Muslim slum

Last night was intense.

Our teaching time finished early, so we had the opportunity to visit a predominantly Muslim slum that one of the OM leaders, David, is working in. This is the slum where David would like to start a tech training center to train up young people for better paying jobs. He didn't want to take us all the way inside the slum, so we visited the outskirts and met a man with a remarkable ministry there. The drive to get there was itself an adventure - down a very narrow street. You can see a video here.

When we got on the edge of the slum, we met a man whom David introduced to us as a pastor. He had been living in the slum for a long time, but he was a Christian. He had become a Christian shortly after God healed him from a chronic back problem that forced him to stoop over all the time.

Several years ago, while this man and and his wife were out for the day working, their son fell down a large well on the edge on the slum. The villagers found him and returned him to this man's home, declaring him dead. When the man returned, overwhelmed with grief, he prayed for his son. He declared that if God would give him back his son, he would dedicate his land to the ministry of the gospel. After three hours, the boy vomited up dirt and blood and mucus and came to life. Ever since then, this man has dedicated his property to God.

After a generous contribution, he was able to build on part of his property a small area to be used as a church. Today, David holds Sunday School and worship times in this area, which measures around 18 ft x 8 ft. Last week had 80 children sitting in it for Sunday School. 50 more were in a shack next door that was much smaller.

I can't describe the feeling this church had inside of it. It was truly holy ground. In the middle of the turbulence of the muslim quarter and on the edge of the squalor of the slum, it was a place of peace. God's presence was palpable.

Our whole time visiting this area, we were followed by a young girl. When I stopped to take her picture, David shared her story. R was 10 years old, but she looked about the size of an American 6 year old. Her mother died when she was younger. R and her father were living on the streets. However, an older woman saw his situation and offered assistance. She allowed R and her father to move in with her and her grown daughter who had been blind from birth. She would help to take of R and her father.

This arrangement turned out to be tragic. R's father ended up sleeping with the blind woman, getting her pregnant. When he realized this, he disappeared leaving R behind. That was four years ago. Now R has a three year old half sister who suffers from something similar to Polio making her legs crippled. She's also about the size of an American 1 year old. R takes care of the entire family, the older woman, the blind woman, her crippled half sister, and herself. The picture shows the blind woman and her daughter.

To be honest, I'm still trying to process this story and my experience there. What I believe is that God loves this little crippled three year old, living on the edge of a Indian Muslim slum as much as He cares for me. In practice, that's really hard to grasp. I just don't get it.

I walked away from that slum thinking that only two worldviews make sense to me. Either this is all there and if that's the case, then it's every-man-for-himself. Lucky me that I didn't get born to a blind woman in an Indian slum. And it's up to me to make the best of my luck and enjoy life.

The only other plausible alternative is that God is a loving Father will bring justice to the earth and redeem His creation. As much as I don't understand how it works and what to make of it all, this is what I believe. It's the only thing that I can believe faced with such suffering. If I didn't follow Christ, I wouldn't be in India, dealing with these questions. But being faced with them, I have to trust that God is a redeeming God. And offer whatever I can to His goal of recreating this beautiful and tragic creation.

I still don't get it. I don't get the suffering of this young girl. But I have faith, however small, in the God who knows her.

May His kingdom come.