TUE -Day 1) Where the Streets Have No Name
I have heard Bono, the lead singer of U2, is a believer. I can't say that with certainty, but he has used his celebrity to bring awareness and aid to the disenfranchised of the world. There is a YouTube video of his acceptance speech for an NAACP award that could compete with any sermon preached from a pulpit. In it he states, "if you want to be where Jesus is - then be among the poor." It brought rounds of "amens," "preach on brother," and a standing ovation from the crowd.
I don't know the spiritual state of the band when the hit song "Where the Streets Have No Name" was penned years ago, but as our plane from New Delhi flew over the lowlands of the Himalaya valley, it was a good song to be listening to.
"Delay" seemed to be the operative word along the start of our long journey. The East West team was delayed out of Chicago. We were all delayed out of Delhi. I am not sure that cows, goats, bicycles and the commerce of humanity on the roadway qualifies as a "delay" but it sure making the getting from point "A" (the airport) to point "B" (the campground for our program) take a long long long long time.
At 5:00 pm darkness came with a sudden and certain finality. It makes it easier for the team that has just arrived to reset their body clocks. You know it is some kind of tired - when women can pitch their heads back on the seat of a moving vehicle, and stay asleep amidst blaring horns, headlights on high beam, and intermittent braking for traffic heading our way HEAD ON!
Since my body clock has been reset - I am taking my mind off imminent danger by writing what could be my "Last Will and Testament" (okay so I exaggerate.)
But truly, my last "will" (and I hasten to add that of my teammates) is to do the will of the Father. We are here with Pastor Lipok and his team as the FIRST foreigners to break ground in this area. We are giving "testament" of the Living God to a people who are living in darkness.
We are travelling down streets with "no names" (and those that do we couldn't begin to pronounce). Lipok laughed and said he invited a team of men, who quickly adopted the moniker the "Extreme Team". He said, "Here you are - women doing the job first - and you don't even think it is extreme. You just came."
Perhaps after about 2,000 more swerves, 4,358 more blasts of the horn, 150 near miss collisions, and NO MORE elephants (yes, we did see working elephants on the side of the road), we will reach our destination.
To the children
To the parents
To the tribal elders
To the frail
To those who are known as "Missing"
To those who are lost - at the end of "streets with no names"
Standing on the Rock
That never rolls!
Although smiling (and singing)
In His service
Charlynn
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