MORAL OF THE STORY -- cindy trane christeson

“The universe is centered on neither the earth of the sun. It is

centered on God.”

-- Alfred Noyes

My husband, Jon, and I had an inspiring house guest this past weekend.

His name is Anjan Singh and he is a pastor from Calcutta, India.

Anjan is spending a month in the United States, speaking at churches

about the challenges and conditions in his country. Jon and I were

fascinated to learn about a country we know so little about and to hear

how God changed Anjan’s life.

“I came from a family of seven brothers and four sisters,” Anjan

explained. “My parents were Christians and every morning I had to recite

a Bible verse to get breakfast, and every Sunday we went to church and

Sunday school. But I became an atheist. I was very mad at my parents for

turning their backs on our culture. I liked Hindu gods and thought that

because I was a good person, I didn’t require any religion. But I was

just pretending. Inside I was still empty.

“But the more aggressive I became against Christianity, the more my

mother prayed for me,” he continued. “One night my family was going to an

evangelistic meeting, and I agreed to come only because my mother said I

could leave if I didn’t like it. So I sat in the back to escape easily.

But the Lord’s hand was heavy on me, and I couldn’t get up.

“I realized that my Koran and all the heathen gods couldn’t do anything

for me. I learned that there was a real God who loved me so very much.

When I accepted him, my whole family rejoiced.”

Anjan felt called to be a missionary to his own country, and though he

works full time for the railroads, he has full-time results as a lay

pastor.

“If you have the heart for it, you’ll have the energy.” He said. He

founded a mission, which includes portable Bible schools, a school of

evangelism and Bible distribution. Interestingly enough, Hindus and

Muslims let their children go to the schools, and their parents often

accompany them as well.

God has blessed the work and as the number of trained pastors and

teachers has grown, so has their sphere of influence.

“I have gone to leprosy asylums and to villages where all the men have

been killed by Bengali tigers,” he said. Their presence is not always

welcome. “Some days we suffer, some days we rejoice. We’re accepted in

some villages, and chased out of others. We’ve had threats that our

office will be blown up. But I’ve seen many, many miracles and God has

blessed me so much.”

This was Anjan’s first visit to America and he was staggered by the

choices we have.

“I went to a market and saw nine kinds of potatoes,” he said. He was also

amazed at the rows of teas and aisles of cereals, because they have only

two kinds of tea and three different cereals.

Our lifestyles are very different. He thought it odd that Americans live

at such a fast pace. I thought it odd that he liked salt on bananas. But

despite the different customs, cultures and countries, we still love the

same God.

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks

frequently to parenting groups. She can be reached via e-mail at o7

[email protected] or through the mail at P.O. Box 6140, No. 505,

Newport Beach 92658.