Expectingrevolution's Blog

So that’s a picture of Sean, Joey, Levi, and me after rafting down the Beas River. I’ll catch you up to how we ended up there.

– We woke up in Madan’s village and decided to go on with our plans to go to Kulu. Joey wanted to meet a pastor there who he had heard about, so we planned to meet him at a coffee shop he helped run. Also to meet us there were Michael and the Sadhu. “Sadhu” is a term referring to a person who has renounced worldliness in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment, and is so designated by their bright orange robes. However, this particular Sadhu is a Christian and is using the cultural mechanism of being a Sadu to share the gospel. When we met them at Kulu, I was overwhelmed by the evident presence of the Holy Spirit with the Sadhu and Michael. They travelled together, doing a very similar thing to what Sean and I do. We were greatly encouraged by meeting them, and they were able to get us a show that night in the town of Manali.

– After praying for Sean’s strength, we headed to Manali to play at a place called Dylan’s, named after Bob. Indeed, there was a mural on the wall of a young Bob Dylan with a harmonica. It was in a section of town frequented by white people. In the mountains surrounding Manali grows, supposedly, the best marijuana in the world. So people from all over the world come here to find out for themselves. This was the crowd we played for that night. They had no PA, so Sean had to just grab his guitar and project his voice. As it turns out, there were quite a few Israelis there. After Sean played his normal set, he ended up jamming with some Israelis to cover the Back Street Boys, Rihanna, and other pop hits. Several of these Israelis noticed the Hebrew tattooed on my arm. One guy, who looked exactly like Josh Groves, finally asked me what it meant. He seemed excited at first, but when I told him it was a messianic prophecy about Jesus he instantly was turned off. In fact, a hush seemed to cover the room when I said that. They did not like the insinuation that the Hebrew Prophecies pointed to Jesus Christ. They didn’t like it at all. So basically, that ended the show.

– We stayed that night in Manali with a friend named Anil. Anil is a believer who came from a high caste Brahman background. At a young age, he was set aside to be a hindu priest. When he came to know Christ, his family took out a full page ad in the paper to publicly renounce him as their son. He lived under a tarp for a long time, but we actually got to stay in his apartment. It was tiny and crammed, but it was a huge step up from sleeping under a tarp. Anil is a church planter in the region of Manali, and having lost everything he has nothing holding him back from preaching the gospel – and that’s exactly what he does. We were able to encourage Anil, but I think his testimony encouraged us even more.

– So we began to make our way back to Shimla from Manali. The Beas River runs along that road for a ways, and is mostly melted snow runoff from the surrounding Himalayan peaks. Levi and Joey had always wanted to go rafting, and they have places set up along the way to do so. I really was kind of against it, because I didn’t have extra clothes and I just really hate getting wet when fully clothed and mostly I guess I’m just a stick in the mud. But I wasn’t going to be the only one dissenting, so we decided to take a brief ride. We found a place and put in where the rapids were rated probably around class 2 and 3. We got suited up, and our guide, Yogi, told us his basic rowing commands. Of course, as soon as we got going we got turned backwards and Joey almost fell out. But we righted the raft, and for a while I managed to stay dry. But then we hit one rapid that seemed aimed right at me and – bam – drenched in Himalayan ice water. At that moment I was ready to be done. Fortunately, the ride didn’t last much longer. So as we’re waiting for the truck to come pick us up, I was over standing by myself trying to get as much sun as possible to warm up/ dry off. Yogi came over to me, and in his broken English told me he liked my tattoo. He asked if it was a dragon on my forearm, and I told him it wasn’t. I proceeded to explain the significance of my tattoo, how it represented the work of Christ that was growing inside me and bursting out of me. He said he believed this. So I shared with him the gospel, and he said that he believed that Christ was resurrected from the dead. But then he told me he was Hindu (and i noticed a pendant dedicated to a guru around his neck). I told him that if he actually believed that Christ rose from the dead, then none of the superstitions of Hinduism mattered. I told him he could have only one guru – Jesus Christ. He said he wanted to believe. I drilled him a little more, and he seemed determined. But I figured it couldn’t be so easy, and that the language barrier must be getting in the way. So I took him over to Joey, and told him what Yogi had told me. So Joey drilled him a while in Hindu, and he seemed to think that Yogi was serious. Yogi even said that all of Hinduisms gods fight each other, but Christ died for us. So Yogi prayed right there to receive Christ. We called Anil and told him the good news, and Anil made plans to meet with Yogi to help disciple him. And then Joey began to tell Yogi the need to make a public commitment through baptism, and the significance of it. And so Yogi looked at the Beas River, and said “here’s some water, why not now?”. And so, this happened next:

We arrived in Dharamshala late in the day, even after getting a fairly early start. Though Dharamshala is only about 100 miles straight shot, you don’t get strait shot roads in the Himalayas. So it took around 8 hours. We actually were staying in a mountainous section called Mcleod Gunj, and this is where the Dalai Lama lives. As such, the streets are full of red robed Buddhist monks and white hippies who idolize the Dalai Lama. (Joey actually waved at the Dalai Lama when he drove by, and the Dalai waved back. They made eye contact. A highlight of Joey’s life, I’m sure. just kidding – sorry joey.) We went to eat at Jimmy’s, which is actually a fairly common Tibetan name. We were planning to make arrangements to play there, and we met with the owner and he kind of reluctantly said we could play the next night. Meanwhile, Joey and Levi were there to meet with local church planters to help train them. While they were busy doing that, Sean and I made some flyers and got copies to promote the show. There are signs everywhere promoting various gurus, swamis, and sadus, so we just kind of went with that theme for our flyers since Sean looks so much like the guys in those signs. So the next night, we showed up to Jimmy’s to play. The owner approached us in a much different attitude, and let us know that he had done a google search of sean’s name and saw his American Idol audition on youtube. He told us he was very honored to have us, and told all his friends to come to the show. By the time the show started, the place was packed with a mix of Tibetans, Hippies, Indians, and even a Buddhist monk. The church planting trainees also attended, and it was probably a special thrill for them since they are all villagers and probably have never seen a live rock n’ roll show before – however scaled down it may have been on this occasion.

The next day we played at a YWAM coffee shop called Cafe Oasis. The space was smaller, and the crowd more sparse, but Sean brought it like always and we ended up really encouraging the guy who was running the joint at a time in his life when he really needed it. We enjoyed fellowship with him, and got to hang out with some British guys who were busy doing… whatever it is white people do in this part of the world. Questing for spiritual enlightenment, I suppose. Hopefully through the songs and conversation we were able to point those boys the right way.

We went and stayed the night in a nearby village with one of the believers Joey and Levi trained. His name is Madan, and he was really excited to have us. We were less excited by the lack of running water or a toilet of any kind – not even a hole in the ground. Sean actually got sick and spent most of the time with the runs. But it was a great time for us to encourage Madan, and he really unloaded on us about his burden for the lostness of his family – who we got to meet – and we were able to really exhort him in his task to establish churches in his village and those nearby.

We were almost deterred by Sean’s sickness, but decided to press on with our initial plans. It turned out to be a good decision.

Here’s a video of Sean playing at Jimmy’s, with Joey on the djembe:

We’ve spent the last couple days in Shimla with our friend Joey and his family.   Its been great to spend time with them.   Shimla is a town built vertically.   It lays on the side of mountains, and the mountains are steep.   The layout of the town is a series of switchback roads.    Its been fairly hazy since we got here, and the weather couldn’t be more opposed to that in Delhi.   Its been cool, and we have had to layer our clothes a bit.

Sunday night,  Sean led worship at a house church gathering.  We had a good meal (chicken and mashed potatoes) and Bible study.   Our plans for a show in a coffee shop in Shimla fell through today, so we decided to just have Sean play outside.   There is a ridge at the top of the town with a pavilion area.  It also has a church, which was built in 1844 by the British  (This whole town was originally laid out by the British).   There has since been a temple built next to the church, along with a large statue of Ghandi.    We didn’t get up there till late, and it had been raining off and on all day.  The clouds were rolling over the mountains, and there was a haze at the top.   As Sean was unloading his guitar, a Sikh man came and wanted to inquire about Sean’s beard.  The Sikh’s grow their beards and hair out like Sean’s, but they tie theirs up in turbans.   This man wanted to know why Sean had grown his hair out and what religious significance it had.  Sean was able to share the gospel with that man as he listened attentively, which is surprising since the Sikh are known to be devoted Hindus.  The man said Sean had “peaceful eyes” and knew it was because a Good Spirit rested on him.   We likely won’t get to follow up with that guy, but hopefully seeds have been planted in him that will grow to bear fruit one day.    As Sean began to play, a pretty large crowd developed.  We were able to interact with some of the crowd, but as it got later some of the crowd got rowdy.  The Punjab are a group known for their affinity for alcohol, and several Punjab had gathered.   Some of the others in the crowd told us that we should probably leave, with one man even saying, ” you are too talented for these people.  they don’t appreciate you.”   As Sean packed his stuff and met with some people afterwards,  a large group of the drunken Punjabs started screaming and chanting.   We weren’t sure what they were riled up about, but we knew that it wouldn’t take much for things to turn ugly.  So we headed on back to the house.

In the morning we (Sean, Jay, Joey, and guy from Mississippi named Levi) leave for Dharmsala.   That’s the place were the Dalai Lama is exiled, and there are probably more Tibetans living there than Indians.  We have some contacts up that way, and hopefully have a show arranged at a venue there tomorrow night.    We’ll see what we can do about getting audience with the Dalai…

We ran into this guy yesterday, and he took us to Pizza Hut.  It was Indian Pizza Hut, though, so probably not what you’re thinking.    That guy’s name is Todd, and I talked to him on skype and realized he was staying in a hotel only a few blocks from ours.  So we met up, and he used Lottie Moon money to cover our lunch only hours before he headed home.   Todd – say hello to Arkansas for me.  It’ll be a while before we see her again, so let her know we miss her.

Quick rundown:

– played a show at a YWAM coffee shop, got shut down by cranky neighbors.  Made some great connections, though, and I think we were able to encourage the believers there.

– Delhi’s been having a record drought (temps touching 12o F!), but my left knee started getting tight and I predicted rain.  Sure enough, the monsoons started this morning.  Crazy how fast the roads turn into rivers.  I looked out the window this morning a saw a cow knee deep in the middle of the street.

– Went to the slums today on the outskirts of Delhi.  Had to turn down kids begging.  Broke our heart.   Met a pastor who leads the slum mission, as well as others.  Turns out Saddleback Church pastors are in town doing a Purpose Driven Conference for local pastors.    We were scheduled to have dinner with pastor Mark from Saddleback, but he backed out.    The pastor we did meet with is the dad of the guy who started Wild Fire Tribe (he’s also apparently good buds with Rick Warren), and has his own group (which is the group that works in the slums) called the Cooperative Outreach of India.   Check it out.

-We’re leaving Delhi in the morning – catching a train to Chandigarh, where we meet our good friend from college Joey.   He’ll then drive us up to his hometown in Shimla.   The weather is supposed to be considerably cooler there – only in the 90’s at worst.   That’s what happens when you hit the Himalayas.  Someone told us the girls are good lookin’ there too.  Always a plus, though there may be cultural differences on what constitutes ‘good- lookin’.    Either way – got some travelin’ to do tomorrow.

Here’s a scene we barely were able to catch on film.

enjoy.

We’ve arrived in India, and are staying for the next few days here at the Mandakini Grand in Delhi.  As you might notice, its not really all that grand.  But its got wifi, and they brought us coke so I can’t complain.   Our flight arrived at midnight last night, and Vijay from the Wild Fire Tribe picked us up at the airport and brought us to the hotel.  We’ll be working with members of Wild Fire Tribe while we’re in Delhi.   This morning, Ajay picked us up and took us to run some errands (ATM, etc…) and thought we might need some acclimating to Indian cuisine so he started us slow at the Central Market MacDonalds.   In case you forgot, cows are sacred so the McD’s was chicken only.   Sean and I both had the Chicken Maharaja Mac combo meal.  And since I know you were wondering, no – they don’t do free refills.   So later, we got dropped off at a place called UEF, which stands for something but I’m not sure what.   Something to do with colllege ministry, since that’s what it is – a basement center for college worship gatherings.   Sean met some dudes to play with him, and after blowing a fuse trying to figure out the power conversion Sean spent the next couple hours teaching them some of his songs.   I met a pastor named Rocky who spent a few years in Illinois but is now working at the UEF.   Later, we went to a nearby coffee shop that’s frequented by local co-eds and Sean played a set with his new band – but not before they played a couple of originals of their own along with a cover of Chris Tomlin’s “Jesus, Messiah” (which I thought was a pretty bold move on their part, considering the gospel ain’t exactly popular around here).     So anyway, afterwards we got a legit dose of Indian food.  We were sweating the entire time.   It was like eating in a sauna.   The food burned our mouths, but it was so good we couldn’t stop.  That’s the catch-22 of Indian food.    So anyway – its past the 24 hour mark of our arrival, and Sean wants to list the things he’s learned about India in less than 24 hours:

1- The only prerequisite to riding in a car in India is having no fear of death.

2 – Even Indians like the blues.

3 – Eating here is a workout.

4 – The “after dinner mouth freshener” is really just a pack of nerds that taste like laundry detergent.

Here’s a video clip from the performance tonight…  I can’t find a free video converter that won’t put a watermark on the video, so please ignore the “evaluation copy”… i’ll try to figure that out before the next upload.      Let me introducet the New Delhi version of Sean’s band:  Drums – Living Stone,  Bass – Awar,  Guitar – Poison, and Djembe – Ajay.

enjoy.