Sometimes things just don't make a lot of sense. For example, I just left the "poorest" country in the world and now I'm in what maybe the "richest" country in the world, the United States of America. It was just ONE week ago where I saw some of the worst kinds of poverty one can experience as I walked trhough one of the largest slums in India.
I'm typing this next to an active coffee bar, restaurant in the terminal. The aromas are overwhelming, freshly baked goods and the incredible smell of brewed coffee are such a positive assault on the senses. And to think a week ago, I had such a strong urge to VOMIT because of the stench of raw sewage and fecal matter running through the narrow streets of the slum. A smell that men and women, boys and girls, breathe in EVERY single day. Sometimes things just don't make sense!I met the strongest, brightest, enthusiastic young leaders that India has to offer, no not in some technology company, but in a Compassion International Child Development Center. Leaders who grew up in the slum and instead of running as far as humanly possible from what seemed to me as misery and hopelessness, they've stayed! They work! They minister with such exuberance and joy!
It sure must make my occasional sniveling and whining over my job difficulties or life's curve balls look painfully pitiful to my God. Sometimes things just don't make sense!
I'm still processing all that I encountere. I'll do my best to unpack some of it in the days ahead. Please check back. Thanks for praying for Ian and me, it means a ton! This trip will make me a better pastor, a better leader and better person.
DO NOT miss this weekend, I REALLY look forward to closing out the series, Hope Lives,
Tim Celek
Lead Pastor
The Crossing
P.S. Don't forget about the Time Change this coming weekend, the clocks get set forward (Spring Forward).
