In 2011 I took my first trip with Reid Saunders Association, an evangelistic ministry, to India. It was exciting and mysterious and I went there feeling like I had so much to teach the women I was going there to teach the Bible to. The first day of the women's conference in Chirala, India I finished speaking in record time, despite the fact that I was working with a translator and was told to "take all the time I need". I pretty much used up all the notes I'd had for most of the conference in the first day. Oh boy. Man, I was nervous...all the witty life stories that apply here in the US just don't apply to women in India. And I like to tell stories. So, we concluded the first day of the conference and had plenty-o-time to meet the women.Now, this is what I was unprepared for.
These women, who I came to teach from afar, moved into my comfort zone and wanted me to put my hands on them and pray for them. It's not like here, in the American church, when a friend shares a concern and we scrunch up our face and say, "oh, that sucks. I'll pray for you." That friend says thank you and you whisper a quick, "Lord, help her" as you go get your next cup of coffee.
Nope. These Indian women came to me, told me what ailed them, and wanted prayer...RIGHT NOW. Not only did they want prayer, they wanted me to touch them where it hurt...awkward.
I fought, internally, with how weird this was to me; how backward these women were. There were headaches and fevers...to which I wanted to say, "take an aspirin, drink some water." There were girls asking me to pray for their education, to which I wanted to say, "Go home and study." One woman brought her daughter over, grabbed my hand and put it on her belly and said, "No baby."
I think that's where I broke.
Compassion and mercy is not my strongest suit...while a lot of what ailed these women could be solved with modern-medicine and some common sense, that's not what God sent me across the world to teach...and to learn. He was teaching me to see the humanity, the need we all have...to know that someone cares. I need to know that when I have a concern that someone actually cares. These women in India needed to know that I cared, because - ultimately - they need to know that God cares. They saw me, a teacher of the Bible, as a representative of God. I had been teaching them about how Jesus loves women, how we who have put our faith in Jesus Christ have been adopted into the family of God and we are his daughters. The test of whether or not I believed what I'd been preaching was in how I responded to their deep need for someone to care. What an incredible lesson for me.
Well, I was back home before I knew it...back to business as usual in modern America. A month later I had a morning appointment with an hour free between taking the girls to school and seeing the doctor, so I stopped at Starbucks. Some time earlier I had given a lecture at a school and was gifted a Starbucks card as a thank-you...so I went with my card and my free hour and sat leisurely sipping on my latte.
The door opened and in walked in a man who, by all appearances, was homeless. He came in for a cup of water, coughing and hacking the whole way to the counter. This wasn't a gentle cough into the sleeve, it was the worst open-mouth, tongue-out hack you can imagine. All eyes were on this man.
He approached the counter and asked for water then took a piece of the sample coffee cake that was out. Turning around he started to choke on the coffee cake and coughed vigorously, spewing coffee cakeeverywhere.
It was gross. I mean, I felt for the guy, but it was nasty.
The man took a seat and tried to drink his water, all while making a scene with his dramatically loud cold. A barista came over and asked the man to leave.
When he was gone, laughter ensued.
"Sanitize the table!" "OMG"...an on.
That was when the Holy Spirit told me to take the gift card, with it's $9, and give it to the man.
Getting up I quickly found the man sitting at the road waiting for the bus. Standing ten feet away was a man, also waiting for the bus, who gave me that look that you give when you think someone else is gross. Not me, the homeless guy.
The man was sitting on the cold ground, wiping snot on the concrete as I approached. I leaned over him and said, "Sir, there is nine dollars on this card. Go inside and buy some chamomile tea for your cold."
He said, "I've had a really tough winter and was beat up really bad."
My eyes were wide open. I saw in the man's watery, weary eyes a real person. My heart flooded with compassion I am not used to feeling.
I said, "Can I pray for you?"
He gave me a strange look and said, "okay."
Putting my hand on his head I began to pray. I don't remember what I prayed, what I remember was the way he began to sob, "oh God, oh God...help me."
When I finished praying and looked him in the eyes and told him "Jesus loves you."
As I walked away I remember feeling that the lesson I had begun to learn in India - to show others the compassion, love and caring of Christ - was a life changer...not only for them, but for me.
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