the cry of my heart
14 October 2004

so i've been listening more and more to the propaganda that is share the well, the newest project from caedmon's call, and it just jumps all over me every time i listen to it. it's actually made me question my ideas about missions and the call placed on every Christian's heart. i think that as we look more at this great big world through Christ's eyes we start to understand that the lost are more than just a group of chinese college students, or a church building full of homeless folk. there are lost people everywhere, in the remotest islands of the pacific as well as the apartment next door.

this new cd has continued to open me up to the situation of the dalit people. i said before that in india there is basically a 9/11 every month. that's 2,000+ people murdered or left to waste and die, at least 12 times a year. these dalits, or untouchables, are a by-product of the caste society in india, which consists of upper, upper-middle, and middle classes. the dalits are considered the classless scum of society, left to do unclean jobs and refused entry into normal society for no other reason than that it is their societal birthright.

if a dalit is caught in a temple or an upper caste neighborhood, he or she is killed on the spot, tortured or disfigured for breaking caste law. he may not drink from a well that a normal member of a caste has used, or else he risks personal harm, such as being doused with acid. when dalits drink anywhere near a caste member, they are always provided a clay cup, which must be broken so that no one from a caste may drink after them. my heart breaks when i think of these atrocious things.

a people fed a lie their whole life. they think themselves worthless. everything they've ever known points a finger at them and calls them unclean. unloved. untouchable. how much joy they must feel when they are told about the promise of Jesus, who has come that they may have life more abundantly! how many tears they must cry when they hear of the woman at the well! the woman who Jesus drank with. the woman who was offered Living Water. what hope!

i realize as i think more about things like this that i have an ache in my heart to help these people, to bring them the Living Water that will never leave their hearts dry. it has also helped me in seeing that i really have no clear direction in missions. i have prayed a long time for china, just as i prayed a long time for inner city dc, just as i prayed for ghana, and just as i prayed for west virginia. i know my gifts do involve people, but not necessarily what it takes to be a longterm missionary. i am beginning to see that there is a passion within me to do something, anything, to help those broken and weary people. but just what that thing is, i do not yet know.


check it out - 01.20.07
vapor - 11.15.06
can't complain - 11.10.06
turn the page - 11.09.06
who invented the word "me-maw"? - 09.28.06

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