5 Yrs Ago Today: How Eating Live Ants Got Me Surrounded by 25,000 Indians

As he cut open the fruit he had bought specifically for our team, ants began to pour out of it.

Our team of 4 (Hal, Brittany, Shannon and I) had been in the Southernmost part of India for a week trying to help the local team prepare for large Crown events in Tamil Nadu. It was going amazingly well despite our baggage being delayed for 6 days. We were staying in a “hotel” on the beach for $4/night (breakfast included).

We had hired a local driver (Baacha) who knew 10 words in English, but would say them in different ways with different inflections to communicate. We all instantaneously liked that guy. There was a lot of pointing.

One of our contacts introduced us to a businessman named Babu.

Yep. Babu.

Our contact told us we should help Babu and he would help us promote the upcoming Crown events. So we left Baacha behind and piled into the car with Babu. He took us around to meet with some influential pastors. While we were driving he asked us what we liked about India. Brittany had been to India before and she mentioned that the previous time she was introduced to a special kind of fruit. I didn’t think anything of it at the time…

As the day drew to a close, Babu invited us to his home for dinner to meet his family. As we walked in the door, I still remember being caught off guard by a 3×5 foot framed photograph of Babu hanging over the couch in the living room.

His wife had prepared us an incredible meal which we devoured. Then came dessert.

With great pride in his mischievous smile, Babu pulled out the specialty fruit that Brittany had mentioned earlier in the day! The fruit wasn’t even in season, so he had to send someone far away to bring it back for us. His eyes danced with delight as he placed the fruit in front of us and pulled out a knife.

As he cut open the fruit, ants began to pour out of it.

He apologized, brushed as many of the crawling ants as he could away, then handed us the fruit. At this point the ants were all over the table, plates and cups. It was pretty unnerving.

Being the fearless leader and not wanting to disappoint our host who had gone to great lengths to get the fruit, I picked up a piece, brushed off some more of the ants, and gulped it down. Surprisingly, each of the other team members followed suit! I was so proud of them!!! At this point we had no idea the “fruit” this experience would yield.

The next morning, happy to not be sick, we were fetched early by Babu, who seemed excited.

“There’s a gathering of some people,” he said. “I want to see if we might be able to tell them about the Crown events.”

We said we were up for anything and began a trip that we knew neither the length or the destination (this is fairly typical, but it can be tough to get used to). The trip ended up being 2-hours to a little town called Nalumavadi.

Our legs were happy to be out of the car, and after stretching them, we entered a medium-sized maroon colored church building that was completely empty. There was a big banner declaring “Jesus Redeems” under what I could only guess were larger letters saying the same thing in Tamil. I was kind of wondering where this “gathering of some people” was, and if it was worth a 2-hr trip into the middle of nowhere.

Babu said he was going to check to see if he could give us a chance to give an announcement at the “gathering”. I wanted to stop him and ask, what gathering? but he had already disapeared. Gone for what felt like forever, he came back with a smile that took up his entire face.

“We got it!” he exclaimed. “You have 20 minutes to tell them about Crown!!!”

It was hard not to get caught up in his contagious excitement, though I did stop him.

“Where are the people?” I asked. “How many will there be?”

“Follow me, I will show you.”

“Babu, how many people?”

“A little over 25,000,” he said.

Babu’s English wasn’t exactly what one would call “fluent” so I quickly assumed he was mistaken. I decided to stop asking questions and follow him.

We walked through a door at the back of the church and into a garden of sorts. All of a sudden I started to see them. There were people everywhere.

Too many to count!

Huge by itself but dwarfed by the people surrounding it was the largest thatch roof I’d ever seen in my life. It had to be a 200 yards wide and at least 100 yards deep. People were sitting on the dirt under it; they were sitting on the grass outside of it; they were sitting everywhere!

It turns out there was a well known evangelist named Bro. Mohan C. Lazarus (click here for a short video about him) who would gather people once a month for a prayer and fasting event. It was on the stage of this event that I found myself standing, barefoot (tip: you never where shoes on a “holy” platform in India) speaking for 20 minutes about how God is the owner and we are managers of what He has entrusted to us. I asked them to pray for our events and to encourage their pastors and business leaders to attend.

Then they prayed for us. 25,000 people. Wow. 5 years ago this exact day.

I’ll probably never know whether us eating the live ants had anything to do with us getting that opportunity. Maybe Babu fought a little harder for the opportunity, maybe we would have got the chance either way. What I do know is that when you honor, love and truly care for people, they often fight alongside you.