Joy and Sorrow!

During my time in India I experienced a lot of joy - the first dose of which occurred when I saw the boys lined up to greet us as we entered the CFI campus. Even though I was about to collapse from fatigue (36 hours of continuous travel with little sleep will do that to a person!), when I got out of the vehicle and began walking down the path between the two column of boys all shouting, "Hello Uncle!" - I found the adrenaline that began rushing through my veins made me forget all about my tired body and foggy mind. Oh was it was good to be back at CFI! However, no sooner had I begun to soak in the joy, I was forced to confront a reality that brought great sadness. "Uncle," several of the older boys cried out to me, "Sarug, gone!" These boys knew that for nine years (since Sarug arrived at CFI as a hurting and hungry 6 year old), my wife and I had been Sarug's sponsor. Sarug, however was now gone. He had run away a few times in the past year and when he went "home" to visit family this past May, he never returned (I have since found out that he takes cattle to the fields to graze - which is about as low as one can go in Indian society). Talk about throwing rain on what had been a really good parade!

Now fast forward to my last weekend in India. As I exited the church after preaching on Sunday morning, a beautiful young woman named Alka and her new husband, Satish (just married in June) approached me. My heart jumped with joy as I embraced this young woman and gave her a hug not just from me but from my wife as well. Alka was just a little girl of 6 or so when we began supporting her back in 1992. She lived at Boys and Girls Christian Home, located in Chaddur Bazzar which is not far from the campus of CFI. After graduating from school, she went on for a three year stay at Maharashtra Bible College. During her time there, Sharon and I continued to send support for her schooling. Then in May, when I heard she was in need of financial help with her wedding expenses, Sharon and I gave to help meet that need. So knowing that background, I think you can better understand why I was overjoyed to see her. And since one of our prayers for Alka in recent years was that she marry well - I was just as overjoyed to meet her husband. He is a carpenter (and therefore able to provide for a family) and he is a pastor-evangelist (and thus loves God with a great passion). What a joy to see Alka and Satish face-to-face!

Sponsoring children in India has proven to be a wonderful experience. Since Sarug is no longer at CFI, my wife and I just chose a little 4 year old boy to begin to sponsor. He and his older brother were just brought to CFI in July. Their mother had died and their father is a deaf mute and unable to care for himself, let alone two boys.

Currently both my daughters and their spouses sponsor a CFI boy, and my son on my return from India expressed the desire that he and his wife also want to begin to sponsor a child. How about you? For a mere $30 a month you can sponsor a little boy -- providing him with food, clothing, shelter, health care and an education. But most important of all - you can help a child hear about the One who loves the little children and gave His life for them. Now that's a joy worth knowing!

For info on how you can sponsor, please email me at jsmith@gracewv.org.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj