Such a long journey....

In a few hours we are about to make the trip of a life-time.

At 7.30 PM some dear friends will carry up Mum and Dad’s luggage from their beloved Shanti Kunj up to where Bhagat and Evie’s vehicle at Sister’s Bazaar.   We will then gather for prayer, and then they will carry Dad up in a stretcher to the car.

Our common destination – Dad, Mum, Vikram and me – is to be united with Sheba and Enoch at our current home: Bethel Villa on the HBM Hospital campus in Lalitpur.

To put it briefly - Dad has come to a stage where we all need to be together.  And so over the past 2 days we have tried to weigh out which place is better for his palliation... and after discussing and praying we have come down on the side of taking Dad and Mum with us to our home and hospital in Lalitpur.

Deep breath time.  This is a  h  u  g  e  journey.

Almost 800 kms of God's beloved country of India needs to be traversed before we end up at 'Bethel Villa.'

At this point is seems almost silly, with Dad in pain and needing help to even walk short distances.

But then life is almost never about the easy issues.  

We need to be in a place where we can help when Dad is very sick.  That time is now.  And the cold isolation of Shanti Kunj - so lovely for those who want to drink deep of silence - with its non-functional phones and steep terrain is just not the place for Mum to be alone in her care for Dad.  No easy push-button solutions here.

And so we are about to take a stretcher up to Sisters Bazar, a drive down to Dehra Dun, the Nanda Devi Express to New Delhi station overnight... we should arrive at New Delhi at 5 AM and hope to catch the Hirakud Express at 8 AM to Lalitpur, arriving there (D.v.) at 4 PM Sunday afternoon...  about 24 hours from now.  Hopefully within 30 mins of arrival we will have Dad resting in our home.

Please pray for Dad - that he will withstand the rigours of the journey.   Ask Jesus to help each one of us as we support Dad and see these next few days be as full of light and rest as possible.