festival of LIGHTS

Happy Diwali!

 The boys got all spiffed up for their annual night-on-the-town.
(Several of them had already laid out their clothes last night!)

A handsome bunch, might I add. :-)

The big boys walked, while the rest of us (14 in all) loaded the Trax. Rahul and Bharat were taking "tickets," and everyone waved "goodbye" to the farm for our 1.5 mile trip into Selaqui. Quite the excitement!

This year, most of my boys opted to spend their 20 rupees (40 cents) on snacks instead of firecrackers. They loaded up on peanuts, sweets, biscuits, and chips.

Then back to the farm to blast our firecrackers... which didn't last long, because a) they spent all their money on food, and b) one of the new boys almost blew up his little brother. Oops. Who ever thought it was a good idea to give little kids explosives?!

Still, a fun, FUN night! The boys went to bed with full bellies and big smiles.

On a more serious note, last week I led some school assemblies on the theme of "light," and I can't get these verses out of my head--

"The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,

to keep them from seeing the LIGHT of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as LORD...

For God, who said, 'Let LIGHT shine out of darkness,'

has shone in our hearts to give us the LIGHT of the knowledge of the glory of God

in the face of Jesus Christ."

2 Corinthians 4:4-6

It's a real life tug-of-war-- the little "g" god of this world, trying to keep us in darkness and blind our minds from seeing the Gospel, and the big "G" true God, shining His light in our hearts and opening our eyes to Him. And we, in the middle, rescued from darkness-- WE PROCLAIM CHRIST.

May eyes be opened as we celebrate the Light!