you are the one for me you act when I pray so of course I pray to you.” Jesus said, “But, you only come to me when you need something, you also honor other gods. I want to be the only God for you. So while still dreaming Ajay figured he was going to die anyways so he might as well tell Jesus that he would live for him only until he died. Jesus accepted his word and when Ajay woke up in the morning he was completely healed.

What is so uncommon about Ajay's story is that it is not uncommon. Stories like this are actually quite common. Miraculous healings and visions of Jesus are thought of as normal by most of the people I have talked to over these last weeks. Why is it we do not experience these sorts of things in America, or hear them from Americans???

WITHERED

Have you ever bought flowers for someone (or yourself?? So sad...) You know how the flowers comes with that packet of stuff that you are supposed to put in the water after you find a vase to put them in. So then, why do you put the stuff from the packet into the water?? Well, we have figured out that when we pick flowers we are actually killing them and the stuff in the packet that goes in water is like flower life support. The only problem is that their condition is terminal; when we cut the flowers from their roots we are killing them. It is kind of weird that people seem to enjoy flowers so much that they would kill them. In short, the upside is that flowers bring a little beauty into the house; the downside is that you have to ultimately kill the flowers. Every flower that is cut from its root will eventually wither and die - even with the flower food.

At the Hectic pace that life moves today it is easy to find ourselves feeling a little disconnected or maybe cut off. We often times will neglect the importance of being connected altogether. It's easy to become so busy with the business of life that we cease to really live; we don't notice that we have been living disconnected lives. By the time we realize it we have neglected our soul for so long that we have done some serious damage; our soul is withered - like a flower cut from its roots.

Have you ever looked into the face of someone who has withered on the inside. You can see a loss of hope, and purpose, you can sense neglect, and lack of direction. Without connection to a source of strength we also will wither and die, maybe not physically but our soul will certainly shrivel to nothing.

What do we do? Jesus put it this way, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers..." Jesus gives life to our soul. Jesus at the center of who we are gives a whole new level of meaning and purpose to everything we do. We no longer work and live for ourselves, but for something - someone - greater than we are, and somehow that gives us a new level of meaning - gives life to our soul. It would be like that flower growing an entirely new root system. It gives new life. We go from withered, shriveled, and empty, to healed, healthy, and whole.

The wholeness we feel that comes with success lasts only as long as the success lasts - it is temporary - like the food you give a flower after it has been cut. As the flower food does not bring life or wholeness to the flower so success or anything else does not bring true wholeness to us. This is true for anything we use to help us feel healed, healthy or whole. Jesus came that we could have life and have it to the full.

So the next time you buy flowers at the store or just put some freshly cut flowers from the yard in a vase, ask yourself how you may have cut yourself from the true source, and perhaps how you have tried to use a temporary source to help you feel alive...

Just a meandering thought...

Word

Did you know that the second most published book in the history of published books is the boyscout handbook? The most published book in the history of published books is the Bible, but second to it... the Boyscout handbook. Interesting that both are considered by some to be a guidebook of sorts.

I recently read a quote about the Bible. It goes, and this is not a direct quote, we use the Bible as guide book that is supposed to show us the way through life. But the Bible is actually a mirror that reflects back to us who we really are. That sent me on a rabbit trail of thought. The idea that the Bible reflects back to us who we really are is unfortunately a somewhat novel way of understanding the scriptures. That we can better understand ourselves by better understanding God's Word speaks to the passage that God's word is "living and active". However to say that God's word IS one thing and NOT something else is potentially limiting the scope of impact for scripture.

At times in my life I have needed guidance or wisdom and the Proverbs were a guide book for me. There have been times in my life when I was broken and hurt, and the Psalms brought comfort and rest. There have been times when I was not really looking for anything and was just reading in the Bible and out of nowhere, something leaped off the page and like a jackhammer it shook me.

There have been times when I need to learn about leadership and life of David or Moses spoke to me. I think the point is that the Bible is at times a mirror to better understand ourselves, but the Bible is also a guidebook for those who are lost, it is a cast for those who are broken, it is a jackhammer for those who need to be shaken, it is a warm blanket for those who feel left out in the cold. Since God is the author, the Bible really can speak to people on their level. It will speak to you, where you are at, no matter where that place happens to be. God is big enough to handle all of our issues and baggage and struggles and His Word is powerful enough to pierce to our hearts and deal with the core issues that we carry.

How often have we tried to figure our life out on our own. How often have we tried to fix our problems, mend our brokenness, discover who we are, without using the tools that God gave us in the first place, His very words. His Word is usually a great place to start. It will lead you and guide you, it will show you who you really are.

Just a thought...