27 July 2010
Yea, so for the longest time (until this last school year) I never questioned what “amen” meant. I used context clues and always just assumed it was how God liked to say “goodbye” or “see you later”. Then I found out that Jesus uses that word at the beginning of his sentences. He says, “Amen, Amen…”, or “truly, truly… “(I say to you). This profoundly changed how I thought about prayer, but more importantly how I relate to the urgency in Jesus’ ministry to communicate the Truth.
So, as the summer is drawing to an end, and I have now seen more of India than quite a large number of Indians. I have experienced things that I pray I will never forget, and I have developed relationships that I cherish and anticipate growing in a healthy way as I progress through life. I have been given things money cannot buy, and am indebted to many people more than I could ever repay. And just as I was literally amazed at the way people sacrificially gave money for us to come to India, and how this experience alone deepened my understanding of Jesus’ unfathomable gift on the cross. In the same way, the Indian families that opened up their homes, wallets, kitchens, and hearts to us as we travelled have instilled in me a gratitude that I absolutely cannot properly express. As I was talking to Joben’s mom, she shared that the only thing they wished I do in response to how I feel after living among them for some time is to pass it on, to pay it forward, to open up my home (and, boy, to imitate the way families have opened their home and hearts to us is saying something). After this conversation, again, I realized how perfectly her request matches that of Jesus Christ’s. So, again, their generosity and example unlocked another part of the mystery that is God’s love for us. Wasn’t it Jesus who gave us something we can’t repay? Wasn’t it Jesus that commands us, above anything else, to love? Not only our Heavenly Father (which makes sense), but also our neighbor? I mean he gave us the great commission, and as I approach my last supper in India (on this trip) I hope I am instructed as Jesus instructed, “to remember” all that our Father has done. Not only on the cross, but also in the present, as he lives and breathes in my presence. I desperately pray, that in America, in the mountains, at Baylor, and everywhere I go that I let my light shine before others that they may see my good works and give glory to my Father who is in heaven. Amen.
