India (MNN) — Northern India's
monsoon flooding has stranded one million people. Many roads are washed away, and railway lines are impassable.
Tens of thousands have fled into
Nepal for relief. It will take days
before the floodwaters recede enough to reach survivors with aid supplies.
Floods do occasionally disrupt ministry. However, the people
accept the situation matter-of-factly, says JP
SundarRajan representing Audio Scripture Ministries. "We try to meet their
needs, but the challenges we face every year are the same. When there is flooding, we cannot get out to
the field, so we kind of have to wait for the government to come in and do what it has to do to make the
roads accessible again and things like that."
Although several of their
serviced areas were battling heavy rains, as opposed to floods, there were concerns
for the headquarters of partner World Cassette Outreach in Bangalore. The nearly-century-old building is no longer
adequate, and the team is raising funds to construct a new building.
While the headquarters usually
faces high waters, SundarRajan says this time the pumps managed to keep up
with the rains, and the building wasn't flooded. This is good news, considering the water damages they've
already sustained.
The team expects the calls for audio resources to
start coming in soon. Calls to the
India office are typically not for aid. Many
are from churches or church planters who want to replace resources lost in the
floods.
SundarRajan says this is
reflective of something greater. "When there is adversity of any sort, people then turn to us and
want us to provide them audio Scriptures.
We just don't have the resources to meet the needs of all of the people.
We really would like to provide more of the spiritual nourishment that people
are seeking, and we just don't seem to have the resources."
Pray that
God would touch those who can financially support the project, allowing the
building to begin soon. Praise God for the good beginning (one third is
raised). Pray that the remaining funds would be raised as well.
