How many times a day do you search for the parts the world that you can't see? How many language barriers do you go through before you can talk to someone who lives in this world? How many times a year do you go somewhere, where they can see us but we can't see them? It's not very often that we notice this stuff, but when we do take notice of the invisible, what is your initial reaction? Initially how visible do you really want to be, and how invisible do you want to be to the visible?

            Lately, I've come to see how visible we actually are to the invisible. I'm not sure what to think it's definitely going to take some time to process it all. The one thing I do know is how invisible we are to to the visible Either that or we do see we just choose to ignore it. I'm pretty sure we choose ignore it at first, on purpose;but after a while it just becomes routine. We see on the televisions how different organizations are helping, sending money, and more or less sending some type of relief to help out. We have all these resources at our disposal but none of them are really being used; Media, News, Government, and Religion. We have over a million different organizations, groups, and a million ways to make a difference.

It's been 24 days since I ventured from my home
5 of those days  were spent in Georgia  meeting my teammates and preparing for the next several weeks
1 day of just traveling from GA to Amsterdam to Delhi
1 day lost in the midst of time zone changes
17 days in country

At training camp they spoke about giving up our rights and expectations. For the most part I was fine giving up my rights, rights  to comfort, to foods i like, to cleanliness, to communication, to personal attention. But one of things said about expectations was you don't know you had them until they weren't met.

I was never sure of what my expectations were. In fact I questioned my very presence here in the first place. Despite getting the funds to come and everything falling into place, to me my desire to be here was based off a whim.
Fueled by good food, documentaries, and rich culture, to me the country was the goal. It was India. So my expectations all revolved around just getting there not necessarily what I'd be doing.  All I knew was everyone was telling me my time here in India would be life changing.

Now I definitely am loving on these kids, the lepers and their families and I know I'm doing God's will here. But I felt ...less than satisfied. What drew me to India was human trafficking and the sex trade, and I knew I wasn't doing anything here related to that, but I still didn't feel like I was  fulfilling my purpose here.  Problem was I didn't know exactly what that purpose was, just somehow that it was supposed to change me life.

So here I was in India, a week in, not experiencing culture shock, everything just fitting. Its just like any other country that has that third world atmosphere. It wasn't exotic to me [except for the peacocks but then their screeches all night long pretty much killed that for me], it wasn't exciting. My heart didn't break being with the kids or the at the colonies. I was simply living life.   I was trying to be patient, but I was telling God, " I don't know how this is going to be life changing. What else ya got?"

A couple days went by, more ministry days, more hanging with the team, and I was hanging out on the roof. I finally had one of those surreal moments.  I took in my surroundings, took in God's presence, and just started to write in my journal.

"The night is a dusty indigo
The lights of the city mix with the dirt of the earth and the smog in the air. It all fades into a muted indigo void of vibrancy, yet finally sinks into a a murky dark almost rich black. A smattering of pinpoints of dim light be-speckle the sky.
They still twinkle in spastic motions. The pathetic fallacy of my mind is complete. I long for clarity, yet I'm finding contentment.  There's beauty in the night eclipsed by the sun. Somethings can only be exposed d by the darkness. Beauty unveiled.

I will wait."

I poured out my heart to God of all the things I wanted to know,  all of the things I wanted revealed;  himself, my future, my purpose in India,  how to love like he loves.

I waited. He blessed me with contentment in reveling in the beauty of creation, and then reveling in the beauty of his command and view of pure religion as stated in James 1:27.  Even if I wasn't sure of myself at the moment, I knew I was exactly where he wanted me to be and that was enough.

I hung out a bit longer, not wanting to leave the gift God had given me. In the midst of sitting and being he spoke. He told me my purpose, answered some of my questions and corrected some of my thinking in one swift deposit in my spirit.  

He affirmed that my time here would be life changing, though not because I was India, but rather because of him.  He would be the source of the changes, not what I experience, or see, or even do. He's placed me here, with my teammates, leaders, and just this community because of the questions it would cause me to ask him.  I'll change because of the answers he'll give me.

Then linked with that was the question of purpose. He affirmed what I had heard at training camp, but of which I wasn't sure. My purpose was simply to seek him, delight in him, and in his word.  It was because I sought him that I was here in the first place. Through seeking him, I'll be changed. Through seeking him, he'll pour out during ministry. Through seeking him, I'll delight in his commands. Through seeking him, he'll prepare me to be a witness here in India,  back in the states, or anywhere else he leads me.

Given that deposit, I have a new found freedom and joy in what I do daily.  Not only am I satisfied in obeying his commands, I rejoice.

I'm just dropping a quick line to let you know that all is well here in India.  The team is almost through our second week of ministry and things are running smoothly.  Everyone is healthy and dealing well with the heat.  Actually, for the last few days the temperature has only been around 40 C...  So at least it has cooled down a little bit.  

The team has been split into three sub-teams for ministry and we each set off to our different ministry sites every ministry day.  Among the ministry sites are children's homes, leper colonies and the slums.  We've been praying a lot about how to most effectively communicate God's love and his good news to the people here.  And God is not only working through us in ministry, but in our own hearts as well.  

I've written an update on my own blog 

10/June/2009 2:45 P.M.

                      Today I am getting acclimated to my new environment and just chilling

                       at Travis's House in his room with his A/C baby its freaking awesome. 

                       Earlier I got on the back of the bike with Travis and cruised around town

                       for a little while went and had this amazing Ice coffee, ate some pretty B.A.

                       food that Travis made for me and him. Drank some Ice cold coke and just

                       chilled.I will try to update every two weeks or more depending how much 

                       free time I get. 

                        

                                         In Christ Love All of Ya 

                                             Byram P. Bishop

                       

The plane ride, although long lasting, served as an excellent opportunity for the team to relax and get ready for the whirl wind awaiting us in India. We watched movies, attempted to sleep, and invested in quality time/conversations with our fellow team members. 

Our nightly arrival allowed for a graceful ease into our new home culture. The first night we explored our new house, and unpacked our luggage. The house is very spacious which gives plenty room for ministry development and team building. While we are having to get used to not flushing our toilet paper, we have well adjusted to the cool showers that temporarily alleviate the heat. Weather is very warm in India and we are still trying to get used to the high temperatures but we are all drinking plenty of water. We have well adapted to our new surroundings, and we are all healthy; praise God. 

We were treated to dinner our first night; this was a nice break from our everyday meal of PB and J. The team enjoyed the Indian food, which was a first time experience for some members. We had to travel through the market place to get to our dinner destination and we were all in amazement as we viewed our first glimpse of Delhi. Our first few days have consisted of physically adapting to our new setting and growing more knowledgeable of the Indian culture; our host has greatly assisted in this endeavor. 

The team will start ministry this Wednesday after we tour one ministry site on Tuesday. We are praying that the Lord continues to prepare us for His purpose  for us in India. God has truly blessed this journey. Thank you friends, families, and supporters for your continual prayer and support. 

                          More and more everyday we become visible to a world that that exists inside our world.The closer we get to knowing God the more visible we become to this world. Pretty soon you're able to see it not clearly but for sure clear enough. There's also a war going taking place in this world, a war that's been happen since the Garden of Eden. First it started with a "delicious fruit" then it grew into "shame", "blame", "lies", and so forth the list is endless. The crazy thing is we don't see it half the time.                                                                                                                                                                  
                         Invisible or Visible what difference does it make were apart this world whether we like it or not it's just a matter of how we act upon it and what we deal with it. Four the past and a half weeks I have been through parts of hell that I in ways I may have chose to go through but in other ways I didn't choose. Originally I was supposed to go to Greece this summer and work at a watersports camp. I had all the paper work filled out and completely ready to go when the rug just got pulled from underneath me. At first I didn't even know if I was honestly going anywhere, this is where the invisble world meets the visible world. For what ever reason God has had bigger plans for what they are I'm still not sure but in time I'm sure they will be reaveled even if I don't realize what that is until I get back. We all have exspectations even if we say we don't we don't. We all have rights too right? wrong we don't God gave us life that doesn't mean we have the right to live, we all have cell phones does that give us the right to call friends and family? nope, God gave us ability to walk and speak does that give us the right to do those things? nope. You see we have in our mind that we have all these rights but we don't. God is sovereign and He is the only one that has rights and the rights to us. Exspectations can be good or bad the ones that are bad are the ones that turn into the notion of rights. Which in turn, turn into selfish notions of what we want/self desires. Thats all right are self motivated, selfish ambitions, and stuff that surrounds you and your perfect little world that you think you have in the midst of the broken one. 

                          

                        So of course I thought well I should be going to Greece, I want to do this, Why can't I have it this way? All these questions start to fester up soon doubt settles in, next thing you know you're battling axiety attacks questioning all the time, before you know it your in depression or as I would say it oppression. Sure enough guess who's got the door opened all the way? Satan. First it start off has a knock on the door, Secondly you opened that door but guess what no one was there, Thirdly you shut the door but when you went to shut Satan got a few of his fingers in before it shut all the way so you thought you shut all the but you didn't, Fourth you notice a slight draft but don't know where it's coming from because your mind is clouded by despair, Fifth the crack of the door becomes a little bit bigger and your mind becomes cloudier and more distraught, Sixth your mind is filled with all these different emotions of doubt and despair and the door opens to the point of all the way but not quite there yet, Seventh you sink into a state of depression/oppression the door is finally all the way open and Satans in the house of you mind. I went through all these and you know what it wasn't fun not one bit, but through by the grace of God it didn't last very long. A couple of weeks went by and still didn't hear anything about me going on a mission trip so my mind became restless I couldn't sleep I was going out wandering around like a mindless zombie completely in a state of oppression and disillusion. Finally the end of the second week and I got a call that I was now possibly going to peru, well to make long story short I didn't end up going to peru. So I went back into this state, so I get a call the end of the third week and and find out that I have three choices now one being the Phillipines, Kenya, and India, here's the kicker I had to tell them that day where I wanted to go. the crazy part was I already knew where I wanted to go and that was India. The other two would be great, but this one truly was a God sent. I mean Slumdog kind of influenced it but I felt a peace in my heart my mind became clear and I realized that God had something up His sleeve.

 

Hello Parents, Friends, and Supporters!

 

Training camp is now underway!  The participants for all the Real Life summer trips showed up in Gainesville yesterday afternoon, and we hit the ground running.  Yesterday evening we just had dinner and then a welcome and worship session before getting some rest.  But today was jam-packed with prayer, team time, teaching sessions, and team builders.  

 

So, just wanted to let the blog-followers know that everyone going on the trip made it here and that training camp is going well!  Thanks so much for your prayers and support of our team.  God bless you!