March 31, 1997
Dear Friends,
We've been back for 2 weeks now. This last trip to India was extremely fruitful and we really saw God work in some tremendous ways. But since I've been back, the Lord has continued working on me.
I'd like to share a letter with you. It was more than 2 years ago that I wrote this letter, but even today the Father is bringing these issues to my attention once again.
“I'm 23 years old. I would have to say that God has given me a fairly good life. I had the privilege of growing up in wholesome middle America, went to good Christian schools, played sports, went to a great college, studied overseas, and met a wonderful girl. Today I work for a mission in South India. That's my life.
Now let me tell you the stories of 2 other 23 year old men. Both coming from completely different backgrounds, but all three of our worlds have collided here in Calcutta. The second 23 year old man is from France. His name is Philip. When he was in school he advanced quickly through the grades and finished by the age of 16. In France there is mandatory army service for one year- as a 16 year old boy, Philip served in the French army for 11 months and then began to learn English. At age 17 he began traveling. He's now been traveling for 6 years solid. He spends 7 months in each country he visits and in each country he finds a job to support his drug habit. Now he's in Calcutta staying at the Salvation Army Guest house. He sleeps on the top bunk above me. Philip stays up late and sleeps in-rolling joints as soon as he finishes smoking his last one. When he can get his hands on some opium he puts it in a pipe and smokes that too. I can hear him coughing and laughing when I'm trying to sleep. He doesn't really know where he'll go next-just sits around getting high. He believes he's chasing his dreams but in the hollowness of those dreams he needs drugs to fill the void. He's so wasted by his drugs that his teeth are grey and he looks like he's in his late 30's.
The third 23 year old man is an Indian. I've only known him for 4 days. I don't know his name or his background, I do know that he's a Hindu. As I write this his cold, dead body is wrapped in a newly woven white sheet and is resting in a small room in Mother Teresa's House for the Dying. It was 4 days ago that I met him- he was one of the most undernourished human beings I've ever seen in my life- he looked like a skeleton. His face resembled a skull and his eyes looked bigger than average because there was no loose skin around them nor was there any fat in his cheeks. I would have guessed his age at 60- bald, tired, and dying- but he was only 23 year old. He was very demanding and seemingly very selfish. He had been in the home for quite some time, so I hear. He was always very vocal and very active. He never ate what was served to the rest of the patients, but he always demanded something special. And then, totally unexpected to everyone, he died. It shocked us all, he had seemed “strong” for someone his size… but his body had had enough.
All 3 of are 23 years old. An American, an Indian, and a Frenchman. All in Calcutta for different reasons. All part of God's world. Why was I the one given Freedom? Peace? Hope? Love? Why wasn't I the one strung out on drugs? The one starving to the point of death? Why was I given so much when so many have been given so little?
It was 2 years ago that I wrote this letter. Today the Lord still convicts me with the answers. I will say that I'm sure I'll never have all the answers to these questions and others like it. I think that grappling with the questions is more a part of our on-going discipleship than we know.
Nevertheless God has given us so much. He's set us apart, and that has been for a reason. Our faith is not something He has given to us so that we can hoard it or hide it or even hold it. He's given us His love so that we can give it back to those who do not have it. He's given us His love so that we can give it back to those who don't even have access to it.
It's not too difficult to see why He's chosen us. It's a matter of stewardship. Where are you investing the gift our Father has given us? Are you giving your life back to Him? Are you allowing Him to work through you and love through you? Are you striving to be a servant to a broken and hurting world?
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” – Jesus Christ.
your servant,
Chris Heuertz