Daniel

I was talking to 2 friends at a marriage reception last night. Both of them are finding the pressures of work almost unbearable. Sheba and I are in a different position - our work is not the same as our friends - but I have been chronically tired now for at least a year - falling asleep while sitting down - sometimes even when praying (surprise!).

But what about Daniel. How was he able to govern a massive, complex empire with 127 provinces - and yet worship God at (a minimum of) 3 times each day. His enemies could find no corruption and no sloth in him. The King later says refers to "the God whom you serve with all your heart". The King had no cause for complaint with Daniel's work - in fact, seeing the quality of his work - he steadily promoted him - ending up with a situation where this man who had been brought as a prisoner to Babylon was not the second in command of the whole empire.

Would that this would be true of me. If I had enemies and if they came snooping into what I am doing and who I am - they will find many instances that are wrong and that I would be ashamed of showing.

Daniel is a light and an example - but just a shadow the amazing attributes that we so fully see in the person of Jesus.

Our challenge is to see His lordship in every part of our lives. We can become like Daniel. Its possible - because the same God who listened to Daniel and helped Daniel and others to act decisively is the God who is alive today - and very alive to our issues too.

May the Lord bless you in all you do!

The future is another country

One of the blessed things about our experience of time is the sheer connectedness of it.

I am linked with who I was in the past - with the sum of the experiences that I remember as well as in many ways with things that I may not fully recall.

At the same time, we have the ability to think forward. To plan. To anticipate and expect. And then the hoped for time or day actually arrives.

For me the two 'big' years that never seemed possible were 1997 - for some reason I could not imagine the British giving up Hong Kong - and 1999 - the thought of a millenial change-over was just boggling to me.

Those years are now dusty history.

As we look into this year - we are amazed at what it holds - and what is in store. But do we ever stop to be thankful for the sheer miracle of actually 'being there' on the days as they tick along off the calendar?

At Jeevan Sahara Kendra we have the opportunity of shifting our operations into the current Lok Hospital. This may take place at the end of 2009. Perhaps early 2010.

It certainly is a mind-boggling thought. But here we are - with the opportunity to put plans into action. To set up different tasks to do - and then as the days slip by - to be amazed to see many of those 'thought-experiments' which were in our minds actually materialize.

In the mean-time, we need to get cracking. To be actively listening to what God is saying about our plans to see Jeevan Sahara Kendra become what He wants us to be. To allow him to shape our lives as His hands and feet. To be good stewards of the tremendous trust and opportunities we have in the lives that we are already involved with - and be sensitive to what He wants us to do next too.

The future is another country. But it starts today.

Challenges to Faith

Challenges to faith.

Faith is taking God at his word.

The Bible is so full of promises that express God's outer power and inner nature. We have so many promises for us.

And we have plenty of challenges that allow us to put this into practice;

1. Tomorrow brother Ravindranath - from GMI Church - will be having a skin graft operation on his leg. He had his foot run over by a truck some months ago and has been in great pain as they surgeons have had to amputate part of his foot after infection set in - and now are trying to save the rest. This man has been used in such amazing ways to reach out to people in prison.

2. Tomorrow Mrs. Candy will be shifted from Sion Hospital to JSK for a night - and then will be taken the next day by MSF staff to the HIV care centre in Panchgani. We would have loved to look after her here - but do not have the nursing staff. She has undergone severe physchiatric side-effects from a 2nd line TB medication she has been taking through MSF.

3. Tomorrow a desititute widow will be taken to be reunited with her child and then taken to Mukti Mission in Kedgaon for long-term rehabilitation and care. Mrs. "Tina" is not HIV positive, but has been driven away from her home by her in-laws and her brother and so has been living on the street for the past 2 years. She was highly pregnant when our staff met her - and was able to give birth to a child in the Thane Civil Hospital thanks to JSK staff. Though she does not fit into our core calling, we became invovled and were just about to take her and the baby to Mukti when a well-meaning had her whisked off to the government Child Care committee - who then took the child from the mother and sent Mrs. Tina home - so that she has become mentally imbalanced, mourning the loss of her child. Despite the inputs of our staff, we will be sending a very broken mother and child to Mukti.

Each situation seems hopeless and desperate. Each one is an opportunity for God's love and care to be seen in a broken and cruel world. Each a chance for us to hold on to what we know - and grow in confidence and awe of He who is past change.

Faith is taking God at his word - and acting out what we know He wants (and we know a lot more than we may want to admit).

Memories

One of our resolutions for the new year is to have at least one experience each month with the kids that contributes to building great memories.

Looking back on my parents - it is something that they did amazingly well. We marvel now at how they were able to spend so much time with us - and in such wonderful ways on such a limited budget.

This month we managed to squeeze in a visit to the planetarium.

What a place it is. To be in that big room and see the stars and galaxies. To actually 'go' to the surface of the sun and see the massive plumes of fire spouting out into space. To see a bird's eye view of the Chandrayan 1 moon-rocket that India has made - and then be part of its lift-off. Amazing stuff.

Humbling too - and not just to think of the absolutely tiny area of the vast cosmos that our beautiful blue planet occupies - Asha seemed more excited about the street-market outside Dadar station than the mysteries of space.

The day was capped off with Asha attending her violin class at 4, Andi taking part in a marriage-planning meeting at 6, us hosting the young people from church at 7.30 and then the highlight of the day:
Asha and Enoch's best friends Nikita and Jasper came by - and we managed to persuade their parents (and our dear friends) John and Nalini to stay for the night!

Memories. Wonderful ones - made regularly to order in the Eicher household!

HIV in the church - where it should be!

Of the many blessings that we saw at special service of blessing and the marriage reception for Anil as he married Sandhya was this: there were so many people in the group who had HIV.

God's family is very big - and the right place for people with HIV is in the church. What a blessing to see people living with HIV participating in the communion. To see people living with HIV blessing the bride and groom. To know that people living with HIV were helping out with the many arrangements that went into this marriage.

Of course, one factor for so many being there is that the bride is their beloved Sandhya, who is a nurse who is serving people who have HIV. But beyond that, I think it marks for me a turning point. A time when we are seeing the doors of the church start to open and welcome people.

We have a long way to go, of course, but looking back on this weekend, we can only thank God for what He has done.

In our country today, every church should have members who have HIV. Not because we want new people to get the disease. But because it is the business of the church, the very reason for its being, to be the body of Jesus Christ. This body must include those who have HIV.

There is no shortage of people with HIV in our country. If we do not have a single known person with HIV in our church it can only mean two things:

1. We are basically comatose. We are not out with the good news. We are not changing lives. We are not seeing Jesus touch others through us - and seeing people come into a life-giving relationship with Him - and become brothers and sisters of the sinners-saved-by-grace who we are.

2. We are bound by fear. People may be coming to the Lord, but we are too afraid to open up and tell about their needs. How much we need to be real with each other - to really experience what it means to be brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

Both reasons are all too common.

But the good news is the both can be changed. We serve a God who specializes in turning grumbling bumbling folks into people who have changed the world. Same folks. Same God. Lots of hope!

The new US prez

We are all connected in some way.

As Barak Obama formally swears the oath of office of the US president - putting his hand on the Bible that Abraham Lincoln had used - we have a message of possibility broadcast far and wide.

In our part of the world, where so much of political power still depends largely on being born into the right family and/or scraping your nose on the floor till you get some power, to see a man being chosen by the people - a man who so many said would never be chosen because of his race - is inspiring.

When asked by the BBC about a 1964 prediction that the late Robert Kennedy made that America would have a black president in 40 years, Dr. Martin Luther King's reaction was that he thought it would be possible within 25. The fact that it took a bit longer than 'predicted' points to the challenges involved - but also the the possibilities present in a society where the Bible has had a significant role to play (even if in often truncated and splintered ways). You can see a clip of what Dr. King had to say by clicking: here

Would that we could see something similar here in our country. The emergence of people who speak with clarity and candour - who actually inspire instead of fill with dismay.

There are a lot of people cheering on this side of the pond as the president of a far off (but still very powerful) nation takes office.

No ordinary day

January 16th is no ordinary day!

Eight years ago our lives as a family were permanently changed - for the better! - by the birth of our first-born daughter Asha.

What a privilege it is to think back on those years. Each one so full of

2001 saw Asha born in Jan, and us shift to Mumbai in October and her cousin Joanna's birth in December
2002 saw us move over to Thane and become involved with Jeevan Sahara Kendra
2003 witnessed the birth of Asha's brother Enoch in Feb and Asha started pre-school and her cousin Anmol was born in October
2004 was when Asha start pre-school
2005 saw us shift over to our Happy Valley appartment and Enoch began pre-school
2006 was when their cousin Ashish was born
2007 saw Asha begin primary school
2008 was when Asha began her violin lessons
2009 is when Ashish's brother or sister is to be born...

In each year, and in each day we have been blessed with so much joy. Sheba and I chose the name "Asha" for our lovely child because we knew that we would be seeing many dark things - but that we have hope in Jesus.

What we knew would happen, did! We have seen many sad and dark things - but through it all we have a well-spring of hope in our Lord. Asha fits her name!

January 16th 2009 was a very special day for another reason too:

After many years of prayer we were thrilled to see our dear Anil Sainani and Sandhya Aind become Shri and Shrimati Sainani - joining their lives together in holy matrimony in our house church! What a joy to see the answers to so many prayers being lived out as these two beautiful people promised their lives to each others.

Asha was thrilled that the wedding was on her birthday. It was a perfect day.

We Eichers are sticklers for tradition, and so the yearly Bday party was a must. This year's edition for Asha was a small event on the 17th - since Anil and Sandhya's wedding was on the 16th and their reception was on the 18th.


Asha's birthday made its appearance early on the 17th morning (the same day as we had a big church training too).

In the evening we had the children from three of our dear families come over for a small party.

A splendid time was had by all including a treasure hunt and Asha feeding all and sundry with her cake!

These are days to remember. Days of grace and the affirmation that whatever happens around us - we have a sure hope - a loving hope in our wonderful Lord.

Asha:
The sensitive, vibrant girl that she is. The remarkable, mysterious person she is becoming. The amazing, lovely, and still far-from-fully-known child of God is will be.
All a gift to us. We cherish this remarkable part of our family.

Thank God for hope.