There and Back Again: India and Beyond

As I sit here in my dorm room at a private Christian university, I am reminded of the fact that I am incredibly wealthy. Yes, me. A basically broke college student. In comparison with the majority of the world's population, I  - an almost broke college student - am extremely wealthy.The amount of money my parents and I, as well as the government and whatever scholarship funds I may receive, pay to cover my college expenses  each year  would be enough to support a person or family living on $1 per day for approximately   82 years . Yep. It blows my mind too. It is a humbling thing to realize that of all the places God would choose to put me, he chose this one. He chose for me to grow up as a pastor's daughter in the United States, where women are  respected, at least for the most part. He chose for me to attend college (something a lot of women around the world do not have the opportunity to do) in preparation for the calling He has placed on my life to minist...

Today, I was waiting for my sister to finish her chores and listening to the radio when Focus on the Family came on. The featured speaker happened to be Andy Stanley, and he was talking about how we as Christians should respond to the needs of people around us. One of the things he said was that we have all grown up thinking that we have to be fair to everyone, to the point where if we cannot help everyone, we simply do not help anyone. The problem is that instead of even one person receiving our compassion and aid, no one does. His challenge was that we should choose to meet the needs of the one, rather than giving nothing to everyone. So, as I am preparing to go to India, where I will most definitely be seeing hundreds of people living in poverty and children who do not have the opportunities afforded the majority of Americans, this concept of meeting the needs of the one instead of giving to no one is quite convicting. I know that this is a choice I will have to make each day - wh...

My intention is to chronicle the events of my summer internship in India beginning with the preparations for my journey and going forward into the months (and years?) following. My hope is that as you follow my venture into the great unknown, you will not only learn about India and my experiences in adapting to its culture and serving its people, but that you will also see how God is working in India and beyond. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”  - Psalm 46:10 (ESV) Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.