A Foretaste of India

My wife and I just enjoyed an evening with our son Jeremy. Before enjoying some of Famous Dave's delicious barbeque (www.famousdaves.com), we saw the new film "Slumdog Millionaire." It was produced and filmed in Mumbai, India and surrounding areas. I am traveling to the opposite side of the country, but I recognized many similarities: the use of mass transport, colorful clothing, immense poverty and the unclean environment. Like any nation there is corruption and vast differences between those who have and those who have not. People in India and America share the same needs to be safe, loved, involved in occupations that do not degrade, and creative to name a few.

I was a pleasure to share a "taste of India" with Nadine and Jeremy. If you choose to see the film I believe you will be blessed.

I will post again after I return from my trip and perhaps more of the film will come to mind as I make my own movie in my memory.

India Bound

Tomorrow morning I return to India for two weeks. I am a chaplain going with medical personnel to assist them in medical camps, teach people about preventative health care, lead Indian church leaders in a workshop, and provide spiritual reflection for the team. Please pray that God will open the opportunity for people to experience the reality of God's love for them. Pray for God's guidance for me as I attend to how the team experiences this trip. Pray for those I leave here.

Before I depart, I will enjoy "Slumdog Millionaire" with my wife and oldest son this afternoon. I look forward to sharing a piece of India with them in a small way.

The hotel in Chennai, India has internet so I will post more then.

Until then, keep living with all you heart the story God is writing in you life and whenever you get confused, exchange paragraphs with someone you trust you will find common ground on which to stand.

Sleeping with the Lions

I first realized how unsafe the world was through a news story I heard my parents discuss sometime during my eighth year. Even though I remember hearing about the death of President Kennedy, it didn’t rock my world. My concerns were more pointed and personal: whether the bully would be looking for me at school the next day or if I would want to eat what was on the cafeteria menu. Not so after this day.

The story I am thinking about involved a circus lion that had escaped its cage and gotten loose in a small town in a neighboring state. That night my imagination ran away with me. I made sure to lock my bedroom window and I lay in bed with a baseball bat across my chest just in case. The world had become a dangerous place and I needed to be able to deal with it.

Eventually, I fell asleep that night. Since then, though I have had some sleepless nights, I have never faced even the remote threat of being devoured, save in a metaphorical way. I went to work this morning unarmed and even though the snows of winter are coming, I expect that I will survive to the spring.

With all that is going on around this world, how is it that all of us are not emotionally paralyzed? Are some of us just made of sterner tuff? I think that what makes life meaningful and even joyful in the face of very real fears is knowing that the raging beast may be loud, but it is not the only power afoot.

Christian writer Frederick Buechner wrote an essay on the subject of sleep. It says a lot. “It’s a surrender, a laying down of arms. Whatever plans you’re making, whatever work you’re up to your ears in . . . whatever sorrows or anxieties or problems you’re in the midst of, you set them aside, find a place to stretch out somewhere, close your eyes, and wait for sleep.

“All the things that make you the particular person you are stop working – your thoughts and feelings, the changing expressions of your face, the constant moving around, the yammering will, the relentless or not so relentless purpose. But all the other things keep on working with a will and purpose of their own. You go on breathing in and out. Your heart goes on beating. If some faint thought stirs somewhere in the depths of you, it’s converted into a dream so you can go on sleeping and not have to wake up to think it through before it is time.

“Whether you’re just or unjust, you have the innocence of a cat dozing under the stove. Whether you’re old or young, homely or fair, you take on the serenity of marble. You have given up being in charge of your life. You have put yourself into the hands of the night.

“It is a rehearsal for the final laying down of arms, of course, when you trust yourself to the same unseen benevolence to see you through the dark and wake you when the time comes – with new hope, new strength – into the return again of life.”

The nightly news hasn’t been good lately. The roaring lion is making a fearful amount of noise. Maybe he is breathing his foul breath into your life. You can shutter your relational windows and dead bolt your finances, but you’ll soon feel the temperature dropping as your heart freezes in place.

There’s another option. “Do not be anxious about anything. As you take your needs to the God of peace, He who is far more capable than you will guard your heart and mind as befits the relationship you have developed together in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7, my translation)
I got up that next day and went back into my life with its decisions and hazards and pleasures. I still run scared of things more often than I like to admit, yet at the end of each dark and fearful path, I learn once again that God has been with me all along.

Coming to Love God

Jesus identified the greatest thing a human being can do. His wisdom contrasts with many contemporary spiritual teachers who promote that complete self-knowledge is the goal of the fully actualized human being. Jesus has another answer and it is agrees with the whole message of the Old and New Testaments.

The whole point is to love God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength. He equated eternal life with “knowing God and Christ Jesus whom God has sent.” (John 17) This is a call to relate intimately and positively with the invisible, infinite, and all-knowing Person who created everything that is. Jesus saw his death and resurrection as providing the opportunity for this relationship.

How does a human being like me express this love? The Bible instructs us to show our love by a radical adjustment of behavior toward God. “He who loves me will do what I command,” Jesus said. But love is more than mere conformity to authority, even a benevolent one. Love is a relationship that grows from what starts as an initial acquaintance and develops into a full appreciation. Love is something received and given. Jesus said that He wasn’t after mere servants, but friends. Servants can be acquired fairly quickly through either adequate pay or threat of loss. Friends/lovers are the result of an interchange involving the heart, soul, and mind.

Fullness of love between two people takes time and much attentive labor. It is no different when the two people are God and one of His creatures. While some of God’s “best friends” have their stories recorded in the Bible, many others are lost to human history. The good news is that each tale is recorded in the books spoken of in Revelation (Rev. 20: ). Perhaps it will take the first part of eternity to listen to the “diaries” of the saints. Abraham’s volume might be called God’s Friend. David’s, The Man After God’s Own Heart. Paul’s record is titled Knowing God and Being Fully Known.

I Corinthians 13 is a teaching poem about love. For nearly two thousand years, newlyweds and mature spouses have resorted to it to build up their homes. Countless sermons have been given by preachers concerned for the quality of fellowship in their churches. Even secular authors realize its value.

Perhaps the primary application of the text concerns the individual’s relationship with God? People pass along to each other the quality of the relationship they share with their Creator. While many people are committed to believing and doing the right things in their religion, they stop short of relating to God at the personal level. They bow before Him as a king, thank Him as they would a lifeguard that has pulled them from the waves, and even give their lives as a soldier might in battle, but still not experience the closeness with God for which they were created.

This text raises some serious and exciting implications. Is it possible for a human being to extend patience and kindness towards God? How could jealousy, pride, or arrogance against God crop up? What does it mean to “act unbecomingly” toward God? Are there things that will happen in this relationship that necessitate the forgiving of God? “Love is not provoked [by anything God might do] or does not take into account a wrong suffered [done by God upon me].”

It is for good reason that the Scripture uses the illustration of marriage when speaking of Christ’s relationship with those who believe on Him. Believers enter this relationship in a powerful moment in which their minds are changed towards Him (i.e. repentance). They become convinced that God is for them and not against them. They come to believe that God has their best interests at heart. They come to hope in his offer of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. They express that repentance through the obedient ritual of faith that is Christian baptism.

But the heart is another matter. A mutually fulfilling relationship is the result of much work. People fall into love, but marriages are built. Sooner or later, the relationship is tested. Husbands disappoint. Wives act irresponsibly. The needs of children require a renegotiation of responsibilities. Even in the best marriages instances will arise that require deferment of gratification and hope for the best.

What will the Christian do when God allows something in her life she had not bargained for? How will she treat God when it seems that everything is being asked of her while nothing seems to be offered in exchange? What will she do when God disappoints? Some would counsel that the “good Christian” acts as if nothing is wrong. He must suppress any feelings of anger or doubt and must never bring an accusation against His Maker.

Any good marriage counselor will say that intimacy comes through openness. Christians who want to experience love with God need to bring everything to God, the good, the bad, and the ugly. When they work through these matters they will experience more intimacy as both partners know each other better. Even though God knows everything about us and though He has had countless “lovers” through the millennia, he desires to experience a unique relationship with each of us anew.

Love is always a choice. God has chosen to express Himself towards us as described in I Corinthians. Will we return the favor?

Fears and Trembling

To paraphrase the Hebrew prophet Isaiah, “I am a man of fearful mind and I live I amongst a people of fearful mind.” That is not all I am but I'll admit to many bouts with fear over my nearly fifty years.

The first thing I remember fearing was a well-house that was attached to the back porch of the Michigan farmhouse my family lived in during my 4-5th year (1961-62). My grandmother’s grandparents established the farm after they moved there from upstate New York. We came to live there upon my parent’s return from their elopement to California.

[That is another story.]

My mother believed that the well house was unsafe and that I was important to her. So she painted a profoundly scary picture in my mind of what would happen to me if I ever went in there. The old boards that covered the shaft would give way when I stepped on them and down I would plummet into the cold dark water. Though I became instantly curious, I never ventured inside. The farm has since been sold so I will never know whether I had good reason to be afraid or not.

The Christian and Hebrew scriptures direct us to “fear the Lord and keep His commandments.” They also counsel, “fear not, for I [the LORD] shall be with you.” I think this is one way of saying that we live in a world of “good” and “bad” fears and that how we choose to respond will become our life.

Dealing with fear is not all there is to life, but it is a start.

In sixth grade I feared making a speech. In junior high I ran scared from a couple of bullies. In high school I feared failing to make Varsity in wrestling. In college I feared being turned down for a date. It is what I do with fear that makes the difference. I went ahead and made the speech. I survived the bully. I managed to wrestle varsity as a senior. I married the girl I dared to ask out.


Fear has sought to keep me in small places and away from the adventure that makes life worth living. Fear has also kept me out of unnecessary danger and suffering. Example -- I credit the healthy fear I had of my mother when she discovered me staying up to watch TV and smoking a cigarette I had sneaked from her purse.


I believe that understanding this difference is important to arriving at a more mature faith. I also believe that there is a fate worse than falling into a well.


What have you learned from your fears?

Russ Jarvis

Death Defying

On a sunny morning during fifth grade, I was walking up my street to the bus stop at the top of the hill. Out of nowhere eight pounds of white short-haired dog appeared, bouncing along on short legs that carried its round belly only a few inches above the gravel. His smallish ears pricked forward as he approached me and when his doggie mouth turned up in a smile, I bent down and petted him. His tail wagged quickly back and forth and his lips curled up in a broader smile. He had a black spot between his ears and I scratched him there as a final gesture of goodwill. A quiver of delight passed through his little body. A similar pleasure passed through my young soul as I believe God smiled over two of His creatures who took the time to make a connection. It was right, decent, and good. I remember it as a holy moment in my young life.

The other kids were already at the bus stop. The sound of the approaching school bus rose from beyond the houses behind me. I stood up and started off into the rest of my day and life.

A narrow shoulder marked the border between the pavement of the street and the yards. There was no sidewalk in those days. With a sixty-six passenger bus barreling up the street, I continued up the hill walking along the grass. The little dog paced me to my left where the pavement met the shoulder, oblivious to everything beyond the moment. Behind us, I heard the bus gear down and gun its engine for the climb to the top of the hill.

I was looking right at the dog when the bus caught up to us. Its right rear tire caught the dog as it drove through the curve. I remember it in slow motion as his little body rolled beneath the wheel. He bounced and then lay still.

My world went gray as I took in the awfulness of what had happened. He had just let me pet him!

The bus continued up the hill, its engine roaring until it reached the stop and turned on its flasher. The neighborhood kids started getting on as I stood over the body of the little dog. I felt something rise in me that I had never felt before. I knew in my core that this was not the way things were supposed to be.

I ran up the hill toward the bus. My fury gave me plenty of air to shout at the driver. “You just ran over that dog! Didn’t you see him? He’s dead!”

Forty years have passed since that day and I know that the innocent animal was in the right place at the wrong time. Nor was the bus driver evil. He was just a man with a job to do and a family to feed. He could do nothing about what happened except to look in the rear view mirror and then turn to me and say, “I’m sorry, Rusty. I didn’t see it in time.” Since then I’ve lost loved ones and presided at more funerals then I can count. I know that it is necessary to comfort the grieving. I know that there are essentials things I have to learn by means of suffering. But that doesn’t mean I have to lose my ability to become positively angry over what death does.

I think this is something of what went on inside of Jesus as he imagined the cold body of his friend Lazarus (John 11:34-35). Jesus had no patience for the idea that death is “just a part of life.” He had stayed at Lazarus’s house just a few weeks before! He wouldn’t allow this death to stand. He wept as he confronted death. “Lazarus! Come forth!” he commanded and his friend lived again.

My confidence as a Christian is that the day will dawn when this intruder and enemy is put down with a shout as Christ raises all of His people up (I Thessalonians 4:16-17). Because of that, I live my life in defiance of the physical death I inherited from Adam. I will protect my hope because I need it to care: for my family, for friends, for animals, and for stories. I will keep my faith focused on the One who won the victory.

And on that glad morning, I believe that a little eight pound short-haired dog will smile at me and I will scratch him between the ears.

First Encounter

My first conscious encounter with God happened at a carnival.

It was late afternoon in 1967 when our car entered the parking area. I could see the towers of the midway rising above the fencing. I envisioned myself riding the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Scrambler. I already smelled the popcorn and could taste the cotton candy. I was ready for a great evening under the lights.

A variety of “side shows” stood next to the midway. Garish posters invited me to spend money to see “The Bearded Lady,” the “Siamese Twins,” or “The Man of 1000 Piercings.” I was curious, but not so much that I would risk encountering what lay behind the curtain. What if I paid my quarter and it was a joke? Or what if it was frighteningly real? I opted for another turn on the Dodge’em Cars.

I was working through my second corndog when my mother and sister met me next to the "Ring Toss" game. They led me to a tent at the end of the row of sideshows. A Christian group was holding services there. It was free and the next service was in five minutes. They were going and wanted to know if I wanted to.

Our family had never gone to church and I could not figure out why Mom wanted to do this. I began to feel something and it was not the excitement of the roller coaster or the pleasure of a funnel cake as I stared at the entrance to the “Jesus tent” -- a flap of canvas that was pulled aside exposing a black hole leading to something strange and unknown within. It seemed as threatening as an alien world to my nine-year-old way of life.

I knew that if I acted scared, they would ask me what was the matter. “Nah,” I said nonchalantly, “I don’t want to go.” They accepted my refusal and did not pressure me. When I met them thirty minutes later they were smiling. They told me there had been some music and someone had told a story from the Bible. My sister showed me a write/erase board they gave her at the end. The church’s name was embossed across the top.

My nine-year-old response to the presence of God was appropriate, given what I did not know then. Now it is forty years later and the main thing I have learned is that I have nothing to fear in the “Jesus tent.” To this day, God has not pulled a “bait and switch” on me. Nor has God’s holiness been too much to bear. At this point in life all I want to do is to take God more and more honestly.

In a culture where 2/3rds of us do not attend church but nine out of ten of us still believe in God there are a lot of mistaken assumptions about spiritual/religious matters. These assumptions can separate people from the life God intends. One of the people who knew Jesus personally was a man named John the son of Zebedee. His counsel stands true over 20 centuries: “Perfect love drives out all fear.” Fear is what keeps so many of us ignorant of the roller coaster and the Ferris Wheel. It kept me out of the “Jesus tent” for too long. But God believed enough in what He had to offer me that He arranged another time and place.

Maybe today is the day when God’s carnival will set up again in your town.
Do you smell popcorn?