A Father' s Story

Last week on my way back from shopping I got onto a rickshaw

and noticed the driver 's clothes were dreadfully torn and dirty. On reaching home I asked him why he was wearing

clothes which were falling apart.

(Most rickshaw pullers are shabbily dressed but

their clothes don 't have holes in them.)

Perhaps, on finding a person willing to hear his tale of woe,

the poor old man related his misery to me.

He belongs to a village 100 kms away from the city.

His one and only son has been missing since the past one year.

He has searched high and low for him and reported the matter to the police

but no one has cooperated

and he has been left floundering in this hapless condition.

He owns a small farm in the village.

When his daughter in law suddenly died his son

decided to become an ascetic or sadhu.

The father built a small temple for his son

where he could perform his religious duties.

The village headman wanted the piece of land on which

the temple was situated.

Whe family refused to part with it.

(the father believes ) the powerful headman

had his son abducted and killed in order to grab his land.

The woebegone man showed me a sheaf of official papers ,

complaints and applications which he has

moved to search for his missing son.

He is completely shattered and broken down.

He also lost his wife.

Nowhere to go he came to live in the city with his grandson.

They are most probably pavement dwellers

because he was unable to tell me where his home was..

I was so moved by his story I gave him double the normal fare

and a bag full of clothes .

I told him I will pray to my Guru Jesus

to provide help for him.

As he disappeared into the night with a

joyful heart I thought of

so many other people like him who have lost

their near and dear ones -perhaps their

only crutch in old age.

What can I do to bring succor to an aching soul.

I am reading this book in which the author deals with
a Biblical approach towards poverty.
On the back cover it says;
Serving the poor is a Christian virtue but there are a host of ways
in which we can act.Such an agenda needs a wide biblical vision
in the light of the massive problem of poverty.
For the author Dewi Hughes says that the kingdom of God with
Jesus Christ as king is fundamental to this vision.
The book argues that the church as the visible community of God is given the task of blessing the poor. Asserting that what people do
flows from what they believe.
Hughes explores the place of religion in perpetuating poverty.
From this foundation kingdom principles are applied to the worlds of
economics, politics, ethnic identity and gender.
Finally the author considers two issues
that threaten wide scale poverty in the future
namely, population growth and
degradation of environment.
THe Hindustan Times newspaper says ; in India the poverty line
is set to rise and the number of the poor is going to swell .
38% of India 's population will dip below the poverty line instead of the present
28.5 %.
On the other hand Indian economy is burgeoning
and the number of millionaires is increasing everyday.
The gap between the rich and the poor is widening.
The task before us as a nation and as individuals is phenomenal.

Beauty for brokenness,hope for despair
Lord, in your suffering world, this is our prayer.
Bread for the children, justice,joy, peace,
Sunrise to sunset your kingdom increase.

God of the poor, friend of the weak.
Give us compassion we pray,
Melt our cold hearts, let tears fall like rain,
Come change our love from a spark to a flame.
Dewi Hughes