SATELLITE

On Monday I went to the training center in the City of Seharampur. It is very much a grass roots kind of organization there. They basically offer one year of Bible and Christian education and the students earn a certificate. These students are between the ages of 17 and there was at least one who was in his early 40's.

Students from the Sehrampur Satellite school. Girls, as always, sit in the front and guys in the back.

Most of these students come from villages where there is extremely low income. They just want to know more about God and get something started in their home village. While they attend this school, most of the students live in the first floor of what really is a very big house. The basement of the house has space for their "dorm rooms" as well as a kitchen and common space. The second floor is the home for the pastor and his family.

The rooftop area is open and can be used for a variety of things from drying clothes to just hanging out and drinking tea.

The third floor is just the roof but it has space for hanging out clothes to dry. It is just an open space. The training is done in the church building itself. The students sit in the pews and the teacher, me for three days, stands at the front with a white board. They receive some basic teaching and training so that they can do ministry in their home villages among their own tribe.

There I am during one of the training sessions. My interpreter is standing next to me. He is actually a graduate of the school where I spent most of my time in Derhadun.

Some are here from the city and are just looking for a little extra knowledge to help them understand the Bible more. I feel so inadequate to be in front of these people. I am just a student teaching other students. I don’t even know for sure if what I am saying has any kind of help for these students or if things are getting lost in translation. I taught for almost four hours on Monday. I was expecting to teach for an hour or two each day, but now it seems that I will be going for four hours each day, or until I die, whichever comes first.

This is the view from the roof of the home where I stayed. You can see that just beyond the street in the lower part of the picture, is where there is a portion of dense jungle.

I really did enjoy the teaching but when sweat is dripping down your face and getting into your eye, and then they say ‘oh we need to stop for tea time’ your first reaction is ‘ sweet I could really use a break. Sitting down would be the best thing for me right now.’ Then they bring out the tea and you realize that they made the tea with boiling milk then put the teabag in a metal cup which conducts the heat directly to your fingertips, and you think to yourself, ‘who in their right mind drinks boiling hot tea in a time when the average temperature is in the 90’s with about 90% humidity. Then your brain starts working again and you think, oh yeah, I am in India, this is normal for them...

This is the library in the Satellite facility.

The Satellite school is doing a very difficult but a very valuable work in this part of India. The Church absorbs the cost of the students to go through this program and some after completing the one year program will go on the four year school in Derhadun. The pastor I mentioned in my previous post started here in 1993 and there were Christians present in only three or four villages. Today there are Christians in about 200 villages. This is largely due to the work he has been doing in and around Seharampur…

Addiction

I was in Guatemala recently and it was really one of the best missions trips that I have taken students on. We went into public schools, did dramas and skits, our missionary host talked in between and at the end of our school assemblies we had the opportunity to pray with a ton of kids. The language barrier did not seem to be a big deal either. Plus we got to hike up an active volcano!!! It was memorable to say the least.
One of the things I heard our students say over and over was that they did not want to go home. I even heard, "I hate the U.S.", and, "I love Guatemala" we heard a lot of, "I have to come back", and "we can't leave yet". The comments sound kind of extreme, but if you experienced what we experienced you might understand. I was struck by the absolute nature of the comments. They used words like "hate", "have to" and others. They used the same kinds of words that a drug addict uses when they need another fix (yes I have had contact with users).
Addicts have had an experience (albeit a harmful one) with drugs that push them to extremes both in speech and in action to come back in close contact with the drug that they are craving. Our students had an experience in Guatemala that pushed them to extremes, both in Guatemala and now here in the States now that we have returned.
I hate cliches, especially church cliches, and the idea that some students might be "addicted to Jesus" makes me cringe, but is it possible that an experience like that where you know that what you are doing is a God thing and peoples lives are being changed because God has chosen to move through you in that moment? Is it possible to experience something on a spiritual level that so impacts your biology and chemistry that you literally crave more of God; almost like an addiction. You have this craving for more and more.
David experienced that, just check Psalm 63. To feel like you are going to die unless you get in touch with what you are so craving. It is almost like an addiction... Have you ever had that kind of experience with God?? One that causes you to HAVE to go back?? Can you imagine, a craving for God?

Just a thought...