Never a dull moment

Take a good look at the picture below:


Do you see anything unusual?

We were near the 'new park' yesterday - Sheba was teaching at the training for CANA - and I had taken Asha and Enoch to the park for a quick outing - when something fell down from a bush. I looked more closely and saw something green and motionless - a tree snake!


The beautiful creature just did not move. It knew that its colour and shape did a good job at camouflage - and without have seen the previous motion we never would have noticed this beauty.

To add to the joy of our outing, Enoch lost one of his teeth. He is pretty good at doing this at his age.

The current one came out while we were having a late breakfast out in the open.


And this is where that beauty came from:


Remarkable - how the next gen of teeth are making their appearance in Enoch's mouth. And to think that the ones he is now growing are going to service him for his entire life.

So did we go to the park for snakes and teeth? No - we did go because it was a Saturday morning and though we have a 7 day training going on - we had the luxury of being able to sneak off for a little bit for a late breakfast for the kids - and some fresh and fun for their dad.

What can be better than helping your children learn how to climb trees? Even if they are small chickoo trees - life is very very good. We thank God everyday for His goodness to us.

4 days to celebrate a once-in-a-year event

Birthdays are big in the Eicher household. Asha's bash for 2010 has almost been celebrated in biblical proportions.

The fun started on the eve of her birthday. Her beloved Oma and Opa were with us for the week and we had a Bible study at our home that night. We had baked a banana cake and shared it with our hungry church members. Since we started the study at the normal time of 9 PM and people lingered on after 11 - it was not long before Asha's hour of turning 9 came about. She insisted on staying up till it was her birthday - and then after a kiss and a prayer went to bed.

The next morning we were all up bright and early to celebrate as a family. One of the banana cakes from the night before was candled and gummy-beared and brought out with flowers and gifts for our princess.


Being one of our (rare) Saturdays off - we had the luxury of being together all morning - though Sheba needed to meet one of our Positive Friends - but after that visit we all trooped over to Pizza Hut (a real treat) for Asha's B-day lunch.
Asha was thrilled when the good folks at the joint play a B-day song on the system and presented her with a trio of balloons.

That afternoon we had the privilege of baptising 8 folks from church - and were all treated to a dinner afterward since the 16th of January is also Anil and Sandhya's wedding anniversary - and they graciously fed the church after the baptisms were over. Besides a raucous 'Happy Anniversary to You - Anil and Sandhya' our good folks at church also gave a rousing B-song for Asha too.

The next morning Enoch had some letters for all.


We were off to our house church - where we thanked God for Asha. Before we knew it, we were back for the big event - Asha's B-day party.


A splendid time was had by all.

Asha's friends turned out in force.


She managed to spend time with them all - and not slight anyone. Enoch and the boys disappeared into a back room and played robust Lego games (seemingly more interested in destruction than construction).

The games went superbly.

The treasure hunt was memorable.

Asha's Opa shared the good news with all of us - and her Uncle John Gabriel prayed for her.

The cake - appropriately in the shape of a book - as both Asha and Enoch are just mad readers - was lit, sung-over, had-candles-lit-on-and-blown-out, and was rapidly diced and served to the hungry masses.

Part of the fun was Asha 'feeding' all and sundry with her cake. "Don't take a big bite" she told me when it was my turn.

Like we said - Birthdays are big for us Eichers. Our parties for Asha and Enoch echo some of the thrilling parties that we had when we were growing up. What a joy to share our joy again with this gen.


We know that Asha will have many more adventures.

It's great to be 9 years old. And its great to have a daughter who is 9.

Another's shoes

I had been remiss about fixing my chappal.

The central thong had popped out a fortnight ago, but I soldiered on. Then yesterday it happened. The last little flap was torn off - just as I was going to the office for a last minute scramble before our training programme started.

A light went on as I remembered that on my brisk morning walk of 7-10 minutes to the office, I pass a cobbler.

A stout Marathi gent, this dear man shows up from the opposite direction just about the time I pass by his shack where he spends the day cobbling. His white cap - so often seen in rural Maharashtra - and so rarely seen here in the big city - offsets his white hair and moustache. We greet each other each day as we pass by.

So yesterday I stepped gingerly toward the corner where his shack is - nursing the flapping chappal and looking forward to having the good cobbler man make it right.

Sure enough - as I reached his store - he also had arrived. His bicycle carrying the large basket he brings with him everyday. I briefly showed him the injured chappal and looked expectantly at him.

The good cobbler told me that it would take some time for him to set up shop. I made a face.

Then he did something beautiful.

"Take my chappals" he said - slipping out of his flip-flops.

I gratefully did and was on my way - walking the final 100 meters to my office in the hard plastic flip-flops of a 50+ year old cobbler.

An hour later - on my way back to the centre and the beginning of the training - my chappals were patched up and after handing over a tenner for the man's trouble I was happily walking to the JSK centre to start the training.

Walking in another person's shoes has taken a new meaning for me. The basic decency of the man stands out. Though we live in an often heartless city - it is good to be reminded of the shards of common grace that we still see around us.

3 generations

One one side of the table - 3 generations of Eicher women.


On the other side - 3 generations of Eicher men.


In the middle - 3 delicious pizzas.

The occasion?

As with most of the events last week - it was linked up with Asha's birthday. This being the lunch on the actual day - Jan 16th.

The result?

The pizzas didn't stand a chance.

Over an hour of wonderful conversation, feasting and enjoying each other. Every part of those 3 monster pizzas was devoured (the largest portion by yours truly) and we all felt that we needed to be wheeled away at the end.

Hooray for Grandparents! We are so grateful that they could be with us for this past week.

Two more glimpses into a week of heaven for us:

Oma with Asha for some 'special time' at a coffee shop. Oma enjoyed listening to Asha and having a deep conversation with her over Black Forest cake (where Oma's Mummy came from) and creamy coffee.

Opa reading to Enoch in the kids bedroom. Enoch is devouring stories on his own - but still loves to be read to if at all possible.

We dearly wish Oma and Opa could stay with us the whole time - and maybe there will come a day. In the mean time we are so grateful to them for travelling halfway across the country to be with us. Very deeply appreciated.

It is a rare - but sweet - thing for our 3 generations to be together.

Leaving on a jet plane

"Bill" should be in the airport as I type these words, getting ready for a flight to Hong Kong and then another one to Vancouver.

Bill is no ordinary dentist on a trip of India - he had lost much of his senses and was reduced to living - if that is what it can be called - as a deranged destitute on a footpath in south Mumbai. It was here that a group of simple believers in Jesus Christ made friends with him in his crazed, paranoid state - and managed to convince him to let them help him.

This evening I had the privilege of telling Bill "see you again." He was dressed in new clothes - still emaciated but so much better than on the first day when I met him in the hospital 10 days ago.

His mind was still wandering - but it was so much more lucid than when we first talked. His hands were still thin - but so much stronger than when I first held his hands and prayed with him.


One of the brothers who has been helping Bill out has given me a set of photos - ranging from when they first met Bill on the street - to a wonderful shot of him and I smiling from ear-to-ear - sitting on the hospital bed - just before we walked down and I said farewell to him.

For issues of privacy I will not be posting them - but they tell an amazing story of grace. Of how a man very lost, very hungry for love and understanding - could come so close to death - and yet be snatched back to life.

Bill has lots of challenges waiting for him when he arrives in Canada - sometime tomorrow. His physical, mental, social and spiritual rehabilitation are still big mountains to climb. But he seeing how far he has already come - we have hope.

As he puts his hands into those calloused carpenter's hands which are stretched out for him - hands that allowed nails to pierce them 2 millennia ago - Bill is going to be restored. His journey holding the hands of the one who made him has only just begun.

In the meantime - he is about to leave Mumbai airport and wing his way East to a new life.

Sky

We have not had much beauty recently on this site - so here goes. Two pictures taken recently.

The first is the evening sky from our terrace here in Thane (note the strategic TV cable wire that was impossible to avoid when taking the shot). We had come home from work. Mum and Dad were waiting for us at home. The kids came back from school. Then we saw the sky and we had to go out - and what a view we had. Awesome.


We don't often get up to the terrace - even though we live on the 7th floor of our appartment building - and have the terrace directly above us. But what a lovely evening we had gazing at the sky.

Mum and Dad have been with us for a week. They are just about to get onto the train at Borivali station for the long trip up North and back to Mussoorie.

The view from their terrace? Well, suffice it to say it is nothing less than fantastic.

Most of North India is covered with an almost permanent haze cloud in winter - a mixture of moisture - dust particles (thermal inversion) - smoke - and various other noxious things. The result is a pea-soup from hell - except that it is bone-chillingly cold.

The view from Mum and Dad's home - a South-facing cottage sticking out of a rock cliff at 7,500 ft altitude is quite different.

Feast your eyes on this:

Photo courtesy: Christa Eicher (taken Jan 2010)

Now you know why it is so hard for us to leave Mussoorie when we go there on our annual pilgrimage in May!

Plunging

Two millennia ago, a wild young prophet dressed in coarse clothes made of camel's hair spoke a revolution. He challenged a culture of religiousity with simple but earth-shifting message: God's Kingdom is near - prepare for it by personal purity - and that not through nit-picking legalism, put by open and public repentance of sins - following by a life showing the fruits of repentance.

To symbolize this shift of heart, the prophet had people step inside the waters of the Jordan river. Then plunged them down under the water, and brought them up again. A symbolic death and resurrection.

John, as the prophet was called, became known as 'the Plunger.' The later English translators of the Bible decided to keep the Greek word as his moniker - and called him John the 'Baptist'.

John's cousin Yeshua of Nazareth (the Hebrew name meaning 'salvation' which is transliterated into English as Joshua or Jesus) also took to 'plunging.' After John's arrest by the corrupt authorities of the day (nothing new under the sun), Yeshua's public ministry blossomed, and his disciples also 'plunged' people who were coming forward to repent.

Yeshua's use of 'plunging' pointed to his own immanent death and resurrection. Both John and Jesus were gruesomely murdered. But Jesus arose on the third day. His final directions to his followers were that they were to tell the whole world the good news about him - and to make disciples - baptising (plunging) them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus had taught.

And so at the dawn of 2010 we continue to obey what our Lord has commanded us to do. On Saturday our house-fellowships gathered together and we had the privilege of 8 members testifying to the work of grace in their lives by obeying Christ in the waters of baptism. The 8 were all totally different. Each one's story unique - from different socio-economic backgrounds, speaking different mother-tongues, having come to Christ in radically different ways. But all common in a desire to make the logical first step of discipleship - the public declaration of following Christ through their symbolic death and resurrection in the water.

The whole process was not easy. Anything where we are working to obey our Lord is not easy. it is never easy to publicly testify about faith. But we are not called to a life of ease. We are called to a life of following our Master.

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picture courtesy Reneta Thomas