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Whilst in India recently i had my faith challenged to the extreme. In fact it has probably been challenged every time i have been to India, but this time it just seemed to srike a chord that I can no longer ignore.
Going out to India has always been something i have enjoyed, i enjoy the food, the culture, the people and te clymate. But one thing this time that seemed to strike me really hard this time was the children begging on the street. They had always been there, every time I had been to India, but for some reason this time they affected me more than ever.
Whilst walking in the touristy areas, i felt the tugging of my clothes by those who begged to eat. The tugging of my jeans at my ancles, the grabbing of my t-shirt sleaves, the tapping on the arms, the constant asking for money as they walked along beside us. It was right in your face.
As I walked around, having been told on my first trip out to India not to give, because if you give to one, then they will tell all their friends and hundreds will desend upon you, I was reminded of the worship song that we have sung in church, with the lne that goes: "I want to see what you see, I want to feel what you feel, I want your passion for the world". And here it was, exactly what God sees every day, feelings that he feels, although not to the same extreme, and a passion that went out to every single one of them that tugged, pulled, tapped and asked.
there are over 200'000 kids living on the streets under the age of 10 in Delhi alone, and i know that obviously in one go, or at one time, I could not help support, or releave all issues for all of these kids, but my heart now says tat I can no longer go back to India, and just teach in the Bible schools, or preach in the churches without the other side of the Christian faith that Jesus calls us to love the poor, and do something about their lives.
Jesus says that when we feed someone who is hungry, clothe someone who has no clothes, give someone a drink who is thirsty, then we do it onto him, but the challenge is in the reverse of this statement, tat if we don't do anything for the issues that are in front of us, then we don't do it to Jesus either, and this is something that is striking right at my heart.
I came back on the 17th October this year, and have said that I would be making no immediate rash decisions, but as much as I love some amazing people in India, and I do have some amazingly close friends, my heart has been challenged, and at the moment, i am feeling that I can no longer just go back to the Bible schools and the churches, without doing something to support, or enable some work with those living, sleeping, begging, exisitng on the streets, a life i can never imagine, but a life that I am convinced that Christ would never want for people.
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