After safe travels, day 1 was a blessing in a lot of ways. The staff at HBI has gone above and beyond to make us comfortable here. Our meetings today were filled with the hope of what God will do during our stay here. I spent some time with a musicologist HBI has brought on staff. A musicologist studies ethnic and folk music of various cultures. HBI wants to get Indians to use their own cultural art forms in the church, including music, dance, and drama. I learned some about Hindustani classical music and we talked about bringing in the art without the Hindu spiritual associations that go with it. I got to encourage this neat lady and pray for her ministry as she finishes a musical certification you need to be respected as a teacher here.
The trip itself was long. Thanks to everyone who prayed for my knee. I did fine until hour 8 of the last flight, but I was able to move around and that helped. But, hey, I'm up for a little inconvenience for the Kingdom!
India is such a contradiction. So advanced in some ways, so heartbreaking in others. But even the people in the shop we visited off campus were so friendly and polite. Our guide so far has been an Indian pastor. His family disowned him after accepting Christ, but through he and others joining and praying for them, his entire family now follows Jesus!
As we flew over the jagged, snow-capped mountains of Turkey, I imagined Noah and his family leaving the ark. As we flew over the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, I thought about Abraham taking a journey of faith to go to a land he did not know. We in America just aren't used to seeing the kind of history associated with these ancient lands.
I'm getting excited about teaching the worship seminars that are coming. After talking to Dr. Gupta today, I'm sensing that what I've prepared was God ordained. I may never know the impact it will have on village churches in India, but I'm just going to do my part and leave that up to God. Thanks to all of you that helped get me here, you are making that impact as well!
Always remember, God is WORTH it! We'll continue to pray for each of you daily! Blessings
ReplyDeleteLOVE the idea of bringing indian cultural art forms into the church there; heck i'd be down for bringing indian cultural art forms to the church HERE! :)
ReplyDeletei'm insanely jealous of the things you saw out of that airplane window.
I remember waking up on the plane to India and looking at the map only to realize we were flying over places like: Kabul, Afghanistan, Iraq - eeeeekkkkkk - I did not like that one bit!! Hope you are recuperating from that crazy flight- looking forward to more stories!
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean you are bringing home more Indian flutes and a sitar? I'll look for packages on the front porch... love you!
ReplyDeleteSounds incredible! Praying for your journey and for all the awesome things God will be doing in India!
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