i miss you! hey jase!!
sounds like pretty rough stuff but i know you're doing the best thing! i think about you all the time over there!!!! stay safe...i'm prayin for you :) i miss you like crazzzzyyyyyy!!! love you, talor ;)
Jason, we hope and pray that the experiences that you're having in India, are also experiences for the people you meet there. I'm fairly certain that they will not forget you as i'm sure you'll never forget them. Despite the fact that many of the people you're working with do not have a relationship with Christ, you have probably shown them an accurate representation of a Christian. Just as we have a clouded view of the Hindu culture, they most likely have a clouded one of us. I hope that the seeds you're planting in their hearts will someday be watered by another person like you. Thank you. We're praying for you each time we meet, and I'm sure that many of us are praying for you daily.
Living the Journey On a mission trip working with the Navajo people, I remember a pastor teaching that while we crave mountaintop experiences, the 'fruit' is in the valley. Both mountains and valleys give us a sense of perspective, and yes fill life with variety, meaning, passion, and story.
I often wonder what sorts of experiences Jesus exposed his disciples to in order to help prepare them for the lives they would live after his departure. They likely thought those three years with Him were the big adventure. But that was likely only schooling for what they faced when they were sent into all the world.
receiving Hey Jason, I have just read all of your blogs tonight, and I find them interesting, intriguing, and inspiring. Your girlfriend Rachel was a student in the senior honors English class I teach ( I also taught her crazy younger brother James who ordered his friend to forward me a link to your blog). I am so glad such a wonderful young woman has found a worthy young man. Bless you both. I, too, have traveled in India (one of my favorite countries) and traveled/lived in southeast Asia and have had experience working with the poor. I respond to this blog b/c I identify with your struggle to connect with them...to get over the pity. At some point I realized that to move beyond it I needed to do more than just want to give to them, but realize that they, too, had something meaningful and worthwhile to give to me. In other words, I needed to be able to let them give to me and receive/accept that gift, whatever it was. Even the poorest of the poor have something to give, and that ability to give can give them dignity -- so it becomes less about pity and more about an equal sharing, a connection. When I realized that and acted upon that realization, the connections formed. Perhaps that may work for you, too. Good luck.
hey buddy... I LOVE the picture of that precious little Indian girl... LOVE HER!!!! I have good news... first of all your birthday is coming soon. Second: Andy and I will be officially be moved to Missouri on Nov 23... pretty cool eh? Cant wait to catch up with ya! - Stace
Sounds like Cleveland to me! I was actually just thinking this morning about writing a book on my year in Ohio - the title would be "Sometimes You Have to Move to Cleveland." Basically about the 'wilderness' experiences that are miserable, yet not regrettable, even necessary.
Jase- I love reading your travel blog. Every day I think to myself "I wonder where Jason is today and what he is doing." cant wait to hear more about your travels. Could you please post a funny poop story or something sometime soon? Lol... I'm SURE something funny or awkward has happened to you since you have been there so let's have it buddy! =)
these last couple blogs are so amazing! i'm so happy God is using you for such great things, and i hope you are now finding your purpose for being there, thank you for sharing :)
I'm still praying for you over there. It's so exciting to read about your days. Especially after a year of prayer and planning. The Lord is using you over there. You are impacting lives and God is using people to impact you. Praise the Lord for the way He works. So funny story for you... we had a staff retreat planned. Had to be here SO early. Well...I overslept and was late. I showed up and everybody said "Well hey there JASON!" hahaha. Figure you would appreciate that ;) I love ya and praying for you! Miss You big time! oh and thank you for your message...it means so much.
I didn't even recognize you with that wig on your face. LOL. Loving the Blogs man. Still praying for you. Keep up the good work and stay safe! Love ya man!
Jason,
I'm from New Hope and read your blog regularly, just never commented. I enjoy your entries - the insight and perspective is something we certainly need but often lose sight of. Thank you ... and please know that I'm praying for you.
you make me think Your entry makes me think what it means to be a displaced person. A refugee. I'm glad to hear your insights and I want to ponder them over time. We can learn from your message. It also brings to mind the scripture in Hebrews about our being aliens or sojourners on earth. We're NOT going to be totally satisfied anywhere now, if we consider heaven home. The world as it is now is not the home we will know for eternity. We're not home yet. And with that view we can sojourgn with joy but longing too. Your message challanges me to realize that if I seek Gods kingdom the reality of it being home will create in me something like what you described of the Tibetans~a joyful gratitude but a longing for the "not yet and ought to be!" Thank you for the food for thought, Jason!
Abide for Life, melissa moslow
your image of oppression on the poor and suffering for centuries?? A Hindu temple is your image of oppression on the poor and suffering for centuries? That is rank insensitivity, sir!! Not sure whether you have read the history of your country to begin with? Are you under the delusion that people who slaughtered the native Americans to near extinction and former slave owners and racist segregationists from the south were heathen and not practicing Baptists?? Talk about hypocrisy, blind faith and selective memory!!
Living and Active Our God is living and active, and so is the Word in which He breathed. Praise the Lord for this providential encounter. May it be the sign of much fruit to come.
time will tell Amazing. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. And then "suddenly." So much a part of God's Story, isn't it! Simeon waits for Messiah. Waits for years and years. Anna waits for Messiah. Waits for a lifetime. Isreal waits for Messiah. Waits for hundreds of years. Mary waits for nine months. A long, curious nine months. And then Suddenly, one Day, the waiting is over and He is HERE. A long wait and then swiftly, suddenly Emmanuel is with them, among them. God is so like that. Waiting so that we grow. Grow desperate and eager and prepared. Then He comes. He provides. At the appointed time, the exact day and even sometimes the specific hour or moment God acts. I love it when God show His "swiftness" after a long waiting. The Bible describes His judgements this way. Loooooooooooong on mercy and then swift judgment. But I love it when we see His swiftness in blessing! Like now. We learn of a man in India who has waited and waited and worked while he waited for God to provide. Perhaps now, God has an answer for him with some provisions from brothers across the world. Perhaps now is the time and help comes "swiftly." Perhaps. And if it's God's plan it will be a glorious thing to see unfold...swiftly. It's marvelous reading what you have seen there, Jason. Thank you so much for your obedience to go. And for your reports home. We are in this with you. And we seek God's leading for our part in it. Abide for life, melissa.
appointments Divine appointments ~ those meetings that God alone orchestrates. This meeting was certainly a Divine Appointment. It makes me throw my head back and laugh out loud considering all the details God orchestrated effortlessly to bring you two young men, brothers, together at that appointed day/hour! He is AMAZING!!! And I believe He is enjoying our amazement at this one "small" detail of the meeting which is really a HUGE detail to us. How marvelous! And such an answer to prayer when I had been asking the Father to give you reason to hope in the difference Jesus could make in the life of someone among all those you were meeting on your journey. The day before you called Abby with the news of your two introductions to believers, I had been praying throughout the day that you would have reason to hope in the difference Jesus makes to someone in India. I kept thinking how being a witness of such great need as the kind India is full of can motivate only so long. It becomes a weighty burden eventually. Awareness of need can not sustain a servant like HOPE can! Having sensed your discouragement I was praying that you would see HOPE because of JESUS in some life there. So I am PRAISING GOD with a particular joy that He most certainly has done this very thing!!!!! I bless His holy matchless Name!!!
What a journey! Jason, although you haven't heard from me till now, I have been praying for you regularly. Could you add Harry and I to your blog subscribers, please? I have to wait till someone forwards the entry, and then type in that very long http address each time. But if I want to see it again, I must re-type it. The Lord has given you some marvelous opportunities to witness and help people. Reading your thoughts has helped me know you a lot better. You truly have a good and loving heart. We look forward to having you in our home sometime Thanksgiving week, and anxious to hear you tell us more. Bless you, Jason. Rachel's grandma,
Gail Pitts
(none) Jason, you finding this man couldn't be anything but a miracle. This is one of the things I've been specifically praying for. Obviously, God meant for you to find Krishan. This entry makes me think about how God uses the unlikely. The low people in the world are the ones who need God the most, and just like how the Indian people will only listen to one of their own, people in low places don't want to hear someone from a better place come and tell them how to live life. I think that is why God uses low people when doing his kingdom work. Thanks once again for giving me something to meditate on.
love, Emilee
Hey Brother! Praise God for you man! It is so amazing what God is doing with you. I can't believe you are finally on this journey that you felt called too for so long now. We had the Jr. High Fall Retreat this weekend and while looking up at the Zip-Line and picturing you zooming down that upside down I just just busted out laughing. As I stood there I was just thinking about where you are at now and how cool God works. 2 years ago you're making an impact in the lives of Jr. High kids in Dickson, TN and now your impacting and encouraging others in India. Man, I'm so proud of you for following this Call and being the Hands and Feet of Christ. Not a day goes by that I don't look over at your old desk and think about you (especially when I see Elvis Statue that we broke the head off of.LOL) I miss ya man and am praying for you daily! Keep up the good work and stay Strong and Courageous! Love ya man!
(none) Jason, I can barely fathom the feeling that you must be feeling from seeing all the poverty. It's crazy to think that in a world full of ipods, flatscreens, and fast food, that people are still living on the streets. Often in America I think that we see these people as movie characters. Something that isn't real. The saddest part of it all, is that many of those poor people who have no food in their systems and are physically dying, have more spiritual life than we do. Thank you for updating.
love,
Emilee
(none) Jason, Stories like this break my heart into a million pieces. I often see friends of mine at school who are much like your friend Dulip. Only, rather than devoting themselves to the Hindu religion, they devote themselves to the idea of having a good time in highschool. I look at them and see a million wasted oppritunities for them to reach out to the other lost students around them. I guess the only guilty one in this situation is me however, for not trying harder to reach out. Your stories continue to make me think harder than usual and i'm beginning to see the average American world I live in as a continuous mission trip. Thank you, Jason
love,
Emilee
hayley
non-member comment
HaPpY BiRtHdAy!
Happy Birthday Jason! I hope you had a great one! Happy you were born :) Ttys!