About a year ago I got home from spending three months in New Delhi, India. I deeply treasured the time I spent and the people I met there. When I think about the faces of the children, the food, the animals in the street, or the great hospitality we encountered... my heart aches. I long to hold those children again, sing songs with them like "o'lay lay tiki tanga, a masa masa masa," sit on the floor next to them eating rice with our fingers, and whisper prayers over them as we nap together in the hot afternoon. I long to sit with lepers and let them feed me chai and biscuits and make small talk in broken English and broken Hindi while the Hindi television programs blare in the background. I miss being welcomed into strangers' houses in the slums to pray and share the truth and life of Jesus. I know I will go back one day to these places... but for now I am waiting.
A few weeks ago I had a great realization. I miss India so deeply because I got to see the Kingdom of God come to life there. I got to show love to the "untouchable." I got to bring the light of the Holy Spirit in to very dark places. I got to see a little girl be healed from sickness. I got to build relationships with people I would have never encountered. I got to see light in darkness and color come from the dirt. The most meaningful part of my realization was the fact that the truth is I can find the Kingdom anywhere. God's Kingdom is not localized in New Delhi; it is a kingdom that stretches across the globe, across time, between dimensions, and reaches beyond our own galaxy. This Kingdom is enormous and far reaching but it is also intimate and immediate. Jesus told his disciples, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say 'Here it is' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20b-21). He also made clear that we should, "be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near." (Luke 10:11).
So if I am really longing to see the Kingdom of God, then I should be rejoicing because it is accessible anywhere. All I have to do is be intentional about seeking it out, living each day for the glory of God and the furtherance of His Kingdom.
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