Asha's finger

A little infection on your right index finger - can either go away - or just progressively get worse.

In Asha's case it was the latter.

And that too during her last week of her term exams.

We were hoping and praying that the finger would heal on its own. But it didn't. And as the colour turned yellow with pus we knew we had to drain it.

Off to Dr. Stephen. He took a look and tried to persuade Asha to have the minor operation done that morning. Asha preferred to put it off to the evening. So after she came home from her test Wed., we trooped over to Lok Hospital for the procedure.

Asha screamed when the 2 pain killing injections were given at the base of her finger. But was brave during the actual cutting. And cut Stephen did. As a surgeon the idea is to cut out all that should not be there.


It left Asha with a very very painful finger. That night was a difficult one as it really hurt our little girl.

But Asha is a brave one too. She has cheerfully finished her last two days of the exams (using her ring-finger and thumb to write) and is on the mend. The wound was dressed this morning by Sheba and Marise at JSK and shows signs of progress.


How often there are things in our own lives that we know are rotten - and causing real harm. But when it comes to cutting them out - we do the minimum possible. We don't want Asha to lose her finger - so though it hurts us to see so much cut - we know it has to be. It hurts, but it is for her good - and her finger is healing. How much more in our inner us do we need such surgeries to be done...

Two house-warmings in a day

Our church had two house warmings today.

One was to welcome Mrs. Maninder to Thane. She has been staying for 2 years in a wonderful home run by Oasis India Trust where she and her two daughters (now 4 and 2) were loved and cared for. During this time her older daugther Bina had a surgery done on her cleft palate - and Mrs. Maninder found peace in following Jesus too.

Now it was time for her to come back - and that she did today. Our church members have rented a room for her. Put the deposit down. Got things together for her. Bought utensils and buckets and filled the shelf with food and tea and sugar. Put up a fan, made curtains. Waited for her and then when she came, took her to her new home and prayed for her.

We are so glad for God's people and their great love for others. I must admit that we had some times of really wondering what would happen for Mrs. Maninder - but the church folk have come through - and really want to continue to bless this dear woman.

-------------------

Same day. A number of the same people. A very different world.

We are in the sleek new flat of a family from church. New means sharp-shiny new. A dedication service is in progress. Bro Stanley is sharing from the Bible about how God blesses Abraham - and how Abraham in turn is a blessing to all the nations - especially through the Lord Jesus.

A few hours earlier - we were praying in a slum. Now we are on the 14th floor of luxury. The same people. The same God.

Its hard not to be bowled over by the outside appearances. But the rub of the matter is this. Everything we experience is a blessing. The sun. The air we breathe. The sweet sleep at night. The waking up in our own bed (and not in a hospital or prison). The fact we wake up at all. Stanley pointed out that all these blessings are from God - because of His nature - namely to be gracious to us all. What a leveller that is.

To whom much is given - much is expected says the good book. Each one of us has the challenge of knowing what to do with our lives - and with our wallets. We may have much or little - but the key is our generosity - and whether we are trully and madly loving Jesus at the core of who we are.

Its much easier for me to feel comfortable with the poor. But who am I to call the shots? Jesus certainly didn't spend all his time with the poor - in fact his choice of friends included the politicians and film stars of his day. The key is Jesus' unswerving devotion to Father God. His last hours of prayer in the garden are a summary of his whole life: "Not my will, but yours be done."

One day every knee shall confess you are Lord, one day every knee shall bow....

Kids day out!

One of the many wonderful things about growing up in OM were the AICs (All India Conferences). To the uninitiated: a time when all the OM folks in India would get together for refreshment and renewal. For us kids: masti-unlimited!

We saw some of this during the recent EMFI conference. Asha and Enoch had not only a ball - they had balls of every shape and size - and added to the mix a daily cousin time with either Ashish or Joanna!

Here is some of the action as it happened:After being picked up from the station by Neeru and Ashish, we had lunch with Sarah, Victor and Joanna. Momos! (not seen in this picture of two hungry cousins).

Neeru left Ashish with us, who bravely journeyed out with us to Gurgaon and beyond. The bus we were in could have easily been used to grill tandoori chicken... All the kids were totally game though - no complaints at all!

Once we got to the conference site - friends galore! New and old - all ages and sizes!

Ashish had gone back with Stefan the first night, but made a reappearance on the third day. In this shot he decided that he needed to head off from the group.
And join his doting Dad!

In this picture 3 worlds come together (l to r) Vanessa Varkey from Church in Mumbai - Angel Tirkey who was a baby with Asha in Tumbagarah - Jharkhand, and Grace Matthew who lives in Borivali where her father runs a Hospital with our Asha!

And then the inevitable saying good-bye. The only hard part of it all. When will we not have to deal with the pain of parting?

what is the solution? ... not to fade away, no, no, to live each day by day, yeah....
(from the Cloth of Many Colours - by the Flying Carpets)

Thinking history - talking life

Dr. Chris Steyn. S. African - naturalised Dutchman - citizen of the world - citizen of the Kingdom.

What a blessing to hear wisdom speak.

Chris was a key speaker at the EMFI national conference we attended early this month.

He started his series of sessions with a personal account of how he had just discovered that his anscetors in S. Africa were involved with slave transport and slave trading.

And that the slaves were from India.

He shared how much this had anguished him - esp. as he found out just before coming to India to speak at the conference - an engagement I found out later that Chris had made 2 years ago.

And then, without a big fanfare, he humbly asked forgiveness for the sins of his ancestors. No ifs and buts - a straight-forward anguished request for forgiveness. He kneeled down in front of the 300 odd delegates and prayed to God. And then asked someone to pray for him. Dr. Sam David ably did that.

We were then blessed to hear Chris share the heart of what it means to be a health care worker who places Christ first and foremost.

At the end of the time, Chris had another surprise for us. We had been debating ethical challenges in medicine - and had on the previous day talked about the issue of a mother finding out that her child is anencephalous (i.e. has been formed in the womb without a head). CMC Vellore it seems has thought through the issue and has agreed that abortions can be carried on on such children as they are deemed to be unviable (I may be mixing up the exact wordings - but that is the basic thrust of the matter).

Chris talked about a nephew of his called Arnoldus. He said that this nephew had been born and had died shortly after birth. Arnoldus was anencephalic. His mother - Chris's sister - was a trained nurse and knew of her son's condition. Against the advice of many in the medical fraternity, she had carried the child to term. She gave birth to her son - they gave him the name Arnoldus - she cared for him till he died. The family buried the body. They grieved and mourned.

But here it comes: Chris said that he is looking forward to meeting his nephew at the resurrection. Whole. Made in the new image that will last forever. He knows his sister did the right thing - and that Arnoldus appreciated his mother who did all she could for him. For them "medical termination of pregnancy" was firmly and lovingly rejected.

"You do not solve a tragedy - by willfully committing another one."

All of this - and so much else was told with such humility and grace. We got a glimpse of what a Christ-centered practice can be like.

Sleep well sweet prince...

Blender

Life has been pretty blender-fast in the last 3 weeks - hence a relative silence from our part.

To recap:

Gurgaon trip - Oct 1-5 - WOW!
A super time as a family with 300 odd doctors and medical students (and spouses - like Andi is). What a challenge - we are so blessed to be living in a time with some of the most wonderful folk around.

Bhusaval trip - Oct 9-12 - Whew!
Andi and 5 others from JSK went to do a 4 day training in HIV care for churches in this small railway town 8 hours by train from here. A very stimulating and challenging experience.

Week in Thane unfurling and uncurling. Meow?
Sorting through our experiences - dealing with other work that has piled up - preparing for Mrs. Maninders integration - dealing with staff issues - Asha's term exams - church meetings - preparing for the YAA festival and the Philip Yancey meeting in Nov - doing stuff at home - Asha's finger minor operation - life and love continue at an amazing pace...

We are dealing with multiple issues at different levels - and yet all of these worlds and experiences are filtered through us.

The next few posts will try and make some heads or tails out of what is going on. Thanks for your patience!

Cutting chai views of the world

Two very different but quite remarkable blogs:

John Forbes adventures continue - its more than fiction - to see how the Lord blesses a man used by Him... click: here - or log onto - http://www.john-forbes.blogspot.com/

Robert Stephens - a young architect working in Mumbai and points East just recovered from Dengue fever - gives an on-going view of his love for and discovery of India through his blog... click: here - or log onto: http://premamilan.blogspot.com/

A whirlwind tour...

How many ways is it possible to travel by?

We went up to national conference of the Evangelical Medical Fellowship of India in Gurgaon 10 days ago (seems like a lifetime, an eon ago now...). Started off with an autorickshaw (2 actually) from Thane to Borivali Rlwy station. Then a train to Delhi. Then being picked up the next morning in a car by our lovely sister Neeru along with Stefan and her rambunctious son Ashish. Later in the afternoon, another auto to New Delhi railway station. Then a longish walk and an long hot bake in a bus while we waited for others...
Ashish was there with us for the journey - to get some valuable 'cousin time' with Asha and Enoch. It was a joy to have the little lad along - what a charmer!

After we were sauteed and baked enough to be garnished with coriander leaves and lemon and served as Tandoori Chicken, the bus finally juddered off through urban Delhi and out towards the conference site - Grace Bible College. It proved not to be in Gurgaon as we had thought, but way out in the Harayana countryside. Way out! A bumpy 3 hours later we pulled into the amazingly green campus of the Bible College as the sun was setting...

A wonderful 3 days were spent there - and then it was time to retrace our steps.

This time we saw the countryside from the inside of an air-conditioned vehicle.

With lots of rural machinery to ogle at for us city slickers.
And also the obligatory tire-puncture. Dr. Rajkumar - with whom we had the privilege of taking this trip - regaled us with some jaw-dropping stories of how he had found God faithful in his practice of being a surgeon in a very competitive corporate environment - the perfect sum-up of a conference at which Christ was the centre of all we were thinking about.

With the spare tire (the 'stepney' to be precise) safely screwed on in place of the errant punctured one we wheeled into Delhi and a few more precious minutes with our loved ones (including once again a lovely visit by Stefan, Neeru and Ashish) and then it was a taxi to the airport - and a jet plane to Mumbai!
The flight took 2 hours + another 45 min of flying around in the sky over Mumbai waiting to land. Finally we did at 11.15 PM and then into an autorickshaw to the Mulund Checknaka - and another one home to Happy Valley Homes in Thane.

We are so grateful for the many different ways we can travel - esp. for the magnificent help with the plane tickets from our parent trust. Asha's terminal exams were held the next day... what adventures we have as a family...