Mission Trip 2016

Picture, if you will, traversing through a dense rainforest, a jungle of overgrown brush, thistles and tangled vines – bats, snakes and spiders, oh my; humidity hanging in the air as thick as the vegetation, machete march – slow as a slug.

But then you break through into a clearing overlooking a pond fed by a waterfall. Humidity dissipates, blue sky above and a dip in the cool water below. Breathtaking!

This was my experience – New Year’s eve.

The hour-long ride thru the fog and smog of an overcrowded city with vehicles clogging the roads, jockeying for position and seeing several accidents led to a dirt road behind buildings to train tracks. The first two sets of tracks we bounced over. Crossing the next four sets would be by foot keeping a wary eye on the light of an approaching train, now sending a warning blow of its horn.

Despite being in New Delhi, this definitely has the feel and look of a village. Dirty streets with trash strewed about; carefully walking so as not to step into, or trip over, an obstacle. After a few short blocks (if you can call it that), then a right turn into an alley that maybe could have three men and a dog walking shoulder-to-shoulder. A metal door is open leading to one step-up, a sharp right turn and more steep, cement steps, very narrow – one person at a time. No railing. 

When you get to the top and make a u-turn, oh my, you are rewarded to a beautiful view that surpasses the aforementioned one – a church at worship, praising God and praying.

Oh, there’s no lighted sign outside – no sign at all. There’s no stain glass windows – no windows at all. Blue tarps become walls to the exposed outside. Ceiling fans are crudely and, perhaps, dangerously hung. There’s a smell of something brewing in the back. The sound system is five-times more than what is necessary. There are no ornate pews. Folks are on the dirty floor – men and boys on one side, women, girls and babies on the other. Shoes have been placed in a rack in the back. This is holy ground, a place where God is met. This is The House of Prayer.

I’d walk through that jungle any day to worship with these dear brothers and sisters.