Praise the Lord

Christians in India greet each other by placing their hands together and saying Stotriyum which means praise the Lord. I enjoy giving and receiving this greeting daily from those around us. It reminds me to truly praise the Lord all the time.
Today the area pastors had a prayer meeting here at the fellowship hall. I was able to speak to one pastor named Gerald who is such a happy guy. He is very cheerful. He was one of the pastors who received a Bible handbook from Robs collection which was shipped over here a couple of years ago. When he met Rob he was so excited because he knew the book had Robs name in it and must have come from him. He shared with us today about how God has worked in his marriage in a powerful way in these past years through the missionaries at the mission. In India there is a great need for marriage help. The culture has some complicated and oppressive views on marriage which the Church needs to sanctify. Gerald told me today that he is so blessed because every time he comes to the mission, the missionaries ask specifically about his wife and kids. He said they truly want to know how to pray for his family. This has helped teach him to make his marriage a priority. It is good to see the fruit of the other missionaries in this area. I have also become aware of the incredible need for teaching on Christian marriage in India. The Hindu views on marriage are so very corrupt and there has been little training for our pastors on appropriate Christian marriage relationships. In India marriages are arranged and there are a lot of rules over who can marry who and when. Siblings must get married in order. The higher the cast the higher the dowry. Dowry is such an oppressive thing that many women cannot get married because they cannot afford a respectful husband and to remain single is very dangerous. At times wives are acctually murdered because they cannot fulfill their dowry and the husband can marry again that way and recieve another dowry. There is usually little proof of the murder and women have very few rights here anyway. Women are to serve the husband and his family. This is just a general overview of the Hindu practices which also effect the Indian Christian marriages. Please pray for more resources to confront these issues appropriately.