One week from tomorrow I will be heading east. Way east. Along with Murray Robinson, one of my fellow elders at Grace Fellowship Church, I will be heading to Dubai and then to India. I am going there to meet fellow believers, to teach them and to learn from them. It promises to be rather an interesting trip and one I hope to be able to share with you through the blog.
We will be leaving late in the day on November 7, hopping aboard a flight to Dubai, and arriving late on Thursday. That’s 14 hours of flying plus a whole lot of time zones. For those who care about such things, this will be a direct flight on the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger jet. Of course I’m guessing the economy class on the world’s largest passenger jet isn’t a whole lot different than economy class on any other plane, so I doubt it will be too exciting. We will spend a couple of days with Dave and Gloria Furman and attend Redeemer Church of Dubai with them on Friday. (Because United Arab Emirates is a Muslim country, the Christians worship on Friday instead of on Sunday.)
On Saturday Murray and I will fly over the Arabian Sea to New Delhi, India where on the Sunday I look forward to speaking several times at an English-speaking congregation there. Monday and Tuesday I will be meeting with, speaking to, and learning from youth groups, couples, interns and pastors. A bit later in the week we will head to the province of Uttar Pradesh and visit Christians in what is a predominantly Hindu area. We will head home by the end of the week, leaving us with a trip of about ten days that will something like 16,000 miles. All-told, I anticipate speaking between ten and twelve times, teaching about Christian maturity and discernment and doctrine and yes, even technology.
I am not yet sure how the trip will effect my blogging. I do plan to maintain my daily blog post, many of which will be of the travel journey variety, I’m sure. I would also like to be able to maintain A La Carte, though the posts may come out in the morning Delhi time rather than North American time. I also hope to make a rare foray into photography, by taking photos as I go. Because some of the areas I am traveling to have deep religious divides and very little Christian witness, I may not be able to give a lot of details. I know that few of us have ever travelled to India, not to mention spent time with Christians there, so as much as possible I’d like to introduce you to brothers and sisters there, along with the work they are involved in.
I would be very grateful if you would pray for Murray and me as we travel, that we would remain safe and healthy, and that I would be able to be a blessing to the people I am able to speak to. Pray also that we can learn from the Christians there and enjoy true fellowship in the Lord. And please pray for our families while we are away from them for a little while.
