Email to George Verwer

I sen an email to George with this excerpt in it about a recent event from last week that I was involved with in the slums of Bombay...

Two days ago, a local municipality thug came with 15 guys and destroyed
>a room that the Good Shepherd ministry had just built to extend their
>school so that they could educate more children. The room was supposed
>to be another classroom. We had just finished cleaning it up and
>arranging the desks when they showed up and destroyed it all within 2
>hours. It is legal for them to do this but they should do it to all of
>the squatters in the area. They don’t because they’ve been paid bribes
>and so the inhabitants live under a constant tyranny and at any time,
>they could be uprooted and have their home destroyed. Bama is the
>leader here – a lady that was on the ship when you showed them your
>global underwear – she still remembers of course. She’s a special lady
>and has been in OM for 20 years. After the destruction, we cleaned up
>and got it all out of the way so that they wouldn’t come back and keep
>giving us problems. At the end of the day Bama sat in her chair and
>cried while the local Christians from the slum surrounded her and
>hugged her. She had entered into their world of tyranny and suffering
>in a whole new way and more than ever she was one of them.
>What a victory for the Kingdom. Suffering formed solidarity for her
>and the community. I am going to blog about it. She is going to
>rebuild it and has every intention of not giving up no matter what they
>do. She’s a rock solid women for Jesus! I was there with them the
>whole time and was able to see a servant of Jesus really love and
>suffer with these people. It is incredible what life is like here.
>

Off To School...

Well, it has been two years since I left Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where I had started a 3 year Masters of Divinity program. I have completed one year and after being gone for two years working in mission I had decided to not go back as a full time student upon returning to America. This was because I didn't want to pull out loans for another 2+ years of school, especially with the intention of being available to travel overseas for the pastoral calling God gave to me in my senior year of Bible school. I was just reminded today of the need for seminary education today as I had the opportunity to teach a Bible study using the Greek meanings and the tools that I had acquired while in Bible School and Seminary. The cool thing was that I was teaching an OM team in a slum area of Bombay where most of the inhabitants are uneducated, unable to read and seem to need prayer, finances and healing more than sound Bible teaching and Greek exegesis. Today I found out that this isn't true. Although some of the listeners aren't able to read they aren't stupid, in fact they connect with the culture of the Bible much more in their present day situation than the Western world does. In this, they were able to connect with the principles more naturally as they would from their own everyday experiences. They all were thankful for the Biblical teaching and lamented at those who had taught them without working on their sermons or teaching them off the cuff. Wow! Proper Biblical exegesis and the original languages are just as important if not more for uneducated, illiterate brothers and sisters who have embraced Christ in the slums of Bombay. So the result, after seeing God lead me back to school and asking me to trust him for the provision and reminding me of the importance of a Seminary education in the middle of a Bombay slum, I have decided, in faith, to reapply to school full time and have been accepted, trusting God for the stamina, finances and brain power. I will get home to Chicago on the 18th of August and start classes on the 22nd. Prayer is in high demand! Oh Yeah!

Images from Mumbai!

The Bombay Blessing!

I just arrived in Bombay yesterday to a sweltering heat that is thoroughly sticky and uncomfortable. In fact, that would be one word that would explain what I have been feeling since arriving here – uncomfortable. My first sight as I stepped down from the air conditioned bus by the Vasi railway station was a group of beggars, or more like a beggar family. There was one woman who caught my attention immediately because there was something hanging from her mouth. Without looking too closely I could see that it was a long line of drool, something that you would see on somebody who was extremely sick and uncared for. She was adorned in beautiful colors even though the material was dirty and unkept. The first thought that crossed my mind was, "This is demonic". The image of the Creator that was imprinted on her soul and form was so tarnished and broken, and the beauty that she possessed so shrouded by the dirt and grime. I walked past her and was immediately confronted with a beggar sitting by a bus stop who was missing an arm and a leg. His other leg had some noticeable scars and some sort of flesh disease. He saw me coming and held up his small bowl with a few scattered coins in it. I held out my hand, not to give freely to him who was in deficit, but to refuse his gesture. I kept walking and within seconds was in front of a shopping mall fitted to attract the wealthy and middle-classed of the city. Outside was a batting cage with well fed young men, batting with a cricket bat and inside, the distinct odor of materialism was as pungent as the putrid still water which lies in the canal next to my residence. I took the escalators, four of them to the top floor where I was confronted by all the food dispensaries one could enjoy including McDees, Subway, among other unfamiliar but attractive food stands. I walked around the all too familiar environment, yet for the first time in my life, I felt so out of place in the kind of place that I had come to before in my own country many times for enjoyment, fun, and a meeting point for friends. I stood looking out over the colors, the eastern faces and the white washed walls of this auditorium. I felt empty, angry and uncomfortable.

I had just finished reading through half of Sadhu Sundar Singhs biography. This sadhu/saint had denied himself the life of a wealthy Sikh family, the comfort of home and the life of luxury that his father had arranged for him and he took on self-denial setting out to preach the Gospel wherever He went. His focus was on the country of Tibet, a land forsaken by many and reached by few. The Gospel had not reached very much of this land yet and there was a yearning for him to be there often, preaching the Gospel to the unreached. It was a day of extremes for me as my eyes took in never-before-seen images of poverty and wealth in such stark contrast. My heart and mind were lingering still in the unfinished pages of the story of a man who forsook all for the Gospel, everything was laid aside and I now write this in a sort of a daze, an unfinished realization of something that is so profound that I haven’t found words for it yet. I don’t know if I ever will. I don’t know if I want to. If I continue to think about the reality of what I learned and saw today, I may be called to a way of living that begs the question, how much? How long? Is it worth it? I know the answer to each and yet, to be completely honest, my desire for escapism and comfort is begging me in the poverty of my heart with the same earnestness as the armless and legless man who I saw earlier today, to not ask the question, because it is easier to live without the answer. Yet beyond that answer, a world of freedom is calling me, a world too scant and uninformed, untravelled and unknown, ambiguous and quaint, yet it keeps calling. I feel it surrounding my head as much as the humidity of Bombay is crowding my skin. “Live in such a way to be the answer to the problems you see” is a word that I believe Ghandi said. Christ said something about doing unto the least of these and you have done it unto me. What do I say about that? Well, for now, it is easier to put it off and wait to forget that I want an answer.

This Sunday I preach about courage. Oh to know what that truly means! I know that despite this hanging reality, there is a greater reality that God does provide hope for us to truly love those He puts in our path. I guess the poverty of the soul really impresses onto our hearts that it is only Him that can minister through us and if we try on our own, without abiding in the vine, there is so little or no fruit that is born. This is what the Bombay blessing taught me. I was also taught not to see the people as they are, but to see them as God sees them, in their dignified potential image bearing state - and then to orient myself towards that beauty whether they are believers or not. As Stephanie has taught me, God always finishes with hope. Whether it starts with reality, pain or joy, He also finishes with hope. That is the Bombay blessing! Please pray with me that I would see these people through the eyes of our Savior and their loving Father and not my own truncated, cataracts, natural human view. Both are possible, one is impossible unless the Savior initiates it, but that's the one I want. To see the reality of beauty and image-bearing before I see the natural human world, and then to fight, fast, work, love and pray that "already not yet" image and beauty into existence alongside my hope giving Savior and under the influence and power of His Spirit with the Father's heart and hand guiding us.

UBS

I had the privilege of being the photographer for a Christian brother who was graduating from Union Biblical Seminary, probably the best seminary in India right now. Over 100 graduates were being launched out into a country and world that is very different and yet so similar to the world back in North America in which I have been formed and shaped. These future pastors, missionaries, etc... will be ministering in a myriad of ministries, provinces, slums, villages, metropolitan regions, Churches, countries and so many more spheres of influence. Some will be beaten, others may have their lives threatened, still others may go home early for their witness. I was brought to tears as I watched them stroll past me in their dignified robes, realizing the impact that they will have as they launch out into the world that God has placed them, the 10/40, the silk road, world of two countries, filled with a billion each and almost bordering each other with more languages, people and cultures than you could possibly imagine. God is working over here and these are the Saints who are some of the most equipped to serve the beautiful Bride of Asia. What a privilege to be here!

Unexpected Blessings

Indian trains are famous or infamous for how packed out they can be. On a trip from Hyderabad to Pune, I was ready for anything, expecting the worst, hoping for a little less than the best. Standing on the platform, I saw the biggest and widest city train I’ve ever seen. Its width reminded me of the burritos I used to order while living in Chicago compared to the Taco Bell burritos. Next our train came and again, I prepared myself for the worst. I then found out that we were going to actually be in the AC cabin with the sleeper beds. Wow! My experience with sleeper bed compartments in Uzbekistan wasn’t that great. On that 14 hour trip from Samarkand to Khiva, myself and two friends found ourselves all the way to the back with the train personnel, who were frantically waking other personnel workers up to give us their beds. I slept in the personnel cabin, next to the control box while they waited for someone to vacate a bribed bed. I finally landed my own cabin at 2 or 3 a.m. So I was ready for anything when we stepped onto the train in Hyderabad. We lugged our bags into the train car, proceeded down the tiny corridor and finally turned into the vast and spacious compartment where we were to spend the next 10 hours. I was more than surprised, I was blessed. Being blessed is an experience like grace. You expect the worst and yet receive something so much better. There were four bunks and a huge cavity for us to move around in as well as the frosty AC to enjoy. There I began to thank the LORD for this great cabin, the AC, the unexpected spaciousness and the freedom to relax and get some much needed work done. I began to list off in my head all of things I wanted to accomplish within the next 10 hours and was looking forward to redeeming the time and getting some time to myself. What a blessing and not to mention the incredible AC. I had chosen to come to India for the two hottest months of the year. From the moment I arrived until I left, it was going to be hotter than any other time in this vast and extremely populated country. So the AC was blessing allowing me to hide away from the reality of what waited for me outside. The space was blessing me, the time redemption was blessing me, the chance to rest, the AC, etc… all blessings!

Then it happened! He came ever so quickly without any chance for me to protest. Before I could make alternate suggestions or show my self-absorbed body language, he was sitting across from the busy papers on my lap and the Bible by my side. In that moment I had a choice. What would I choose? I asked him half annoyed and half inquisitive, “Is that your seat?” He said, “Yeah!” Apparently his spot was across the aisle from us but it was on the upper section and not easily accessed, so he was compelled to join us in our seats while he wasn’t lying down in his compartment. I grudgingly contextualized my thoughts and remembered, I was in India. I wasn’t in London or Chicago, where a single look can establish a greater berth of personal space and comfort. I then had to answer my question, was I going to ignore a lost soul sitting across from me and work away or would I engage him in a conversation that could result in a presentation of the annoying Gospel? I’ve learned that the Gospel sometimes really annoys me. I really want the blessings that had been unexpectedly presented to me. I mean, how am I able to enjoy these unexpected blessings, if I have to give them up for the responsibility to share the Gospel with this lost man? I then did what I rarely do, I asked God for this man, for an opportunity to share. I put my papers down and poised myself to begin or receive a conversation with my Bible strategically placed. So we started…

He was in the army, I was traveling. He was a sailor, I was a Bible student. He was a sailing champion, I was a Bible teacher. He was from Bombay, I was from Chicago where I attended Bible School. His name was Pallav, mine was Nathan. He was 24, I was 28. He also wanted to meet the girls I was traveling with and in that I was tempted to think that he really didn’t want to talk with me anyways, so why should I give the effort. We chatted and the annoying thoughts kept passing through my head and began to invade my heart. Finally after about two hours, he was off to visit some others.

Ahhh, breathing room…I was actually glad that he left after stressing about how to enter him into a conversation about beliefs, religion and Jesus. Now I could relax, get some work done and take the evangelization pressure off. I ate some supper with my traveling friends, played a refreshing game of Yahtzee and then I settled in for some work on my computer. No sooner had I placed the MP3 player on my head to listen to teachings about Church Planting, then he, and now 3 others, showed up. I scrunched back into the corner with a look of disgust hiding behind my smile. I thought to myself, “if they are here to meet the girls and I’m the bridge then I don’t know what to do – aahhhhh….” Apparently they were all sailors with the Indian military and had just come from a sailing competition or something, blah, blah, blah and we were supposed to be interested and impressed. I settled in for another annoying and most likely long conversation. After hearing introductions and some small talk, the last blessing of the night came.

If my life was a movie, this would be the time when everyone stops moving and I would turn, face the camera and begin to speak to you about what I had just learned. I would let you know what God chose to show me and how I learned it through this whole process, but I don’t have video cameras following me around and I don’t have control over space and time. I can though bring you into a glimpse of how God’s glory shone through my annoyance and moved past my self-imposed limitations of self-absorption.

He pointed to the beaten and brown Bible on the small table in front of me, “So, we would like to hear about this book, since you are a teacher of it – tell us your favorite thing about it – no tell us your three favorite things from it.” Sitting with my proverbial mouth wide open, I quickly ran through the favorite parts of Scripture that have hit me over the past year, years, month, days, etc… I quietly consented and proceeded to my favorite story in the Bible, Hosea and the prostitute. I filled the narrative account as I tried to communicate the unfailing and disastrous love of God for his nation, his whoring wife, Israel. I then was able to relate that to us and how we chase after other gods and things in our lives and yet God pursues us with relenting love that passes beyond conventional wisdom and demands the very core of what love really is. I then scrambled to Roman 6:22 where the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal through Christ Jesus our LORD. I shared with him about how grace is a gift and goes beyond what is deserved, beyond mercy and actually gives freely that which is good when the opposite is deserved. In this I was able to relate a story of grace in my own life which my father showed me. It was during a time when I deserved a regular and justified punishment as a young boy (otherwise known as a spanking) and my father instead took the punishment for me. I told them all, no religion offers this. No faith will teach you that you deserve (wages) punishment but instead are given (free gift) something good and comforting and life transforming instead. Only the faith of the Old and New Testament, the faith that follows Jesus, does this. Then we jumped to John 14:6, a difficult one for Hindus, which they eventually confessed as their religion of choice. I did tell them that this was an easy prayer, but a total and whole life commitment. My friend asked, “So then what do we have to do?” I love that question. What do they have to do? Thanks to Paul, there are no formulas but the closest thing to them, a confession. Romans 10:9 and 10. Confessing with our mouths Jesus as Lord and believing with our hearts that God raised Him from the dead. After sharing with my new friends, they trailed off into their belief that many beliefs lead to God, etc… I shared with them how Jesus wasn’t only believable, kind and powerful but that He changed my life too. I’ve been learning that that is the key lately. Telling that a personal change happened in my life because of Jesus, not just that the Bible is true, that Jesus resurrection wasn’t false, that the Bible hasn’t been altered, but that my life has been altered. In that short exchange, my attitude was altered and now the annoyance was annulled because God used my unexpected blessing to show me that His idea of unexpected blessings can at times be very unexpected. In my experience, I would it happens most of the time. Be blessed but be careful! Thank you Lord for this incredible and humbling opportunity, please “bless” me as much as you want.

The story doesn’t end with a salvation but it does with the a changed attitude, a Gospel proclaimed and a new friend made.

What a Day!

One week!

Well, it has almost been one week that I've been in Hyderabad and already, I've seen so much. This past 5 days I've had the privilege of visiting two of the Dalit Education schools run by OM India. Most of the children in these schools are from the Dalit caste, or the historic untouchables of India. The Dalit Freedom Network is an initiative set up by the AICC (All India Christian Council) to fight for the rights of this massive group of people - 250 million. Joseph D'Souza, the OM India leader, set this organization up to address the abuses against the Dalits and to advocate for them in society and government. The Dalit leaders asked Joseph D'Souza and OM to begin by educating their children, so OM has been hard at work putting together education cetners that will educate the children as well as teach them vocational skills. This allows them continually to share the Gospel through deed and word. Dalits communities have embraced a mass exodus from Hinduism because of the support it has given to the Caste system. The Church is here waiting for them and hoping that they will choose Jesus instead of revenge, Buddhism, Islam or any other religion that would offer them a way out of their hidden apartheid. The children as you can see are beautiful and of course made in the image of God, their Creator. If you are interested in supporting these schools financially or in teaching in them, please visit, http://www.usa.om.org/omindia/. I also had the opportunity to speak in a devotional in front of 60 pastors from the OM India Church planting intiative which has planted 2,000 Churches in the past 6 years. The pastors of these Churches face ever-increasing persecution because of the rise in Hindu fundamentalism. One pastor I spoke with had been beaten and tortured for sharing openly with people in his community while another had a woman in his congregation who's arm was broken by her husband for going to his Church. She continues to come when she can. It was a humbling opportunity and one that I will never forget. These men are coming with stories of beatings, persecution but also healings and many wonderful stories of God's power working amongst Indian people. Please keep the Indian Church in your prayers as it is steadily growing and making a huge impact on society. This morning I was able to visit the Good Shepherd health clinic which is here on the campus of OM India in Hyderabad. It was an interesting morning as the doctor invited me into his office. In that short morning period he treated at least 15-20 people and was constantly cracking jokes, like, "I believe in the liberty, freedom and the pursuit of making patients pay, I believe in liberty, freedom and the pursuit of money, and on and on he went about how he loved America and the way that many Americans had supported his work there along with people from Canada and Europe. He was a good man with a healthy sense of humor - if you saw what I saw, you would need the same thing along with prayer and a dependence on the Holy Spirit for daily strength and health, please keep him in your prayers. Blessings!

Where in the world?

Well..... it has been over two months since I last posted anything. I wish I could have communicated to you the reason why but now that I can I will. After leaving Tajikistan I was in a more developed nation with internet security watches and wasn't able to post anything to keep from being noticed. Now that I am out of the country I can write freely. At present I am in Hyderabad, India and will be in this vastly populated country for two months. I have four months left of this amazing year that God has given to me and I want to make the most of every opportunity as I finish up. Finishing well once again is on my heart. Please see my list of prayer requests below as I prepare for what is being finished and what will be started. Thank you for being patient with the dormant blog and I will be posting stuff much more although it will still be a bit difficult because I don't have as much opportunity to connect to the internet. Thank you for your patience and please come back for more stories soon. Blessings!

Prayer Points!

1. For continued spiritual growth and understanding of where God is calling me to.

2. For safety in travel and "being all there" in my time in India.

3. For preparing for my two months on the Doulos in Japan and South Korea

5. For my decision to jump right back into Seminary a week after I return to Chicago from two years of service with OM

6. For finances as I seek to see all my support come in for this year and as I prepare in paying for Seminary.

7. For a job that fits my school schedule and a car to get around if I need one.

8. For spiritual endurance and the love for the people that God will put in my path for the next 4 months.

9. For lasting fruit from my time in Tajikistan and Persia.

10. For wisdom on choosing where to live when I return to school.