Flying Back to India - Tearful Farewell by Christian Brothers
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another – John 3:35 (NIV)”
Tickets were booked for us to leave USA on 27th May 2001 along with a male nurse from Los Angels to accompany us and to return to USA after leaving us at our house in Madras. I prayed to the Lord to be with us during the travel and to protect my son under His wings and to give him enough strength to endure the long journey’s stress and strain. A farewell was given tearfully by my Christian friends who had by then become my brothers and sisters by the blood of Jesus. Pastor Jacob George, George Joy, Chitra Prentice (a Maharashtrian Brahmin, now a convert and an American citizen working as a nurse in St Vincent Hospital) and so many others flooded me with garments for my daughter, younger son Sakthi, shoes, sweets and chocolates, books and so many other gifts. They provided cardboard boxes, other packing materials and packed all my bag and baggage. Bro.Verghese Pulikkottil removed the back seats of his jeep to make room for my luggage and brought it to the airport. Almost every one from the Indian Church over there came to the airport to bid farewell to us with tears rolling down their cheeks. Every body was very emotional and I could never forget such an emotional farewell. Not only Indians but many people irrespective of caste, creed, nationality and language have now become my blood brothers and sisters and they keep enquiring after us and Karthi’s progress and still continue to pray for him. Oh how lucky we are to have acquired such a big family with the blessings of Jesus Christ. Now “In Him we live, move and have our being. And we are His offspring (Acts 17:28)”.
S. THAYAPPAN 45