If you haven't noticed by now, I'm big on perspective. I literally have a trilogy (more like dream rn...? XD) called "The Perspectives Trilogy."
Perspective changes everything - your entire outlook, your entire future, your entire path.
It can have a hugely positive influence on your life, or a hugely negative influence. It can mean life, or death. Literally.
So for me to think perspective is crucially important and needed in everyone's walk in life, I wouldn't be that crazy, would I?
Hopefully you said no and are still going to read this post, because I hope this article, this sharing what I learned from the insane life of an Indian Sadhu, will hopefully give you a little perspective. And, like I said, it's perspective that's important.
First, Who Is Sundar Singh?
Sundar Sign is, simply put, an Indian Hindu who converted to Christianity after receiving a vision from God, and then went on to cross the Himalayas barefoot multiple times in his coming years of serving and preaching to the people God placed around him.
I know, already a pretty amazing dude. Like, he walked barefoot over the Himalayas!
And that wasn't all he did. He survived death on numerous occasions - one time waking up to find that people had already held a memorial for him and literally thought he was dead. And he faced persecution - brutal persecution - from both the people he was trying to reach, and his very own family.
But if that was all he did, he would just be an average person. It was his incredible walk with God and the closeness that they shared that made him stand out among so many - just because he loved God so desperately!
19th century Paul award would definitely go to him.
His Perspective
The way he looked at life was made crystal clear when he came to America. He said that no wonder Americans had such shallow relationships with God.
It was too easy.
It was so easy for Americans to say they were Christians, that many of them weren't.
For Sundar, nothing was easy. Nothing was comfortable. Nothing was "nice" or "good" in our definitions.
But in his definitions, he was far more lucky than the Americans who had fake relationships with their Savior.
He saw God as the most dear and precious treasure and friend that anyone could ever have, and lived every single second of life with that truth controlling his actions. He had such a close relationship with God that when people threw stones and sticks, he prayed and praised God.
His perspective was constant joy. Constant thankfulness. And constant awareness of how much he had been blessed with just the ability to have a relationship with the King of the universe.
Earlier I said perspective can mean either life or death, literally, because, for Sundar, it did.
On one of his trips through the Himalayas, he was traveling with another native traveler. As they came around a bend, Sundar saw a man that had fallen down a ravine, and instantly wanted to rescue him. The traveler warned him that if he took the time to rescue that possibly already dead man, Sundar wouldn't make it to the next village before nightfall.
Aware of the risk, Sundar climbed down the ravine, put the man on his back, and continued on toward the village. Just as he got to the village, he passed his former traveling partner, frozen solid within sight of the village.
Sundar realized that if he hadn't had the extra exertion from rescuing the man and having his body heat, he would have died too.
So his perspective literally saved his life.
How Reading About Him Gave Me Perspective
The first time I read his biography (the YWAM one) was a couple years ago for school, but more recently we listened to it on the way back from our beach vacation.
What was amazing about that was that I got to hear my dad's reactions to all the different things Sundar went through, which reassured me that I'm not the only one that thinks he's for-real crazy for Jesus!
A couple days after we got home and had finished the audiobook, my sister and I were out walking, and I think I was complaining about the cold weather or that we had to be back from the beach. She was kinda agreeing, but then stopped and said something along these lines -
"I feel so selfish, complaining about being back from a vacation when Sundar gave thanks as people threw rocks at him and locked him in wells to die."
And how true is that.
We have so so much - I don't see any of you walking over the Himalayas barefoot - and yet we complain and grumble. Our hearts are so full of what we want and what we need that there's no room for any thankfulness, or any joy.
But listening to Sundar's story really puts into perspective that we have so much to be thankful for. We have so much... period.
We doubt God and question him, when if we had thanked Him and rejoiced in who He is, not who we are, our hearts would be so much more full.
As Amy Charmichael said, "A cup full of sweetness cannot spill even a drop of bitter water, no matter how suddenly jarred."
If we looked to Jesus Christ and filled our hearts with His goodness and His faithfulness and His mercy, wouldn't our hearts be filled with so much more than if we filled them with the things of this world?
And if we choose to take a minute to put things in perspective, see things from a different angle - a higher angle - don't you think your life would be that much sweeter?
In The End
Sundar Singh taught me perspective, and that a shorter life walked close to our Savior is far better than a longer life far from him. And that in any circumstance you go through, at least you're not walking the Himalayas barefoot, and at most, you have the King of the world by your side.
I was going to title this post What Sundar Singh Taught Me About Thankfulness but then realized that your perspective directly influences your thankfulness and joy. And a right perspective can fill you with so much joy and sweetness that no matter how suddenly jarred, you won't spill a single drop of bitter water.