|| out of the ashes we rise ||
as I fly over
nepal {#1 growing christian nation right now} and see this stunning land from how i assume is the way that the father
sees it from his heavenly throne, i can only celebrate all that he has done in
the past month as my team ministered there. one of my favourite things to do is
to people watch, the airport and airplanes are my favourite places. i love to
imagine where people are coming from and going to...why are they travelling,
what is their life like, do they have famliies?? as i sit on this plane mostly
surrounded by brown skinned muslim men, probably due to the fact that i am
flying in to the middle east i occasionally spot what is now the anomalous red
smear across a forehead, signifying hindu worship.
nepal was my
first venture in to a hindu nation, what an eye opening experience it was for
me. i have traveled to many buddhist nations and even lived within the borders
of one but this was a first for me. we would drive down the streets at full
speed, round corners and a pack of dogs would be in the way..we would slam on
the breaks for fear of hitting aunty! {the hindus believe in reincarnation,
hence that when one dies they often return as another being – animals, insects
etc!} my favourite though must have been finding a cow just taking a load off
in the middle of the road chilling, then finding the same cow the next morning
with a piece of tarp over him like a blanket to keep him warm! amazing..
sadly my time in
kathmandu was too short but thankfully not the least bit dull. my first day in
town we went to pashupati, the second most religious place in all of hindu - why
ease yourself in to things?! :))
we walked in to
the temple which from afar appears to be so stunning, it is build around a
river with the himas as their backdrop. the beauty quickly fades when you
realise that it is in this temple where the hindu people bring their sick to
die. pashupati is the last stage for them, hope is lost knowing death is
encroaching so the hindus bring their family members here. the sick are brought
up in to a room in the top of one of the buildings and there they wait in the
small, dark room finishing out the end of their days. after they have passed
the extreme anguish and mourning begins. the bodies are wrapped and taken down
to the river where cremation preparations begin. it is only shortly after death
that toes are dipped in the river, prayers prayed, incense is lit and the
mourning and anguished cries increase to a deafening level as they know their
loved one is lost to them forever. it is one of the most heartbreaking things i
have ever been exposed to!
after some time,
if the deceased person was not famous, the body is then put on a stretcher and
moved down stream to the public area to be burned. the family will stand and
watch as the body burns and turns to ash. once the body is burned the sadhus then
come eat and cover themselves in the ash – again this happens daily! the rest
of the ash is then thrown in to the river. a river that many, including the
sadhus, will bathe and drink from..
you may be
reading this wondering what a sadhu is..well let me enlighten you - sadhus..are
the holy religious men of the hindu religion. at pashupati there are two types
of sadhus living there. most of the ones we saw were for the tourists, they are
legit sadhus but there is a whole other assembly of “authentic” sadhus we
didn’t see who are cannibals. these sadhus take things a step further, not only
eating the ash that the “public” sadhus eat also BUT they will eat the flesh of
the deceased, in their cannibal caves..the sadhus also will all bathe in and
drink the river water and are given money by the people who visit the pashupati.
this is real life, i can’t make this stuff up people! it is wild!
while at
pashupati our main objective was to pray for the sick and continue to build
relationship with the sadhu’s that iris (the ministry we worked with) knew.
aside from the heavy spiritual war that was warring around us i was thrilled to
be able to pray for and share the gospel with two women. one gal was a lady who
was in the sick room, she was mute and dying. we got to go in and share jesus
with her and her family. i gave the other gal a tract, prayed for her and shared
the gospel with her as well. as i was sharing with the second lady we were
simultaneously aware of what was happening right in front of us..a woman from
the sick room just passed away. the grieving began following closely behind by
the wrapping of her body, prayers and then she was taken away.
i stood there
thinking how crazy it was that within a few short moments an entire families
life was changed forever! i was hit with the realisation that that woman just
met her maker. her eyes were open for maybe the first time to the fact that
Jesus is real! that hinduism and reincarnation is in fact a lie! as that woman
stood before the throne, i wondered if she could see her family below grieving
over her life and if she could see them, if she was yelling “NOOOOO STOP…it’s Jesus! it really is all about him! it is not
about the hindu gods…they are nothing…mere demons who can’t stand before the
throne!!” then what happened? judgement..consequence..eternal separation?!
it was wild, all of those things just happened and my friends and i stood there
seemingly unaffected when all of eternity had just changed forever!
all we could do
was stand and pray in faith that the father is and was moving on the people’s
behalf. my heart broke for the dead woman and her family, my heart screamed – what happens now? they had believed a lie
their whole life...but it isn’t their fault i reasoned, it is all that they
have ever been taught! i then cried out in my heart, “lord have mercy, have
mercy on that woman!!!” “i have“ he said!
and then it hit
me..yes, yes he has it is true, he has had mercy! we are living right now in
the continual mercy and grace of our great god and father! through jesus’ death
on the cross the most merciful act in all of history was displayed!
my prayer since
pashupati has been that the father would continue to have mercy, again and
again and again! that he would reveal himself to the millions of people who
come through pashupati yearly. that their hearts would be open and their eyes would
see the goodness of our god and to his love and sacrifice. would you join me
right now and pray for the next 30 seconds or so for these beautiful people who
so desperately need to know sweet jesus!
testimony::
a few weeks ago
our team was having a time of intercession and one of the girls had a picture
of a man dressed all in white wearing a white turban. one of the iris girls was
sort of like, good luck...i have never seen a man like that in the five months
i have been here. the weeks were passing and our team continued to look for
this man as they were out and about in the streets of kathmandu. one day as
they were getting out of the car they spotted him!! it was a miracle. they ran
up to him and shared with him that the lord had spoken to them to begin to look
for him on the street a few weeks ago. the man turned out to be a sadhu and was
so encouraged by what the team said, he spent some time with them and welcomed
hearing them preach the gospel to him. the sweetest moment came when this sadhu
received jesus as his saviour! what an incredible honour for us that jesus allows us to be a part of changing this man's destiny forever!
jesus is real
friends! aslan is on the move and we get to be a part of it! i hope you are
encourgaged and hope filled by this and are compelled to pray more boldly for
the veil to be lifted off the eyes of the blind and to step out more and share
your faith!!
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