Today we went to a birthday party for the little boy across the street, Ishaan. He turned five years old, and he and David are friends. His parents are from India and are Sikhs. I have blogged about them before. They are both doctors and are very sweet people. When they celebrate a birthday, it is not a two hour ordeal; it lasted from 3:00 until I don't know when - We left at about 8:00. They had pizza and sodas when we first arrived, then there was a clown that came and entertained the kids, then they had cake. Then after about another hour and a half, they served dinner with Indian food. They had a few family members there, and then there were a lot of other friends who are also Indian who came to the party. So many of them are so far away from family that they have just become a new family to each other. It is pretty cool! The people who were not Indian (parents of Ishaan's friends from school), left after the clown, but they really wanted us to stay and have their food. So, we stayed as long as we could. Brent did not get to eat dinner there because he had to go set up for church. I stayed and visited and had dinner. It was very interesting to be in the middle of this completely different culture. Everyone was speaking Punjabi, except for whoever was right next to me. The men and women separated (guys outside by the fire, women inside with little kids); Brent said the men hardly spoke in English at all. He said one of the men apologized but continued to talk in Punjabi. He told Brent they never get to speak in their native tongue like that. If it wasn't for the very American toys all over the house, I would have felt like I was not in America. The food was good - very spicy - and they were so excited that we were there and tried it. They asked over and over if it was good. They made a huge plate for Brent and sent it home with me - actually she carried it over here for me!
This is such a great ministry opportunity for us. When we were in Bartlesville I remember feeling so convicted about how few non-Christian friends I had. There were acquaintances, but not even very many of those. There are so many here all around us. There are all the people on our block. Some of them claim a faith in Jesus, but they are not living the lives we are called to live. Some of them do not know Jesus at all! There are people in activities that the kids are involved in and people at their schools. It is just really cool! My prayer now is not that I would find people who need Jesus, but that I would live my life in such a way that others can see a difference and that they will want to understand that difference. The hard thing about our Sikh friends is that they live really great lives. They have such a great community within their culture. They love each other and take care of each other. They are happy and kind and reach out to others. They are also perfectly happy with the fact that we believe in God. They think that what we believe is great, just like what they believe. I think this will be a long term opportunity to live our lives in a different way. Please pray for them and for their hearts to be softened and for them to be curious and want to know about our lives. They know Brent is a pastor and think it is great that he is "spreading the love of God." I pray that they will want to know more about that and invite us to share it with them. It was a huge step that we were invited into their home and into their culture! Now it is time for us to have them over here, so they can experience ours!
8 comments:
very cool. sometimes things like that scare me...but it seems like you guys did a great job of "being" there. that is great. miss you
Scare you how?
Total God thing! Major doors opening. Thanks for visiting today.
Wow. what an amazing opportunity Becky. I understand what you mean about this being a long term opportunity. I'm sure as you "do life" together there will be OBVIOUS differences. The challenge is to know what you believe right??? Or maybe not know it, but be able to articulate it correctly. We will keep praying for you all. Sounds like you are just where you are needed.
Keep us informed. Love ya!
Sounds like how I felt in Costa Rica with everyone speaking Spanish
It's awesome that they wanted you there.
Jeff has helped me a lot with learning how to share my faith with other people (especially with those who have a different religion) and his biggest and best advice to me has been to ask A LOT of questions about what they believe. Be interested in what they believe and try to understand where they are coming from. This will help equip you to be able to see the "holes" in their religion and to fill in the gaps with Christ!
After I posted that, I thought- - -she probably already knows all that!! You are probably WAY ahead of where I am with sharing your faith. I am always so worried about getting my point across that many times I fail to listen to where they are coming from.
Thanks, Marci, for the advice. I really haven't known exactly where to go with them. I have been asking lots of questions, mostly out of curiosity. Their culture is so different from anything I have ever known. It's interesting, in some ways really neat and in some ways really sad (in my humble opinion).
scary about the food eating! :) and of course, me being one who doesn't like change, sometimes i feel uncomfortable being in the "unknown" like brent being with them all speaking in their native tongue...that wouldn't necessarily scare me, but more awkward...
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