Life Changing Words Ministry

President's Journal

24 Nov 2006 – Chandigarh – 10pm

After a hobbit-like pair of breakfasts yesterday (once at my hostess', and again with Angel, et al.), we hit the road for Chandigarh. It was about a six hour drive, and continued to show me the insanity of traffic in India. One of the great benefits: the speed limits are much lower than on equivalent-intended-capacity roads in the US, so the safety factor is somewhat increased. Given that road construction brought it down to 1.5 actual lanes total between the two directions, but still having 3-4 lanes worth of cars, doing all sorts of crazy weaves—with pedestrians, bicycles, oxcarts, auto-rickshaws, cars, trucks, and buses all intermingled, passing each other at random-and-silly intervals; marked lanes completely irrelevant; a constant blare of horns and other honking—the "somewhat increased" was still not enough to feel any sense of security, except that which comes through much prayer to the One God Who could protect anyone in that mess. All I can say is, God is protecting the drivers in India, whether they know it's Him or think it's their own dashboard idol, because the truly miraculous is the only way for any of them to survive even a short journey. We stopped for lunch at a token McDonald's (Mom wanted me to get a picture, since she likes documenting the international McD's), where I could have had (but didn't have) the McVeggie Burger. Because, of course, McDonald's is non-beef in India, to avoid offense. So they had a few different Veg items, plus McChicken and Filet-o-Fish.

When we arrived at the Salins' home in Chandigarh, I was once again welcomed as one of the family; it's just an amazing feeling. Dinner was overly-flavorful, for my weak tongue... but once again, curds came to my rescue.

This morning was nicely relaxing. Lots of time for prayer, thought, and just enjoying the scenery. It actually reminds me of my private walks-on-the-beach when I'm taking a day at the Oregon coast, which I use for similar purposes. [I didn't realize it at the time, but it was a good spiritual cleansing and preparation for what was to come later in the trip.] I also spent a good amount of time just talking with Bill and Georgene, finding out more about their lives and getting to know them better.

This evening, we went shopping, taking me to a local emporium, where I got a good start on souvenir shopping. Plus, we got me outfitted with a couple of Indian-style Kurta suits (very, very long dress shirts, with loose-fitting pajama pants – no, it's not sleepwear, no matter how that sounds to an American). Georgene had a lot of fun spending my money with me, and Bill was just happy that it meant she wasn't spending his. ;-)