“Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.”
FROM THE DESK OF: the Director of Communications
2005 was the last time the Houston Astros made the postseason. Ten years of futility - some those years we're as literally the worst team in Major League Baseball! And this year it came down to the 162nd game of the season to determine if the 'Stros would even make the Wild Card game. The moral of the story is this: never, ever, ever, give up.
For the Win[dow],
Bubby Bryan, DOC
VERSE OF THE WEEK: Luke 15:20
"And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him."
COUNTRY OF THE WEEK: India
The Indus Valley civilization, one of the world's oldest, flourished during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. and extended into northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi Sultanate. In the early 16th century, the Emperor BABUR established the Mughal Dynasty which ruled India for more than three centuries. European explorers began establishing footholds in India during the 16th century. By the 19th century, Great Britain had become the dominant political power on the subcontinent. The British Indian Army played a vital role in both World Wars. Years of nonviolent resistance to British rule, led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU, eventually resulted in Indian independence, which was granted in 1947. Large-scale communal violence took place before and after the subcontinent partition into two separate states - India and Pakistan. The neighboring nations have fought three wars since independence, the last of which was in 1971 and resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998 emboldened Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. In November 2008, terrorists originating from Pakistan conducted a series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai, India's financial capital. Despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and widespread corruption, economic growth following the launch of economic reforms in 1991 and a massive youthful population are driving India's emergence as a regional and global power. (CIA World Factbook)
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Pray for the cultural barriers of the caste system and Hinduism to be overcome by the Gospel.
- Pray for the Good News of Jesus Christ to reach every village and town.
- Pray for justice and hope in a nation plagued by oppression, poverty, and disease.
- Pray for the Uttermost workers in the field.
- Pray for the US office.