The Traffic of Life

     Our lives could be compared to driving down the freeway. Sometimes we fly down the freeway and find ourselves at our final destination in a very minimal amount of time. Other times we find ourselves sitting in traffic. Our lives are the same way. The days can fly past us or we can find ourselves waiting for something to move forward in our lives. Are we going to embrace the situation before us? Ultimately God has ordained the conditions that are placed on our stretch of road. How are we responding?

     Sometimes I go through the times of "traffic" in my life I get impatient. When I get impatient I get frustrated and start to at least mentally complain about how slowly things seem to be happening. Is this response embracing the situation that God has placed before me? Most certainly not. Has God sovereignly ordained the situation that I am in?     

     Sometimes life happens so fast that I feel like I barely have time to think about what is happening. During these times I'm speeding down the fast lane. I have two choices, I can embrace the road set before me or I can freak out because I'm worried about what might lie ahead. Does God have the power to slow my life down if He needs to? Am I the one in control or is God?

     Just because things aren't happening on my timetable doesn't mean that God isn't working. The story of Joseph is a great example of this. Here is a guy who works and does good work for his employer. He is put in charge of everything except what Potiphar eats. For a slave he had it pretty well. Living the slaves version of the "fast lane." 

    Then enter Potiphar's wife. She notices how handsome Joseph is and desires to have a sexual relationship with him. Does everything she can and finally resorts to try to force him. He gets away. She gets him thrown in prison. 

    Was this fair? From a human perspective it doesn't seem to be. Do we see Joseph complain? The Bible does not tell us that he did.

     We see a man who is blessed by God even in prison. Joseph seems to embrace the situation before him and continues to serve the people that God has placed over him. Even while we are in the midst of blessing do we always see it or do we focus on how slowly the traffic seems to be moving around us? 

     The real challenge came for Joseph when the Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and his chief baker have similar dreams while they are in prison. He interprets their dreams. The dreams tell of what will happen in the future. In three days the cupbearer will be reinstated as Pharaoh's chief cupbearer (a very important and influential position) and the baker will be hung. He asks the cupbearer to remember him. It takes the cupbearer 2 years before he finally remembers Joseph and tells Pharaoh. Do you think it was easy for Joseph to wait in the "traffic" of his situation?

      Sometimes we wait for what seems like an incredibly long time, for what? There is a need for every believer to keep God as their focus. Too often I find myself or another thing becoming the focus of my attention. Too often I find myself complaining because I'm in "traffic" and it just seems to stretch on and on. If I have God as my focus I find that I stop worrying about the traffic of my situation and I'm much more able to embrace the situation that is before me.

     The chief cupbearer remembers Joseph because Pharaoh has two dreams that are very similar. These dreams disturb him. He asks for someone to interpret them for him and the cupbearer tells Pharaoh about Joseph. 

     Joseph is then brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams. He says that both dreams mean the same thing. They show that there will be seven years of plenty and warn of seven years of famine so severe that the seven years of plenty will be "...forgotten in the land of Egypt..." (Gen. 41:30b ESV). Because he was able (through God) to interpret the dreams, Pharaoh elevated him to second in command over all of Egypt. 

    God needed Joseph to stay in Egypt so that His people might be saved. We learn later that Joseph saves his family from starvation, thereby saving the entire nation of Israel from being wiped out. God had a reason for keeping Joseph in his situation. It wasn't just because He thought it would be fun to keep Joseph from going home to his family or whatever else Joseph may have wanted to do. It was for the salvation of His people. 

     It isn't hard to see how Joseph is a picture of Christ.

 Christ came as a servant. Joseph served Potiphar. Christ was falsely accused, Joseph was falsely accused. Joseph was in prison with two prisoners and told one that he was going to live and be in the presence of the king. Christ was put on a cross between two thieves and granted one eternal life where he could be in the presence of the King of kings. Joseph was in prison for two years after telling the cupbearer to remember him to Pharaoh; at the beginning of the third year he was brought out of prison and into the court of Pharaoh. Christ was in the tomb for two days, rose at the beginning of the third day, and was ready to meet the Father, the King of the world. Joseph was able to save God's chosen people from physical disaster. Christ saved the chosen people from spiritual disaster.

     We can see all of this looking back on the "road" of Joseph's life. If he hadn't embraced the situation would the picture have been as clear? What about us? Are we embracing the "road" in front of us no matter what the "traffic" looks like? Are our lives a picture of Christ to those around us?

Adventure in India

      Now I haven't been blogging for a while but when you travel half way around the world I think it's fine to let some things slide to the back burner for a while. I went on a trip to India and I was about as far away home as you can get. One guy who was with us on the trip said that if we had gone 10 miles further we would have been traveling back around.
     I did try to keep a record of what we did on the trip and have some of my thoughts and feelings written down. Take them for what their worth and if you find it boring this is the uncut unedited version so some of it is a little raw (some of it is a lot raw) that is why.


12/27/13-12/29/13
There is so much to think about. But I'm on the plane and on my way to an adventure that I will never forget. I will leave the United States and come back changed forever because of my experience. I will come back with a different view of the world than what I left with and a different culture will have influenced me. Who will I be when I get back? I will still be me but will I be different, a good kind of different?
These are some of my thoughts as we journeyed through the air.
As we took off I saw a beautiful sunset which I didn't happen to capture but in that sunset I was reminded of the artist who painted it and the one who formed the beautiful mountains and coast of California. He made it all and has the whole world in his hands.

When I first stepped foot into India after landing I didn't really know what to expect but here were my first impressions. In the airport and just outside: it looks just like America. A few blocks from the airport: looks like parts of San Francisco just more signs with two different languages on them (English and Telugu). A few miles down the road: this is a strange mixture of the dirtier poorer side of San Francisco (nicer buildings) and container like buildings and some uniquely Indian buildings.  

     There were these cute little yellow cars called "autos" which can seat 3 full grown men (according to the American standard). There were tractors driving on the regular road and little one seater trucks, little bicycles with carts hitched to the back and motorcycles which look like our dirt bikes fitted with bigger tires and lights. There were street sweeping women going around sweeping the streets with what looked like a bunch of thin slightly flexible sticks (their brooms actually work better than ours do. I found out later this out later.).
     There were lots of banana carts and sometimes very close together making you wonder if they were working together or if they were each others competition. Everywhere you go there was honking. The bus we rode in didn't seem to have shock absorbers (if it did they didn't do much good) and it had pretty lights that changed different colors.
    Saraj Paul (our host for the duration of our time in India) has a very nice house, simple but much bigger than what I was thinking people could afford in India. (A little smaller than the ranch house that we lived in.) very open but enough space for some privacy.
     India smells different than America. When I first noticed I thought it smelled a little like corn tortillas and a sickly sweet smell that I can't seem to place and a light scent of chlorine mixed together.
     After getting our stuff situated me and Megan got out the violins that we had brought along and started preparing the bows by rosining them. We had brought 5 big boxes of violins along.

12/30/13

Today the Eschen's arrived with the rest of the instruments.
The group mostly stayed at Suraj's place practicing the instruments (if you had one to practice) and playing games and enjoying each others company. Suraj has a maid who comes named Mani (Money), she speaks Telugu and does not understand much English.
     The men went out today so that Mr. McClure could get some music printed (he ran into multiple technical difficulties so they were gone for quite a long time). While they were out Mani made us lunch of some sort of simple curry which we ate over rice. Mani left before the men got back.
     Teresa prayed because we were getting worried about how long the men had been out. Not too long after she prayed the men arrived and the kids were able to get to practicing. The Eschen children were so tired. Risa fell asleep in the middle of practice and Josiah started to. When given a break Josiah fell asleep in Selah's bed (Selah is Suraj's little girl who is now with her mother Sweeti in southern India).

  So much has happened since my last entry. So to continue where I left off we went to go with all of the kids to do a practice round at the church the night before New Year's Eve. The following morning Risa got sick and her parents and Suraj took her to the doctor. It was something that she ate according to the doctor. She was not feeling well enough to go to the concert in the evening so she ended up staying home. The New Year's Eve concert was great the message that was given by the pastors were a little weak in my opinion.

The new year I found myself far away from my family and feeling like maybe this whole India trip was just a waste since I had no idea when I was even going to see these said orphans. I called home not realizing at first just how home sick I was. The emotion hits me and its hard to turn it off. I guess I'm just wired that way. Anyway this day is the first day that I got to see the orphans. We had lunch with them and listened to them play their simple precussion instruments. After this we presented them with real violins and Mr. McClure had them learning where the different strings were. They were so happy to get them and so attentive for the lesson.

1/2/14
The next day was Thursday. We went to the children's house again and this time I gave them a Wordless book presentation and had them memorize John 3:16 (which they already had memorized so we basically just went over hand motions for it and practiced them). We played duck duck goose with them. It was so fun to see their faces and here them laughing. It was such a blessing to see them and know that they were happy. They then had a violin lesson and then we went shopping. I bought a Kurti set (it was very expensive according to Suraj but how often do you get to shop in India and I am picky. If there was time I would have had one tailored and may have saved money. -I know that sounds crazy but that's what the local said so it is more likely true than not-) A nice lady named Ann came and helped us pick out our Kurtis she knew all of the good shops to go to and all of the good fabrics to pick and what was a good deal and what wasn't (it pays to go with locals). So yes I may have splurged on my Kurti (it was a little over $40 for the whole set) but it isn't everyday that you can shop in India.

1/3/14
On Friday we went to the children's house again and this time I was more prepared for what was expected and was able to actually do a whole program. We played sharks and minnows which Mr. Eschen and Will taught. The boys had so much fun and no one tried to get out of being tagged they all had good attitudes, they are the sweetest boys. After they got tired out I gave them a the story of the fall in the garden of Eden. Then Brianna came up and taught the memory verse and played the game with them to help them memorize it. They got another lesson after this on the violins and then Doug talked about David. He's so good I wish I had coordinated with him more on what he would be teaching so that the program would flow more but I think that God meant it to be this way.
   Afterwards we went to visit the children's "father and mother". I think that they really have adopted these boys because they talk of them like they are keeping them but they also want them to keep contact with their relatives and people who took care of them before they were adopted. Jiggu and Chungme are their names and they are the sweetest couple to be taking care of all of the 24 sweet boys that they have. They are currently looking for a place to buy so just pray that they might find a place for them to all be able to live. It's interesting because Jiggu is Indian and Chungme is Korean and they met when Jiggu was pastoring a  church and Chungme was doing mission work with the church that Jiggu was pastoring.

 Saturday 1-4-2014

We had what Brian Eschen called an Indian burrito (dosha) (it's a crepe like thing with a spicy potato curry like thing inside. We have been having this for breakfast for almost the entirety of our stay. I think it's hard for Suraj to find things that he thinks we will like so he sticks with the same thing rather than changing it up too much.  I miss eating home cooked meals. I know Suraj is trying and its hard for him to fit stuff into his busy schedule and he has been a very good host to us but I wish that there was a way that we could have seen more of Hyderabad than what we did. Maybe if God allows for a next time (which I pray that he does) I will see more. Maybe if I had seen more I might not be as eager to come back though. I really do want to come back though. God works all things together for the good of those who love him.
     We went to the children's home again and had such a fun time with them. I got to have a long talk with a lady named Angell who was 9 months pregnant today. She said she was very tired and told me about her and Chengu's wish that this child would be a blessing to others and continue on the mission that its parents started. She said that she and Chengu were the first missionaries on either side of the family. I was able to pray for her and their baby. It was such a blessing to be able to pray for this sweet sister in Christ and to be able to feel a connection with someone who lives half way around the world. Before I left for India halfway around the earth seemed so far but now it doesn't seem so very far as it did at first.
     We played with the kids and had a good time again. They are such good students and soak up everything that you teach them. I wish I could stay for longer. It would be such a cool thing to be able to do. It just would be hard being that I'm a single woman to stay for much longer. I'm an exotic rarity and always feel like I'm on display wherever I go.
    We went and got some of the boys Kurtas at a store and a few other things like table cloths.

1/5/14
    We went to church in the morning (a different one than what we had been to before) and had a nice service where the pastor talked about being joyful and that Christians are supposed to be joyful and not focus on the negative. He said that we need to love others and learn to think positively about them because Christ loved us. I think we do need to enjoy others in our lives but I will have to study out more the story of Paul at Philipi before I say that I disagree that Paul had a totally bad experience there.
     We got stuck for a while in at the church because we were parked in (something that is an easy situation to get into in Hyderabad). After we got out of the parking situation we went to the children's home and had lunch. I was feeling a little queasy when we got there but I think it had to do with blood sugar levels more than with whatever bug is going around. We got to talk with Jiggu and Chungme again. These people really do love their kids and want what's best for them.
After spending time with them we went to another children's home run by a man named Boscar. His kids welcomed us and we played games with them and then they danced Indian style and sang us songs. It was really cool.

1/6/14
Monday we went and did some more shopping with Suraj's sister Suemei. I found some anklets for my sisters in a bazaar (hopefully they like them). We went back to Suraj's and had KFC for lunch. After that we went to Jiggu and Chungme's children's home. I have been going over verses throughout the week that tie into the wordless book and so I went over the wordless book with them and had them make wordless book bracelets. They loved it.

1/7/14
Tuesday we went on a last minute souvenir shopping trip and I found some things for my brothers and my dad. This is our last day of seeing Jiggu and Chungme's kids. The shopping crew ended up arriving before the instrument crew being that the Cello's took up too much room for us just to take one car. (Hooray for the shopping crew :) )
Our last day with the kids was a blast! We ate with them, we played games with them, we jumped on bubble wrap together, we went over the Bible lessons and verses for the week and just had a sweet time of fellowship with them. They got their last violin lesson before we went home (they will get more once the Skype connection is set up) and had a mini concert with the kids from Doug's US group that he teaches. The Jiggu's kids then had a little something that they had prepared for us. It was so beautiful to hear them sing and play their music the first song they did was in English, then Telegu, then the language of Orissa (where the boys came from), and then the last song was in English. They all prayed for us. It was so beautiful. I hated to leave but hopefully there will be a next time and I will get to see all of those dear boys again.

1/8/14
Wednesday the Watson's and Mr. McClure left for America and me and the Eschen's took a plane down to Kerala (also known as God's own country). It is beautiful there. The water at the beach is so warm and Kerala is so clean and so much less crowded than Hyderabad. Its like the Pleasanton of India (only it is a whole state and it has both beaches and mountains).
Our first day there we were taken around by Suraj's cousin Sion. He took us to the Arabian Sea and some of us swam in the water. Then he took us to see Chinese fishing nets and how they worked and we got to ride a ferry across what he and Suraj called backwaters (I didn't quite get what the difference was between backwaters and delta but apparently there is a difference). We went to an open market where I found a few souvenirs and Sion bartered for me (since I wasn't that good at bartering, partly because I didn't know what was a good price for what I wanted and what wasn't, I thought I was getting a good deal because it was less than what I would pay in the states but it still was apparently too high of a price for what I was getting). We then stopped at a fish booth where they sold fresh fish and Sion bought some for us. He then took us to a little outdoor restaurant where he had them cook the fish that he bought and we ate it. It was so tasty. I ended up eating three whole fish all by myself. Sion and the driver (almost everyone hires drivers around here it seems) took us to our hotel. Once we got settled Suraj and Sweeti showed up. It was cool to finally meet Suraj's wife. I wish that we could have met his daughter too but it was too late for her to be up at that time.

1/9/14
  Thursday Suraj found a car and took us and Sion towards the mountains. We dropped Sion off part way but while he was with us we got a wonderful tour of Kerala as we passed through the different towns and villages. We dropped Sion off about a third of the way to the mountains and he took a bus to our final destination. We drove pretty much all day and got to ride elephants, see tea estates, and got to see some of the breathtaking views of Kerala (a camera just doesn't do it justice). We bought tea in Kerala. I think I probably should have bought more. Oh well. Maybe I can get Suraj to get me more when he comes over to the states.
We bought some dinner then headed over to Suraj's grandparent's house (he called them Amachee and Apachah- I don't know that that is the correct spelling but that is how the words sounded). They had some things for dinner that I tried but I was so full I don't know that I would have been able to take too much. I did finish what I got though. I like d the red curry that she made not so much the yellow one but it was good too in its own way and if I had stayed for longer I might have been more appreciative. Sion was there and he showed us their dog Blackie who was a little Pomeranian. Sion said she was naughty and left her in her crate. She seemed to really like Sion though. Suraj's Amachee is 104 years old and still sharp as a tack. Her memory is excellent and she is still able to walk, slowly and with a hunched back but still it's impressive for her age.
Apachah seemed a little out of it. Suraj said that he had just recently started losing his hearing.

1/10/14
Friday we got up at 5 to drive to the top of one of the mountains nearby and look out over the valley. It was actually cold for the first time that I was in India (and this is supposed to be their winter season). We then went back down and had one of the best breakfasts that I have had in India cooked by Amachee. It consisted of rice based noodle things formed in a pancake like shape but soft like it was steamed (not crunchy like it was fried). There was this chicken curry that you put over top of it and ate with the noodle pancakes (they told me what they were but I have forgotten). We then had to head back to catch the plane to Hyderabad. Suraj stopped on the way so I could get some banana chips because I actually like this kind of banana (learn something new about the world, there are more than one type of banana and each banana has its own taste).
On the way we drove through a jungle. It was such a sweet time of fellowship the last few hours that we had with our host. When we got to the airport Teresa gave him a copy of my dads book. The visit was so short but I'm glad I got to experience this. Next time though I'll push to stay longer. This is not my last missions trip but rather the beginning of a new stage of adventures that I will be seeking opportunities to go through. I hope that I will see uncle Suraj again and that next time he will get to meet more of my family.
When we got to Hyderabad we were picked up by Suraj's regular driver who had driven us before. He then took us to Suraj's mom and dad's house. They were excellent hosts and allowed us to sleep there in the house and gave us snacks (they gave us a ton of snacks) and then dinner (of which I felt bad because his mom served me up a big portion and I wasn't able to finish it all which is rude in Indian culture but I really tried and then Mr. Eschen told me to not kill myself trying to finish. I still felt really bad about it though).  We sang after dinner together and then they sent us off with a prayer for blessings and safety as we travelled. I'll miss India especially the boys but even the other people I will miss. The driver then took us to the airport.

1/11/14
Saturday was a long tedious day where it seemed like every time we got on or off an airplane we would have to show our passports again and go through security again and it was just one big tiring day that started at midnight (most days do technically though) and went on for 36 hours. I think there is a reason why days are only 24 hours long.