Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

1: Spent the day at various doctors attempting to get rid of the junk in my sinuses I brought back from India

2: Time with some favorites and my Netflix queue.

3: Quiet day running errands and continuing the recovery process from India

4: celebrated Independence Day by playing Apples to Apples with the favorites and grilling out. We also walked downtown to watch fireworks and I realized all over again that I am not meant to live here

5: Had excellent catch-up times with a Waco favorite over Cafe Cap pancakes and coffee. Then had catch-up with another set of favorites over gin & tonics. I have a diverse friend circle.

6: One of my regular Tour of Doctors days, but settled in for an excellent night of Community with my community.

7: Spent most of the day running errands with the sister and then a grill-out at the Onion.

8: Emmy nominations came out and I was pleasantly surprised by several and experienced my usual level of anger over others. In other news, Pasadena friends came to visit and it was excellent to see them.

9: A failed trip to Temple to recover Jimmy from the shop was redeemed by seeing The A-Team, which ranks with IronMan:2 as the perfect summer movie.

10: Joell and I drove to Dallas to celebrate our pal Tori as she married her beloved. On the way home, we stopped for dim sum (which made me miss Hong Kong) and cheesecake. These were clearly at two different establishments.

11: Watched the World Cup final and then played RISK. I ended up winning by taking Europe and North America. I am positive this will never happen again.

12: This happened. So I was sad. I wrote this and cried a bit.

13: I watched a lot of television, took a wee walk and drank a lot of coffee. This is how summers in Texas usually play out for me.

14: The Onion had a swim party and I continued to work on my Indian reflection paper, get ready for Columbia and attempt to not get overwhelmed by both of those things.

15: Had a massage in the afternoon. Happy day!

16: Saw Inception with the favorites and it was unbelievably fantastic.

17: Began the packing process and spent time with favorites.

18: Errands, coffee, finishing the India paper

19: Ran around Waco a little like a chicken with my head cut off, dealing with spending 10 days out of normal life.

20: Waco to Houston to Bogota. Read We Need to Talk about Kevin on the plane and spent a lot of time thinking about family. Met at the airport by old and new friends.

21: After my first cup of authentic Colombian coffee, I learned the ins and outs of the Bogota public transit service, served as spectator to a few protests and experienced mora (‘blackberry’ in Spanish and my favorite Colombian fruit)

22: Got up early and went to Soacha, which is a suburb of Bogota where an important assassination took place. Then went to visit students at a school and practice english. We spent the evening with a new friend and purchased ample coffee for favorites back home.

23: Quiet day spent shopping before meeting another new friend and spending time at a home for at-risk boys. There may have been filming of music videos.

24: Flew early to Medellin and was immediately whisked to a feeding center high in the mountains. I spent the afternoon chopping carrots and snapping pictures, basking in the holiness of people getting fed.

25: Sunday brought time with a precious of a pastor and then a holy evening on a rooftop with the last living bodyguard of Pablo Escobar who has found freedom in the wild man Jesus.

26: Spent the morning talking about Northern Ireland and Rwanda with men and women who spend their lives working with guerillas and then took a gondola ride to meet more new friends. Dinner was hamburgers, Colombian style, outside Pablo’s church.

27: In the morning, I attended baptisms inside a prison. In the afternoon, I sang inside a prison. In the evening, I got to tell fifteen teenage girls that they’re special and deserve respect, no matter what the members of their barrio say. Excellent day.

28: Sat in the house of woman who’s whole life was stripped from her and yet she offered me coffee as she told me about her life. Humbling afternoon. Also, I discovered the wonder known as “Crepes and Waffles.”

29: Taught about genocide to maximum security prisoners. Spent the afternoon shopping and the evening with my travel companions.

30: Medellin – Panama City – Houston – Waco. Evening spent reviewing the past ten days of my life with the favorites.

31: Slept super late, spent the afternoon attempting to clean out the DVR and caught dinner and a movie with the favorites at night.

So, I’m back from India and I’m just beginning to figure out everything that happened. If you’re a faithful reader of this blog, look forward to hearing more about my trip – my reflections, my pictures, my witticisms. However, today, I thought I’d go with my “summary of the month” motif and give a highlight summary of each day.

May 22: Left Waco EARLY in the morning (before the sun was up) and spent the day traveling
23: Had a LOST finale party and am still annoyed about that finale
24: In one of my favorite conversations of the trip, we got to chat with Varun Soni who is the Dean of Religious Life at USC. He’s the first Hindu person to hold such a position at any institution in the U.S. and he offered us valuable insight into Indian and Hindu culture and the interplay with the United States. We boarded a flight that night to leave for Hong Kong.
26: Landed in Hong Kong (after loosing a day to the International Date Line) and marched around all day, getting to know the city and attempting to stay awake. We took the Star Ferry from one island to the other and experienced Hong Kong cuisine. Hotel: Tao Fong Shan
27: Conversations with knowers about life in Hong Kong. I had blisters that had blisters on my feet, but I persevered! We also had one of my favorite meals of the entire trip – Dim Sum!
28: Met Sam Say of Bolaven Farms and decided that I want to be involved in this man’s work somehow. After a quiet afternoon at Tao Fong Shan, we caught a midnight flight to Delhi

29: After a long journey, we finally arrived in Chennai. The drive from the airport to our hotel was a overload of sights and sounds and an excellent introduction to India. Hotel: YWCA
30: After attending church in the morning in Chennai (a deeply Anglican church that could have literally been on the Ormeau Road in Belfast), we boarded the bus for the drive to Mamallapuram. We walked on the beach next to the Bay of Bengal and enjoyed our fantastic room at the Ideal Beach Resort
31: TempleTastic Day! I got blessed for marriage, walked out of lunch to see elephants on parade and saw statues that were from the 6th century

June 1: Spent most of the day traveling to Hyderabad but spent the night shopping for proper wedding attire! Saree shopping is intense, y’all. Hotel: Club View Hotel
2: Sang at a church dedication, got henna on my hands and attended a Banjara groom preparation ceremony. AMAZING day.
3: Attended Vijay and Priyah’s wedding in full garb. Watch out for a full blog about this – it was intense.

4: Travel to Cochin. While at the Hyderabad Airport, got to talk to Sarah which was dearly needed. Hotel: can’t remember the name but it was right on the Arabian Sea. Ridiculous.
5: Sabbath Day! Team meeting in the A.M and truly odd oil bath in the afternoon. But overall, excellently restful day, capped off with watching the sunset over the Arabian Sea.
6: Toured Cochin – saw Jewtown and the Royal Dutch Palace of Kerala. Topped off the evening with possibly the oddest theater experience I’ve ever had.

7: Travel to Jaipur and our entrance into North India. Hotel: Madhuban Guest House.
8: Conversations and interactions with knowers and exploration of Amber Fort. To say that Mike – the architecture geek – freaked out is an understatement.
9: Instead of hanging out with the team as they walked around Jaipur, I hung out with Dustin and we had a doctor come visit us and diagnosed us both with pre-pneumonia. So we had great conversations and watched old episodes of 30 Rock. Then, at night, the whole gang went to Chocki Danni (which we affectionately call the Rajasthani State Fair). Highlights included a man-powered ferris wheel and camel riding.

10: Travel to Calcutta and our last domestic flight of the journey. Hotel: Fairlawn Hotel
11: Quiet morning of exploring and lunch included one of my favorite conversations of the trip. The afternoon included a tour of Mother Theresa’s house and I am still awed and humbled by her life and choices.
12: My head chose ‘no’ to life and so I spent most of the day resting processing and thinking. The silver lining was more good conversations
13: Worked at PremDan – the Missionary of Charity’s Home for Physically and Mentally Challenged Adults. Lots of thoughts about this – look for a further blog
14: Quiet day in Calcutta spent talking with people back home and people on the trip
15: Another day of random errands and saying goodbye to Calcutta. That evening was spent at the Calcutta Train Station, waiting on our train to Varanassi which was delayed by 8 hours. But yeah, India via train is an experience.

16: After getting of the train in Varanassi, we made our way to our hotel which was right on the Ganges River on the Assighat. As Cara Jane so eloquently said, we arrived at the bottom of the well. After settling in and getting a great lunch, we took a boat down the river and had a conversation with a Hindu Christ Follower about how he dances out his faith
17: Visited the Monkey Temple, attended the evening puja to the Ganges and traveled most of the day by cycle rickshaw. Crazypants.
18. Definitely my “it’s time to go home” day. After waking up seriously early for a sunrise boat ride down the Ganges (which was excellent and enlightening), we drove to see Buddha’s tree of enlightenment and then sat in a super hot hotel room, watched the first half of the US v. Slovenia game and then schlepped to the train station. Now, friends, I love India. But the Varanassi Train Station doesn’t fall anywhere in that love. It was a situation.

19: After arriving in Agra and at the super fabulous Trident Hotel, we went to the TAJ MAHAL. That’s right, one of the Wonders of the World. Ah-mazing. Oh, and I may have realized I had an absessed tooth. The trip largely became about pain management at this point.
20: Traveled to Delhi and checked into the Swargarath Hotel
21: The morning was spent at the Sikh temple where I got to help make chapati and had easily one of the holiest moments of the trip. We then got to see where Ghandi was assassinated and had one of our last team times over a pizza party in Stroope’s hotel room.
22: Spent the morning affirming the goodness and strengths we found in each other – I found out that I’m a Banyon Tree – and then began the process of traveling home. We made a brief detour to the house of some friends and had a final puja and then drove to the Delhi airport for the first of three flights home.
23: Landed in Hong Kong, then landed in San Francisco, then landed in Dallas. Craziest thing was that my parents were waiting in DFW to surprise me!

Clearly, there are many stories to tell from this trip and many things left to process. I have myriads of questions – ones that I’m not sure have answers and ones that I’m sure must. I plan on typing many of my thoughts out, but I know that many will linger for years. My trip to the bottom of the well and back shaped me in ways I am only beginning to understand.

I’m sure are you’re reading this, I’m on my couch, hovering around consciousness and trying to re-orient myself to Waco.

Thanks for following me as I’ve journeyed. I look forward to conversations where I can more fully explain what I’ve experienced. In the mean time, keep your eyes peeled on my Flickr page as I post pictures in the next few days and weeks.

Thus concludes my Indian Follow-Along-Blog. Thanks for reading.

And this is what we’ll be seeing when we finally leave an airport next….

After saying goodbye to our teammate Andy in Hong Kong (so that he can do his mentoring there for the rest of the summer), we’ll be returning to Texas via San Francisco. Theoretically, we land at 7:40 CST in Dallas – but this is international travel, so who actually knows. I’m going to look like death getting off that plane – let’s hope that people still chose to love me once they see me. I’m sure that if you asked me about the trip at this point in the journey, I’ll grunt and tell the funny stories. Check back with me in about two weeks as I begin to translate my groanings into words. I know that I will not be the same – I never am after accumulating another passport stamp. I can only hope that as I continue to experience other cultures and peoples that I am transformed by them into a better version of myself.

Quote of the Day

“Those like myself whose imagination far exceeds their obedience are subject to a just penalty; we easily imagine conditions far higher than any we have really reached. If we describe what we have imagined we may make others, and make ourselves, believe that we have really been there…” – C.S. Lewis

“There is no place like home.” – Dorothy Gale of Kansas

the Red Fort in Delhi

There is far too much to see in this city in two day’s time, so I’m sure I’ll leave feeling slightly unfulfilled. We’ll be spending a majority of our time on this last day in conversation with Jesu Bhaktas – Hindu Christ Followers(HCF). We’ll have our farewell dinner as we attempt to end well with the team and continue to lean into the questions posed to us by the HCFs. What does it mean to be a HCF? Why is the title of “christian” deemed inappropriate by some Hindus who chose to follow Jesus? These are questions that are probably best discussed over coffee so I hope we get to do that once I’m back stateside.

We won’t head to a hotel tonight, but instead transfer to the airport for the long night flight to Hong Kong.

Quote of the Day

“The idea of the church without mission is an absurdity.” – Vincent Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered

the Gurdwara Bangla Sahib Sikh temple – a place we hope to visit today

Dehli – the capital – is insanely rich in history. I refer you back to my little summary of the East India Company for pieces of it. I have some issues with decisions made by the British government throughout history, so I’m sure that righteous indignation will be flaring today as we explore sites created by the British Raj. I’ll be sure to post many pictures when I’m back.

The guide implores us to begin to consider how we’re going to reorder our Waco lives and how we’re going to examine the things we take for granted.

Quote(s) of the Day

“Advice from one devil to another on how to destroy a Christian’s faith: ‘Talk to him about ‘moderation in all things.’ If you can get him to the point of thinking that ‘all religion is all well up to a point,’ you can feel happy about his soul. A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all – and more amusing.” – C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

“It is rare that a man is prepared to pay with his life for such a minimal achievement as causing cracks in the edifice of the existing order.” – Inge Scholl, The White Rose

“The cross alone is the criterion of the church’s identity and its mission to the world.” – Carl Brataan, The Apostolic Imperative

Happy Sunday! We’ll be waking up in Agra and taking the bus to Delhi. Tonight is the night we hope to take in a Bollywood movie and experience that slice of Indian culture. We’ll also be shopping a bit, so I’ll be dusting off my bargaining techniques. I’m quite good in Africa, we’ll see how I am in India. Delhi is our last stop before heading back to the states – so the guide implores us to stay focused and not travel home mentally. As I type this (over a month before this day happens), I hope I’m processing effectively and yet experiencing as it’s happening. I hope I’m soaking up the joy and dissonance and brokenness and hope. I hope as I partake of the Eucharist this morning that I meditate on brokenness, sacrifice and joy. I ask that you hope those things for me. I’ll let you know how it goes when I’m back.

Quote of the Day

“God allows himself to be edged out of the world and onto the cross. God is weak and powerless in the world and that is exactly the way, the only way, in which he can be with us and help us… Only a suffering God can help.” – Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

“Conversion is the turning of ourselves to God, and that means all of ourselves without leaving anything behind or outside. But that also means not replacing what is there with something else. Conversion is a refocusing of the mental life and its cultural/social underpinning and of our feelings, affections, and instincts, in the light of what God has done in Jesus.” – Lamin Sanneh, Whose Religion is Christianity?

THIS IS WHAT I’M LOOKING AT TODAY!

Seriously, I’m sure there’s other things happening – I’m sure some of us are sick and some of us have parasites and some of us are more ready to go home than we actually have words for – but today we’re at the Taj Mahal. Beat that with a stick. My life is ridiculous.

This is an excellent moment to publicly thank my amazing parents for granting me this opportunity and the other ridiculous ones I’ve had throughout my life. It is only through their generosity and guidance that I am able to be who I am today and I am more thankful than I know how to express.

We’ll spend the majority of our day on a river cruise down the Ganges. Then we’ll bid farewell to the city and board another night train to Agra – where we’ll see the TAJ MAHAL!

There’s not a lot on the guide for today – just the note about the river cruise and that we’ll be on the train. So I’m not trying to keep secrets, I just have no other intel. I will say that it’s a Friday, so if I was in Waco, I’d be watching movies with the Waco family. I know that I’m missing them quite a bit right now, along with my biological family as they’re scattered around the globe.

Thought of the Day

What does it actually mean that God loves the world? What does it mean to love the world and to love yourself? What is my role with these people, in this moment, in this time?

this is a picture from flickr user asis k. chatt who provides the following description:

Varanasi or Banaras is the oldest living city in the world. Established in 7th century B.C., Varanasi is the holiest of the holy cities to Hindus. The sacred river Ganga (Ganges) flows towards the north here which is considered very auspicious by the Hindus. The most famous of all temples of Lord Shiva is situated here(Temple of Lord Viswanath). Varanasi is full of temples, probably thousands of temples are here. There are about 365 GHATs or places of bathing on the river Ganga. These GHATs are always crowded with devotees & pilgrims, & there are hundreds of priests to help them in their sacred rights. At evening, priests perform AARTI (worship with lighted lamps) at some of the more famous GHATs, & the scene is just beyond descriptions. Thousands of people attend this AARTI ceremony, including hundreds of foreigners. With its narrow streets teeming with people as well as (sacred) bulls, Varanasi is a must for all the foreign visitors to India who want to have a glimpse of the eternal India & Indian culture.
This particular photo shows a portion of a Ghat in the evening with priests performing the AARTI ceremony.

stroope provides the following thought for our day in varansi:

The Ganges – the sacred river of Hinduism and the center of life and death in the city of Varanasi. The structures that sit right at the edge of the river where bathing and cremating take place are called Ghats. The word refers to steps leading down to the river’s edge but includes landings and structures at the top of the steps. There are over 100 of these along the river in Varanasi.

Varanasi – by the way – is also known for its textiles. So I’ll clearly be shopping at some point. I am a sucker for fabrics from foreign places.

Quote of the Day

“Men [and women] become interested not so much in abstract ideas as in individuals who represent their ideas. Victories are won because men [and women] follow some leader whom they have learned to love.” – Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf

“More and more I feel that love is the golden secret of life. The very air of heaven is love, for God is love and love never fails. So go on loving not only in loveless but the unlovable, the difficult, the perplexing, the disappointing – unto the end.” – Amy Carmichael