Graduation day #sebts ? From Kerrigan: Daddy, do you play outside at school? #iwish

tumblr has some sweet new themes so I updated my website. If there are any tumblrers out there, would love to connect.

-AOD

We have arrived in our second location in India after a short plane ride (60 min) a more than entertaining ride from the airport. I’ll try to post some vids from the ride in bc it was life altering :-)

This city is way different than Delhi. A lot more poverty, cows on the road and in the city. It’s hard to tell a lot right now as we are just getting ready to go out for dinner. I’m sure there will be more to report later or tomorrow. Please continue to pray and enjoy praising God in worship this morning!!

Hey all I hope this post finds you well. Our team has landed safely in Delhi. I’m typing this from my phone so please forgive the choppy words etc. We have wifi tonight but likely will not in the next place we stay.

We had a good night sleep and now we are off to our final destination, Varanasi this morning. It’s Sunday morning here and after a 16+ hour plane trip it feels like we skipped a day :-) We were on a big 777 jet on the way over but for some reason I was incredibly uncomfortable and only slept about two hours. Needless to say when I saw the bad I was sleeping in last night it was OVER!

So, things are a bit different here. I find myself comparing a bit to when we flew in to Mexico City in 2006. Similar feel with the crazy traffic and people all over the place. If you want some entertainment, YouTube “traffic in India” and be entertained :-)
After all the mediocre Indian food In the plane we decided that last night a quick McD’s stop would be good as it would prob be our last western food for a while. So we got to go to an outside area with a ton of people and food and shops. Just observing the people and their need for Christ was a bit mind boggling. We know that there are lost people in our cities, but here it is likely that a person has never heard the name of Jesus.

I pray, and hope you will to, that whatever we do here the name Christ is glorified! Whether we are able to share with the people directly or we are able to equip the locals to do the same, it’s all for Him.

Time to get ready for the day. Thank you for your prayers. Your love. And support. Until next time…

-AOD

I wrote this last year for Holy Week, but I wanted to share it again. Maybe your in a different place this year than you were last year. Ask God to speak into your life this week.

I would like to challenge you to read the book of Lamentations before the end of Saturday. Why?

Throughout Church History on Maundy Thursday, the climax of Holy Week, the book of Lamentations was read by the congregation in private or public readings. It seems like an odd place to go this time of year because the resurrection is supposed to be about celebration, right? Well, yes, on Sunday. But leading up to resurrection day, some very sad things happened. Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the people shouted “Hosanna! Hosanna!”. They still thought he was going to overturn the Roman oppression at the beginning of what we now call “Holy Week”.

But He did something a bit different, didn’t He? He came and turned the city on its head, but in a different way. He started by turning the tables over in the Temple, a foreshadowing of what “Holy Week” would really be about.

Here’s why I would like you to take this challenge:

Imagine being one of His disciples or even just your average Joe follower that was sold out to what this new prophet was saying. You sold all you had to follow Him. You gave 3 years of your life to Him. Then, by the end of the week, HE’S DEAD!

Enter Lamentations. (Use this as commentary)

Lamentations is 5 chapters which contain 5 poems within the book. Each poem is 22 verses which is the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. It’s an acrostic (chapter 3 is 3 sets of 22 verses, 66 verses in all). This acrostic starting with the Hebrew letter “Aleph” and ending with “Tav” represents a totality concept, a beginning to end. It draws the reader through the poems and does not allow you to stop at your “pet” verses (“great is thy faithfulness” - Lam 3:23).

It’s poetry.

It’s a prayer in the midst of tragedy. That even when the people perceive that God has done something wrong, the prayer is that God will deliver by His covenant faithfulness. It is a theology of prayer “from below”, that is, from us. So there is angst, doubt, real feelings that we feel, especially in light of the Savior’s death. In fact, the tragedy ends in chapter 5 with us hanging in the balance, wondering if the suffering will be relieved.

This is where we are left in the book. With no hope. All we thought about God and all we thought about our would-be Savior is crushed.

We wonder. Will He come through?

This is where Jesus’ followers were during the days leading up to the resurrection day. The suffering of Zion, the man in Lamentations and Jerusalem are ALL taken up in the suffering of Christ! Let’s feel the weight of this together, from now until Saturday night. And then, resurrection day…

WE CELEBRATE!!

-AOD

Comment with your thoughts, insight or experience during the reading. How has God used it in your life?