Tuesday, August 29th | Remembering Edith Franklin Shah (pt.2)

INTRO MUSIC And you guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online, leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you get your podcast and content from.

We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. And today's first of the day is coming to us from Matthew chapter six and verse one. Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them.

Otherwise, you have no reward from your father in heaven. So I need to hide every good thing that I do, like a ninja. Do it, do it like in the sewers almost. Like do it like Team Rocket. Undercover of night.

Team Rocket style, where you do a good deed and then you watch like Batman from, from the rooftop. Oh, see, really, what I was just gonna say is I'm going to put on a cowlike Batman. So my identity is hidden. Yeah, you know, of course, what this verse is saying is, you know, check your motivation. It's not a bad thing if people see you doing something good. But is that why you're doing the good thing? Why is it that you're going out of your way to help someone? Why are you showing the love of Christ?

Is it so that you can be obedient to God and the life that he's called you to live as a believer and so that you can extend his love to other people? Then great. Yeah. But if it's so you can receive praise from other people, that well, then you got your award. That's it.

That's right. You know, spiritual leaders, there's, there's lots of advantages from your people seeing you do good deeds and because it builds loyalty, build support, it builds trust. So it's not like you have to do everything in secret. It's saying that understand what your, like you said, what's your reward?

What's your motivation? Because it says otherwise you have no reward from your father in heaven. There'll come a point where God is like, Hey, listen, you got your reward for that good deed.

I'm not going to give you my grace. I'm not going to give you your, your blessings for that because you already got what you were. Yeah.

You weren't after that in the first place. Yeah. We're square. And I don't want to get to a place where I'm square with God. Oh goodness.

No. Well on today's episode, Dr. Shah is of course back with us. We are so excited to have him back both here in the studio and here period in general.

But we're going to continue talking about his time over in India with his mom's passing and the events surrounding that. If you guys have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to two five two five eight two five zero two eight or visit us online at cleary today show.com. Stay tuned.

We'll be right back. Hey everyone, my name's Ellie and I'm David. We want to take a minute and let you know how we can actually serve you as you're listening to Clearview today. The Bible paints an extraordinary picture of who we are as a church body. The mission of Clearview church is to lead all people into a life changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

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You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clearview today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at Clearview todayshow.com or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at two five two five eight two five zero two eight.

That's right. If today's your first time ever joining us on the Clearview Today Show, we want to welcome you, let you know exactly who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadan Shah is a Ph.D. in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full time pastor and the host of today's show.

You can find all of his work on his website. That's AbbadanShah.com. That's right, Dr. Shah. We are continuing on today's episode to talk about your mom and kind of her impact and her legacy with the recent baby. You're tuning in for the first time. Dr. Shah's mom, unfortunately, recently passed away and we're spending some time on the show just devoted to her life and her impact and the role that she played in the formation of who you are and where you are today.

Absolutely. Well, last episode, we kind of talked about the journey from when I found out my mom was critically ill to getting on the plane with all the struggles with the emergency visa and then getting there, driving all night and then seeing her in that stage and spending maybe altogether six, seven hours, not like nonstop because we had to go away, come back, go away, come back. And then on Wednesday, I believe somewhere, whether when she was leaving the hospital or in transit to the other hospital or when we got to the other hospital, we don't know where that she went on into heaven.

And then began the process of taking her home. I never imagined I would actually be one of the stretcher holders to carry her into the ambulance, out of the hospital. All these people are watching me. I'm like, this is so surreal. Somebody needs to video this out of body experience almost. Is this really happening?

Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, I'll carry her. So I'm holding one of the other brothers holding somebody else. And one of the hospital attendants is holding the fourth handle and put her in the ambulance, taking her home because over there, no funeral homes.

So this is, you take her home, bathe the body, prepare the body for viewing and all that is done like that. And so when we put the body inside that ambulance, which is not a medical ambulance, it's more like ambulance to carry bodies wherever they need to go. And so like, who's going to ride? I'm like, I'll ride. And so you can ride up front or you can sit in the back.

I said, I'm sitting in the back. So I sat in the back with my mom's body. And again, I was like, this is surreal. This is, this is a dream. And it just, I thought about it as I, as we were driving down this road, some of the things were familiar than some of the new roads that this guy took us down. I was thinking that this is my mom. She brought me home from the hospital and here I'm taking her home from the hospital. Wow.

To an unknown place. And so it was, it was very touching. It was very, in a sense, traumatic, but not a bad trauma. It was just hit me in the face that this is real life.

And it was just, I did get emotional a couple of times, but I was like, no, I'm not going to get into, not going to start thinking, you know, when you start thinking, which is part of grief, but then you almost overthink to make yourself cry. I'm like, I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to take it as this is her body. One day this will come back to life. Remember, it's not some ethereal body that's coming. This is the same body. It's going to come back to life, albeit glorified. Remember we had a series of messages on that. So I, you know, at one point her, I had to put her hand, can I brace it a little bit?

Because you know, the jerks and the motions of the ambulance had to do that. I was like, wow, I'm touching a body that's no longer has life in it, but it will one day come to life. Yeah. And I think about that too.

Like how many people in India truly have that hope? Yeah. No, they don't.

Yeah. I mean, many have a very unbiblical concept, unreal concept. I mean, they talk about, not everybody does, but many talk about the, what do you call the circle of life or reincarnation, things like that. And, and no, there's no reincarnation. We don't have to do life again.

I think that's the thing is like, as I'm hearing this story, I'm trying to contextualize it for myself. Cause with us, it is like you go to the funeral and you're at the graveside and you said, well, you know, one day we're going to see her again. She's coming back and you're like, yeah, I know it. I know it.

But over there, it's like, what are you talking about? No, it's done. It's done. Or, you know, you go through the circle of life or go through reincarnations until you're one with the Rama you're gone. You're, you're just merged into this oneness.

And here, I didn't have that problem. I know for a fact, I have a solid assurance that she's okay. That's right. The immaterial part of her is with our savior. Jesus Christ is in the presence of God is with her loved ones in Christ is with her mom and her dad, her mom, Rebecca Franklin, her dad, Thomas Franklin.

And of course my dad she's with them. That's right. But we have to go through this process now.

Yeah. And so we got to the home again. I'm one of the ones holding stretcher, bringing her in and my sister's standing at the door and she starts crying. And I told her, I said, it'll be okay. It'll be okay.

I said, you can cry, grieve all you want to just because I'm not crying doesn't mean you can't keep crying. And they brought her later on the bed and some of the ladies came to help with the body and all that. But anyways it was tough. And then that day about three families from the church came in, they sat up all night. That's what they do. Now we used to do that here, right?

In America, in the West, you know, they would have a wake, but this was the wake. So I sat there until like 11, 30, 12, one. And then they told me, why don't you go to bed? Why don't you rest?

We're sitting up so you don't have to. And so they went to, they sat, talked with each other, the ladies did, and the men sort of rested a little bit. And then my sister rested a little bit.

By six, six, 30, my alarm went off. So I slept maybe two hours at night. I mean, how can you sleep?

Yeah, it's difficult. I just, I love the picture that you've been painting of this, of this family and these people who've come alongside and who are, we're staying up so you don't have to. Why don't you go rest? Why don't you, I mean, just, just these people who came alongside to support and care and, and just be there.

I mean, just, just to help you and your sister walk through difficult moments. It's fun to think of places like that in like the Bollywood type where it's really colorful and there's the bright music and there's the dancing and there's the, and I'm sure all that place there, but without Christ, it's a very dark place. It's empty. It's hopeless.

It's very dark. It's dismal. It's sorrowful.

I don't know how many more adjectives I can add to that. It's, it's painful to watch how people grieve. You know, Paul talks about this in first Thessalonians chapter four, verse 13. He said, but I do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. So yes, we sorrow, but we don't sorrow as those who have no hope.

I was in deep sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. That's right. That's right. So next morning I woke up and two hours of sleep got ready. People left so we can have some privacy and I'm walking through the house and there's moms that they have this, this, this, um, thing, uh, which is air conditioned in which they put the body.

And there's my sister getting ready and here I am and there's mom's body. I'm like this. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

This is, this is it. So then about nine o'clock the people came ready to take the body to the church church yard is where they do some, kind of a funeral service, say a few words. And so I'm in my room getting some words together. I was not going to speak for long, maybe five, seven minutes.

So I'm kind of getting some scriptures together, some thoughts together. I wear my Apple watch. All of a sudden it comes up.

Heart rate is critical. Really? Yeah. So I'm like, huh? What? So I just click and move on.

I think maybe it was just something crazy. Cause I don't feel any different. I'm you know, of course that's happening. And here I am getting my stuff ready, calculating or calibrating or whatever it says. It's going to check my heartbeat again. 124. But you didn't feel like you didn't feel no. And I'm over there doing this stuff.

127 calculating. And I'm like, am I going to have a heart attack here? See what had happened was what happens to us is when we're in a situation like that, we don't realize what stress can do already.

I'm operating on heavy stress from the week, then the travel, then sleeplessness and then death. And then riding in that all of this, I'm thinking I'm good. Many times we think we're good, no problem.

I'm good. I can take this on, but my body is telling me something completely different. So up here, I'm like, okay, I'm fine.

I'm like this, this is calculating 129. I said, okay, I need to let somebody else know. So one of the sisters husband works in the medical field. The same guy who took me to get the second opinion was there the whole time. I said to him, I said, look, I don't know what's happening, but my heart rate is jumping up. He said, really? I said, yes. I said, keep an eye on me. He said, if you start feeling uneasy, if you start feeling, you immediately tell me. So in a moment of pull myself up and do this funeral and do this now I'm concerned about myself.

I'm going, I don't know. So I first took the watch off. I was like, I know more calibrating. I can't have you beeping. I think you're driving up. I don't see the number. I'll be, I'll be all right.

At least I actually took it. I'll put it in my pocket. And then I told another, another brother, I said, look, just keep an eye on me. Just be near me. Just in case.

I said, I don't want to pull a quick one there. A fast one, please be there. He said, no problem.

I'll be right there. He was right there the whole time. And time to time, he looked at me and I was like, I'm okay. And so we got to the church, did the little service. I spoke a few words and we headed to the graveyard and spoke there as well, just for a few minutes.

And it was not a lot of people, but a lot of people we knew were there. So it was a, it was a good service. So I was very grateful once the funeral service was done. It was almost a sigh of relief.

And I put on my watch at that time and it was like 89. I'm like, thank you. Okay.

Okay. Back in the normal realm. What day of the week was the funeral? It was on a Wednesday.

I'm sorry. Wait, wait, wait. It was on Thursday. Yeah.

That's almost, that was a solid week in two days of nothing but pressure. So now once the funeral is over, it's like, well, now you can, you can afford to breathe. Yeah. Wow.

That's incredible. So that, that's, that was my trip. And then the next day, actually, we had to go back to the graveyard, you know, the third day of the, since the funeral. So all that stuff and day after my, I told my sister, one of the brothers said, Hey, we have a car here.

If you want to go somewhere just to get away for a day, we have a driver, just do it. So I asked my sister, I said, what do you think if we go to the Ajanta caves, these were caves carved into this horseshoe shaped mountain, 200 BC to 200 AD. And then again in the fourth century AD, the, the, these Buddhist monks carved these massive halls and stupas and statues and everything inside this, this horseshoe wall, a mountain in the Deccan plateau.

Like, imagine Mount Rushmore, but just the way the insides of the caves, imagine Mount Rushmore, but about a hundred times more. Wow. That's incredible.

We talked about them on the show before. I think you've mentioned them in your sermons as well, but knowing that it's all carved out of stone, like it's, it's all... It's astonishing. I mean, just looking at it, it's, it's breathtaking.

Yeah. So we got away just to give our minds and our bodies some rest. And it was a great day.

The whole day spent doing that was, was a blessing. But we talked about mom. We talked about her life and her legacy. Mom came from a Christian home. Her mom and dad, Thomas and Rebecca Franklin raised her in a good Christian home. She, my grandfather, Thomas Franklin was in the railways and we, we found some certificates that Libna gave to me of his commendations and things like that. I brought them back with me here.

Nice. Cause I'm working on a book on my dad's biography and my mom's story as well. So she grew up in a very, not a wealthy home, but a very upper middle-class home. So had all the amenities of life, had servants in the home, taking care of the garden, the dishes, the clothes, whatever they needed.

It was there. And then my dad came to that church. Remember my grandfather sent in for a preacher to come, a pastor to come to be their pastor.

My dad was the one who sacrificed, right? He, instead of going to the big church, he came to this little church in, in Basavo. And that's where my mom and dad met. And it was, I believe it was after they were married. I may be wrong, maybe before they got married, but he led her to the Lord. She was not as spiritually minded. She was in a Christian home you can say, but not as spiritually minded. My dad led her to the Lord and they got, they got married. And then after that, her family moved away back to their hometown, like her mom and dad. And her father, Thomas Franklin, actually didn't want my mom to marry my dad.

Because he knew what a preacher's family can be, you know, how hard it is financially and, and socially and all of that. So he actually said no to my dad when he asked, yikes, oops. He's like, no, I don't want my daughter to go through that. And then my grandmother put pressure on my grandfather to say yes.

And he finally did. And this is going back in the early sixties. So different world. And they agreed. And so this girl who grew up in a bungalow, right? This was a railway bungalow with servants all around, moved into this little tiny apartment with this Muslim convert with one room. And it was pretty nasty.

My dad talks about it in his testimony. So going from this bungalow to this hutment, almost what it looked like. That's not fun. Yeah. I can imagine.

She's like, I really love you, buddy. I really, I'm really making a sacrifice for you. We've never met. We never got the chance to meet either of your parents in person, but at least with your dad, we saw videos of him. We saw him preaching. I listened to, you know, you were able to go back and film with him, get his testimony.

And so we were able to see at least somewhat see his personality come through in those videos and his preaching. What was your mom like? My mom was a very, very intelligent woman.

Very intelligent. She had her bachelor's. She had a master's in education. She went to the teaching line. She, she retired as a headmistress of a public school, which had two locations.

One was in the downtown area. One was in the outskirts and she was managing both schools. She had to go between them. There was like a car, a Jeep that they had that she had. That's, that's my mom. But growing up, she was his mom and very intelligent woman, very sharp. Like my dad would be like, okay, whatever.

My mom, what was that again? She would pick up on things. Sometimes I get that and I'm like, Oh, so, um, that's, that's how she was a very, um, how do I say it?

Spiritually minded person, very prayerful. Uh, she would pray every night. That was the last thing she did usually because she would get up at five o'clock in the morning to be able to leave for school by six 30 in the morning to be at school by seven. So morning devotions were impossible since you were doing the evening and that was the last thing she would do.

Usually starting at like nine 30, 10 o'clock at night. And then she would start dozing off during her devotion devotions. And then, but if you wake her up, it was bad news. She would get upset. She got upset with my dad many, many times with me because my dad would say, why don't you go to bed?

Why you do this is the only time that day I get to my devotions and, and you always disturb me. If we kids did that, she would all let us have it. It was bad news. There's a video I saw that you brought home from India one time, years and years and years ago you brought the video, but I saw it recently where your dad had a hat on and you were filming your dad. I don't know what year this must've been. Your kids were really small.

This is 2000, 23 years ago. But your dad had a hat on and he just turned it backwards. And for some reason he thought it was the funniest thing ever. He was like, like, I'm going to try to find the video. Mike can put it in here. I don't know if I can, but like it's pretty, that's pretty normal.

The joy on his face. Yeah, my hat's backwards. And your mom like, why, why, why would you do this? She always called him pastor by the way. Really? Yeah. She always called him, cause he was, he was her pastor. So always started that way for a couple of years. So when they got married, it didn't change to Paul. It was pastor.

He was pastor. Yeah. Wow.

So kind of weird. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. They were, they were a team. They loved each other. They sacrificed on many levels. They sacrificed for us kids. Many times my dad could have moved somewhere else, but my mom and dad would often talk about the benefits in living there in a small town.

When I say small town, it's a couple hundred thousand people, but living in a small town in a, going to that private school, Catholic school where I got some very rigorous training. That was a big reason. They didn't want to move. And then just being able to inculcate in us Christian values, they felt like this is the place and not moving to Bombay or Pune or some, some Calcutta some cause he got calls from there to be the pastor.

He turned them down every time. It's like, no, we're, we're, we're good here. Nicole told me that your mom was extremely quick witted, very, very clever. Like, like in her, in her humor. Yeah. Really, really kind of wish she, she knew how to call out people who were posers or trying to pretend something like if somebody started talking in lofty terms about God and spiritual and they were really not that my mom would start making faces there calling people out.

It was not a problem for her. And but very strong willed, very wise, like, like the, let me just say this, the concepts of tithing, sitting down and talking to me and saying, son, no matter how old you get, always tithe, always give to the Lord tithes and offerings go above and beyond. And so growing up, I was always in that mindset to do that. Always keep God first.

Don't let anything or anyone come before your relationship with Christ. Those are, and she led me to the Lord at four years of age. It was my mom. Yeah. She, she taught me English.

She took care of me physically. Like there was a time kind of funny story where you know, brushing your teeth, there was this, this powder that came out and everybody was brushing with that powder. Oh, our teeth are looking white as snow.

What didn't realize is those teeth were being filed down. Yes. You told me the story. Yes.

Vico Vajradhanti. So once my mom found it, I said like, Oh no. She immediately stopped that. And then she brushed my teeth with her finger for a good year and a half just to reposition my teeth. So I never had braces. Wow.

Wow. She would do things and highly educated. So they would research and make sure everything was right. And so things like that they did for me that I will never forget. I was being bullied at one time. They came in, my mom did not rest until that was taken care of. Was a teacher who was doing that actually. Wow.

Yeah. So I couldn't ask for a better mom. She loved all of her kids. Like Libna, when my sister was being born, she had fluid in her lungs. My mom had fluid in her lungs and so had to be admitted in the hospital. Long story short, when it came time to drain the fluid, the doctors told my mom and dad that if we put you under anesthesia, it's not going to be good for the baby. Already that hospital in this rural town has flashed you enough with x-rays that we don't even know what's happening.

So we're not even sure if the baby is just a mass or is a baby. But now if we put anesthesia, she will die. But hey, we'll do whatever you say. So my mom let them drill from her side without any pain medication. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't even like shots. No, not at all.

I don't even like to get my booster shot. Yeah. So to be cut open and drilled and put a tube through you while you are wide awake.

I don't know. That's a whole different caliber of woman. And how they say they don't make them like that anymore. That's exactly right. That's my mom.

Wow. And you know, my sister, she's doing fine. So that's how far she was willing to go. Always willing to help us, take care of us, sacrifice for the church, whatever need done, sweep the church.

If the sweeper hasn't come or the cleaners haven't come, she'd be the one doing it. Just so much above and beyond grateful for this person that I know as my mom. Amen. That's so beautiful. Thank you for sharing your mom with us.

What a special time to get to hear you and get to know her a little bit through your eyes. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. Or you can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. And don't forget, you can partner with us financially on that same website. Scroll to the bottom, click that donate now button and join with a Clear View Today show of family and impacting the nations with the gospel of Jesus. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clear View Today.