Bombay Blast

“I will give you a new name”

Revelation 2:17

Bombay/Mumbai – the names are different the place is the same. A place going through rapid change as well. In an effort to distance themselves from their colonial past, many of the larger cities in India are changing their names to more traditional sounding Hindi pronunciations: Bombay/Mumbai, Calcutta/Kolkati; Chennai/Madras to name a few.

As we were guided through the congested streets, Pastor P pointed out the slum area – “60% of Bombay’s population lives in these slums – no slums – no Bombay.” Lack of running water, electricity, sanitation, basic housing – poverty and peril up one day at a time.

“He will yet… fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy” Job 8:24

In view of what is seen – hope, faith, truth, and the promise hover like an unheard whisper over the tin roofs of the shanty town. The message of Job states clearly “He will YET…” not now - and in the meantime.

The faithful, the called, those listening and answering go – we make our way through taking in the visual but also the vision. Pastor P explained there are 600,000 villages in India that have never heard the name of Jesus. His eyes scanned the vast horizon of poverty’s plight, “here 2000 years later – they have not heard about Jesus, we must tell them.”

So here we are – in Bombay to tell them.