End of second full day in India.  We had a scare at the bed and breakfast this morning when the owner questioned me about our purposes in the region and where we went last night.  Apparently my answers did not satisfy him he subsequently questioned our Indian guide and the atmosphere became very tense.  We were concerned that he was going to report us to the authorities, and left as quickly as we could. 
 
Nothing came of it, but it is very strange and disconcerting to be unable to speak freely, and to have the fear of being challenged or arrested simply for following Christ and speaking His gospel.  A devotion time I had planned for the team was cancelled as a result of the incident, which was also disappointing. 
 
Praise God for the courage of the Christians in that town—may they continue to be courageous by the grace of God.  Enjoy your freedom this week—breathe deeply and worship God openly.  Celebrate God’s goodness when you come together with other believers on Sunday for worship, free of persecution and governmental interference. 
 
We rode the train we came in on back to the city where the airport is located and are staying here tonight.  We were approached by a team of aggressive panhandlers at the train station – girls 5-10 years of age, each with a baby on her hip. Their ‘pimp,’ a young man of 18 years old, stood 100 feet away on the curb, smoking a cigarette and looking on with satisfaction.  Occasionally, he would approach and coach the girls.  They are working for him—we did not give them any money. 
 
It is heartbreaking to see children so exploited, so vulnerable.  Things that would be a crime in the States are status quo here—there is no social services, no welfare, no parents, no one to protect these children and prevent them from starvation, disease and exploitation.  There is so much darkness here that it is at times hard to take it all in.  In our own strength, there is often little we can do.  This is more than a broken social system; it is a manifestation of living, breathing evil.  It is the “roaring lion,” devouring the lives of the innocent. 
 
With God, however, all things are possible. We must move obediently in the direction  He calls and know that working together as His church in His power, we can do things that are not humanly possible.  If the Church cannot respond to these issues, there is no hope.  We are the “light on a stand,” the “salt of the earth.”
 
We spent the evening in the city’s bazaar which, in a word, was bizarre.  After another death defying ride with a taxi driver (who, after being stopped by a traffic cop, defied him and drove down a one way street the wrong way, into oncoming traffic) we were dropped in the middle of several blocks of open storefronts spilling over with street vendors, people, goods and food of every possible description, holy cows (who wander the streets unsupervised), mopeds, motorcycles, trash of every description (organic and inorganic). 
 
One of the things I had heard people who have been to India talk about is the smell. There is a smell that seems to permeate the whole place – not exactly bad, but a mix of all kinds of things—cooking food, spices, waste, people, all mixed together—and this marketplace certainly had it in spades. 
 
One of the places we passed was a Hindu temple.  It was a kind of store front affair, with an open front and a gold idol set up in the back.  Beggars sat on the steps, holding out their hands.  People literally come in and bow before the idol and offer sacrifices.  “Thou shall have no other Gods before me.” In the west, we modernize this commandment, and talk about money, or our job, or the like.  Here, they literally worship idols.  “I have come that you may have freedom.”  Lord, set these people free.