Running to the Darkness

Remembering 9-11 in India

I will never forget where I was that day 10 years ago! And I don't believe it is a coincidence that I am back in India again on the 10th anniversary of the day America was assaulted on her own soil. Yes, it happens to other countries but it had not happened to the invincible, United States of America! I saw these pictures for the first time half a world away on CNN in Mumbai India while preparing to leave for a Women With a Mission conference.

I will never forget where I was...and I will never forget where I wasn't. I wasn't at home with my family huddled around the tv making certain that they were all safe. I wasn't close to my friends calling to be sure a certain American Airlines flight attendant was not on any of those four flights that day. I was not being held and comforted by my husband. I was not present at my church when others came to pray.

When I contemplated leaving the country three years later bound once again for India, I asked my teenage son his opinion on whether I should go or not. "Luke, do you think that I should reconsider going in light of 9-11 and everything that has changed since I was there before?"

Luke looked at me straight in the eyes and with wisdom beyond his years answered with a question, "Same God, isn't He, Mom?"

And today ten years later, here I am in India on the 10th anniversary of when America declared war on terrorism. And yes, much has changed in America, however, God is still the same. He is still sovereign and in control. He is still faithful and constant. He is still the ultimate freedom fighter!

Today I am grateful for the freedom of life in Christ that goes beyond religious freedom! It is freedom to have a relationship with the God of the universe and know that He alone holds the future in HIs hands! And He is available to hold my hand when the very earth below my feet shakes and crumbles!

There are things eternal that not even the Congress of the USA can legislate! God will be sovereign whether we allow it or believe it! And I am grateful for the Cross that reminds me God SENT Jesus into this world to rescue us and Jesus SENDS us to rescue others! Like the NYFD on 9-11, we, the Church-believers who have been rescued, must rush in when others rush out!  

 

Still Learning...One Village impacts Ten Other Villages

Starting our venture from Sharon Gardens is a relaxing, low key way to commence a strategic couple of weeks living out the love of Christ by encouraging His beloved daughters as they equip and encourage others to follow His call to encourage others to know Him! However, it also means that after Friday, tomorrow, it will be like toping the first hill of the roller coaster—the view is breathtaking, however the speed is mind boggling and before you know it, you arrive breathless at the other end of the track—ride over!  We are desperately trying to squeeze as much out of and into these days as is possible! We know that they will be over far too quickly and we will find ourselves boarding the plane for Newark wondering where the two weeks went and then landing in our home places, surreal, wondering if maybe we did just dream of being in a land of billinos of people half a globe away!

Each time I come to Sharon Gardens I learn something new! Today Daniel was the lucky duck to give us the tour. Our first unscheduled stop was to the brandnew or nearly new production center, Sharon Enterprises. It is housed where the old Nursing College was once crammed. I thought that Paula French was going to dissolve into a puddle (oh, how I missed and thought of you, Judy Sturman) when we stepped into a room with mounds of exquisite, one-of-a-kind sari material; some in scraps, some in finished product and some being swept up as trash! Certainly, we had to rescue some of the material and product for grandchildren and children of friends. Paula was happy as a lark or should I say, tickled pink, since that is the color of one of the outfits she purchased! I won’t say who because that would all but ruin the surprise!

Next stop was the New Nursing College which houses hundreds of students who are rescued from nonproductive lives and given the opportunity often to be the first one in their family to go to college! The India Gospel League does not just see the individual but they also see the generation and long to influence it and empower it for Good! The students are pleasantly surprised and relieved to learn that it only costs $300 to complete a two year program of nursing! I took the picture of a young woman who attended the Children’s Home at Sharon Gardens. (I will post as soon as I can figure it out.) She grew up in the incredibly positive and safe environment and upon graduation opted to take advantage of the Nursing College’s two year program. Once she completed that successfully she applied to work at Sharon and is excited continue her education with higher learning while she works! Hers is just one of the countless transformation stories that are the result of investing a little love and help to those less fortunate!

The Cancer Hospital was next on our less than ten stop agenda. Daniel introduced us to one of the administrators of the hospital and she took the tour from there! (IGL turns up apprentices everywhere!) Sitting outside of the Pediatric Ward (It is sad that a cancer hospital has to have one of these, but then again maybe it is something to be thankful for!) was a young girl with beautiful big round dark eyes that were bright but timid as we approached. Her mother was with her so we stopped to inquire why they were waiting there. The mother told us that her daughter had bone cancer and was preparing to have radiation treatment. A group of five mothers that yanked our heartstrings taut and we asked if we could pause and pray for her. It was welcome so we gathered around the girl, much too young to face such uncertain precarious times. Paula led the prayer as we all agreed. When she looked up to gaze into our eyes hers weren't the only ones filed to the brim but she wore a smile of relief and peace that wasn't there earlier! Thank You, God for loving your precious daughter through your other precious daughters! We finished touring the wing and turned to trace our steps back down the same hallway. Of course she was still there so we asked her name and took pictures so that we could remember to pray for her when we were back in the USA.

The Stephens' faithful driver who has chauffeured us on many conference ventures as well as shopping escapades was at the doorway of the hospital to transport us to the remaining stops past the concrete production site where the blocks for the Life Center churches IGL plants are made, (we did skip the dairy farm, shhhh, the new girls don't know what they don't know. :) Time was getting short and we had a 30 minute drive to an adopt-a-village site. Since we were planning to return in time to attend the Children's Program at Sharon tonight we refrained from going inside either the primary or high schools, Anderson Schools that were nestled under the massive mountain! On the way we drove past the laundry facility for the children's uniforms and that of the various workers as well as the vo-tech facility where about young men gained hope after their families were swept away in 2004 during the Tsunami. We also passed a variety of equipment exercise for the children in mostly primary colors that were bright and inviting and had been produced right there on the site!

My heart always beats fast as we head up the narrow roadway to the Convention Center that hosts thousands of pastors, women and leaders of all kinds! I will never forget the story of the anguish prayer that persisted prior to that decision of whether or not that was the best venture. God answered that prayer with a Muslim businessman who contacted Sam to come to see him because he wanted to contribute! That was the first significant gift for the center and Rev. Stephens knew that that was confirmation from God! I have a warm memory of the time when Sam's daughter, Becky, a vibrant young leader was assigned to give us the tour and we walked up the roadway to the land that was set aside. As we held hands and hearts as we strolled along, she talked of her dad's counting the cost prior to beginning and she said, "Money always follows vision." Truly, a daughter after her father (and The Fahter's) own heart she is an incredible leader of the entire Children's Minsitry of IGL and holds a place on the board. Walking on the grounds of the Convention Center I could see the women from the National Convention in 2008 seated enjoying lunch prepared in the large kitchen. Entering the auditorium of the center, triggered a flood gate of warm memories! I remember standing in the middle of the room when it was filled floor to ceiling with bamboo scaffolding! And then the year of its near completion when Cassandra Dickerson, a member of one of the WWAM teams with a powerful voice took the chance to stand on the stage and anoint the room with a song that raised Holy Spirit goose bumps! How my heart longed to participate in another powerful gathering there!

And then I saw it! Something new! The banner that stretched across the entire front of the stage that declared SENT to the World! It took my breath away to try to wrap my mind around the idea that God was prompting and moving our hearts to create a book by the same name, SENT! God is amazing! He is always up to producing a plan to include HIs children at His table! I am so grateful and excited and humbled to even be around! Why not ask God what He is up to in your area and family?

Next stop the Adopt-a-VIllage in Kotty where the pastor is also the cook for the teams that come to Sharon Gardens! He was busy preparing our lunch that we would return for late in the afternoon so he was unable to meet us at the LIfe Center. However we were greeted by the teachers and parents of the childcare center that meets in the Life Center as well as a host of the believers that worship there on Sundays. They greeted us with plastic floral creations made in the LIfe Center. They invited us to introduce ourselves. The joy and smiles on their faces were evidence of the life transformation of the community of that village! One village affects and impacts ten other villages surrounding it!

Traveling in the van on the return to Sharon I learned that there were 37 villages around Salem!  The India Gospel League has established four Life Centers so they are feeling like that it is only a matter of time before their influence is felt throughout Salem! They are intentional and strategic about reaching every last one of God's children with His Love!

Thrilled to see and hear so much good news, we rode back to Sharon in anticipation of more to come in the evening when nearly 300 children of Sharon would demonstrate the joy and testify to the difference Christ has made in their lives through His love expressed by His servants at Sharon!

After lunch we had about 2 hours of free time...hmmmmm....what should we do? Shop? Why of course we had loved ones and prayer partners for whom we needed to obtain treasures to take home to remember. And of course, we must fulfill our tourist visa!

Sharing

 
What a joy to share this experience with Paula French (who ironically enough is not pictured here because she joined us in Newark)! It is through shared expeiences that Paula and I have become good friends! Most of our shared expeience has been half a world away in India! Paula lives in St. Louis and we met while Gary and I were attending a BreakThrough experience. Something in our hearts knew we were kindred spirits! Paula, a marriage and family therapist, accepted several invitations from me when I served as IndianCreek MOPS Mentor to speak and encourage young moms @IndianCreek MOPS for many years! She was a favorite! Besides a message, Paula loved to bring some unique little surprise, treats for the young moms! And the moms loved it when she came!

Paula and I ventured to India together twice before this trip and love sharing that adventure! (Not just any body will go to India with you; just sayin') Yesterday Paula "brought it" at the Women With a Mission National Training Day for local leaders in Salem when she described desirable characteristics of leaders and led us to consecrate ourselves for "tomorrow God is going to do amazing things!"

Just wanted to share with you Paula French so that you could enjoy her posts and perspective. While I am laboring over a hot computer, I mean a computer in a hot room, she is typing her posts on her iphone and emailing them to her daughter who is dropping them into her mom's blog template! She is also importing pictures Paula is emailing her onto the sight, so Paula's site has pictures! I have taken pictures on my iphone but cannot access them on gmail. Any ideas? Please help me if you can.

Love, love, love sharing this special time Living out His Love in India with girlfriends! Hope you can join us sometime! Meanwhile thanks for joining us in your prayers! We are gratedul!

Great First Day of Conferences in Salem, Tamil Nadu India!

After a good night's rest, okay, maybe not all of us slept all night! We were excited to be invited to share with the India Gospel League staff in their Extended Prayer Time prior to their work day. They have this time on a regular basis to encourage their employees and it is an opportunity to share Christ's love and provision with those who do not know Him. What a joy to see all of their smiling faces! They are always so warm, honoring and helpful! They take care of all of the details of the conferences and travel. They know our schedule better than we do! They are examples of the servant leadership which Paula taught about in the sessions in the afernoon.

It was an intimate setting in the upper offices of IGL with the faithful and dedicated national and local leaders for the Women With a Mission. They were encouraged to see one another and we were encouraged to see them! Paula French had designed a leadership track just for them and was eager to encoruage them in their leadership in equiping the women in the local, regional and national groups as they lead women to reach thoes in their villages toward a relationship with the One True God! She talked about the leadership of Joshua and the importance of leaders not only being commissioned but personally consecrating themselves to being a leader of integrity and character. It was a holy moment as we prayed together commiting to serve with authenticity and love, consecrating ourselves, preparing for God to do amazing things!

Session Two was full of practical components of a leader following the footsteps of the greatest servant leader ever, Jesus Christ. At lunch the women went out and selected a rock to bring back for Session Three where we returned to Joshua and followed Joshua as his leaders walked through on dry land the parted waters and then Joshua called them back to return to the place where the waters parted to the very most dangerous place. There they were to collect a rock as a memorial of what God had done for them that day! Each woman brought her rock and we wrote the obstacles in our lives we perceived in accomplishing God's call on our lives. In small groups women were encouraged to share these challenging places in their leadership as well as the call that they have identified that God has on their lives. Then in a time of worship and contemplation we laid our rocks before Him and prayed for His leadership and guidance, recognizing that nothing is too hard for God and He is for us and will lead us through the obstacle! What an encouraging time for us all! Thanks Paula, job well done!

We also go our tour of the IGL offices while in town. As always the staff greeted us with beautiful lieus of fragrant red roses so common to celebrations and honoring the arrival of guests in India! What a wonderful tradition that humbles my heart every time! And I know what they are going to do! It was exciting to see that IGL has expanded their offices and built a near upper floor, remodeling the Children's Ministry Department and removing it from the floor below. Becky Stanley's office is there as well as her brother, Danny Stephens who leads the Student Movement Department of IGL and is doing an incredible job stepping into the call God has on His life! So many years I remember agonizing and praying with Prati for him as he ran from that call for a time. But a beautiful work of grace God has brought in his life and he gladly extends it to all of those around!

Finishing a full day of sessions and office tour around 5:00 p.m. we decided since we were alreday in town we might as well do a little shopping! We can eat dinner when we get home! You can't always shop! So off to Prati's favorite Sari store where she was the owner's first customer! The girls were delighted and marveled over the unique and exquisite silk fabric especially created for sari's and punjabi's! Nothing like it anywhere else in the world! Each woman was able to select something that she would be able to wear while she spoke later in the week to Indian women in the conferences to come! What fun to be fully emersed in the culture of a beautiful and unique land!

And what is a new outfit without a new pair of shoes! Prati showed us a little shoe store where the four young men were mesmerized by blonde women in a world of dark haired dark eyed men and women. They weren't the most efficient but they were eager to serve!

Finally sometime after 10:00 p.m. we returned to the sanctuary of Sharon Gardens and had a wonderful meal prepared especially with our American taste in mind! Servant leadership at its best here! When we were finished we remembered that we needed to prepare for the Children's Program tonight. So we spent the next hour assembling the nearly 300 treat bags (containing glow sticks, note pads, pencils and smarties) for the children. Sharon Gardens is home to nearly 300 children who attend school and learn about God in a setting that supplies their basic needs of food and clothing as well. It is common for parents who cannot afford to feed their child to bring them to Sharon and leave them there so that they can be provided for adequately! (How difficult a decision that must be!)

So today we will tour Sharon Garden campus, with a break in the afternoon and then enjoy the Children's Program tonight! This year besides the treat bags we have a treat for the the children as team member Vicki Orcutt has some songs she will teach them and we will celebrate the goodness of God together! What a incredible God we serve!

Thanks for your prayers as we live out HIs love and remember yours!

Stretching and Growing

 This picture is of the mountain that stretches to the sky behind Sharon Gardens! We truly are in an oasis, a sanctuary that feels so peaceful and encouraging! In the morning we will leave to go into the town of Salem to the offices of the India Gospel League where we are nvited to share with the staff prior to the beginning of their work day and our Women With a Mission National and Local Leadership Conference. We covet your prayers that the Holy Spirit will impact each heart with the very message intended just for them!

What a joy to share with the IGL staff, some of whom are not Christians! It is a joy to serve those who have served us so graciously and magnificantly!

Just as I finished writing what i would share, I saved it to post here for your prayers and reading pleasure and it saved something else over it and somehow the text disappeared! I am just very grateful that i had printed it out first! Not today, SLICK!

Recoverd the text if you care to read and pray that God will use it to grow His Kingdom!

Stretching and Growing

 

What a joy it is to be here in Salem with you! My name is Belinda Kendall and this time when I came to India I purchased a 10 year VISA!! Afterall I have been coming for ten years! And each year we tour the offices and I am overwhelmed with your servant’s hearts and gracious attitudes! The incredible welcome is so warm and honoring! Indeed we feel so very special to be with you!

 

Thank you so very much for your work that makes the other work for the Kingdom! What you do matters to so many! Some of you with whom I have had the pleasure of partnering I know personally your amazing contributions and stand amazed! You are gifted and extraordinary folks and I commend you and applaud you for your diligent effort and skills!

 

We left the USA on Sunday morning and flew first to Newark, N.J. and then to New Delhi, spent the night and then to Coimbatore this morning and were escorted and transported to Sharon Gardens last night about 7:00 p.m. (Many of you in this room made every detail of that time possible and were very aware of exactly where we were and what we were doing because you made every part of it possible.! Thank you!)

 

Last night as we were eating dinner across from our gracious hostess, Prati asked if any of us would be interested in sharing this morning. The more I thought about it, themore the desire grew within me. Then it dawned on me, I have visited this facility and these offices countless times but I have never spent any time sharing with you! And after being here more than a dozen times I feel like you are nearly family! So I thought it would be appropriate to share a part of my story with you. It is my prayer that it encourages and / or inspires you.

 

Some of you may have been around long enough to have met my husband, Pastor Gary Kendall. It has been 12 years since he has traveled to India and he has only visisted twice! In 10 years I have been here more that a dozen times! It was Gary who has always been the brave and courageous one! He was raised in the home of parents who were missionaries and he grew up with a THIRD WORLD CULTURE thinking that that kind of life was normal.

 

And Gary was the one who traveled to the foreign lands for the first 20 years of our marriage while I focused on raising the four little missions  we had in our home! Eventually, they began to grow up and older and God presented the opportunity for me to venture to India! Gary and my brother-in-law, Dr. Scott Green encouraged me to do it!

 

So finally I found myself on the ramp on September 8, 2001. My husband, Gary and two sons: Jeremy and Luke walked me to the very entrance of the jetway. I was in denial up until that point-now I was faced with the fact and finality of leaving them behind and it became very real and overwhelming to me! I tend to be a little dramatic anyway. As I was parting from Gary I asked him desperately, “Honey, will I come back?” To which he replied, “I believe so.”

 

“But what if I don’t,” I choked on the possiblity and ever the romantic/ dramatic went on, “If I don’t come back, will you come after me

“Absolutely!” He declared and sealed the promise with a passionate kiss!

 

Good enough for me, what else could I ask, I boarded the plane to meet and travel with a team of women of whom I knew noone! I did not know anyone in the country to which I was traveling, nor anyone on the team I was serving! I was growing in my trust and my adventure was only beginning. When we arrived a group of us went to eat while we were awaiting the arrival of the rest of the team. We had only been sitting at the table a short while before Rev. Samuel Stephens entered the room and announced that he needed to tell us something. He confessed that he did not want to share the news that he had learned but that he knew we must know. So he began to share what the rest of the world was watching over and over and over in disbelief as two of America’s own jets filled to the brim with fuel and passengers were used as missiles to assault an attack on the World Trade Center Towers!

 

We were of course in shock and sat in disbelief. It was what Rev. Stephens said next that encouraged me and comforted me. Sam relayed to us a dream that he had experienced a while before. In the dream he had seen the two towere snd heard God say to him, “These two will fall.” Samuel said he was greatly perplexed and didn’t know what he was supposed to do with that revelation. So he told his mother and mother-in-law and asked them to pray.

 

When I heard this story, it gave me great comfort that this man with whom we were traveling and investing was a man who heard from God and listened. And though I was afraid, I was at peace. There were some anxious times in the next three weeks before we traveled home. However, God grew me up in faith and trust in Him because He sustained me!

 

I know that He will do the same for you!

 

What are you afraid of? What would it take to walk straight toward that fear?

 

What are you willing to do or not do because of fear?

 

Beth Moore says that we are not growing unless we are stepping outside of our comfort zone.

 

I want tp show you how a sign states it.

 

This picture was taken in Macu Tower in March when I traveled there with my daughter prior to teaching English as a Second Language for two weeks.

 

No, I didn’t jump! I haven’t grown that much! Maybe next time. But I did go out on the ledge, high above the city and walked all the way around it! Scary? Kinda, but more exhilerating than anything!

 

One more story: I did not grow up around the water and I don’t know how to swim very well so I can be very uncomfortable in the water. However my husband LOVES it! So had an opportunity our entire family to go snorkeling and the kids could not believe that Gary would pay money for me to go because they were certain that I would not go into the water. So when the time came I was the last one perched on the side of the boat, everyone else was paddling around, bobbing up and down and enjoying the sun and the ocean and the incredible world beneath the surface. It took lots of coaxing and patience but eventually I scooted off of the edge and safety of the boat into the deep blue sea! Instantly, fear gripped me and I began paddling frantically and holding my head above water, working hard to stay upright. A man from the boat yelled, “Hey Lady, look down! You are missing the show!”

 

Talk about missing the point! Sure enough my googles were still above the surface of the water and I couldn’t see a thing beneath the waves. Cautiously, I placed my face donned in mask flat to the surface of the water and the view below took my breath away! There were hundreds of bright yellow, orange and all colors of incredibly beautiful fish! And then there was the magnificient coral reef below! I kept my head underwater mesmerized until they finally had to flag me down and pull me, the last one, back into the boat because it was time to go. 

When I think about how my fear paralysed me, I realize that I could easily have missed the entire underwater wonderland!

I challenge you to think about what you are afraid of and what is limiting you in areas of your life that could be a whole new world opening up right beneath you that you could completely miss out on if you don’t take the courage to plunge into the deep end and look way down!

Perhaps there are emotional or physical fears but perhaps it is spiritulally that you might be curious but a bit afraid of going any further with God. Or maybe you haven’t started the journey with Him.

I invite you to take some time and contemplate what God might be saying to you. Could it be “Look down! You are missing the show!”

 I am so thankful that God gave me the courage to walk down that ramp 10 years ago this week and travel to a land halfway around the world to a people I did not know but who have enrched my life and stretched my way outside of my comfort zone!

 

Delayed but delighted to be on mission in India!

What a great team of women! We concurr with the flight attendant who said she could not imagine life without a pen, lipstick and laughter! Delayed on take-off from KCI, we later learned because the USA President was flying somewhere over the vicinity, the entire air space was closed!

Vicki Orcutt met us there from Casper and joined RaeAnn Middleton, Dana Hogan and me. We were anticipating meeting fifth team member, Paula French in Newark. Time for a prayer circle with pep talk from Gary and prayer with Indian Creek's Global Director, Eric Rochester. It also gave us opportunity to have a "last supper" or lunch with Geroge Middleton and my dedicated husband, Gary Kendall who drove up to spend some time after preaching the message at Indian Creek Community.

It always amazes me as to how God forms a team! Before the formation of the team none of the women had met each other. Although RaeAnn and Dana both attend Indian Creek, RaeAnn was a part of the group of pioneers who launched Indian Creek Gardner campus and Dana was involved in Alpha on the Olathe campus. Vicki, Director of Missions at Highland Park Community Church in Casper, Wyoming met both girls for the first time at the airport. I know all of the women individually and was the connector God used to form the team. Eric had prayed for unity and oneness of our group, the same prayer Jesus prayed for His disciples and we began to experience it nearly immediately!

The trip to Newark was uneventful enough and connecting to the International terminal was smooth with only a shuttle bus ride from one terminal to the next. Upon landing in Neward we were grateful to learn that Paula was there and already at the gate. We arrived just in time for a water break! I think I sleot more on this 15 hour flight than any in a long time! (Some people use medication/herbs to sleep on the plane. I just stay up the night or two prior to leaving--that will make you sleep like a baby, well maybe not a baby as some babies do NOT sleep on an international flight at all! Paula can testify to that fact as her seat was strategically located in the "nursery" section!)An uneventful flight brought us to a brand new incredible humongous (as my precious grandson would say!) New Delhi airport! After gathering our mountain of lugggage (we were taking part of our country to India!) we made our way out of the terminal to meet our driver assigned to us from IGL to take us to the airport. Easy to find since he held up a sign, "Mrs. Belinda Kendall"A very kind but overwhelmed man when he saw our luggage and counted the 15 pieces! Too much for the one car he had brought to fetch us.

So we split up into two taxis, always an adventure! And although we left at different times we arrived at the hotel at the same time! Oh, to experience the busy streets of India, there is nothing to compare with the variety, traffic, excitement and congested chaos that is strangely commonly navigated! We arrived safely at our hotel and were pleased to know that of course the hotel restaurant was still open to accomondate us! And we were the only ones there! Private dining! We ordered quickly as the waiter warned us the restaurant would not be taking orders after 11:00 p.m. and it was alrday 10;45! We were able to get soup, butter chicken, and nan! Topped off with bottled water we were ready for our rooms!Wake up call at 6:30 with breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and departure for Delhi's domestic airport to fly to Combitore and then a few hours ride by car to Salem! We are off! We so apprectiate your prayers and are so grateful to God for His constant presence and provision for His beloved daugthers far from home but strangely at home with His people half a world away!