Words of Life: An Enduring Legacyનમૂનો

Bruised but not beaten.

His grandmother had abandoned his father as a baby, leaving him on the steps of the Salvation Army orphanage in India. His mother knew of her own mother, but she, too, had been taken as a child to the same establishment. The two children grew up together and later married, giving their son the Indian name meaning Warrior. Having received so much love themselves while in care, Warrior’s parents dedicated their lives to Salvation Army officership.

Warrior was brought up in the Christian faith, although not himself a believer. He pretended so as not to offend his loving parents. Wanting the best for him, they sent him to college to study pharmacy in a small town far away. The Indian college staff, still conscious of the caste system, took the name Warrior to represent a high-caste student and welcomed him with open arms. It was only at the induction that they realised he was not a Hindu. Everyone else was.

In the city, the various religions coexisted relatively peacefully, but in this small town there was antagonism towards Muslims and Christians. Warrior was given a rough time for his ‘faith’, even though it was non-existent. His professor instructed him to go to Hindu worship every day or return home. Not wanting to disappoint his parents by losing his college place, he agreed to attend. Unbeknown to Warrior, his father had hidden a Bible in his case, and when Warrior discovered it he read it when no one was around. Its message became relevant to him and he secretly read a passage before each daily worship and meditated on it during the Hindu service. Gradually Jesus became real to him, until one day he embraced Jesus as Saviour.

There was a cost to his new-found faith. The verbal bullying became physical. Some students found his Bible and ripped it up. But, he says, it was worth it. He got his qualification and later became a Salvation Army officer too.

What does this true story say to us?