Chris and Kris in India 32

This Month,

Comment.

Stroke
Garden
Church (City Church Udaipur)
NGO
Comments from Kris
Final thought.

Comment.

I was sowing Chinese cabbage the other day in the garden, its a lovely plant, bit like a cross between a white cabbage and lettuce. As I was sowing the story Jesus told of the sower came to me. Well I know its a well-known story but in case you haven't heard it: basically a farmer is broadcasting seed (throwing it out into his field) it falls on four different types of ground. The hard ground “by the way side” prevents the seed from sprouting at all, and the seed becomes nothing more than bird food. The stony ground provides enough soil for the seeds to germinate and begin to grow, but because there is “no deepness of earth,” the plants do not take root and are soon withered in the sun. The thorny ground allows the seed to grow, but the competing thorns choke the life out of the beneficial plants. The good ground receives the seed and produces much fruit.

Jesus interprets it for His disciples in Matthew 13 : 18-23, Mark 4: 13-20 and Luke 8: 11-15.

A few days later I was watching a TV evangelist, and yes it was the story of the sower. I listened for a while as he graphically described where the seed fell, his presentation was really good, body language well practiced, close ups, arms raised to heaven, moments where the camera zoomed in to look at his sincere face, then came the appeal.......be like the seed that falls on good soil, bear good fruit, help other by sending money so this ministry will continue. 

Well so far so good, to pay for air time and run a ministry costs money, we all give what we can to our church by donation or tithe. So what was my problem?

What bothered me was the line of donors and the amount they had given running across the bottom of the screen. Where these people giving in joy or to get recognition of their good deeds?

Matthew 6:3

"But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing",

Something else bothered me deeply, the appeal for money was far longer than the story of the sower, phrases such as 'Give and God will give you back much more' 'Struggling in your life? give and God will help you'

This brought to mind Matthew 7:15 - 20

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."

If I presented to the world all the times we have given to the poor, the Church, helped individuals, would that make us a 'better' Christians, would God care for us more? Of course not, we would have had our reward for those public deeds here on earth. God's love for us is unconditional, but we also have free will and there is the trap that we set for ourselves. 

We can be servants of the lord or deep sinners claiming to be servants, the choice is always yours to make. 

We believe how you live your life is what matters, not what you give in the public gaze.

If you pastor appeals for money to help a cause should you give in private or rush forward in the sight of all to give?

I know that God has repaid Kris and I many times over for what we have given, but not only in money but in his love for us, yes we have received money unexpectedly but always when we need it for His work.

Our life is our testimony, not a list of public good deeds but what only God has seen in our hearts, on this and this alone shall we, and all others be judged.

Stroke

noun

1.        

an act of hitting or striking someone or something; a blow.

"he received three strokes of the cane"

synonyms:			blow, hit, thump, thwack, punch, slap, smack, welt, cuff, box, knock,rap, buffet;

2.        

a mark made by drawing a pen, pencil, or paintbrush in one direction across paper or canvas.

"the paint had been applied in careful, regular strokes"

synonyms:		mark, line, slash, solidus, virgule "the flat pencil can be used for broad strokes"

verb

1.        

move one's hand with gentle pressure over (a surface), typically repeatedly; caress.

"he put his hand on her hair and stroked it"

synonyms:

caress, fondle, pat, pet, touch, brush, rub, massage, knead, soothe;More

2.       .

act as the stroke of (a boat or crew).

"he stroked the coxed four to victory"

Or in the more common usage the word stroke is associated with part of the brain being damaged for several different reasons.

Well just about two weeks ago I had one, good news first this is nothing to worry about!

I went with Kris to a wedding of a friend of ours. As the evening went on I realised I couldn’t close my left eye to use the camera, it was also watering, no other symptoms until the next day when my face drooped and I lost all muscle control on my left face. Kris banged me full of aspirin and got me to our local doctor (ex-army Major med core) Then to a neurologist for blood tests, MRI, and assorted tests.

The results:

Yes I did have a stroke but it was caused by a nerve cluster in my neck being squeezed by a glandular infection that shut down my left facial nerves. It is 100% recoverable from if I work at my pulling silly faces and blowing up balloons. I am also having electro stimulation of the facial muscles. This in no way makes me more or less prone to a stroke in the future as it was not caused by a loss of blood to, or a bleed in the brain. My blood pressure is up but is being controlled. I have to rest for the first two weeks then gentle work and recovery for another four weeks.

Work have been really understanding and all our friends are so supportive and encouraging.

Kris took some time off to care for me but is now back at work teaching Art and Design (very well if all reports are true).

To be honest it scared me silly………..up to the point when I stood arms open to heaven and put it all in God’s hands. After that the fear left me. I was in His hands, ‘Yeah thou I walk through shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me’ (Psalm 23).

I continue to recover well and all are happy with my progress.

Garden

Looking great, lots growing, lovely fresh food, no chemicals or pesticides. Our biggest losses come from our family of squirrels that live in a tree in our garden, forget growing strawberries!! They are also fond of baby tomatoes………..it’s worth the losses to see them playing on the driveway and leaping between branches. At least our crops on the roof are safe from them, big tomatoes, peppers and later Melons, The birds here are also getting used to us and all sorts visit to drink nectar or insect hunt in the garden.

House and garden looking lovely

Close up of our beautiful Roses and Bouganvillia

Mixed Lettuce - yummy

English Peas so much sweeter 

Carrots growing well

Spring and baby onions 

Our English Runner Beans

Potatoes growing well

French Beans 

Beetroot 

Outside convenience and runner beans

Our new compost bin and fertilizer barrel

Our chickens are doing well, we have sold four cocks (Males) and traded another for a custard Apple tree with a promise of one more for a very rare conifer that is so rare that it is illegal to cut them down, this one was grown from seed. 
So it now stands at 4 cocks, one we have booked as trade one we will keep, two we will eat, and six hens for eggs. In all we are actually in profit on rearing costs! We may rear two more cocks later for a proper Christmas dinner! We are also planning to allow them free range of the garden as we clear crops, weeds eaten and soil feeders!

Our new chicks

This lovely bird is George, the cock we are keeping with
the hens to guard them from rodents.

New chicks for the flock growing well

New chicks

Church (City Church Udaipur)

Sadly we have come to a point where the way the church here interprets the gospel in particular the commandments and their meaning does not fit with how we interpret them. This is a theological matter and we have not ‘fallen out’ with any church members over this, but we feel it is a fundamental difference that cannot be overcome, we have tried without success to explain why we have now left the church, but other than one meeting with our pastor our requests for counseling or guidance have been ignored. Its a very strange feeling to know that to disagree with an interpretation could bring such a reaction from Christian Brothers and Sisters. Still, this is not a debate to have in public, lets just leave it as we and City church have gone our separate ways and we feel closer to God because of it. Our home church is Emmanuel Church Durham and as long as we are here we will steadfastly uphold its values and teaching.

I include this in the blog so that all at City Church know that any of our friends there will always be welcome in our home, to visit, pray, debate or just drink coffee. We may even just drop in now and again to say hello.

NGO

Well what can I say, its India, struggling because of my illness and the slow approach of the day when we will actually have a vehicle to go out to the villages and carry our kit and other volunteers. In one sense it helps, because I am available anytime I am getting to meet some interesting people and talk about our long term plans for the NGO, had a very nice chat with the Ex-Mayor at a function recently!

We have begun our water source map based on safety from bacteria and pathogens; we log the position latitude and longitude, date, water sample number. This is to track changes in purity through a yearly cycle of the free standing water in all the small lakes used as a water source by road dwellers. In this way we hope eventually to predict when a water source usually becomes contaminated and intervene before deaths start occurring. We also hope that by seeing us about these people will come to trust us more so that we may be able to help in other ways…education? I don’t know, that’s up to them. We made the mistake of not seeing the Indian need and designing a device that worked very well, culturally it would have been a disaster (there are some things Indians just won’t do) we don’t intend to make that mistake again so have begun with what we know and that’s open water source testing as most City pumped water is safe but not available to all road side dwellers, and its these most poor who have to use the open water or walk Kms to carry clean water.

Still trying to find sponsors, but as we have no track record its hard, plenty of offers of help, no money offers yet!
Recently we made a connection with a charity group who want us at one of their events, and the IBRMC (India Bull Riders Motor Cycle Club) also want to do a joint event with us.

We have also received an E-mail from another NGO who are interested in Kris training some of their workers to teach breast cancer awareness. The only problem is its two states away and a long rail journey, so we are asking for transport costs, they have already said they would accommodate us at the NGO bungalow, so…..we may be off to Jamui district of Bihar State, India next month.
It is soooooooooo frustrating to be setting up all these really good connections and we know God is giving us what we need to do his work, I just want to get out there and do more. I'm just not very patient! Sorry Lord.

Comments from Kris

Well its that time again and it has been a very busy and interesting month.

Firstly I want to talk about Chris.
As he said he first noticed his eye watering and being unable to close it when we attended a friends wedding, but typically apart from mentioning the watery eye he did not say anything else. Probably knowing Chris he did not wish to worry me. He had had a few headaches but then so did I and neighbours said lots of people were getting them due to weather changes.
Next morning Chris had developed symptoms of a slight stroke, but no weakness in his legs or arms, he had slurred speech, drooping mouth, eye and left side of face, I immediately gave him Aspirin as first line treatment then checked his blood pressure which was very high. I thought Chris had suffered a Transient Ischaemic Attack, (TIA) which is a mini stroke. Our friend the Army Doctor who lives nearby checked him over, and recommended we attend Geetangali Hospital nearby the following morning. He did not want to start anti hypertensive drugs till tests were done, I agreed as it can mask symptoms and diagnosis. 
So off to hospital we went again, both quite worried but with a sense that we had complete faith and trust in the Lord to guide and protect us. We saw a very nice Neuro Physician, who was very thorough and he ordered MRI, and blood tests. At least you don't have to wait for an appointment like in the UK it is done the same day, yes you have to wait but it means you worry less. 
The MRI confirmed that it was not a major stroke and that the irritation of the nerve cluster in Chris's neck had swollen possibly due to a virus and put pressure on his blood vessels causing the paralysis of Chris face, but that it was 100% recoverable from so long as he has treatment. His blood pressure remained high, but the doctor felt it may settle down without treatment, however he wrote Chris up for Anti hypertensive drugs in case it did not come down in the next 24 hours or went higher, and left the decision of whether to give them to me as he knew I was recording his blood pressure regularly and knew what to look for. Chris started on 14 days of medication specifically to treat the Viral Infection and reduce the irritation and swelling on the Nerve cluster, and commenced daily Digital Nerve Stimulation to the side of his face that was affected with the Physiotherapist, who also gave him exercises to do. Chris is still continuing with the exercises but after a couple of weeks the Digital Nerve Stimulation is complete. The Physio was very pleased that he was such a co operative patient and could see he was following her advice. She is a lovely girl and Chris played a joke on her just as treatment was starting one day, he waited till she clicked on the switch and started shaking as if he had been given too much stimulation. Although initially she looked horrified she did laugh as he did it when there was little or no power going to the pad touching him. 
Chris's blood pressure continued to rise quite quickly within the 24 hours so I commenced the anti hypertensive drugs which are now stabilising his condition. He has to stay off work another month as he must avoid too much eye strain, stress and climbing stairs ( there are 3 floors of stairs and no lift) so he has felt a little frustrated. 
I am so proud of Chris that throughout the day he continues doing his facial exercises to help speed up his recovery, It can be funny to catch him pulling funny faces at odd times, but I would never laugh at him, he is an inspiration and we both believe doing physio is beneficial. 
Chris still gets some drooping of his mouth and slurring of speech especially at the end of the day when he is tired but this is improving and as soon as we realise he consciously concentrates with his enunciation of words and facial exercises. When friends were around the other night for a brief moment one of them thought he was just doing it for fun, but I explained it is all part of his condition and will happen less as he recovers.
He was not allowed to ride his bike but the good news is he can start going out for short gentle rides, we had been going to go out today but I was up in the night with stomach cramps and diarrhoea so definitely not a good time to ride. We will go out for a ride in the week when I am not at work.
I have told him he must stop trying to check out on me, God and I have plans for him for some time to come.
All I can say from my point of view is that I put my whole trust for Chris's Health and well being completely in the hands of the Lord and from that moment whilst still concerned for him I knew God was in control and I just had to follow his leading.

Work
Well I am going into work and teaching which is both enjoyable and a challenge, the students are nice and at the moment I teach first and second years. I am setting them homework and getting them to do independant research which is something they find a little difficult but I am sure with practice they will get better. This next week we are making models in class so it will be interesting to see what materials they bring to make it as the choice is theirs. They have their brief and I need to see how they rise to the challenges I have set.  Work is only ten to fifteen minutes from home so it is easy to get to on my scooter. 
I am arranging for a self breast examination seminar at the college and also at the local resort for female students and staff. I admit to being nervous as I have had to adapt my normal teaching method to suit the Indian way of doing it. I can only improve with practice and I believe this is a very important message to get across for our NGO. So many women have no idea that you can do self examination even among the educated population. It can be a life saver especially where more sophisticated diagnostic methods are not affordable for those with little or no money. As my cousin is recovering from Breast Cancer it is a subject very close to my heart, but I confess I do get stage fright but will trust in the Lord to Guide and lead me where I need it.

Lent
As we are now in a period of Lent, fasting for 40 days. Chris and I have decided to give something up as a sacrifice and bring us closer to God Spiritually. Before I explain what we are doing I must say I do not always take part in Lent, I have done so on occasions in the past but sometimes given up things like Crisps, watching TV, things I do like but are not really to me sacrificial, it bothers me for a while but is not a major hardship. 
As Chris and I have had a difficult year with his health it has been stressful on us both, but I feel it has brought us closer to each other and to God.
So what did we decide to give up/
Well we really enjoy the occasional takeaway KFC, Subway, Pizza for Chris Pasta for me, eating out at friends homes, getting Samosas from my favourite place or going to the occasional restaurant. So we have decided we will not eat out even at friends homes, we will only eat food we prepare and cook at home, we will not accept food cooked outside our home and brought to us however well mean't.  We will still buy provisions to do so, but for us this has already been challenging and we believe it will help us with our Spiritual Journey with the Lord. 
As I said it has already been challenging, we had friends come around for a meal and they wanted to bring food with them to add to what we had made, I had to explain you can bring the ingredients but must cook it here or we can't have it, which they did.
Our first Cock we bartered with our friend for a Custard Apple tree and a rare fir tree, they made Chicken Curry and wanted us to share in that food, we had to explain our reasons we couldn't they understood and accepted our beliefs. This gave us two opportunities to share our faith naturally with Sikhs and Hindu's again Gods divine opportunities which he seems to give us regularly.
Yes this time for me it will be a struggle to give up certain things but I know that this is right for Chris and I at this time and we will press on until April 2nd when Lent ends. 
Lent whether still accepted by some as being Scripturally relevant and not by others for me is a time when you can come to a closer Spiritual Awareness and Closeness to the Lord by giving sacrificially. Every time we fancy a KFC or get invited to someones for a meal it focusses our mind on the sacrifice Christ made for all of us, it has surprised us both how this small sacrifice we are making has made us think so much of his Sacrifice for Us when he died on the Cross.

Hoppy..........with Mrs Hoppy and Family!
 

On Guard! Its a hard life.

Hoppy, and it seems Mrs Hoppy and one of their two offspring
all playing together, he introduced us earlier this month.

She wouldn't come near us and has been living in our street with her pups
since she gave birth.(his territory)

Hoppy let us really close and she watched as we fussed him, she even
let her pup wander up to us, she kept an eye on proceedings but
didn't get stressed, We think she has relaxed with us because of Hoppy.
And no, we are not adopting any more, one is quite enough. But it is nice when the street dogs like you, I know the milkman works on that theory as he always puts out
a bowl of milk for them

Final thought.

We just want to say thank you to all those people at Emmanuel who take part in the various debates on Emmanuel FB page. We read them regularly and of late have posted a question or two. We want you all to realise how important it is for us so far from our home church to be able to have these exchanges of views, to question, debate and learn from others. It is so important for us as Christians but also for who 'we' Chris and Kris are, and the path He has placed us on through His love. You all help us so much to live as well as we can to His example.

Thats all for this month, hope you enjoyed the blog.

God Bless you all

Chris and Kris