After logging thousands of air miles, navigating six different airports, crossing 12 time zones, and recovering one lost piece of luggage, I arrived back in the States just in time to witness the swearing in of our 44thPresident. It wasn’t just the political climate that was different when I got back. The temperatures that confronted me back home were dramatically different from those I had grown accustomed to in Bangladesh and South India.
I spent four days in Dhaka, Bangladesh visiting Jim and Elaine Dressner, whose work amongst the Bengali people deeply impressed me. For over 20 years this couple has labored quietly but faithfully in this small but over-populated country. Sometimes their work requires them to move about in extreme conditions among some of the most poverty-stricken people of the world. They incarnate the Gospel of Christ daily by establishing and overseeing technical training centers, engaging in relief and development work and directing the activities of a non-governmental organization. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with Jim and Elaine and caught a glimpse of their faith at work!
After several days in Bangladesh I boarded a plane and made my way to the state of Tamil Nadu in South India. My friend Murli Menon met and took me to the new campus of Impact International located just outside the city of Coimbatore at the base of the majestic “Nilgiris” (Blue Mountains) Hills of South India. The next morning I climbed up and over those same mountains and arrived in Quiet Corner. Here I spent four days with Thomas and MaryKutty Samuel along with a group of 20-25 rural pastors teaching and preaching. My time at Quiet Corner was capped by a festive Indian-style 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration to honor the Samuels. One of the highlights of the evening was a video their children had managed to produce recapping Thomas and MaryKutty’s many years of ministry throughout India.
The next morning Murli and I headed north to the State of Karnataka to the city of Mysore. Known as the “City of Palaces,” Mysore is a stronghold of Hinduism and boasts some of the largest annual Hindu festivals in all of India. The Impact International Team had managed to secure a sizeable Catholic retreat center there where we conducted a one-day Pastor’s Conference for 160 pastors. At the end of the day, after preaching three times, a young Indian Pastor who requested that I pray for him greeted me. We bowed out heads in prayer together. When I finished I looked up and saw approximately 30 pairs of eyes staring back at me. Pastors, one by one, had all lined up wanting individual prayer. Nearing a state of exhaustion, God supplied what I needed at that moment as I stood and prayed with each one.
We traveled back up the mountain to Ooty and the next two days I taught the faculty and students at the Nilgiris Institute of Biblical Studies. I was grateful that these all-day sessions on Expository Preaching were in English with no translation. What a thrill to teach young men and women from seven different states throughout India.
My final Saturday took us a two-hour drive from Coimbatore to the city of Erode. Here, a completely different Impact International team had set up a second all-day Pastors conference for 185 pastors and their wives. Indians are marvelously efficient people. They utilize space well and they manage to fit more people in smaller spaces than anywhere I have ever been. The hotel meeting space we used that day was overflowing with people—out the door and up the stairs! The hunger and thirst for the Word of God was palpable, and reminded me of how often we can take for granted the multiple opportunities for Biblical teaching here in the States.
The airports were full, the planes were full, the schedules were full, the countries were full and my heart is full! I owe a debt of gratitude and thanks to you who prayed for me and for Terry during my absence. We cannot do these kinds of things in our own strength. I am reminded daily of how deeply dependent we are upon our all-sufficient Savior, but also dependent upon our ever-faithful friends who uphold us with their prayers, encouragement and support. Thank you for your partnership as we declare the “desire of the nations” to the peoples of the earth.
S t r e t c h e d
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