She Did What She Could

August 1998. We had gone as missionaries from Chennai to Kolkata with our four month old son, Giftson. There was this timid and poor Santali tribal girl from a small village from the neigbouring state of Assam. She looked tall and pale. Her tribal dress looked worn-out too. Many students like Maduri had come in the same week of our arrival there to the then run down old facility of Calcutta Bible Seminary (CBS). During the first week as I kept building my bonds with the new students, I found Maduri wearing the same dress all through. I wanted to help her. As a family newly shifted to the city of Calcutta, I had only taken few of my best sarees. The rest of our household things were yet to come. I gave Maduri some of my sarees. She accepted my gift with her typical smile. It took some more days for me to understand that she came from a tribal culture where they choose to wear the same dress until it wears out. This incident gave us an opportunity to teach students like Maduri about basic cleanliness and hygiene.

Maduri was an average student at CBS. She was not so good at academics. But I remember during her final year of studies in 2002, when CBS ministry by then had extended its activities in the Sundarban islands, it was she who opted to go as a missionary first there. She and another student named Shenbagavalli started to work in the Namkhana block, a totally unreached area with the gospel, by staying in a rented house. Today churches and worshipping groups have come up not only in that block but in several other blocks in Sundarbans, all because of the pioneering ministry of students of Calcutta Bible Seminary like Maduri.

Maduri after graduation went as a missionary to Gujarat. She was still timid but her missionary zeal was great. She joined VBS ministries which has its headquarters in Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu. She travelled the lengths and breadths of India to places in Gujarat, Jharkhand and West Bengal. She used to come to Bangalore quite often (we by then had moved to this city from Calcutta) bringing candidates from various states for VBS training. She visited our house in Bangalore and saw Giftson, our son grown as a young lad by then. During one visit, I saw her thrust a 500 rupee note in his hand and she said, “Giffy this is for you.” It was a moving scene for me because I could see the way God had transformed Maduri not only spiritually but  also economically. During that visit  sitting near to her, I heard from her stories regarding translating children's materials in various languages and about conducting VBSs ' in remote villages in India. I told her, “Maduri, you are a lady apostle to our nation.” She smiled back.

She used to talk to me quite often over phone to the extent that sometimes I had to say, “Maduri, I am in the middle of this work. Can you call  mea little later?” Now I know that I have to wait for my turn to talk to her in heaven. Her main concern in all those telephone calls centred around one cause. She was deeply concerned for her own tiny village in Assam. She shared about the frequent tribal wars in her place which have left so many as orphans. I also learnt through her that children in her place have no access to good education. She often told me of her willingness to donate a huge piece of land for building a school and was pressing me hard to visit her place in this regard. I regret that I could not plan a trip while she was alive.

1970-2012

Maduri was basically not a healthy girl. Since she traveled widely and frequently her health which was already poor, started to deteriorate. Phone conversations  became less frequent in the last few months. When I enquired through other sources I was told that her health grew worse with repeated attacks of typhoid. I was also told that in spite of her poor health conditions, she did her ministry faithfully in Gujarat and Jharkhand until November. Choosing to remain as a single, she toiled hard like apostle Paul .

20 December, 2012. I was conversing with Rita, a contemporary and friend of Maduri, during our mission trip in the Sundarban islands. I was thinking a lot about Maduri on that day and was desperately wanting to talk to her over phone, only to know later that it was on this very same day she went to be with the Lord forever. Tearfully I went down my memory lane bringing back thoughts of all that Maduri meant to me. In the midst of tears, a wave of happiness overwhelmed me when I began to think about her contribution to our nation as a lady apostle. One thing that is bothering me however is her vision for her village in Assam for “a school.”

One day I want to visit Maduri’s place with a team and then would prayerfully look forward to see a school built in memory of her. And I want my friends and well-wishers to be in that team to see Maduri’s dream come true!

"She did what she could." (Mark 14:8)

Don’t Miss the Bliss!

Have you ever had the experience of missing a train or a flight? I have had both. It’s a mess when we miss. There had been people who have missed blissful situations due to various reasons. I go back to the happenings around the first Christmas event in a time frame of nearly 2000 years back to the land of Palestine. The Jews living during that time of history were waiting for a Messiah who would liberate them from the bondage of the Romans who were ruling their land at that time. We see different attitudes in people who lived during the birth of Jesus because of which they missed the bliss of a historic event in their lives.

Hard-hearted Innkeepers

A liberator appeared for the people in the name of “Jesus.” But who will ever know if he comes knocking at the door step hiding himself inside the womb of a woman? The inn keepers for sure at one look at Mary and Joseph concluded that they were from a poor back ground. They also had a reason: they had no room in the inn. But they could have pitied for a woman who was on the verge of her delivery. They narrowly missed the bliss of having the Savior being born in their inn! The only place that welcomed the Saviour was the manger with the sheep and the cattle in it. Blessed ones!

To people with a cold attitude, Jesus would say on the judgement day: “ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me…” (Matthew 25:43). Our hard heartedness leads us to a state of unblessedness. We receive Jesus, when we receive least persons in our midst and care for their needs because whatever we do for one of the least, we do for Jesus.’ (V.40).

Insecure Herod and Jerusalemites

King Herod was a mighty man of the time. He knew that the baby that was born was a King. Yet he and all Jerusalem were disturbed because of the birth of the baby. Insecurity plagued them. Part of the fearing of the people of Jerusalem was the fulfillment of the prophecy mentioned in Genesis 49:10: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.” Fear and insecurity made a big chunk of the Jerusalem community miss the bliss of the Christ child.

There can be no fear in a blessed situation. Perfect love drives away fear (1 John 4:18). One common message of the first Christmas event to Mary, Zechariah and the shepherds was: "fear not". They did not fear and became the recipients of the greatest blessing in their lives.

Dumb Religious Leaders

The chief priests and the teachers of the law knew the Scriptures and the exact place where the Redeemer would be born. They quoted Micah 5:2 and pointed out the place as Bethlehem. But they did not bother to walk up few miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. They were not curious enough to see even whether such an event was true. They for sure missed the bliss of the wonder of wonders of their time. In contradiction, the magi from the east were curious enough and traveled miles to see the King of kings.

The religious leaders knew the Scripture which was not of any use for them. Even satan knows the Scriptures. What is more important is that effort to see for ourselves and experience Christ in the closest proximity. The shepherds in contradiction to the chief priests and teachers of the law were not experts in the Scripture but they had the instinct in them to obey the angelic command and walk up to the manger and see for themselves the Saviour of the world. There were also the old Simon and Anna who lived in the temple of Jerusalem, who received the bliss of seeing the Saviour before their deaths.

Christianity is not a dumb religion. We can feel Christ in us. If you have not done that, start right away.  Caste away any sort of hard heartedness, fear, insecurity, and useless knowledge. Invite Jesus and taste and see that the Lord is good. If you have done that already, enjoy Christ living in you every day of your life. Don’t miss this bliss for anything else! A Happy and Blessed Christmas, folks!