March 16, 2008

So this is it. In less than a week I will wake up in India. I guess if I'm honest I have a sense of anticipation mixed with a sense of fear of the unknown. I am not afraid for myself. I know where I am going and what I am doing but it's a weird thing to board a plane and fly into the future. When I land in Bombay it will be evening. Back in the United States (where I live) it will be morning of the same day. I know. It takes a minute to think that through. I will be going to sleep having lived through the day most of you are just waking up to.

I guess that sums up the "otherness" I am feeling about it all. Don't misunderstand. The voice of the Holy Spirit that invited me to begin the Daily Audio Bible also summoned me to India. I have no interest in disobeying. I've just come to understand that the life God provides for us and that we are continually beckoned toward is never really a life of tame and leisurely existence. It's just not the way of the Kingdom. God is continually calling us deeper or higher or whatever metaphor you prefer. I don't have all the answers to the "why" of this but I do have an understanding of some of it. The deeper we go into the work of Christ and further we walk with God the stronger He makes us. This happens by the excersising of our faith. The more we can handle, the more He expects us to handle. The more we can accomplish the more He expects us to accomplish. (To whom much is given, much is required. See the parable of the talents as well).

All of that is true and then there's the deepening love relationship we share with Him. He is inviting us deeper into His world and His plans. The further we go on this path the further we get from shore; from the things that made us comfortable and the life that we formerly lived and knew. Probably the Chronicles of Narnia books and movie did this concept justice. When we begin to live the life of the Kingdom and take the journey of the heart, our old lives begin to pale. "Remember not the former things," Paul said.

So I guess this is one more large step in our development because I am not going alone. You are going by proxy :) When I get on the plane you are with me in my heart and this process is for us to experience.

Onward Comrades,

Brian