I thought I was the missionary in my family because I have been relocating myself in all sorts of odd places eversince I gave my life to Christ after I finished my twelfth.
I realised I was not.
In my haphazard way of relocating from place to place if the Lord has used me for His glory that was by his grace..but I do have some sterling examples of returners and remainers in my family.
My mother is a remainer.She might have been born in Darjeeling but was brought up in my hometown and married into my father's family.She has a missionary heart.Eversince we have been children we have always had houseguests from the church visiting and staying with us.The church used to be a small church with no guest house then.
Our house used to be an open house where missionaries from all walks of life used to park themselves.We as children enjoyed having them as well.There used to be odd missionaries who would fast and pray and my mother was the person who used to make sure that the water,milk...whatever it may require was there at hand .
It did not just extend to the missionaries alone, it also extended to a mad man called anum Lata who lived in a shack made of leaves and wood.We children were petrified of him but my mother was always on the look out for him.If she did not see him moving around for a day she would send the helps to check him out,feed him,...
All the mad and sad people in the town had a way of communicating with my mom.Deaf and dumb people would look down from the road and communicate with my mother in the garden below.We children would be greeted with smiles and a query' when did you come?'
She was also the first person to start nursery school education in my home town.She started teaching toddlers in the church premises which later developed into a nursery school which the community got together to build.She is going seventy and she is still going strong.
My cousin who died always used to tell me 'Your mother is a good christain.'He never said that about me.
My brother is a returner.A civil engineer by training ,he did his geotechnique and soil mechanics from Wyoming in the US of A,but decided to come back to his hometown.
He is a great christian although he never professes to be one.Ask the helps,down and outs and the disadvantaged.His one motto in life is to help others so much so that it sometimes takes the wind out of well-meaning believers like us.Someone asks for money and he will empty the purse.He spends most of his life doing somebody elses job because he is obviously good at most things.He has always been a star student right from his school days to his days in Wyoming but he prefers to work for his tiny hometown.In a society whose moral fabrics are nothing to write home about he operates from a standard of integrity which I wonder sometimes is human.He never discusses the wear and tear-of which there must be plenty.
He continues to be at home, looking after my old parents and looking after the town in many ways.
Then there is my sister M.She is a returner as well.
A mixture of contradictions,a woman of prayer...she does her bit ,picking up the disadvantaged and educating them.She has two small girls with her now.She is still learning along the way but with God to guide her ,she will reach where she is supposed to be.
I have two more siblings ,I am equally or more so proud of them..and ofcourse there is my father...he has been a sacrificial father ,an example and unflinching in his stand for his faith.
As for me I carry the tag of being a missionary because I am a relocater-I must remember to hand it back the next time I see them.
I realised I was not.
In my haphazard way of relocating from place to place if the Lord has used me for His glory that was by his grace..but I do have some sterling examples of returners and remainers in my family.
My mother is a remainer.She might have been born in Darjeeling but was brought up in my hometown and married into my father's family.She has a missionary heart.Eversince we have been children we have always had houseguests from the church visiting and staying with us.The church used to be a small church with no guest house then.
Our house used to be an open house where missionaries from all walks of life used to park themselves.We as children enjoyed having them as well.There used to be odd missionaries who would fast and pray and my mother was the person who used to make sure that the water,milk...whatever it may require was there at hand .
It did not just extend to the missionaries alone, it also extended to a mad man called anum Lata who lived in a shack made of leaves and wood.We children were petrified of him but my mother was always on the look out for him.If she did not see him moving around for a day she would send the helps to check him out,feed him,...
All the mad and sad people in the town had a way of communicating with my mom.Deaf and dumb people would look down from the road and communicate with my mother in the garden below.We children would be greeted with smiles and a query' when did you come?'
She was also the first person to start nursery school education in my home town.She started teaching toddlers in the church premises which later developed into a nursery school which the community got together to build.She is going seventy and she is still going strong.
My cousin who died always used to tell me 'Your mother is a good christain.'He never said that about me.
My brother is a returner.A civil engineer by training ,he did his geotechnique and soil mechanics from Wyoming in the US of A,but decided to come back to his hometown.
He is a great christian although he never professes to be one.Ask the helps,down and outs and the disadvantaged.His one motto in life is to help others so much so that it sometimes takes the wind out of well-meaning believers like us.Someone asks for money and he will empty the purse.He spends most of his life doing somebody elses job because he is obviously good at most things.He has always been a star student right from his school days to his days in Wyoming but he prefers to work for his tiny hometown.In a society whose moral fabrics are nothing to write home about he operates from a standard of integrity which I wonder sometimes is human.He never discusses the wear and tear-of which there must be plenty.
He continues to be at home, looking after my old parents and looking after the town in many ways.
Then there is my sister M.She is a returner as well.
A mixture of contradictions,a woman of prayer...she does her bit ,picking up the disadvantaged and educating them.She has two small girls with her now.She is still learning along the way but with God to guide her ,she will reach where she is supposed to be.
I have two more siblings ,I am equally or more so proud of them..and ofcourse there is my father...he has been a sacrificial father ,an example and unflinching in his stand for his faith.
As for me I carry the tag of being a missionary because I am a relocater-I must remember to hand it back the next time I see them.
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