First Vacation in Life!

Growing up in rural Nepal, the concept of vacation was foreign to us.  Life simply moved in rhythmic symmetry with time and nature.  Rivers kept flowing.  Seasons kept coming back.  News of birth and death intermittently broke the rhythm into joy and sorrow.  But otherwise, one would be born, live, and die without knowing what change is.  What was, what is, and what will be had no element of surprise; one lived with the hope of a better chance in the next life.

My first journey outside the safety of my village nestled behind the

mountains was when I was 16 years old.  This was also the first time I had gotten in a bus or in any kind of automobiles for that matter. The excitement of traveling in a bus was soon replaced by a frightening terror when the bus made its downhill descent.  This fateful journey would eventually take me to New Delhi, to Haridwar, and to Rishikesh in North India before forcing me to return to the safety of my village in Nepal.  This journey not only took me out of my physical

surrounding; it also took me to a place in my mind from where life could be looked at from a different angle.  I began to wonder if life had more to offer than what my rural world had promised.  I had started that journey a month earlier as a seeking Hindu, but returned home an agnostic and possibly a wishing atheist as my fantasy world of Holy Places in India, where gods and goddesses made their abode, disastrously collapsed.    

This journey was a turning point in my life.  Within a year, my quest had led

me to a Bible and then on to Jesus Christ.  In two years’ time, I was a minister of the gospel.  Ever since then, life has become one big and never ending journey.  However, in this journey of life as a minister of the gospel, I had forgotten about myself and my family.  I got married; we had a son.  But it was all a part of the journey in the ministry of the gospel.  Whatever I did and wherever I went, ministry of the gospel took priority over myself, my wife and my son.  There were times I had forgotten

I had a family to feed and look after.  There came a time in life when I could not send my son to school for one whole year due to the lack of money to pay his school fees.  Yet, it never bothered me.  I thought I was doing right.  I was on a journey with Jesus.  I had no concept of holiday and vacation.  I can’t remember a week taking off from the ministry.  I had simply forgotten to live for myself and in the process, I had used my son’s childhood and my wife’s happiness in paying for this journey.

But in his divine grace and favor, he gave me a wife and a son who were

willing to lay down their happiness for my relentless pursuit of serving Jesus my Lord.  They never complained for anything.  In fact, they made their mission in life to look after me so that I would grow up into loving this life as I travel.  Once I remember my 8 years old boy telling (we were watching “The Green Mile”) me how he would make my grave just like the one we saw in that movie.  He was always worried he might lose his father.

On April 10, 2019, for the first time in my life, I took a different kind of journey with my wife.  It was a journey to be completely free from ministry activities for three weeks.  No Sunday preaching.  No weekly house fellowships and Bible studies.  No morning or evening prayer meetings to lead.  No appointments and deadlines.  Such a time was made possible by my son who invited us to come and stay with him in Seoul, Korea.  Three whole weekends were spent together with him being our guide.  During weekdays he went to work but

my wife and I would just wonder and discover new places.  We walked, watched movies and dramas, shopped, visited places, ate and slept until our bodies told us to get out of the bed.  It was a wonderful time of relaxation I had never experienced before.                    

We made great memories as a family.  Now I understand why people from all over the world come to Nepal and spent their precious earnings.  I also now know that even pastors and ministers of the gospel need vacation and family time without feeling guilty about it. 

I am grateful for my wife and son who always understood my inability to

take them on any holiday trips.  Whenever someone invited me to minister in a different place, I used to take them with me.  But it never felt like a holiday or a travel.  But this time, we were free from anyone controlling our calendar as my son made it possible for us to enjoy these three weeks.  Grateful to God for turning my little boy into a man in whose arms I can now lean on.