So I want to read my Bible more, I think it's a source of light and teaches me good things and helps me understand God and let him speak to me. However, im flippin lazy and so it doesn't happen much...That was until NOW...kind of.
Me and some friends have started reading through different books of the bible, a chapter a day. We keep each other accountable to check we're reading and sometimes talk about what we've read. It's good. P.S. if you want in give us a shout, the more the merrier!
Anyway, the real point of this is i was reading 1 Corinthians 7 the other day where Paul is talking about Marriage. Now don't judge me on what im gunna say because i was in a very cynical mood at the time and could possibly read it again and think what he has to say was amazing. However, on this particular occassion i read what Paul had to say on Marriage and thought...(quote from Parole Officer) 'What the F*** are you on about' and 'Your an Idiot'...as i said i was being very cynical at the time and haven't properley looked back over it yet, and besides thats not the point of this post...
What i am slowly getting round to asking is..... Is it ok to disagree with Paul?
I mean after all he's not God, as Jesus was. I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and its from him,. But i also acknowledge that humans have written it so there could be some errors (although im not sure entirely where i stand on this idea!). Jesus commands us to do things, you can't disgaree with that, he's God! However Paul on the other hand, was a man. He was a very gifted and annointed man, but he was still a man. Does that mean i can disagree with some of things he says in his letters? There are plenty of very gifted and annointed spiritual leaders and teachers today but we're allowed to disagree with them/slate them for something they say. So how does that fit in with Paul??
I hope you can tell im kinda having a laugh with this, but serious at the same time. I thought it was an interesting question so would share it with you. Let me know what you think.
Thanks for reading,
Rob
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Kolkata, India - REFLECTION
OK,
so I've given you an update on what we did and stuff but i just wanted to share a final reflection on one of the big things that came up out there that ive been thinking about.
Ive been thinking about Mission and stuff and have been comparing my two previous experiences of it (overseas). They were in Fiji as part of my outreach for my DTS with YWAM and also in Kolkata, India more recently.
One thining ive been learning over the past months is that Jesus cares about the whole of someone and every aspect of their lives, not just spiritual. He cares about peoples physical needs such as being clothed properley, eating properley and giving your body the exercise it needs. He also cares about emotional needs, mental needs and spiritual needs etc etc (if there are anymore).
I think sometimes (but not always) as christians we can be too focussed on someones spiritual needs and if they're saved etc. Clearly this is important but i think sometimes we miss the bigger picture.
This sole focus is my experience of the mission work we did in Fiji. (Anything i write here is not a dig at YWAM or claiming that their wrong, its just a personal observation. After all my time with YWAM were the best times of my life). We did alot of house visiting and bible studies at churches telling them that Jesus loved them and encouraging them in their faith etc etc blah blah blah, hoping that they'd come into a relationship with christ. I just feel this is so one dimensial and that Mission as Jesus intended it is so much more than this...
What i saw in Kolkata really captured me in the way they the projects we visited did things. Yes they told people of God's great love for them but that wasn't it...it looked more like this.
"Jesus loves you....
Here, have some medicine"
Here, have some clothes"
Here, have some food" (and a flipping big portion!)
Here, have a clean nappy"
Here, have a rest somewhere safe"
Here, learn to read and write"
Here, be a kid"
Isn't this how it was meant to be? it seems so much more personal to me, so much more Godly and so much more affirming of an indicidual.
It would be great to hear any feedback you have on this, positive or negative.
Thanks for reading, I hope you connect with this...
Rob
so I've given you an update on what we did and stuff but i just wanted to share a final reflection on one of the big things that came up out there that ive been thinking about.
Ive been thinking about Mission and stuff and have been comparing my two previous experiences of it (overseas). They were in Fiji as part of my outreach for my DTS with YWAM and also in Kolkata, India more recently.
One thining ive been learning over the past months is that Jesus cares about the whole of someone and every aspect of their lives, not just spiritual. He cares about peoples physical needs such as being clothed properley, eating properley and giving your body the exercise it needs. He also cares about emotional needs, mental needs and spiritual needs etc etc (if there are anymore).
I think sometimes (but not always) as christians we can be too focussed on someones spiritual needs and if they're saved etc. Clearly this is important but i think sometimes we miss the bigger picture.
This sole focus is my experience of the mission work we did in Fiji. (Anything i write here is not a dig at YWAM or claiming that their wrong, its just a personal observation. After all my time with YWAM were the best times of my life). We did alot of house visiting and bible studies at churches telling them that Jesus loved them and encouraging them in their faith etc etc blah blah blah, hoping that they'd come into a relationship with christ. I just feel this is so one dimensial and that Mission as Jesus intended it is so much more than this...
What i saw in Kolkata really captured me in the way they the projects we visited did things. Yes they told people of God's great love for them but that wasn't it...it looked more like this.
"Jesus loves you....
Here, have some medicine"
Here, have some clothes"
Here, have some food" (and a flipping big portion!)
Here, have a clean nappy"
Here, have a rest somewhere safe"
Here, learn to read and write"
Here, be a kid"
Isn't this how it was meant to be? it seems so much more personal to me, so much more Godly and so much more affirming of an indicidual.
It would be great to hear any feedback you have on this, positive or negative.
Thanks for reading, I hope you connect with this...
Rob
Kolkata, India - Part 2
Here's some more...
We did some work with 'FreeSet'. Free Set are an incredible company. They were set up by a couple from NZ 10 years ago and they are based in one of the red light districts of Kolkata. They employ women involved in the sex trade as a way out of that life and currently have 150 women on staff. However it is estimated that there are 10,000 women working in the red light district, there aim is to help as many of them as possible. Freeset make bags and t-shirts which are sold all over the world (they made all the Soul Survivor bags and t-shirts for this year) so you may have come across their products before.
We spent a morning at Freeset having a look around and helped in different areas of the production process. I found it truly inspiring to see what an amazing job they are doing in making a difference in these ladies lives.
FreeSet are also fair trade recognised so if you see any of their products then i definitely recommend them. Here's their website for some more info http://www.freesetglobal.com/
The last project i'll ramble about is Big Life Ministries. They are an evangelistic ministry that go out into Kolkata's surrounding villages, providing medical support, they visit houses and share the gospel and their testimonies. From their ministry they currently have 2000 (i think) house churches/fellowships being run.
We had the privelige of going out with them twice to two seperate villages. This was pretty awesome as we saw house churches planted and locals show real interest in finding out more about Jesus. We even got a chance to play some football with some of the locals which was one of the highlights of the trip!
A couple of other things i must mention were that on one of our days off we went to see a Bollywood movie called 'Love Aaj Jal'. It was a proper chick flick as you'd expect and was in hindi with no english subtitles. This was hilarious cos they would chuck in random english phrases like 'oh my god' or 'dont be silly' every now and then. It was also fun to watch as we'd end up watching a lot of the extras in the background which was highly amusing. Good times!
Also, whilst we were there a popular political figure died. A day of mourning was anounced in Kolkata and all the schools were shut etc. They were having a procession of his body around the city before his funeral and it came right past our front door. The road outside the guest house is a busy one but there were no cars, buses or rickshaws to be seen. Just hundreds and thousands of people. It was pretty exciting! we ended up waiting for about 2 hours before his body passed by. They leave the face uncovered unlike in England so was pretty weird seeing a dead mans face fly past just a few meters away from you. The whole thing was just like something you'd see on the news so it was pretty cool that we were actually there and got to see it live.
One final thing...the roads and driving is insane in Kolkata and India in general, so exciting! There is no etiquette at all, just hink your horn and win it! People cutting each other up all the time, and thats just the way it is, crazy stuff and yet we didnt see one accident! Interesting.
It got me thinking about how a couple of weeks earlier a few of my friends from the states were in England and couldn't believe how "narrow" our country lanes were. Now as an English man i find this pretty mellow, but acknowledged that it would take me a little while to get used to driving in India...and then i thought...How the heck would those silly yanks(hehehe) manage driving out their if their whinging about our country lanes. So, if any of you americnas reading this have been to India, let me know what you thought about the driving out there...Cheers!
Thanks for reading....
Rob
We did some work with 'FreeSet'. Free Set are an incredible company. They were set up by a couple from NZ 10 years ago and they are based in one of the red light districts of Kolkata. They employ women involved in the sex trade as a way out of that life and currently have 150 women on staff. However it is estimated that there are 10,000 women working in the red light district, there aim is to help as many of them as possible. Freeset make bags and t-shirts which are sold all over the world (they made all the Soul Survivor bags and t-shirts for this year) so you may have come across their products before.
We spent a morning at Freeset having a look around and helped in different areas of the production process. I found it truly inspiring to see what an amazing job they are doing in making a difference in these ladies lives.
FreeSet are also fair trade recognised so if you see any of their products then i definitely recommend them. Here's their website for some more info http://www.freesetglobal.com/
The last project i'll ramble about is Big Life Ministries. They are an evangelistic ministry that go out into Kolkata's surrounding villages, providing medical support, they visit houses and share the gospel and their testimonies. From their ministry they currently have 2000 (i think) house churches/fellowships being run.
We had the privelige of going out with them twice to two seperate villages. This was pretty awesome as we saw house churches planted and locals show real interest in finding out more about Jesus. We even got a chance to play some football with some of the locals which was one of the highlights of the trip!
A couple of other things i must mention were that on one of our days off we went to see a Bollywood movie called 'Love Aaj Jal'. It was a proper chick flick as you'd expect and was in hindi with no english subtitles. This was hilarious cos they would chuck in random english phrases like 'oh my god' or 'dont be silly' every now and then. It was also fun to watch as we'd end up watching a lot of the extras in the background which was highly amusing. Good times!
Also, whilst we were there a popular political figure died. A day of mourning was anounced in Kolkata and all the schools were shut etc. They were having a procession of his body around the city before his funeral and it came right past our front door. The road outside the guest house is a busy one but there were no cars, buses or rickshaws to be seen. Just hundreds and thousands of people. It was pretty exciting! we ended up waiting for about 2 hours before his body passed by. They leave the face uncovered unlike in England so was pretty weird seeing a dead mans face fly past just a few meters away from you. The whole thing was just like something you'd see on the news so it was pretty cool that we were actually there and got to see it live.
One final thing...the roads and driving is insane in Kolkata and India in general, so exciting! There is no etiquette at all, just hink your horn and win it! People cutting each other up all the time, and thats just the way it is, crazy stuff and yet we didnt see one accident! Interesting.
It got me thinking about how a couple of weeks earlier a few of my friends from the states were in England and couldn't believe how "narrow" our country lanes were. Now as an English man i find this pretty mellow, but acknowledged that it would take me a little while to get used to driving in India...and then i thought...How the heck would those silly yanks(hehehe) manage driving out their if their whinging about our country lanes. So, if any of you americnas reading this have been to India, let me know what you thought about the driving out there...Cheers!
Thanks for reading....
Rob
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Kolkata, India - Part 1
Ive just returned from a short term 'missions' trip to Kolkata. I was one of three leaders of a small team of young people from the Churches I work for in Emsworth. We went out with BMS (Baptist Missions Society) who are awesome! Their work out in Kolkata is pretty established and we spent our two weeks visiting and helping with different projects they were involved with. It was great to be able to give my time and make a small difference in peoples lives, but it was also a time to be challenged myself and be inspired by others.
I kept a journal whilst i was out there to keep track of my thoughts and what i was learning. And I thought i'd share some of those things with you...
First off i LOVE visiting new places, experiencing different cultures and world views and allowing them to impact my life and change me. One of things that i enjoyed was how i saw cultural differences not being a problem. We visited a girls group where they learnt different life skills and also a girls house for orphans. At both these places we just hung out, played games, laughed and had fun. At the girls group many of them were from muslim backgrounds and at one point we heard their call to prayer and in the middle of the penguin game that we were playing they pulled their scalves up over their heads and then carried on. I remember thinking how sereal that felt. I guess ive never spent much time with anyone from the muslim faith before and growing up where i did has made me quite sheltered in that respect. I thought it was awesome that here we were, two groups of people from COMPLETELY different backgrounds, cultures and upbringings and yet that didn't matter. We were just friends having fun. I liked that.
At the girls orphanage me and Dave, the only other guy in the team, found ourselves being completely ignored to begin with which we found hilarious. By the end of our last visit i think its fair to say it was the complete oppostie, especially with Dave! Ha! I think probably they didn't know how to react to us to begin with. After all, they are orphans living in a girls home without much male input. By the end, we were human climbing frames for the younger and (thankfully!) lighter ones and it was clear that they enjoyed having a brother or father figure to play with.
We spent alot of time working with GNCEM (Good News Children Education Mission). GNCEM was set up by an incredible couple who had a heart for the many street children on Kolkata. They have a number of mobile schools in the city. The school bus will pick up the kids off the streets and drive them to the schools where for the morning they will wash, have breakfast, sing songs, have lessons, have lunch (most of the time their only meal of the day!) and then be taken home (thats back to the streets) on the school bus.
We'd get picked up each morning by the school bus and be swamped by the kids for the 15minute drive to the school. There, we would be human climbing frames (it happened A LOT!!) whilst we waited for everyone to get washed and then we'd go inside. It was probably my favourite thing working with these kids, building relationships with them and seeing how happy they were that we'd come to see them. Possibly one of the most rewarding things ive ever done. We always had fun teaching them basic english stuff and most of them are actually really bright, some of the older ones have really good english and its so great to see how the mobile schools are making a difference in giving them a chance for something better in the future.
GNCEM also have boys and girls homes which are more like proper schools and have accomodation aswell. if the kids at the mobile school prove they are cable of going to a more discplined environment like that then they are sent there, which is really great. It provides that next step for them.
They run a baby care unit which we visited once and it was incredible. The babies get on the school bus with all the kids, often without nappies and crying their eyes out. They stay on the bus when the kids get off and are taken to the baby care centre where they are washed, given clean clothes and nappies, and spend the rest of the day there.
One of my favourite things was riding with the babies on the bus. The girls who worked their would bring them on and just plonk them next to you or on your lap and you'd have a little friend for the next hour. I never thought id say this but i enjoyed that alot!!
Oh and the kids would call us 'Auntie' and 'Uncle' all the time, just like you would close family friends or relatives, that was pretty special for us.
Ive got loads more to say but im conscious this is flipping long already so i'll do a second and maybe even third part another time...Thanks for reading.
Rob
I kept a journal whilst i was out there to keep track of my thoughts and what i was learning. And I thought i'd share some of those things with you...
First off i LOVE visiting new places, experiencing different cultures and world views and allowing them to impact my life and change me. One of things that i enjoyed was how i saw cultural differences not being a problem. We visited a girls group where they learnt different life skills and also a girls house for orphans. At both these places we just hung out, played games, laughed and had fun. At the girls group many of them were from muslim backgrounds and at one point we heard their call to prayer and in the middle of the penguin game that we were playing they pulled their scalves up over their heads and then carried on. I remember thinking how sereal that felt. I guess ive never spent much time with anyone from the muslim faith before and growing up where i did has made me quite sheltered in that respect. I thought it was awesome that here we were, two groups of people from COMPLETELY different backgrounds, cultures and upbringings and yet that didn't matter. We were just friends having fun. I liked that.
At the girls orphanage me and Dave, the only other guy in the team, found ourselves being completely ignored to begin with which we found hilarious. By the end of our last visit i think its fair to say it was the complete oppostie, especially with Dave! Ha! I think probably they didn't know how to react to us to begin with. After all, they are orphans living in a girls home without much male input. By the end, we were human climbing frames for the younger and (thankfully!) lighter ones and it was clear that they enjoyed having a brother or father figure to play with.
We spent alot of time working with GNCEM (Good News Children Education Mission). GNCEM was set up by an incredible couple who had a heart for the many street children on Kolkata. They have a number of mobile schools in the city. The school bus will pick up the kids off the streets and drive them to the schools where for the morning they will wash, have breakfast, sing songs, have lessons, have lunch (most of the time their only meal of the day!) and then be taken home (thats back to the streets) on the school bus.
We'd get picked up each morning by the school bus and be swamped by the kids for the 15minute drive to the school. There, we would be human climbing frames (it happened A LOT!!) whilst we waited for everyone to get washed and then we'd go inside. It was probably my favourite thing working with these kids, building relationships with them and seeing how happy they were that we'd come to see them. Possibly one of the most rewarding things ive ever done. We always had fun teaching them basic english stuff and most of them are actually really bright, some of the older ones have really good english and its so great to see how the mobile schools are making a difference in giving them a chance for something better in the future.
GNCEM also have boys and girls homes which are more like proper schools and have accomodation aswell. if the kids at the mobile school prove they are cable of going to a more discplined environment like that then they are sent there, which is really great. It provides that next step for them.
They run a baby care unit which we visited once and it was incredible. The babies get on the school bus with all the kids, often without nappies and crying their eyes out. They stay on the bus when the kids get off and are taken to the baby care centre where they are washed, given clean clothes and nappies, and spend the rest of the day there.
One of my favourite things was riding with the babies on the bus. The girls who worked their would bring them on and just plonk them next to you or on your lap and you'd have a little friend for the next hour. I never thought id say this but i enjoyed that alot!!
Oh and the kids would call us 'Auntie' and 'Uncle' all the time, just like you would close family friends or relatives, that was pretty special for us.
Ive got loads more to say but im conscious this is flipping long already so i'll do a second and maybe even third part another time...Thanks for reading.
Rob
Rob's excellent adventure. Life.
OK,
So im kinda new to this whole blogging thing. I thought it might be fun to give it ago and write about things im thinking about or just updating any friends who read this on whats been happening in my life. Alternatively, if no-one reads it then i guess it'll just become an online journal of my thoughts and adventures which might not be a bad thing anyway...
This is a bit of a trial, we'll see if i enjoy it or have any inspiration to write... Would be great to have feedback on the stuff i put down...
That's all for now,
Rob
So im kinda new to this whole blogging thing. I thought it might be fun to give it ago and write about things im thinking about or just updating any friends who read this on whats been happening in my life. Alternatively, if no-one reads it then i guess it'll just become an online journal of my thoughts and adventures which might not be a bad thing anyway...
This is a bit of a trial, we'll see if i enjoy it or have any inspiration to write... Would be great to have feedback on the stuff i put down...
That's all for now,
Rob
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