|
Anybody know how to interpret dreams? If so, please give this one a try:
I found myself with Jesus, in a van full of smiling children. He explained that there was a hospital in Allentown that was empty because all of its patients had been healed. We were taking these children to fill it, from other hospitals. I asked if Dana (my wife) should come along, since she was originally from the Allentown area, but Jesus said there was no need. I also knew, whether He spoke it in spirit or in words, that the world would be ending in exactly five days. Somehow, this gave me peace and something to look forward to, rather than despair. (This dream happened more than 5 days ago, for those of you with literal inclinations ;).
Then it gets hazy, and probably is a different dream, but I was in a store buying a cake, and did so after getting a recommendation from another customer. I then walked through a big school, a university perhaps, rejoined Dana, and all was well; back to regular life.
In Old Testament times, God spoke to all kinds of people, ordinary, prophets, and rulers, through dreams. Since Jesus’ coming we have the holy spirit, so many believe that such special revelations are no longer necessary. Revelation from God? Creative, but haphazard, synapse firings? Something in between? Who knows? (If it’s you, please enlighten us :). |
|
Last Updated on Friday, 02 July 2010 17:29 |
So here's a photo tour of my great digs. It's fully furnished, quite westernized, and in some ways, more luxurious than what I'm used to. Most flats here don't have air conditioning or big TVs, and western (as opposed to squat) toilets are apparently a matter of preference (lots more on toilets later ;) ). So in this "rapidly industrializing," "newly industrialized," "developing," etc. country, do I feel guilty living in such luxury? Well, I'm trying my best to live out Paul's wisdom:
|
"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." - Philippians 4:12 |
There was no married housing avaiable at IIT so I had to look outside campus, and through some networking ended up here at quite a reasonable rate (by US standards). It just sort of happened to work out really well, which depending on your view, could be fate, luck, or answered prayer. While the cost of living is generally low here compared to the US, real estate is quite pricey. In a place where you can get a good meal for $0.55, and $6,000 / year is quite a respectable salary, rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in or around Mumbai will run $500 - $1,000 (I'm on the lower end).
The photo captions explain more. Feel free to use the next/prev. buttons in gallery view (they appear when you move your mouse close to the sides).
|
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 26 June 2010 21:47 |
|
A pictorial tour of the area near my home, IITB, and the places in between. Detail in the captions. Enjoy!
Â
|
|
Last Updated on Friday, 02 July 2010 17:50 |
|
At long last, I'm here (and have been for 2 weeks). Here for 7 months, as a visiting researcher at the esteemed IIT Bombay. How? Prayer, perseverance, and the help of many. Why? That's a longer story:
I spent a week in 2006 gutting mold-infested homes in the 9th ward of New Orleans, devastated by Hurricane Katrina, with Campus Crusade For Christ. I had never been hotter, dirtier, or smellier. We slept in army cots in a concrete bunker, ate "food" out of big buckets, and had cold PVC-pipe "showers." I have never felt more fulfilled in my life. A man whose home we gutted thanked us, with tears in his eyes. And then he told us why. He could not have afforded the $5,000 - $10,000 we had saved him in gutting, which had finally made him eligible for relief funds. More importantly, he motioned around the shell of his home and pointed out the bars on the windows. "See these bars? It used to be that if it was a hot night, we would sleep with the front door wide open. Not anymore. And what's left has been destroyed. Yes, you have given me my home back, but you have also given me my hope back. You could be anywhere - partying, the beach... - but here you are, helping us. It gives me hope in the world again, after all that's happened." I've paraphrased, but those words seem as clear today as they were then.
 The team in 'Nawlins, with the materials removed from thie gentleman's home (right, standing, blue shirt)
There I was, wearing a respirator, swinging sledgehammers, fists, and crowbars. I thought, "...this is great, breaking stuff down, but surely there must some way to use my engineering skills to help those in the greatest of need..."
On the 20-hour roadtrip home (tip: trying to eat a 5 lb can of peaches in a moving vehicle is hilarious, but may not end as you intended) we were grateful to have a church pay for us to stay at a Comfort Inn. You would think I'd be relieved to be back to civilization; a bed, couch, TV, hot shower....but I was ashamed. We had all gotten by just fine on army cots and mystery meat. At breakfast the next morning - our free, unlimited, hot breakfast with waffles, eggs, and more - a businessman looked at his food with scorn, and muttered "this toast is kind of stale..." I wanted to deck him. But a sudden realization stopped me: you are no better. In fact, most of the time, you're worse. Later, Ecclesiastes spoke to me: "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure...yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done; and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind..." Pleasure and comfort are by no means bad things...but they can't be confused with the meaning of life. People wiser people than I have written on what the true meaning is, but in that moment, I knew it had to be more than airplanes and iPods. There were people in the world not agonizing about the 3rd generation iPod vs the 2nd generation iPod, but about whether their children would survive long enough to even be a 2nd or 3rd generation.
Surely my life's work could be worth something...so much need...water, food, communication, shelter, health, transportation...and that was the beginning.
|
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 June 2010 21:02 |
|
|
