Mine's Bigger

The past few days I've had the opportunity to see some of the most marvelous structures that man has ever built, there truly are no modern structures that can compare to these they have a true beauty that has lasted through out the years. Despite all the wars, different rulers and natural disasters, they have stood, with a beauty that transcends the ages and is still ravishing despite the test of time. The first day I was able to see The red fort, Biwi Mahal, and Akbar's tomb. After seeing those, I couldn't help but think, "why do people make such a big deal about the Taj Mahal? Compared to the pictures theses look infinitely more amazing." The next day I went to see the Taj, and there I learned something important. No picture will ever do it justice It is a truly massive monument, that just keeps going and going, and as you stand at the base of it looking up, you realize how small you truly are. It towers above you and the amount of work that was put in to it leaves you trying to catch your jaw before it cracks on the marble. It gives you a physical place to begin to see how big your problems really are when they are held up to God. In the same way I stood and stared at the Taj Mahal in awe, so are we as Christians to stand in awe of creator. So often when we face tough times, we are so focused on ourself that we miss the beauty of the bigger picture that we standing in the middle of, which is the song, poem, painting, or what ever else you have chosen your life to be. I think life is about learning to look through a magnifying glass and the big picture at the same time, but I've noticed especially in my life once I get ahold of one of them it takes me forever to let go of it and go back to looking through  both at the same time.

One thing that was truly amazing was the fact that they were all symmetrical. For every piece of architecture there was  another that mirrored it perfectly down to the distance from the threshold. The amount of work that went into thinking the plans up is truly amazing.

While they are breathtaking, they also heartbreaking, because while they were a tribute to man's ingenuity they were also a tribute to man's vanity. I was able to see Akbar's tomb, the Biwi Mahal, the Red Fort at Agra, and the Taj Mahal. Three of these were built as tombs , and the other was a massive collection of palaces inside of the red fort. All of them were simply an attempt to outdo the people who preceded them. A 400 year old legacy to the male competitive spirit. A way for the next generation to look at his father and grandfather and say "Mine's bigger!"

Brothers and Sisters of Every Language

From Thursday to Sunday I've had the privilege to be at The All India Christian Convention, with at least 500 Indian brothers and sisters in Christ. I had the opportunity to get a minuscule glimpse of what John talks about in Revelations 7:9, and I count myself blessed to have been allowed to see it. The speakers that delivered messages were amazing, and I was surprised to find that one of the speakers was a man named Randy Snyder. Randy was the lead pastor of my home church when I was very young (about 5-7 I think) and his son used to babysit me in the afternoons, and he was the man who gave me my first guitar. So it was a true blessing to be able to run in to him halfway around the world, a blessing that left me speechless.

The second blessing came on Sunday morning. They had us break up into groups of about 20-25 and go out and pray all over the property(we're staying at an ashram by the way which is pretty cool and absolutely stunning) anyways they requested that we pray out loud in our native tongues. So at the same time there were 23 people praying in English, Khasi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, and Orissi. The only way to describe this experience would be in breathless awe. It was the most powerful experience I have ever had in prayer. 

Today I had the opportunity to see the backwaters of Kerala which are basically the highways of that area. The whole area is a giant set of islands that are connected by water that is a mixture of salt and fresh waters. This is something worth looking up on google earth. There were homes built on strips of land 7 feet wide, with water on both sides. We took the local bus (which was a giant boat) to see some of it which is so much cheaper than the boats they offer tourist. We paid 10 Rupees a person(about 20 cents) compared to the 2000 and up they wanted for the touristy boats.

Structures and a man with a machete

Yesterday I got the opportunity to go a temple, which ended up being a completely different experience than I expected to be. The temple was an amazing piece of architecture and art. It was massive and seemed to go on forever, and the fact the fact that it was all done by hand 600-700 years ago blows my mind. It's truly amazing when you think about it, the number of structures that are inspired by religion, wether it be Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity or one of the many other religions that have existed throughout  our history. I've come to notice as humans, we are a very visually stimulated species(which I guess is a good thing since you know it's kind of one of the most used senses), and with that stimulation comes an artistic side, and from that have come many beautiful things created. But I believe that it is also a downfall, because we are so visually stimulated we are not content to have a something that we cannot see most of the time, we feel a need to bring everything about so that we can see it, which through this unintentionally goes to a lack of faith. I think God designed it this way on purpose so that we have to work in order to get faith, so that it's not something that" just happens."

Due to one of the hospital employees named VijayKumar, knowing one of the temple priests. We got to go through with a guide and avoid all the lines and fees that normally go away with it. While we were in a inner chamber looking at one of the gods one of the priest caught me off guard and put some kumkum on my forehead( Kumkum is the powdery substance that they put on their forehead that makes that dot you see many Hindus wearing). Kumkum is used to show that a person has been to a certain temple. It also represents the third eye, Hindus believe that if you don't cover your third eye someone can steal our power away from you. After it happened I felt horrible, because I'd been warned that they would do it and I wasn't really paying attention. The reason it felt so bad, was that it felt like a betrayal, it was as if I had blasphemed God by just allowing something that is a sign of devotion to another religion to be on my body. I also had the opportunity to ask a hospital employee named Ramachandraiah(who lived as a hindu until march of 2011) and he told me that it was a sign of devotion to a certain God. After hearing this I felt even worse for allowing it to be put on my body.

Many things have happened since the last time I posted. I had Christmas, which was amazing to experience in a different culture where the emphasis isn't all on giving present. I experienced new year in a really different way than I ever have before. What happened for new years here was with a church service. It started at 9:30 P.M. and went until 2:30 A.M. While it was amazing to get to experience this with believers thousands of miles from my home and believers there, I would be lying if I said  that it was easy to stay awake for. It was 5 hours of preaching and signing of which I only understood maybe 45 minuets worth. I got to see my first monkey which was alot bigger than I had expected it to be. on all 4 it was about 4 inches higher than my knee and if he had stood up he would have been to about my armpit. At the time I was too dumb to realize that this could be potentially dangerous so I kept trying to get closer until he ran away. 

I got to do some exploring  in the grounds behind the Hospital which was really neat because all the bush is about is at least a foot taller than I am and sometimes more than that even. I had got a ride from the hospitals jeep about 700 m down the road hopped off and started walking. It was about an hr before I encountered anyone,  the only people that were out there were shepherds who didn't speak any english, so in Telugu  greeted them as best I could, which was asking them if they were having a good day. The first couple were very happy and smiling the whole time. The last one though kinda scared me. I was lying on the bank of a creek taking pictures after a few minuets I looked up and there was a man standing on the bank which was about 6 feet above me. He was standing there staring at me with an almost angry look on his face. But that's not what bothered me it was the giant machete he had in his hand that freaked me out, I waved to him and tried to greet him, but he just stood there and kept glaring at me so I packed my camera jumped the creek and onto the hospital grounds as fast as I could, which luckily was only about 40 yards away.