Category Archives: India

March 26, 2013 · 6:18 am

Taco Tuesday Special! Free e-Book on Amazon.

If you have a Kindle, Kindle Fire, iPad, Nexus, Galaxy, or any computer with Kindle apps on it, my e-book, What’s In It For Me? is free on March 26 and March 27 through Amazon.

Amazon Book Description:

Every decision we make in life, we ask ourselves: “What’s in it for me?”

Admittedly, we Christians hate conceding this question sprints across our cranial synapses before we make spiritual decisions, but it always does. For more mature believers, the answers arrive in nanoseconds. Younger Christians may struggle and wrestle within themselves for a longer period of time before making their decisions.

But the result is always the same: the what’s-in it-for me-question is answered before decisions are made.

For example, who would ever give his life to the Lord? Or who would travel as a missionary to a distant land? Or who would willingly become a martyr? No one would do these things unless the Lord offered us something better in return for our decisions.

Okay, what about giving hard earned money to poor Asians? What’s in it for me?

Two thirds of the world’s population lives in Asia, with China and India accounting for approximately 60% of the total population. Less than 5% of Asians know the Lord and many have never even heard of Jesus. Thousands of Christians are imprisoned for their faith in China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos. Other believers are harassed and murdered. Millions now face starvation with no hope in sight and gendercide is being carried out against females in China and India.

So what’s in it for me?

What’s In It For Me? reveals how helping the least, the Asians, may be the perfect insurance policies for our futures here on earth, especially those of us who live on the West Coast.

I believe this may be one of the most important books any believer will ever read.

Print Length: 56 pages File Size: 193 KB Regular Price: $ .99

Free March 26 and March 27, 2013. So, check it out here and while you’re there check out my nine other e-books here.

4 Comments

Filed under Books, Christianity, Church, church planting, Faith, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, India, Inspirational, jesus, Kindle, Kingdom of God, Literature, Prayer, Prophecy, Spirituality, Writing

Tagged as Christianity, Gifts of the Spirit, Kindle, Kingdom of God, Prophecy, Self-publishing, Spiritual warfare, Writing

March 22, 2013 · 10:58 am

No Longer A Slumdog

In 1995, a friend told me about K.P. Yohannan and his ministry, Gospel For Asia. She gave me a book which I quickly forgot about until New Years Day, 1996. On that particular holiday, I had nowhere to go and no TV to watch football bowl games. So, I hunkered down and read the book.

In one part, Yohannan wrote how overwhelmed he felt by the size of India and his meager resources. He cried out to the Lord and eventually the Lord spoke the following to his heart:

“I am not in any trouble that I need someone to beg for Me. I made no promises I will not keep to you. It is not the largeness of the work that matters, but only doing what I command. All I ask of you is that you be a servant. For all who join with you in the work, it will be a privilege – a light burden for them.”

Although I don’t remember the book’s name, I wrote the above response in my Bible. Then, I did nothing.

Fast forward until last year when I received a free copy of No Longer A Slumdog. The title caught my attention and I began reading it. Over the following two hours, I wept and asked forgiveness again and again as the book revealed my selfishness and hardness of heart.

There were stories about Muttu, Asha, Lata, Vichy, Tusli, and other names of poor children I can’t begin to pronounce. I read about a mother who sold her baby for ten pounds of rice. I learned about India’s caste system and how the lowest rung, the Dalits, comprise 20% of India’s population, or 250 million people, and are considered subhuman, worthy of being treated like a dog.

Every word in the book acted like a rock thrown against my plastic Western Christianity, creating cracks in it. Yet, it was this specific sentence on Page 31 which penetrated my heart:

“In India alone, there are 11 million children like Asha who have been abandoned, and 90% of them are girls.”

Afterward, all I could think about were the 9.9 million abandoned little girls. If I closed my eyes, I saw children, but their faces resembled my daughter when she was four years old.

This time, I could not ignore my heart.

My wife and I are now sponsors of children in Gospel For Asias’ Bridge of Hope program. Also, I am a volunteer advocate for Bridge of Hope and a Gospel For Asia Blogger.

In the Foreword to No Longer A Slumdog, Francis Chan wrote:

“I am very thankful for the book you are about to read. It has stirred my heart once again. Living in the West with all its affluence, it is easy to forget about others…”

I recommend this book to everyone and who knows? It may change your life, too.

No Longer A Slumdog can be reviewed and purchased on Amazon for $14.95. Or it can be purchased for a suggested $5 donation from Gospel For Asia.

166 pages. Authored by K. P. Yohannan, 2011. Published by gfa books.

8 Comments

Filed under book review, Books, Christianity, church planting, Gifts of the Spirit, God, grace, India, jesus, Kingdom of God, Literature, Poverty, Prayer, Reading, spiritual warfare, Writing

Tagged as Book Review, Christianity, Gifts of the Spirit, India, Kingdom of God, Poverty, Prisoners, Religion, Writing

March 17, 2013 · 11:30 am

Where’s Mom and Dad?

Although only five years old, I remember that particular September day.

It was the weekend of the Ogle County Fair which meant jumping in our 1951 Ford with my family and driving to the fairgrounds. Upon arrival, my sister went with her cousin to check out the fair. I stayed with mom and dad.

My parents first treated me to a hot dog and Nehi Cream Soda. Afterward, we walked around looking at farm exhibits.

Dad was interested in a tractor at one tent and talked to a lively salesman. Mom listened to the haggling and laughed at the two men. I stood there for a few moments, but the sounds of the fair tugged on my ears.

“Step right up and win yourself a teddy bear.”

“Get your ticket now for the tilt-a-whirl.”

“Hurry, hurry! Right this way!”

Without a word, I turned and followed the sounds. The crowd swept me along in its current to the carnival games and rides. Everything seemed so alive until a revelation dawned upon me: where’s Mom and Dad?

I backtracked to the tractor exhibit, but they were gone. I searched here, there, and everywhere. No parents. Finally, I stopped by a tree and cried. The thoughts of never seeing my parents again and wondering what would happen to me bombarded my mind.

Then, I heard a voice.

“Sonny, I’m here,” said Dad, leaning over to give me a hug.

My life began again at that moment.

This experience occurred years ago and lasted twenty or so minutes, but do you know in India there are 11 million abandoned children whose experiences never end? Little ones left to fend for themselves by poor parents who can no longer afford to care for them. 90% of these abandoned children are little girls.

Three million of these children end up living on the streets. A million or so of the little girls will end up in the sex trade with a life expectancy of 15 years of age.

What can we do?

Gospel For Asia’s Bridge of Hope offers us an opportunity to sponsor children, with 100% of our financial offerings going directly to help the children.

Like my dad on that day long ago, we can be a loving voice to these children which says, “I’m here.”

6 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, Faith, Gifts of the Spirit, God, grace, India, Inspirational, jesus, Kingdom of God, Poverty, Prophecy, Religion, Spirituality

Tagged as Christianity, Gifts of the Spirit, India, Kingdom of God, Poverty, Religion, Spiritual warfare

January 3, 2013 · 9:51 am

My Prayers and Offerings for India are Mere Drops in an Ocean of Need

If I were Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, I could help thousands of abandoned children in India with a signature. The check could be for a million, or even a billion dollars, and it wouldn’t faze me… if I were one of these two men.

But sadly, I’m not.

You see, I’m just an ordinary Joe. My life has been spent treading water from one month to the next, never quite affording a boat to travel atop the waves. A tsunami is new brakes for our car. A fiscal cliff happens to us at the end of every month.

Yet, even though I’m an ordinary Joe, the Lord has laid the abandoned children of India on my heart.

I hear their cries. I see their tear-streaked faces. I feel their loneliness. I know their hopes do not include iPads or iPhones or college educations, but rather, they just hope to survive today. Tomorrow is too far away to even think about it.

Here’s a poem by an abandoned Dalit child:

I am nobody

Worthless my life is

To Untouchables I was born

A Dalit child my fate sealed.

I was born in slums

Rights? We have none

To upper-caste our lives we owe

Slaves to serve all their wish.

Poverty and hunger

Is all I ever knew

If there is hope

Tell me how?

What is my future?

Do I have any?

It all looks so dark

And I wish I was not born

(No Longer a Slumdog, K. P. Yohannan, gfa books, ©2011)

There are eleven million abandoned children in India between the ages of 4 and 11 years old. Ninety percent of these, or 9.9 million, are little girls. These abandoned Indian children = the population of the state of Ohio.

Now, of the 9.9 million abandoned girls, 1.5 million will end up in the sex trade, where half of them will be dead before they are fifteen years old.

Using Ohio as our comp, the 1.5 million girls = the combined populations of Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.

The above numbers are overwhelming for an ordinary Joe like me. My financial offerings and prayers are mere drops in an Ocean of need for India. But what can I do?