Playing Catch and Writing India's Ambassador to America

I rode two ends of the spectrum in helping to “turn the world upside down.” It all began on one end with a trip to Wal Mart. There, I purchased ball gloves, a baseball, a softball and a bat. The adventure then proceded out to the backyard where I spent some time playing catch with my son. We then moved on to the adventure of batting. I had read somewhere about teaching a child to bat and helping them envision hitting the ball as “smashing the bug!” Don’t ask me why, but this whole concept really took off with my boy swinging with all his might at “the bug” (a.k.a the ball). In just a few attempts, Elijah was driving the ball back to me with his new bat. There is nothing more pleasurable than the pure, unadulterated laughter of your children when they accomplish something new and you have the joy of celebrating with them.

Then it was Emma’s turn. She was particularly taken by the black and pink mitt at the store. It was not long before she was beginning to field like a pro! (Now of course, you might think this is not true…but what is involved in encouraging your children in striving to believe they CAN do it?) Before I knew it, we were ending the day with her having gone to her very first softball practice and the joy and excitement of a new adventure taking place.

I was there.

Now I have no idea if either one of my kids will go on to be professional athletes. If they are counting on my genes, they will be much better spectators than participators when it comes to sport. But this is my hope. In those small moments—like taking a catch with their dad—they will be prepared for another moment that comes in life. The moment when they doubt themselves and wonder if they can contribute and question the meaning of their lives and seek out if they are loved. At that moment, I pray they will remember a Spring afternoon, of buying a new ball glove and having a catch with their dad. I pray my Father in Heaven will embed these simple times in their minds and cause them to know their father loves them very much and that he has a Father that loves them even more. And just maybe, that will be the tool in the hands of my Father that He uses to cause my children to see the beauty and splendor of His grace and goodness.

If so, then I will be very much content in knowing I played a part in turning their worlds upside down.

On the other end of the spectrum, I spent some time writing to my Senators, Congressman and to the President. I also wrote to India’s ambassador to the United States. For you see, half a world away, there is a man, Dr. Samuel Thomas, who along with his father, M.A. Thomas, has committed their lives to serving the least and most forgotten in India. The Thomases give care for over 10,000 orphans that have been abandoned in a country known for its harsh social divisions. In the area of Kota, in the state of Rajasthan, Emmanuel Fellowship operates the largest orphanage in India. There, care for over 2,500 children is provided. Along with the orphanages are schools and hospitals to care for the most vulnerable in that nation. The work of Emmanuel Fellowship is salt and light to those thirsty and in the darkness. I have a friend from college that has experienced this work first hand many times and has led othere American believers to do the same on mission trips.

However, in that last several months, religious extremist have regularly threatened and abused these precious Jesus followers along with other non-Hindu groups. They have spread lies through propoganda and on March 16th, a group of men, dressed as police officers—without revealing credentials nor reading any rights of arrest—took Dr. Samuel Thomas into custody. He is being held and no one truly knows his condition or his status. His father, M.A., has been in hiding from these same militants—this for a man receiving the Padma Shri award, given by the president of India as the highest civilian honor in the nation to those providing the highest level of aid and help to the country’s citizens. And yet, the lives of these men and their safety is now in question. Hopegivers International (see www.hopegivers.com for more information), an American support group based in Columbus, Georgia that raises support for Emmanuel Fellowship has pleaded for Americans to pray that God would protect and release these men along with asking citizens to write to the their President, Senators, Congressmen, Ambassadors, the Prime Minister and President of India and others and ask them to bring their power and influence to bear on this circumstance. Asking these men (instruments of God, see Romans 13) to protect those that so selflessly give of themselves to in order that care can be continued to those that can not protect themselves.

In light of this, my friend has stated that Dr. Thomas has “ask[ed] crowds, in India and America, to pray for God’s Kingdom to come and increase, and that if it takes persecution, bloodshed, or death for that to happen, then pray that he would be faithful unto death.” This from a man with a wife and two sons.

If my few moments, along with the moments of others, spent before the throne of grace and spent writing to “people of influence” then that is the least I can do. If in that, God is glorified and that work can continue with strength…

if so, I will be very much content in knowing I played a part in turning the world upside down. Ultimately knowing that it is the Father in heaven that changes all things for His own glory alone.

I think when we think of turning the world upside down, we tend to think so big and so grand that any chance for us really doing such a thing seems impossible and unattainable. And in some very real ways, that is true. Who can change the heart and mind of a man so bent on destroying another man because he worships in a different way and does work he finds offensive. (“How can this be…For nothing will be impossible with God.” See Luke 1:34, 37) Perhaps that is the call in being an “upside down world turner.” It is trusting in the one that sets the world in motion and faithfully believing His good news and walking through the doors He sets before us—whether that be playing catch with my children or writing to my congressman or delivering soup to a sick friend or visiting a grieving neighbor or giving a homeless man ten dollars or dropping in on a forgotten nursing home resident or cleaning up trash in in Mississippi or sharing with the guy I meet in the airport about the Savior who has changed everything for me. Perhaps it is those things I think to be small that are in reality “the” event or moment or thing that my Lord chooses to use to turn someone’s world upside down.

Praise be to the Father that in His infinite sovereignty and wisdom, He chooses to use someone frail and ordinary like me and you to make an incredible difference in what will happen in eternity.

Oh Father, you have turned my world upside down and I thank you for the privilege to be on mission and on adventure with You as You work Your good pleasure in turning worlds upside down for your glory and for the good of those you touch. You are worth my life.