Awake (a visit to India)
Submitted by Andre Rabe on September 29, 2009 – 4:17 pm5 Comments
Have you ever seen the wonder and excitement in the eyes of a young child at the discovery of something new? You might even remember what it felt like when the world was still an unexplored mystery. Every day we wake up in a world we did not make, in a solar system that supports our existence without any direction or guidance from us. And no matter how much we think we know, we have barely begun to discover the wonder of all that is around us.
It’s so easy to lose this sense of wonder. We get busy. We get occupied with the familiar. Before we know it, we are bound to routine. Unconsciously we come to the conclusion that there is nothing new. Childlike excitement disappears, and often it gets replaced by cheap thrills. Survival replaces abundant life.
But from time to time something happens that jolts us; shakes us; awakes us. Our senses are aroused and we witness life again the way we were always meant to witness it. It can be the simplest event: the smile of a baby, the roar of an ocean, a kind word, a harsh word, or walking down a street you never walked down before.
These moments interrupt our slumber and remind us again that there is so much more. The past week was such an event for me. I came to India as part of a group on a 10 day work assignment and thankfully I also had a few days for myself over the weekends. The first Monday was a public holiday and together with a few work colleagues we went on a city tour of Mumbai. There were masses of people everywhere and the slum shacks were build to the edge of most roads. The tour guide informed us that there were, officially, 18 million people in this city, but unofficially the figure was closer to 22 million. Then, pointing to some of the slums, she said something that stuck with me for the rest of the day: “it’s because these people don’t count”.
Our first stop was the city ‘laundry community’ where thousands of items of clothing are hand-washed every day. I missed most of the explanation and information given by the guide as I was pre-occupied with a few small children who were simply delighted to say hello to someone who would at least make eye contact with them. In their smiles and sparkling eyes I started to recognise something … something that counts for plenty.
Street after street was filled with activity and masses of people. Through all the hours we traveled we did not find one quiet location. And in face after face I witnesses the same spark, the same quality, the something that counts for plenty.
The day flew by. We arrived in the surreal environment and luxury of our hotel. Back in my room I started writing a quick note to a few friends, intending to just give them a summary of the day’s sights and sounds. Suddenly I was overwhelmed. Face after face, street after street flashed through my mind and I realised that each one counted – each one meant everything to their Maker and the spark of their origin is still so visible in them. In the midst of dire circumstances and a filthy environment, their value far transcends their surroundings. The enormity of their value, and the enormity of their ignorance of this truth was simply overwhelming.
As I wiped tears from my face and tried to compose myself, I realised that an hour had passed and I had hardly written anything in the email. I hastily tried to capture a few of my thoughts with inadequate words.
Although the wonder and mystery of God can be recognised in all creation, no creature gives clearer definition to who God is, than the creature He named: “My image and My likeness”. No matter how corrupted and how perverted man becomes, the image and likeness of God, although suppressed and dormant, remains an indestructible quality of what makes us human. And nowhere do we find a better definition of man than in the person of Jesus Christ. Eph 4 calls Him the measure of a perfect man.
The mystery and wonder of God is not some vague or fanciful philosophy. This mystery found concrete context and focus in Jesus Christ.
Jesus. There is nothing vague about Him. We can date His birth and visit the town in which He was born. You can dip your feet in the river He was baptised in and eat fish from the same lake from which He ate fish. He was no mysterious, holy-man who lived his life in seclusion or dedicated his time to sacred meditation. No! He went to weddings, laid hands on lepers, argued with the religious and embraced children. He demonstrated that human life counts in whatever place or state it is in. He got His hands dirty with everyday people, affirming their value in the very context of their ordinary living.
How often have we missed an encounter with God because we looked for something spectacular and ignored the sparkling eyes of a person right in front of us. Did Jesus not say: “what you do to the least of these, you have done it unto me”. Jesus challenges us to see Him … to see God, in the least of people. Jesus demands more than theoretical and clinically clean pursuits of spirituality, He demonstrated that true spiritual treasure is found in earthen pots – in involving ourselves in the ordinary activity of ordinary people.
Paul’s revelation of Christ did not drive him to a monastery. He did not try and escape the difficulties, the muck and the mundane that is so abundant in real human lives, but he wrote: “We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. … We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us.” 2 Cor 4:7 – 12
Letting Jesus live in us, is not an escape to an environment of tranquil serenity, it means reaching out and getting involved in the troubled, confused and ordinary lives of people. When John writes about God’s final habitation, in the book of Revelation, he does not write about idyllic natural scenes or majestic cathedrals, but He likens God’s eternal home to a city – men and woman and children living their lives is where God chose to live! He emphasises this point by saying: ” …and I saw no temple there”!
That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for Himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus! So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Rom 15:3-7
The story of this visit to India will not be complete without writing about Bangalore. After a week of long days and late nights working in Mumbai, my colleagues returned to London, while I went on to Bangalore. Dawie Blake put me in contact with some believers in Bangalore and over the weekend we met at a local restaurant. I was so encouraged to hear how these young men met Jesus while at college, and how their new found treasure has influenced and brought many others to the knowledge of Christ. Although they have opportunity to move abroad, which seems to be the ambition of many young people, their passion is to see this gospel reach India. What a joy to know that God is revealing Himself in India – the hearing ear and the seeing eye, God has made them both. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God.
I’ll leave you with one last thought:
But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! Rom 13:11
Dear Andre Rabe,
Thank you so much for visiting us, we were blessed by your visit and fellowship. Amazing to see how God is using different people to fulfill his purpose.
Hopefully will meet you again and looking forward to hear more from you.
love n prayers,
Obs
Something that came to mind as i read your story and its impact upon you was the encounter the disciples had with the master washing thier feet . Our servant king said a remarkable thing before he performed this act revealing his heart and the beauty of the kingdom to which he belongings . He said , “i know who i am and where i come from” . The stooping spirit of involvement is beckoned by the security of knowing who we are and where we come from and reveals the true value of others . I believe the call to service and the equipping to reach out to others is the spontaneous out-flow of the same spirit of knowing in us . The world around us can be what draws it out of us .
Obilesh, it was such an encouragement to meet each of you, and recognise the masterful handiwork of our Lord in your lives. Our eternal inheritance is in one another – undoubtedly we will meet again.
Roddy, how true: in discovering our own value and identity in Christ, we also discover the value and identity of every other person. There is no greater motivation than this conclusion: that the death of Christ dealt with every obstacles between man and God, and His resurrection raised humanity to a new standing of blameless innocence before Him.
What an awesome privilege that God considers us co-workers with Him, making His appeal through us. Once a person experiences the ‘appeal’, the compassion and cry of God, no other pursuit can carry any greater attraction.
Hi Andre:
Greetings!
Nice to see you reached back safely.
Thank you so much for visiting us, it was a great
encouragement.
Over the week I recollected and was ecouraged by your story of how you got married.
May God use you and your family furthermore.
Thank you
Theju Shetty
Theju – great to be in contact again. Thank God for His skilful guidance. I have all confidence that you are able to hear and see clearly, the path that He prepared for you. “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, God has made them both”.
A