We’re back from our trip and I’ll post more on that later, but I can’t NOT add this post.
It’s the end of the month and as usual, we’re low on funds. What else is new? By the time I got home last night from “the drive that never ended” I had remaining in my wallet – 5 rupees. That’s about 10 cents. My driver came to drop off the car today and I asked him to take me to the bank. We hadn’t been home for 5 days and there wasn’t much in my kitchen.
This is what was in my house:
6 onions
3 tomatoes
some green chilies
(those 3 ingredients are the base for most curries)
I had lentils and rice in abundance – so I made that for lunch.
We had about 1/3 lb* of flour for making chapattis. We do have wheat that we send to get ground into flour, but I didn’t even have the 15 rupees or so to grind it.
O. won’t be back until Monday AM and probably with empty pockets as well and I was wondering if the other 7 people I feed in my house daily would mind living on lentils and rice for 2 full days.
Back to my tale. So, Nitin (driver) drops off the car and tells me his older brother is coming over to give back some money. I didn’t pay attention; I was just trying to get past my guilt of asking Nitin to drive me into town on his day off. I really wanted to go to the bank so I could get some vegetables to hold us over.
Long story short – the ATM wasn’t coughing up any money for me today. Oh dear.
Nitin** says, no problem, by brother is coming over today to give you that money we borrowed. I’ll go get him. A few minutes later there was the brother putting 5000 rupees*** in my hot little hands. Praise the Lord! God had provided that money for us before I even knew we needed it. So now we can buy veggies and eggs and grind our wheat and get poor E. a bag of chips that she was desperately desiring this morning.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; ... is not life more than food...? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matt. 6:25-27
*We generally have about 10 lbs of flour in the house
**This story is much more deep than this. Nitin is Hindu and has been witnessed to many times. All of this happened right in front of his eyes. He doesn't deny that it was the Lord who provided.
***This money is not technically ours and will go to its proper place in a few days once the ATM is feeling friendly towards me again.
2 comments:
well, I was raised christian to the hilt... and being a Hindu this ATM problem and money problem probably did not effect any reflection in your friend because He/She is hindu... they don't let such minor crap bug them and they can't usually take this odd american "faith" that believes a miracle is required everytime you only have curry and rice for 2 days. OOOh the cruelties of poverty... you're where?? well just look around again. Where is their desperation? Well...you see peace in many eyes..not all but most. They live in an older and deeper religion than christianity. Never mind christ said all of the same things just most christians can't stand to see the many metaphors christ gave for the kingdom heaven being with in you. "think not for the things you will eat or drink not clothing you shall wear. Look at the lilies they do not spin neither do they weave but not even solomon was clothed more beautifully than they"
Dear Deadman: I appreciate you taking time to add your comments to my post. It’s nice to get something other than some spam advertisement in my blog comments.
I do live among Hindus and as you said, I do not see desperation in most of their eyes but the Bible (which I do believe) says: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 16:25. Lack of desperation does not necessarily mean that the place where a person is putting their faith and hope is – Truth.
And you are right (I assume you were going here) that there are people living in poverty who would be immensely grateful to have “rice and lentils” for 2 days, even one day, even one meal. My point in writing that was this, that I also was grateful. We did have enough to live healthily even if we hadn’t been given any money. As I wrote it, in my mind I thought of Elijah and the widow with a handful of flour and a little oil from 1 Kings 17. Yet, the God whom I serve is the ancient God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the same God that Psalm 78:24-25 says He “…rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. Men ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.”
The God of Christianity did not come into existence with the appearance of Jesus Christ on earth. This God I serve is the Creator of all. Before anything ever was, He existed. He is the Creator even of those men and women who “…exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:23)
I’m not certain where you were going with your comments about the kingdom of heaven. Feel free to leave some examples of what you meant. Thanks.
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