10 days and counting...

Soooo this Kolkata business is happening in 10 days.  I've been waiting months upon months for the day I would board that plane and now it's about 240 hours away!  What the heck?  This is crazy! Every night I lay in bed trying to make myself sleep and about 2 hours later it's a success; then the brain just starts ticking again around 5:45 a.m. and refuses to stop.  Annoying, but it's pretty obvious that I'm beyond excited.  At least I won't have to worry about trying to switch up my sleep cycles...I'm going to be so exhausted I'll have no issues!

Ok, here's the deal - if you know me, you know I'm not a fan or writing, journaling, or anything of the like - so, yes, this will be a blog that sounds like I'm talking directly to you - no pretty added. Thanks and Gig 'Em!  Also, be forewarned that I don't understand grammar (I use way too many commas - please don't judge) and unless I have spell check, I misspell words (like I almost just did...grammer is incorrect...thank you little red squiggly line), but ever so often I will be posting little bits of my life in India via this sweet little site.  Please visit...if you would like.

Soon I will be in Kolkata...working with a team of awesome people to build relationships with women walking out of the trade! God is pretty neat.  That is a bit of an understatement, but let's get real - no matter what word I chose, I won't even get close to his level of awesomeness.

So here's what I've been thinking about lately as I prepare for my time in Kolkata...
I haven't even arrived in this place, but I already know that I'm not ready to leave it.  I have never met any of the women that I'll be building relationships with, but I love them all.  Explanation?  If you strike a match in pure darkness it will outshine any match you strike in pure light.  What do I mean?  I mean that in 10 days I'm leaving America. I'm leaving home. I'm leaving comfort.  I'm leaving a place that gives almost every person the ability to fill every void we have with whatever we choose, and rarely do we choose Jesus (I'm speaking very strongly about my own case).  I'm leaving a place that has a clouded view of the kingdom of God.  What I am walking into is a place that isn't home, doesn't have comforts, sees brokenness every minute of the day, and is overflowing with darkness.  Jesus came for the empty, not the filled (Mark 2:17) and for me...the kingdom of God can be sighted so much easier in a place like Kolkata.  This is a place that is the very heart of Christ's life on earth.  Those who prostitute, those who beg, and those with leprosy...those were the ones Jesus cherished...the very ones that all others despised.  I know that I won't want to leave Kolkata and that I love the women because Christ has a presence there.  A presence that is not like one I've experienced and probably won't until I'm actually in his realm of eternity.  Honestly.

Matthew 25:40
"And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'"

This is our Father's heartbeat - the least of these.  And I cannot wait to serve them.


Please be praying for these next four months that I am in India.  Pray for the women we will be working with...pray for their freedom and joy. Pray that many more will chose to walk away from the life that has so sadly chosen them. Pray for our Kolkata Servant Team - me, Erin, and Natalie.  Three girls...thank Jesus for his hand in this!  Pray for our work there - that it is His work and for His glory - pray for our transition to the new way of living - pray for our unity, our growth. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers.

Next post...I'll be halfway around the world!  Yay!  Catch you kids later.