Leaving On a Jet Plane

Dear faithful readers and prayer warriors,

Well, we made it. Right now, we are 3 hours away from walking out the door and heading back to the airport in Chennai to begin our journey home after a life-changing 2 weeks in India. Today was a perfect way to end out our mission. We went to a village church about 2 hours away from David's condo. It was an amazing day of worship and ministry. Following the sermon, led by a 75 year old pastor who walks 10 miles to get to church, we shared in Communion with the church. It was a totally new, totally beautiful process for Communion - for those who wanted to take part, we had to line up and have our feet washed by the person in front of us. We then turned and washed the feet of the person behind us before taking our position for Communion. Then, the Pastors came by and gave us a piece of bread from a larger loaf and then we all drank REAL wine from the same cup - ALL of us. From the SAME cup. And it was beautiful.

Following Communion, we came up and led about a 30 minute program, complete with singing (Power in the Blood finished it off AND...we all learned the chorus in Tamil and were able to sing it to them and with them, in their language. And yes, you all will learn it as well - we can't wait for that! And, for the last day on mission, we busted out not one...not two...but THREE skits: David, Daniel and the new skit that John put together for us last night. Then, we shared lunch with the church and then we wrapped out by just hanging with the kids/families, making balloon animals...but the best part...all of the church members wanted our team to pray with them - and the team did - all over the place. It was an awesome God moment.

And then, after our time at the Church, we took a short 5 minute drive deeper into the village for another Church dedication. Once again, we led a few short choruses that spanned the language barrier and it was the closest thing to Heaven I think I've ever experienced - brothers and sisters across many cultures and in different languages singing, "Alleluia" and "Thank You, Jesus". So amazing. We then had a great - and very long - sendoff, saying goodbye to all of the kids, families...it was tough realizing that there's a good chance we might not see them until Heaven - but having that knowledge was a great thing.

Tonight, we just ordered some pizza in, packed up, cleaned up, and just had a good time (with a mild dance party and an impromptu singalong to "Holiday Road"). We've got just a few more hours and we're all homesick - ready to come home - but man, this was an amazing trip.

So, the blog title. If you've been paying any attention, this title was actually used to kick off the whole trip and I think it's appropriate to end with it as well. There really are a lot of comparisons. I mean, we're taking a massively long trip...on a jet plane. We left with 14 and we're coming back with 14 (Lord willing). We're even all bringing home the same luggage and sitting next to the people we rode next to on the way here.

But, not everything is the same. While we arrived here as 14 members of Faith, we're leaving here as a family. A family that saw each other at their worst - sickness, dirty, sweaty, smelly, no make-up, bad hair days - but that worked towards carrying out the mission God put in front of us. We arrived expecting to minister to the people of India, but in reality, they changed our lives and ministered to us in ways that we couldn't even compete with. All of our expectations when we left home were totally destroyed and God threw us out of our comfort zones, but in that, we gained so much spiritual perspective. We come away in the same setting...but as completely different people. Our prayer is that, through these experiences, not only will the Church in India be encouraged, but that our home church will see some ways in which we can deepen our passion for the Lord. And we ask God, the One who ordained this trip, guided and guarded our every move, and is working in all of our hearts in a massive way, to keep this fire burning that we can impact our neighborhood, our church and our world by serving Christ as His "holy fools".

I cannot express how much we appreciate each of you supporting us and praying for us on this trip. Though only 14 of us are physically here, you all have been an integral part of this mission and we could not have done this without you. We love each of you so much and can't wait to share these experiences with you. Please pray for the protection of our Father God as we head out in just a few hours - safety in travel and favor going through security and customs.

And so, with gladness and sadness, for the last time in India, good night. Thank you for making this journey with us. We'll see you guys soon.

India 2010, out...