Living Legends: Chandrakant Wakankar

Loving your culture, loving your country... how do we do is in a pluralistic, multi-faceted land like ours - and how do we do it if our first love is the risen Lord Jesus?

Chandrakant Wakankar shared some of the above while speaking at the 'It's a Great Life' series of public lectures which our group of house churches has run the last 2 years. Using his own life as an example he wove together a challenge for us to trully be part of our wonderful nation of India- with all its jostling cultures - while at the same time humbly speaking truth in love into the different situations we find ourselves in.

Chandrakant draws on a life lived in learning - a lifetime of carefully observing - reading - sifting through material and testing them out - which gives him a unique set of insights into our nation. As the chief Environmental Education officer for the World Wildlife Fund (India) for many years - Chandrakant has down countless treks and camps - tracking and observing wildlife and flora. This was wedded with another fascinating set of interests - namely the military history of the great Maratha King Shivaji. Using various books as his source, Chandrakant walked the land of the battles - looking at the geography of the area and sifting out which descriptions were true from the fanciful.

This life-time of discovery has ended him up in a unique place where he is able to put these ideas into practice - Chandrakant is currently contributory faculty at the Unversity of Pune in the departments of Environmental Studies and Defence and Strategic studies, besides being a consultant to the Science and Technology Park (also part of Pune U). His spell-binding tales did not only enthrall little boys with wide open mouths - it led him to be lecturing cadets and officers of the national defence academy on military history and strategy.

We live is such a push-button age. A time when we want everything given to us immediately. A quick google search here, a web-browse there - and then we feel we have 'researched' enough. How wonderful to hear a person share small insights into a lifetime of learning. It struck me that we not only need to be learning ourselves - but that we need to be learning as families and communities. The church - as God's body on earth - must together be sifting through and picking up - cherishing that which is good - burnishing that which needs a polish - lopping off this and that which clearly do not belong...

The beauty of our country - the amazing fact that it has 11 out of the 12 major biomes (only the Medditeranean biome is missing) - the almost infinite number of plants and animals (one example below from a near-by park) - and then the overlapping of various human histories and cultures brings us back in awe to the source of it all. We love our culture and country by loving God ... with our eyes open.

Jeremary

Prelude:
How would you like to be lost in Pune at 10.50 AM - knowing that your very dear friends are getting married at 11 AM - and that you are the best man - so the wedding party is waiting for you?

Add another tale to the Eicher's life - the case of the missing best-man - starring yours truely and a motely crew of saints in a minibus. We had left Mumbai early in the morning to drive to Pune. Your humble Eichers got up at 3.30 to get to the designated meeting point - sadly - a few others did not meet the time lines - including the bus itself. By the time we had come to the outskirts of Pune we were there by the skin of our teeth. By the time we got lost - that skin had disappeared. Yours truly did not exhibit too much grace - and other assorted fruit of the Spirit on the occasion....

However:
The marriage of Jeremy Richards and Mary Jacob was a sight to see and a time to cherish. The vows were exchanged at the Hindustani Covenant Church - in an ancient chapel that was clearly an British army church at one point (Jesus carried a flag of England in one stained glass window and below him were the crests of two regiments in memory of fallen comrades).

"This is amazing" was what Jeremy kept saying through the day of his betrothal. A glorious day of joy as he and Mary pledged to honour, love and protect each other from that day forth. We were so blessed to actually be with them - and witness the fruit of much prayer and hope.

Uncle Geoff Richards spoke about how Jesus was invited to a wedding - and how He comes - but how also He is the one who is the host. Uncle Geoff reminded us that all the servants gave Jesus was water - common - simple stuff - but when given in obedience to Jesus - He turned it into the finest of wines. We also bring our common, broken lives to Him - and He changes us into something beautiful.
In the midst of the joy there was also the note of sorrow. Uncle Geoff shared that it was two years to the day that his beloved wife Jeanne had gone home to be with Jesus after a long fight with cancer. For us as a family our joy was tempered by the shadow of death - on our way to the wedding we received a call the Mr. Mark had died at the JSK Centre at 10 AM. Uncle Geoff reminded us that following Jesus does not mean everything is always easy - but that joy - real deep and true joy - will find its way to us through the griefs we go through.

As a family we celebrate Jeremy and Mary's life together. Uncle Geoff talked about a uniting of lives - we started the day with Jeremy and Mary as separate people - during the day they were united. Their journey as a new entity - a new union as Jeremary - has begun in the presence of God and man. We rejoice at the reality of them growing more and more as one - and being an every greater blessing to others.

Our thoughts also go back to our own parents. Uncle Geoff and Aunty Jeanne sang at Mum and Dad's wedding in 1967. The legacy of Godly parents and their sacrificial lives have been a deep and lasting blessing to us all. It was a special blessing to represent the Eichers on this wonderful day.

The next gen of Eichers were in full swing too. Asha was a very enthusiastic flower girl - going well beyond the call of duty. Enoch did not have a specific role - but made up for is with energetic running around.

I had been asked to raise a toast to the newly-weds. As part of the happy haze that surrounded the wedding - the grape juice had already been served as a cooling sherbert - and so we had a toast without the liquid - but a blessing none-the-less.

As Jeremy and Mary start out their joint life, Sheba and I look back to just before the millenium change - 15th Dec. 99 - and are amazed at the wonderful journey we have had since then. At our reception in Mussoorie, one of the people who prayed over us said that there would be many tears - very true - but also much joy. Joy will search and find us all out - as we turn our faces towards Him!

A joining of lives

Tomorrow we leave at an ungodly hour - to take part in a God-drenched event: the wedding of Jeremey Richards with Mary Jacob. Jeremary - as uncle Geoff has already called the couple - have been brought together across the seven seas. Though Father God knew them and was preparing them for this great day - they did not know of each other until they found themselves serving on the OM ship Logos II.

Mary is from Tamil Nadu. Jeremy is from the world. His passport says Australian, but he has lived in Kenya, Cyprus, India and various other points. Both are open to where God wants them next - but know that God wants them to be living out their lives together now.

The wedding is in Pune - where Mary has been serving with the Good Shepherd ministries for many years. We as a family are planning to go - to celebrate with the new couple and various family members. From Australia Uncle Geoff - his brother and sister - and Jeremy's sister Fiona and her new baby Tabitha. From Mumbai and Pune - many others. More than the ceremony - where I get to be best man and Asha flower girl - and all of us witnesses and pray-ers - more than the solemn and joyous vows - we look forward to growing as a family with Jeremary!

Caring for the dying - and the should-not-be-dying

Update on the two men admitted on Monday. We were able to get one of them - Mr. 'Nandi' - admitted at the main government hospital at Sion - and after much advocacy he was posted for emergency surgery to drain the pus from his knee at 4 AM this morning.

Whether Mr. Nandi will survive we do not know.

The other man - Mr. Mark is still with us and very sick. He has not passed urine for a day and is very weak. We are waiting for some test results before starting on treatment - but it doesn't look good.

The fact is that both these men were admitted at government hospitals - where they should have been getting treatment for their infections. Mr. Nandi for his infected leg - Mr. Mark for what looks very much like Tuberculosis. Both were discharged after spending many days and getting minimal treatment - mainly because they are HIV positive.

Today we are ministering to the dying - when they shouldn't be. It is one thing to try everything and still have the person slip away. It is quite another to have been in a place where treatment should have happened, but be sent away with anti-retroviral therapy as if that will magically solve all the problems the person is going through.

Three Flowers

Here are three flowers:












The first is our dear Asha, who has made a bed for her newest teddy: "Gloria"

The second is the lily that bloomed on our balcony this morning. After a year of spending a fairly mediocre existence - it bursts forth in such amazing colours that you just have to say 'wow'!

The third is our dear Enoch - who went to school this morning for his last day of 'juniour kindergarten'. The holidays now stretch ahead till mid June - when he joins the ranks of 'senior kindergartners'!

We have many more flowers in our lives - but here are a few to brighten your day - they certainly have done so for us.

History

Time flies. Pretty literally. The trusty BBC website had this image today - which brought back some of my recent conversations with Enoch.

Having finished 5 years of his life - Enoch is interested in many a thing. Recently it is all about firsts. The other day the question was - what was the first car like. Was it small? As small as a toy car? When was the first scooter made?

This evening I was asked: what was the first shop? When I confessed I didn't know what the first shop was, the second question followed: what was the second shop? A simple economic history followed - but as Enoch's dad, I really have to wonder at how quickly things change - and also how certain things don't - or at least not as quickly.

Take the picture above - from the first mechanised flight to the rise of the jet airliner took about 50 years or so. But since then, we basically have had the same technology. Enoch saw a clip of a 'space plane' which may offer 'space tourists' a few minutes of weightlessness before gliding back to earth - but that is really not pushing the limits much more. We are not really talking about flights that take us around the world in 5 - 6 hours - for instance - something that rocket propelled aircraft may be able to do. Then again - the road to the airport (or space-port) is quite likely to be blocked with traffic of a more humble kind - so the huge extra amount of money that any of these technologies would probably entail (at least in the first part) would hardly be adding much utility.

When was the first airplane?

In-Patient Care

The paint is hardly dry - having successfully dedicated our (re)new(ed) JSK centre - we moved our work back into it today - with the strong smell of paint still upon us.

The new cabins are tiny - and will take adjusting to for our doctors and as we start the counselling and testing process we will have to develop new ways of using space cooperatively.

But one thing is sure - we continue to walk by faith - and not by sight. On the very first day back in business as a centre we have already admitted 2 patients.

Both men are in pathetic condition. We had wanted to admit one of them earlier - we will call him Mr. Nandi - as he had terrible pain in his leg which suggested a severe infection. After a lot or persuasion, our staff helped to admit him at the Municipal Hospital in town. Very sadly, he was there for almost 2 weeks - and nothing - literally nothing was done for him.

The main reason is that he has HIV.

The orthopaedic surgeon was called repeatedly, but clearly did not want to touch him. When he finally was 'discharged' he came to our centre - emaciated, in great pain - and with a huge amoung of pus in his knee. We were stunned to see that he was sent off without even a diagnosis written on his discharge card. We really do not have the capacity to do what is clearly a major orthopaedic procedure - but his mother is at her wits end and so at least for now - as I type this in at 9.45 PM - Sheba is over at the centre doing her night rounds with the patients. We will try what we can - and pray.

The other patient - lets call him Mr. Mark - was met while he was also admitted at the same government hospital - by Mr. Raju - one of our long term Positive Friends - who has himself moved away from Thane - but who comes every month for his medications. Mr. Raju saw that the mother of Mr. Mark was deeply distressed - and Raju told her that she should come to Jeevan Sahara. She came last week full of hope, and was so grateful to be talked to and to have people who cared for her. Today she brought her son. He is painfully thin, but has come in hope that something can be done.

Miracles - big and small - are very needed tonight.