Kolkata
August 1, 2010
It was Sunday morning and I walked to the bus stop in the moody monsoon rain. I love rainy days. Thunderstorms amaze me with their power and majesty and pounding downpours, reminding me of the awesome power of our Omnipotent God. But that day’s kind of rain is my favorite, the dark, cloudy-day kind of showers bringing cooler temperature and the steady, drenching, cleansing, life-supporting water from the heavens. It is that kind of day that gives peace to my soul.
Despite the fact that my new salwar suit was getting soaked and I had to wade through muddy monsoon currents flowing down the street and dodge the spray from passing cars, I was reveling in my rainy morning walk. My eyes feasted on the sight of my sidewalk-dwelling neighbors going about their morning rituals. A mom cooking lentils and rice on her sidewalk ‘stove’ for her family’s breakfast. A boy with a metal bowl catching precious rainwater running off a roof. A lady sitting in the rain on the sidewalk with a tattered, black umbrella protecting only her plate of food. Beautiful people surviving in difficult circumstances.
Then my eye caught her, a wrinkled grandmother seated under a plastic sheet wearing a simple green and white cotton sari. Her head turned up toward me as I walked by and without breaking stride I looked at her and smiled. And she smiled back. A huge, almost toothless smile that made my heart swell with a joy that I cannot explain. It was an intensely spiritual moment that even now, a decade later, has me smiling.
The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. He came to earth and lived in a human body and showed us by example how we should live. He walked among the poor and healed the sick and fed the hungry. That is what He did and that is what He asks us to do. He asks us to walk on this earth in our neighborhoods as He did doing the things that He did. Some days I am better at that than others. Some days I give education and some days I give counsel. Some days I give food and some days I give money. That day I gave a smile. And I don’t understand exactly what happened in that moment, but one thing I do understand. That Sunday morning for at least one tiny moment I walked as He did.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” —ESV
“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,” —ESV
- The Collapse
October 7, 2018. 7 years ago today I left India, so weak I struggled to even board a plane to Bangkok while keeping my possessions together. Passport, wallet, phone, backpack, carryon, passport, wallet, phone, backpack, carryon was my mantra until IContinue reading “The Collapse” - Let All Creation Praise
I was euphoric as two friends and I loaded our belongings onto the roof of a taxi that cool April morning. Dawn was breaking and it would be an incredibly gorgeous Himalayan day. I was embarking onto a new venture, oneContinue reading “Let All Creation Praise” - Winds of the Himalaya – Part 30
That One Time We Had to Build a Bridge to Get Home Lete was the last post in my journal. I am not sure why, likely because I was, after nearly two months, exhausted. Dates and such in this post willContinue reading “Winds of the Himalaya – Part 30” - Winds of the Himalaya – Part 29
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Kagbeni to Muktinath After breakfast we headed north for the four-hour trek to Muktinath. That stretch is all uphill [Kagbeni – 9200 ft, (2804 m), Muktinath – 12,343 ft (3762 m)] but not so steep as I had expected. There, however,Continue reading “Winds of the Himalaya – Part 28” - Winds of the Himalaya – Part 27
Jomsom to Kagbeni The remainder of our group arrived in Jomsom at 7:30 am. After steamy fresh bread, yak butter, wild honey, eggs, and the ever present and luscious milk tea we began the walk to Kagbeni. Since we would returnContinue reading “Winds of the Himalaya – Part 27” - Winds of the Himalaya – Part 26
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Coffee, Tea, and Reverie 