India so far...

Well, my intentions were to Blog every day I was here in India, but after a rough couple of days adjusting sleeping habits, time change, busy schedules & the wall mounted crooked toilet in my hotel room. Needless to say I was beat by evening time to even think straight let alone share my random thoughts.
But today has been a good day. After surviving our 20hr journey, its good to be back in the "motherland". This year is been a different experience so far, than the last 3 years of me coming back to India. As I stood on the terrace of one of the churches we ministered at, I couldn't help but think about God's favor on my life. As I looked out into what seemed like a sea of tin shacks & a maze of slum land, how my life would have been different if God had not placed value on my life. For those of u that have never heard my testimony, the cliff notes is this. I was born in a catholic orphanage in India, adopted by Indian parents, lived in the middle east for a while, parents split up, bounced between them, mother in India & father in Bahrain. Finally moved to Ohio in '97. Gave my heart to the lord, felt the call to full time ministry & the rest is history. So back to my moment on the roof of the church...
I wonder how my life would have been different if the above chain of events never happened. If I had never been given the opportunities that I did. Would I be Muslim or Hindu? Would I be a slum dweller or made my way up the social class. Maybe its because I'm with a team of 23 women that the estrogen levels are becoming toxic, but when I stood in a room full of Mission of Mercy sponsored children receiving their gifts from their sponsors, tears welled up in my eyes. Each of them are getting a break in life. A second chance if you will. Hope. Education. Food & medical care. All because someone cared.
I've never felt more small or insignificant than standing in a room full of these children who were excited about small things thy we in America take for granted. Shoes, coloring books, clothes. Its a privilege to serve the ones who God. cares so deeply for. Seeing the girl that Jennie & I sponsor for the second time since my last visit was great. She lit up when I have her the bag that we put together of things a little girl should have growing up. A couple of combs, stuffed animal, hair bands & ties, stickers, coloring pencils etc. All this made me feel small for having complained about my hotel room not being up to par.
So we're into day 2 here & I got sucked into playing Jesus in a human video. Thank God for my masters commission training on the art of the human video. I faked a pretty cheesy Jesus. Rockford would be ashamed! But the slum ladies loved it. I on the other hand was not so thrilled, but never the less compliant. I got sharpie nail scarred hands to prove it!
There has been plenty to laugh about & at. I love this country. One of my life mantras is never forget where u came from. This brings me full circle to give back a little to my nation. Making a difference in one child at. time. Who knows what plans God has for them. Well it's time for dinner & I am loving the food. More to come. I'm out.
~Robert

Firing it up

Wow! I can't believe it has been so... long since my last official blog on here. I guess between being crazy busy with things here in Mansfield Ohio, Jennie always having some kinda project for me at the house & my freelance stuff, I haven't had time to share any thoughts. I am however getting ready to embark on a journey back to the motherland(India) to do some filming at a couple of orphanages, churches & possibly even rescue work being done at a red light district!! So here I am firing this blog up for those who will be following along with me on this new adventure. Pics, videos, & funny stories hopefully will follow in the days to come. Well dinner is on the table, so I'm out.

What's been going on?

So for those of you following me, I kinda went dark for a while. It has been a ridiculous last month & a half. What exactly have I been doing you ask? Well let's break it down. First. We moved to Ohio in the first week of Sept. We bought a house & are in the process of remodeling the Kitchen & Bathroom. When I say remodel, I don't mean some paint & hanging some pics. Oh No! I mean gut the thing completely down to the studs ceiling, walls & floor. In the bathroom, we rearranged the toilet, removed the shower & put in a tub, & ripped out the tile floor to put down different tile. Easy said than done. On top of that I had started a new position as the Worship Media Pastor/Director for Mansfield First Assembly. My home church. It has been awesome being home. The staff are truly amazing people. It's been great. I do greatly miss my old friends from PA. So its great that I am sitting currently in Hershey Pa at the District Women's conference where I am the technical director. It's a record year with over 3000 in attendance. Jen & Tally are here too. Jen is currently hanging out in Kate Gosselin from John & Kate plus 8 on TLC's hotel room. I'm in the convention hall listening to Kay Arthur sitting with my good friend S. Poole. So we're still alive. It's just been busy busy busy. I went for 54 hrs without sleep this week. There are truly not enough hrs in a day, so something has to get cut out to get it all done. So there went the luxury of sleep. It's was nice when my head finally hit the pillow. Well pics from the conference will follow. I'm out.

Catching up

So I kind of left you my readers hanging while I was in India. Sorry, but when you're traveling with 29 white ladies, life can get a little hectic! lol I am back in the States & glad to be home. Missed my little girl & Jen. They are amazing & make my life a joy. India was great, but the hardships the people face for believing in Christ is unbelievable. I thank God for keeping me safe in some pretty hairy situations. Now being home for over a week, I have been sucked back into the vortex of remodelling our kitchen & Bathroom, getting things ready for the Penn Del Women's Conference & gearing up for my first Christmas here @ Mansfield First. All a wee bit stressful, but little by little I'm hacking away at the tasks before me. I do miss laughing with my ladies, taking pics with them sleeping on the bus, plane, Taj! It's getting colder here in Ohio & I am not looking forward to what's ahead... WINTER! @#$%^& I do lothe it with a passion. It's been a long day. Worship practice was a little taxing on my voice. Jen's out chilling with a new friend. I'm happy for her. She's fitting in. Tally's in bed, & I'm sitting here wishing we had cable already! I miss my Thurs night shows, Office, 30 Rock, Survivor, CSI, ER. Soon I will have DVR & a 52" PLasma to go with it! Can't wait. Well that's all from me. Living the cushioned american life. No worries if I'm going to have food, water or shelter tomorrow. Thank You God for your many blessings that I take for granted so easily. I'm out.

Here goes...

So here's a blog that I wanted to write yesterday, but was just too tired. I find myself in the same state of tiredness as we have been going non stop since we got here. I am definitely looking forward to our trip to the Taj Mahal. Since I am tired, I am going to get straight to the point. Yesterday after our main Kids crusade was over with & the team boarded the bus, a few of the leaders & myself, 4 to be exact went in another vehicle, with one of the pastor's & his wife. They are the pastor's to the church who is located on the outskirts of the slum that you might have seen in a lot of my India footage.

We were only supposed to sneak into the slum so we could go see the finished church built right in the middle of it. I say sneak, bec there is still alot of tension & violence happening to Christians, by a Hindu extremist group. The church was beautiful. A great place for people & kids to come & be educated & learn about Jesus. Then we were supposed to get back to our hotel, but the pastor made an unexpected stop. Mind you by now it's pitch dark & we're in the middle of a 8 mile radius of slums, if not more. So I have my mono pod to use as a weapon if things go south. He took us to a hut where one of the kids sponsored through mission of mercy lives. I was kinda irritated to be there. Maybe because I was tired & hungry, Maybe because we had by now drawn a crowd that was surrounding us at this hut, & the ladies were inside but I was the only 1 that couldn't fit inside. Indian's have no concept of personal space bubbles. Absolutely NONE! So I am being pressed upon by people outside. It took everything within me to not flip out. God did check my heart in that moment. I have to be honest & transparent. I have lived in India before & have seen all these things. So forgive me if I'm a little jaded. But in that moment at this little boy's hut, I was disgusted with my level of compassion. So much so I could have thrown up! I call myself a Christian? Yeah right... Jesus would have sat in their hut & talked with a mother who was grieving the loss of her other son. All I cared about was my comfort. I am ashamed to admit this, but I believe God was showing me my heart in that moment.Not condemn me, but to grow me. I was so ashamed of what I saw I wanted to hide it. Know one must ever know. But duh! God knows. & He still loves me. Ugliness & all. Although we were in a potentially unsafe situation, he was watching over us. God is working on my heart condition. I need it. I feel sometimes the American church has got the motions to perform Christianity as may seem down. But where's our heart in all of this? think about it.... thoughts? I'm tired but that's what I wanted to get off my chest. I'm ugly inside, but my God trades beauty for ashes! wow I am posting some more pics below. I must warn you, some are of the violence that has happened up here over the last 2 weeks. They are disturbing. You've been warned. I'm out.