Google, God, and an invitation to India
Image courtesy of Shanghai daily.
About a month ago, I did some soul searching, asking, “Why do I blog? What’s social media for, ultimately?”
I happen to be married to a guy who does social media as a job, so he wasn’t about to let me answer lightly. But the fact is, sending messages and stories out into the big abyss of social media can get draining. Does anyone really read this stuff? Does it really matter?
And then, from out of the abyss, I received a very unusual response.
An email appeared in my inbox with the subject line, “From INDIA.” The email was signed off, “Babu and Sara for Jesus.” And here’s a piece of what they shared.
Dear Sister Christine in Jesus.
Greetings to you,
Pleased with your blog and the inspiring spiritfilled Teachings, i pray for you, i and my wife Sara sends you greetings, please provide me more Teachings to study and to share with our people in India.
please respond.
in Jesus,
Babu and Sara for Jesus.
I couldn’t not reply to that. And of course I had to know, how on earth did a couple in India start reading my blog? This is the explanation they gave.
Sister, i prayed and Typed for Missionaries in searching /Google and i got your website blog and prayed and wrote you, i am much inspired for the amazing sacrifice you do for Lord and believe it is a blessed relation with you. we praise GOD for brother Adam and you, my Wife Sara and me prayed for you specially for this loving fellowship with you … Sister, i request you and Brother Adam to come INDIA and to preach and Train these gospel Teams and people and Please teach us with your spiritual guidance. Please come to India and stay with us in our home.
Yikes, an invitation to come to India?? And why would a search for missionaries turn up my blog?? A couple days later while I was trying to find the location of a college on the East coast, I typed the name of the college into Google maps and it pulled up a college with a similar title in India. As I told my friend that night, “God, or Google, or both are trying to send me to India!”
My Google images search for "Google India" turned up this unique Diwali display.
Well, I still haven’t figured out the “why” of all this, and possibly never will. But two things are coming of it so far.
First, we’ve struck up a fascinating email-exchange friendship. Adam recently shared with me a book by a man he enjoyed meeting through a work connection recently, Paul Borthwick. In Paul’s book, Western Christians in Global Mission, he stresses the importance of building global long-term friendships first and foremost. The book deserves a blog post of its own (which is in the works). His advice is spot-on, and exactly what a girl needs when an email shows up in her email inbox asking for gospel-training in India!
Second, I asked permission to share their story with all of you, and the couple happily agreed. I fully believe that people like Babu and Sarah in India have much to offer not just to their own people, but to North Americans who need to hear about their inspiring commitment and faith. I believe the body of Christ needs to learn from each other and pray for each other, exploring how God can work through us together across the world.
At the moment, I don’t have any plans to head to India. But isn’t this what blogs and social media are for? Maybe you, or someone you know, might be looking to learn from and connect with Christian friends in India and need this little Google/God connection today.
Here’s more of what they shared, with some details excluded for their security. I’m working on connecting them to some people I know who may be better equipped to meet their requests, but if you want to connect further, send me an email and I’ll be happy to introduce you to these new friends from across the blogosphere.
My wife Teaches to Children and Women in our Villages and i reach out for sorrounding villages. We have established small Congregations and Home fellowships in these regions, here millions of gods already existed and we are reaching them with great Love and patience and we want to reach more villages, there are 250 unreached villages and hundreds of hamlets here and people do not know JESUS and it is our desire to reach these people. Sister, please Train these Village women for Lords work, we do not have Bible Schools here, to go for a school it needs much finances and also they need to go for far a way Cities leaving families and children, so our desire is to establish Bible School for Men and women to Train them locally, i request you Teachings and Training materials from you. Sister, there is a great need of local language Bibles and also Teaching Books to share. We want your Constant prayers and Love and guidance for the work we do in these regions.
That is so amazing. Dubai is full of Indians– in fact I am dating one of them. This really intrigues me. What part of India are they from??? My church has a lot of connections with missions in India because about 30% of the congregation are Indian citizens.
very cool connection! I had someone named Babu comment on my blog recently…….I wonder if they clicked over to mine from yours? It is tiring trying to put stuff out there into the online abyss feeling like you are a small drop of water in an ocean of information and people screaming for attention. But, Jesus does have a funny way of connecting us and encouraging others from around the globe!
I really read this stuff. All of it. Every single post. And yes, it really matters. Be encouraged : )
Wonderful! I love how your writing is an encouragement to brothers and sisters in the half a world away and to us stateside folks as well. The Body is the coolest and the internet is the second coolest.
Debi, thanks so much for the encouragement. I really, really appreciate it.