Trip to the Beach

Thursday, December 28, 2006

"Smile buddy, I'm going to put this on the net." Don't worry, it's not your fault the car broke down. These things happen." We were somewhere in the Ghat Mountains, and had to hitch a ride to the next big village. So we flagged down a "taxi". We climbed into a rickshaw which moves between villages, picking up locals.

Amber watches the scene. The weather was gorgeous, mild and the driver was friendly. We meandered the thin asphalt road, and wondered what we'd find. We had no fears, but laughter at the situation. However strange, the driver managed to fix the car, and then beat us to the town. It was bizzare, but we're begining to find these things normal for India. His efforts didn't help much. About 30 minutes after he found us, the car died again. He called his boss and they sent another taxi.
This man hopped in along the way, and wanted his picture taken. "Smile buddy, you'll be on the net also!"



It's my secret dream to take groups of ungrateful people and make them live in a place like this for a month. (see below) I'd make them fast for the first 3 days, and then feed them a basic, nutritional diet from then on. We would conduct physical, agricultural labor during the day, pray before we ate dinner, and read excerpts from 'Johnny Got His Gun' at night. Daily, everyone would have to speak of something they are grateful for. There would be no soda, junk food, television, or celebrity magazines on this holiday. Rather, long periods of silence and meditation on what it means to live in the west, with careful consideration given to what is and is not important to the spiritual and physical survival of a human being. We would relearn about our relationship to nature, and to the responsibility we have towards it. At the end of the month, I would release them to their families in hopes that they would attain a new sense of what it means to live with abundance.


"Goat meat anyone?"



This little lady lives in Ranthombore. It's an animal reserve, and home to 40 tigers. There were many deer, birds, monkeys, a croc, boars and tour guides who knew very little about the 1000 year old ruins that lay all around.



Monkeys are sooooo cool!





Though seperated by language, culture, borders, continents and oceans, people of faith can often come together and worship their God. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Hebrews 11:13














After a long day, we had finished our labor and were headed back to camp. We laughed a little and were happy that the Sabbath was near. I turned to see how much sun was left and this was the scene. It was beautiful, glorious, and it made my heart jump a little.

See ya next time!!

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

thoroughly enjoy your photos and commentary. . .happy new year to you both! :)

5:40 AM

 
Blogger Heather said...

So enjoyed speaking to you guys! I would totally come and do your cleansing thing. I sometimes get ungrateful and get caught up with the "stuff" of life. Need to have a reminders of simple living! Love the photos as usual (espeically the hands in the air photo!). Heather

5:38 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your Month of Learning Gratefulness by Living in Third World Poverty idea is great. I think you should actually get people over there to do it.

As always, fabulous pictures.

10:06 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Once again the pictures are stunning. I miss it. Have I not already said that before? well it's true and reading your blog and seeing pictures makes it worse. Where did you get the dog food from? By the way, there is a tentative plan for me to come to india for two weeks this summer. we'll see. Take care.

-Brittnie

11:36 PM

 
Blogger Gumshoe said...

Amber hasn't cut her hair!

7:34 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

those monkeys are the best, and i love the picture of the people holding hands. you guys are doing a great thing there and i want you to know that i'm praying for you.
your friend, amanda ashburn

3:46 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Loved your photos, especially the monkeys!!!!!!

8:15 PM

 

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