one simple idea

The best ideas are the simplest, it seems to me. Most of the things we enjoy in life are the result of someone taking complex ideas and narrowing them down to the simplest solution. They are the result of people asking questions like "I wonder if we could bring light into this room at night without having to light a fire?" or "Wouldn't it be great if we could find a way to communicate to others and actually hear their voice?" Even our modern inventions are simple ideas that are worked through a matrix of complex solutions. "How could we make a device that is a phone, a computer, a camera and connects to the internet?" is an example.

The simple ideas with profoundly accessible solutions are the most brilliant.

This is why I love the work of Global Action in India. The ideas they employ that drive the organization are very simple. The idea is to connect the resources of believers around the world who God has blessed with Christian ministry taking place in the most desperate parts of the earth. The idea is to connect believers that have the ability to give but don't know where, to the beleivers in third world countries who know how to do the work but don't know where to find the resources.

This is how the Motipur Hope Center was started. Lars Dunberg, the founder of Global Action, met Daniel Suban, the Indian pastor who had a dream of taking care of orphaned children from the streets of India in the rural setting of Motipur, far from the horriblly populated slums that exist in every major city here. Dunberg liked the idea, and he could see that Daniel was a good leader and had the passion necessary for the job. So Daniel provided the ability and the passion, and Lars and Global Action provided the resources and organization.

The result just three years later is a church, a soon to be clinic, a school and a Chidren's Home for about 50 beautiful children who have been pulled off the streets of Lucknow, Kalkota and Delhi. The children here are taken care of by house parents who love them with the love of Christ and teach them to read and write and to learn English. The future plan is to teach them a vocational skill and to train them to excell to the degree of one day furthering their education. The newly constructed church is the only Christian comminty for many hundreds of miles among a huge poplutation of Muslims and Hindu.

When Michael Butler and I traveled here two years ago, we both felt that there was a great purpose for us seeing this Hope Center. We knew that God wanted us to spread the message and to encourage our church and other churches to join in with Global Action to accomplish the task. The school was up and running, but to finish the job Western Christians needed to help shoulder the load. Since that time our church and other churches in our area and Christian businessmen and women from Oklahoma City have contributed around $50,000 toward this work. With that investment Global Action has been able to construct 6 homes for the children.

This week new land was purchased to begin construction for a clinic that will provide medical care for hundreds of thousands of people in the region who currently have no access to a hospital or doctor.

One of the most remarkable things our team has witnessed here happened on the second afternoon we were in Motipur. Women from the Muslim village near by came to the Hope Center to express their gratitude to this Christian ministry for building the clinic. They came bearing gifts of flower necklaces. They sat in front of us for several minutes and sang song after song of joy and appreciation. Lars addressed them and told them that we are building this clinic because we love them and Jesus loves them.

The fame of the name of Christ is beginning to penetrate the spiritual bondage of this dark land.

One can see the effectiveness of a simple idea in a single blanket. A couple of years ago, Sheba Suban, the daughter of Pastor Daniel, was in a village near Motipur talking to the children. One of the little girls, who had no clothes to wear other than rags her family had wrapped around her body told Sheba that when she came back she would like her to bring a "suiter".

Sheba wondered what she might have meant by a "suiter", when it occurred to her that she was using the English word "sweater". When the profound meaning of that question dawned on her, it broke her heart. The winters in this part of India, at the base of the Himalaya mountains gets very cold. Over 10,000 people last year in this area alone died of exposure. The girl was asking for something to keep her warm.

To Global Action the solution to this was very simple. Tell Western Chrisitans that for only five bucks, the price of a venti Latte from Starbucks, they could buy a blanket and save a life.

This year Global Action has raised close to 50,000 dollars to send 10,000 blankets to India. Our group was the first group to begin the distribution.

I have had many great experiences here in India. But what I experienced at that distribution stands out as one of the most touching. Our group was welcomed as honored guests to the village. The elder spoke a few words and then Pastor Daniel proclaimed the message of Christ. Our team of Americans sat one side of the circle, and the villagers on the other side. Christians on one side and Muslims on the other. Americans on one side, Indians sitting on the opposite. Two groups from opposite ends of the earth, separated for most of our lives by a seeming insurmountable ethnic, religious, socio-economic and cultural gap. In between were laid the blankets, bought by American Christians for the sake of distributing them out of Christ's love. As Pastor Daniel spoke, the people nodded in approval and appreciation for the expressions of love and the proclamation of the gospel. And then the two groups were brought together as the gifts of the blankets were exchanged. One by one our group came forward and met villagers in the middle and wrapped the blankets around their shoulders and told them that Jesus loved them. They did not hear or comprehend our words but the felt our touch and the warmth of the blanket. They looked in our eyes and expressed their appreciation and joy. In that moment the incredible gulf that had separated us was bridged. We were brought together by a simple 5 dollar blanket. But much more profoundly we were brought together by the love of Christ.

Such a simple idea. A 5 dollar blanket. Five dollars that most of us would spend in a day and not give a second thought to it. A simple blanket much like the stacks of blankets most of us have in our closets at home. But to the people living here that blanket represents survival in the winter.

Such a simple idea. But the simplest ideas are often the ones that change the world.