Worth the wait

Two events just around the corner:

YAA Fest 07 kicks off in 48 hours from now - on World AIDS Day. An evening of music, drama, testimony, seminars modelled after a college festival. The challenge - for young people to lead the change and show that it is possible to experience relationships and life in a way that pleases God.

Mumbai AIDS Sunday follows on - churches across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai will be lifting up their hearts in prayer for people with HIV as well as seeking the scriptures and listening to what God is telling them.

Its been a long slog getting ready for these events - and some of the slogging is still being done was we put finger to keyboard.

If you read this while the 48 hours are ticking down - do spare a prayer for us - if you read it afterwards - do say a prayer for thanks!

Worth the wait? We hope and pray!

Surveillance

One of the fun things about blogging is that people all around the world can read what you write.

How much they read is a different matter - but I do confess taking a peek each day at the little counter that we have on this site. We are edging towards 1000 visitors (many of them yours truly of course)...

The slightly bizarre bit starts now. This blogsite collects a medium amount of information from each visitor. The server you use, the location of that server (give or take a few hundred kilometers sometimes). In a separate place, I can plot the last 10 visitors on a world map etc.

The other weird bit is that sometimes I can tell what the referring site is. A number of times people have been linked to this blog by doing google searches. Today someone in Plano, Texas - using a JC Penny Company computer googled the term "A Century of Planting" - it lead them to a posting on this blog... Who that person is I have no idea - but I am sure there are programmes out there that actually track down to the level of email addresses etc.

Point is this. The old children's song is still true: "Oh be careful little eyes what you see... there's a Father up above, and He's looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see."

Down here below there are plenty of eyes that are very interested in what we see - and where we visit on the internet.
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Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4.8

Happy Birthday

At our positive friends meeting today a good friend of ours told us all that he was grateful to see today. It is another birthday for him - and one that he did not think he would see - twice. The first time 11 years ago when he first was diagnosed with HIV - and sent back to India from the country he was working in. The second was when 2 years ago his haemoglobin level went down to 3.

He is very much alive today. And grateful.

Cherishing each God-given day.

Happy Birthday.

Denial

Al Gore once said: "Denial is not a river in Egypt"

The truth is that denial is a basic coping strategy that many - most? - of us use.

For a person with HIV this is all the more so.

We are dealing with a very sick man - who is in a very poor relationship with his wife.

He says that he got HIV while he was working in Africa. So far ok.

He says that he got it "through the air - because there is so much of it there."

His HIV negative wife is not buying that. He clings to the shreds of his own denial. The truth looms darker and he is alone.

Truth is a bitter pill at times. But very very very necessary.

Denial is deadly.

Sleep

That eternal mystery - what takes place when our eyes are shut. How is it that we spend so much of our lives in suspended mode - and how does sleep refresh and rejuvenate?

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I was a mild childhood insomniac (partly spurred on by listening to the Radio Australia in the dark using an ancient East German shortwave radio - at low volume of course).

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One of the verses my mother used to comfort me was Psalm 127.2b: for he grants sleep to those he loves.

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Today its my turn to comfort the little ones. What nightmares they have at this age - I don't understand - but I do remember that even in the remarkably sunny childhood that I was blessed with - a particular dream of when I was 5 years old.

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I dreamt that a darkened figure was coming in through the door of the balcony and into our bedroom - and when I ran into the living room there was my brother Stefan and the lady who helped with cleaning the floors. Stefan was totally calm, sucking on a small piece of Lego.

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Over 30 years later the nightmare remains fresh in my mind.

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What I do know is that whatever the internal terrors we may be going through. Our Lord promises His presence to His children. When I pray with Asha and Enoch on one of their nightmares - I know I am not putting empty words into space - but am invoking the gentle but powerful lover of us all - and from whose love nothing can seperate us.

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Time to put my words into action. Good night! Sweet dreams!

Street

You just don't know who you will meet on the street.

Tomorrow morning school starts up again after the 3 week Diwali holidays for our wonderful two-some.

We had to buy some sports shorts for Asha - she is growing - and the local dealer had run out. Off the 4 Eichers went on our trusty (and slightly rusty) scooter - into the depths of Thane town.

After securing the needed shorts and some socks for our 2 - we were on the street in the bazaar looking at cheap knickers from a roadside vendor when who should come up to us but an elderly Muslim gentleman and his wife.

We have been looking after this dear man's HIV positive daugther on an occasional outpatient basis - she lives with her husband deep in Bombay-town. They were so happy to see us - but said that their son-in-law has been admitted again at hospital for high fever. The on-going tragedy of HIV.

Later, just as we were about to come home we saw a familiar face on the road. We stopped and back-tracked. It was Vicky - who had been admitted last week to the hospital because of dysentry (see: sick child). Vicky is a young man who has been helping one of the families we are in touch with - and especially little Hari - who continues to recover from pneumonia. It was good to see Vicky on his feet. He was with friends and they coming back from church - walking the 20 min walk to the bus-stop which will take them home. He said that the church had announced about the Youth Against AIDS festival next Saturday - and that he will be there.

Our lives are intertwined with others.

Wonder

Just realised something this evening at dinner - Asha is now the age when Dad read to us our first 'real' book.

We were on our first vacation as a family - to Chikaldara - housed in an old mission bungalow there - and every evening before sleep Dad would read from Black Beauty. I was swallowed up by the story (tears flowed freely) and started into the magical world of books.

Naturally our happy two-some love hearing stories.

We read from a book tonight - a fictional tale of a boy who lived around the time Jesus did. Tonight's chapter ended on this cliff-hanger: the boy and his friend see a stranger wearing a white robe in the middle of a crowd.

No prizes for guessing who that 'stranger' will turn out to be.

But how sad that the author has such a wierdly stereotypical picture of the European Jesus - with his spotless white robe. I wonder what washing-machine he had access too - or maybe it was a small miracle that he kept doing to keep his robes spotless?

The gospel writer Mark shows things so much clearer - and more challengingly.

Jesus goes in private to a high mountain and is totally transformed - he becomes light and is joined by the two iconic figures of Jewish history - Moses the lawgiver and saviour - and Elijah the prophet and reformer. But even more astounding than this - a voice from heaven declares that 'This is my son, whom I love. Listen to him"!

After this mind-boggling experience we get a ground eye view of how people reacted to him at the time. Coming back down from the mountain "as soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him." (Mark 9.15).

With so few words Mark paints such a rich picture. The crowd was overwhelmed with wonder and runs - to greet him. Such a strange word to use - totally against what I would write if I were writing instead of the dear lady who we read tonight. But here it is. The people greet our Lord.

Have you greeted him yet? He deserves to be.