I'll Be Home For Christmas (Lord Willing)

Nothing quite like a fresh cup of Joe!

It's about that time now. I am packing my bags and in a few days I will board a plane that will launch an arduous thirty hour journey back to my family.

It's been an amazing trip. Recounting all the times I experienced great measures of God's grace, warm fellowship and one-anotherness stirs my heart.

Where to start?

The joyful, loving children? The enormous ministry? The precious quiet times in the Word with the Lord? The heart warming fellowship? The ethereal sight of a full moon brightly shining through the palm fronds?

A lot has changed:

• New friendships, new believers, more baptisms.
• Started blogging.
• Our Christian Chief Minister passed in a tragic helicopter crash.
• Made and uploaded several new videos.
• Attended about 60 birthday's and various functions
  
• By God's grace brought 34 kids to new levels of academic success
• Spoke almost every Sunday night consecutively for about six months.
  
• Just a little less than a month away from completely reading through both the Scriptures and the Institutes during this year.
  
• Learned how to sketch portraits.
• Learned a little more guitar.
• Discovered the greatest noodles on earth, Indian Masala egg noodles w/onions.
• Discovered that I enjoy listening to Miles Davis.
  

Along with Paul, I have to say, that whatever I count gain in this trip, and in life, I must count loss in comparison to the value of knowing Christ. Whatever I have done for Christ, is a greater work than I am worthy of.

Please pray for my return trip. Boarding starts Monday morning.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Josh

Reflections On The Second Month

Alive and Kicking By God's Grace

Amazing! The second month in India has passed! It's time once again to pause and reflect on God's providence and grace over the previous thirty days.

I will start by going over some of the events that have happened here in the ministry and in India as a nation.

In India:

1. Independence Day Celebrations, India celebrated it's 62nd year of Independence.
   
   
2. The fantastic trip to the Mountain church. I enjoyed spending some time with Indian pastors who are serving in remote villages. The vast mountain scenery was also beautiful.
   
   
3. More than 20 believers were baptized. This was the most recent on campus baptism since Palm Sunday.
   
   
4. Was privileged to attended a wedding at a nearby mountain tribe.
   
   
5. For the first time ever (In India) I have electric power 24/7. Unless you have lived here, there is no way of really explaining how wonderful this is. It has to be experienced.
   
   
6. Our honorable chief minister, Rajasekhara Reddy passed away in a tragic helicopter crash during a violent thunder storm last week. Though deeply saddened by the loss of perhaps the greatest Chief minister in Indian history, Indian Christians are praising God for His kindness in blessing the state and nation through him .

Divine Providence At Work:

By God's grace I have been able to blog fairly regularly, and the content has been decent. In a unique way the blog challenges me to preserve ideas on a daily basis by recording them online. Focusing on Christ has been crucial even in directing the types of truths I have selected for this site.

In bible study this morning, providentially we re-examined this text;

"In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:6


Prayer Requests:

Please,

• pray that I will not waste a day here in India
• pray that deep affections for God will be my primary motivation
• pray for growth
• pray for contagious joy
  
• praise God for keeping me physically healthy for an incredible amount of time

Thank you very much for all your prayers, emails, blog comments, and support. It's been an amazing two months.


Soli Deo Gloria,

Josh

Reform your life and doctrine, meet with God in the text

Reflections On The First Month

A Happy Indian Villager

Well it has happened - the first month is over. It went by quickly, and now it is time to reflect on some of the Providences of God at work during this period.

Ministry:

God has blessed every day with much joy in Him, it has been fruitful. Fellowship with brothers in Christ has been excellent. One of the fruits has been this Blog. It has been a joy that I look forward to every day. I pray this grace continues and improves.

The interview series has been a challenge and a joy at the same time. I have some new ideas that I am planning to implement in the future interviews. I have at least three more scheduled at this point. Lord willing I will be able to take them and get them online this month.

Study:

I have been blessed to eat richly from the word and observe the transforming work of God on me. That has been wonderful.

While I have certain books I am studying, I am pursuing a special study of the Gospel and the effects and implications of the Gospel on the Christian life. I am hoping to write about some of this in the posts to come.

Culture:

Since I arrived I have been living on a diet consisting mostly of fried vegetable curries with a weekly meal of chicken curry.

As it turned out I experienced a few ugly encounters with rogue goats - you might be able to tell that I am not particularly fond of them - I think they despise me. However, one thing is certain, I do enjoy eating them. Curried goat on rice, mmm, tasty.

Got Goat?

Weather:

It has been raining sporadically. The weather has been warmer than usual for this time of year. It was only a few years ago this time there was so much rain that the streets were flooded.

The monsoons have a cooling effect that brings the temperature down into the 80s and 70s. But if the sun comes out the day after a hard rain the temperature skyrockets and the humidity reaches an insane level.

As I write this post it is 9:45am and the temperature is already 84 degrees even though the sky is overcast.

Lots of rushing water in front of the home base

Thank you for your prayers. I appreciate your support, it has been good, and I encourage you to continue to pray for the ministry and for me also.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Josh

Reform your life and doctrine, meet with God in the text