world within a world

Yesterday afternoon we arrived at our hotel in Delhi in time to take a short nap and get ready for a visit to a church made up of Burmese refugees who fled the persecution of the government 8 years ago. They are not given any legal status here, just the equivalent of our green cards and so the only work they have is underpaid factory work where they are taken advantage of. Last night Pastor Halomon and his wife Zhiy assembled their church to worship with us and give me another chance to preach. I can't describe in words the traffic in Delhi at 6:30 p.m. I'm not exaggerating when I say it took us an hour and a half plus to go about 20 kilometers. This is in the city of New Delhi mind you. Simple more cars, taxis, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, etc. than you can imagine. Think Chicago rush hour traffic with 8 lanes and motorcycles making lanes wherever there was a space! Crazy humanity. Well, after we got near the location of the church (a rented basement looking room where 50-60 Christians were gathered and worshiping) we walked about 1/4 mile on narrow, dusty, broken streets with this cheerful and gracious pastor. The joy and love we felt as we clapped along to songs of praise we didn't know was a blessing. It was as if we stepped into a little section of a Burmese Christian village where the pain, poverty and hardships of the real outside world was removed. I shared with them that we all hope in the truth of the resurrection of Jesus (preached from I Corinthians 15). I suspect they hope in a different way than I do, and I'm challenged in my faith by them! It's almost 4:00 in the morning now and we're heading back to the airport and the school in Damoh in a few hours. More to come.