Reflections

In 2010, God took me on a journey. This journey was one that would ultimately change my perspective on life and ministry. Over the course of the two weeks I spent in India, God showed me several things about myself and about the way I viewed ministry. For years, I had been operating in ministry according to what I thought “Ministry” was supposed to look like. Wow, was I wrong.

Each morning I would start my day with personal devotions. One morning in particular, I was on top of the water tower at Ankoor when God brought up a question in my heart. “What does it really mean to be made in my image?” God’s image! Then the questions came up in my mind; what does God look like? What does God act like? What kind of jokes would he tell? What kind of jokes would he laugh at? Would he brush someone off because they annoy him? How does he treat people? How does he react to tough situations? If he drove, would he have road rage? Would he serve or wait to be served? These were questions that began to immediately change the way I thought about life and ministry all together

Over the course of the next couple weeks, I spent time with some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, (Kirti, Kishore, Vinay, Aishwarya, Snahail, Soulie) and I began to notice a common theme, “Servant hood”. In everything these people would do, it was wrapped in service to others. It was handled with care for everyone else but themselves. Each morning that we woke up in Lasina, we found the children washing our clothes. The most amazing part about them washing our clothes was the fact that they did it with enjoyment, with excitement, and with love. Each morning we would also see them gathered in the courtyard with sacks gathering all the leaves and various items that fell from the trees throughout the night, by hand. No rakes, just their little hands. Just as they did with washing our clothes, they did this with huge smiles on their beautiful faces. They were proud to serve. They were happy to serve. They were called to serve. There was nothing they would have considered “Lowly”. These people, young and old, showed me the true meaning of the word “Servant

In May of 2010, I was in Atlanta at a pastor’s convention. There was a speaker by the name of Francis Chan who told a story about a youth pastor named Vaughn. He goes on to say “I’m not called to be an awesome mega church pastor, but am called to be a picture of Christ.” He takes inspiration from the story of Vaughan, a youth pastor whose trips to impoverished villages are described by youth as “the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to walking with Jesus”. He realized, “my life does not look like Jesus”. In the same way, I quickly realized that I too look nothing like the image of Christ. But after my time at Ankoor, I believe I now know what that truly looks like. After my time with Mommy, (Nalini) Daddy, (Kirone), David, and Pricosh, I now believe I can explain what the true image if Christ looks like here on earth. Thank you Lord for this experience. I will never be the same again.