It seems as though I should have some things to say...but lately it seems as though I am dry. I have been having some cultural issues lately...but mostly I am hung up on the arranged marriage aspect of life here...today I watched a very popular Hindi movie about how because a man married a woman he fell in love with, he was out cast from his family. She was not "good enough" for his family.

I have been seeking to understand and respect this aspect of the culture here, but it is so hard for me to fathom. I respect my friends when they marry, out of obedience to their parents, someone they do not love...much less have met more than once...many have only seen a picture...but I also hear the pain in their voices which comes from deep in their hearts as they tell me of "being in love once, but I was not allowed to marry because of wrong caste". Or, "be glad you are free, fly like a bird". 

Could I do it? Could I obey my parents and marry someone I had never met? Can you come to love someone because they are who you are married to? Could I handle being an add in a newspaper and hope that my statistics were good enough to get me married? Could I imagine going to school and earning a degree, knowing that I would never use it, as I would be married right after graduation and expected to stay in the home for the rest of my life?  Could I handle living in a society were girls are considered a burden to the family instead of a joy? A society where if a girl is not married by 21, some places you get till 24, you are considered undesirable.  A society where sex testing on pregnant ladies is illegal because parents try to abort the female babies? A society where in the paper you read about poor men killing their daughters because they can not afford their future dowry. A society where the men hold the female responsible for not having a male child and consider them cursed because of it. A society where poor girls get married as early as 13 to older men because it is the only way they will be married. A society that claims the people are better off when I have yet to meet a woman whom I can see hope in their heart? I take that back...I have met 3...and they all have hope because of Jesus...

Sometimes I feel so hopeless here, that there no way I can help to make their lives better...I suppose that is why my hope is in the Lord...I alone can do nothing...but His Holy Spirit...can change things...His Word, can change things. Prayer, can change things. His love can change things. His salvation, can change things. Circumstances, sometimes, may not change...but hearts....those can change...I want to see this place changed...maybe not physically right now, but eternally...

A M worker friend of mine, who lives in the North, just sent me this pic of his new Royal Enfield. Pretty sweet I must say....not only the bike but his surroundings as well...

Ah, I admit it, I love "Top Gun"...This song always fires me up...so I thought I would let you all enjoy for the day...And NO it is not because of the volleyball scene!!