What gives

Last sunday I heard a beautiful testimony from a father(dad) at the church. It was an anecdote that touched my heart because I have observed a lot of well meaning believer parents mess up seriously. Apparently one day his son came up to them and asked them permission to play footballs on a sunday (It was practise session scheduled only on sunday).That seriously put them in a delimna because the son loved the game. If they said yes,it would mean that he would be putting the game before the Lord and if he said no he would hate the church. So the couple mentioned to the boy about the importance of putting the Lord first in every aspect of their life and asked him to participate in praying about it. Once prayed for, the parents told the boy that he could play football on a sunday but his parents would not be able to watch him play on most sundays and he would have to attend the church on sunday evenings to keep himself fed. He agreed and did just that. Two years down the line the s...

For a change I decided to make myself a shepherd's pie.The recipe was a little frightening but determined I stuck to it.There was lard to be used,butter generously,cheddar cheese on the top,potato ofcourse and the few vegetables with the mince.Even as I took the pie out of the oven and cut myself a piece I seriously wondered if I would have a heart attack? I never thought I was a health junkie but I realised I might just be one.

There were simple things that impressed Jesus during His ministry on earth, Faith of the centurian, Persistance of the syro-phoenician woman, Devotion of Mary, Commitment of the widow with a mite, Boldness of the bleeding woman , Foresight of Peter... Enlightening to note once more that,' from the heart comes the issues of life'. Sow wisely!

I speak in verses because verses dance, delight,sparkle, and startle you. Beautifully captivating, rejuvenating,awakening a part of you, which you never realised, had gone into a deep slumber. Hello,good to have you back!

In our church ,the call , in the course of the preaching is to 'die for christ'-nothing less. I was watching a movie on the life of apostle Paul the other day. I was struck by the fact that right from the day Paul was called by Christ into the ministry he was called to die.Unlike the other apostles who until the day of the Pentecost never fully understood the call,Paul knew what he was getting into. I was so touched by the movie,especially to note how eloquently Paul describes the 'Love of Christ'. 'Neither height nor depth........' Sometimes,I too get overwhelmed by this love for Christ,love for His children who are sold out to die for Him.....and then I wonder!is it normal to yearn with a deep yearning for a fellowship of such people...I keep hoping ,I keep yearning..pray it will be mine right here on earth...completely sold out to Christ-Am I? Amen.  

I followed the Boston drama in the television like I had not, since I think I was in college.It was sad seeing the two young kids in their multiple phases being changed into instruments of hate.I saw the jubilant college kids shouting USA!USA!after the second kid was caught.I saw the picture of the little kid standing by the marathon way-side before the blast took his life away.I also saw the little girl who lost her two limbs in the blast. In the desperation of it all,I saw humanity losing. There was no victory there ,there was only loss. In situations like this ,I hold on to prayers of Francis of Assisi which takes on a new meaning,' Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred let me bring your love. Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord And where there's doubt, true faith in you.  Oh, Master grant that I may never seek So much to be consoled as to console To be understood as to understand To be ...

I spent the day with an intelligent six year old today.I enjoy the company of children and am fascinated by the way they respond and react to situation.The other day my little friend told me,'you know my life is only just begun,I feel trapped inside myself and I will never be able to break free'.I was stunned speechless.This could only be thought insertion from somewhere so I talked to my friend and we scoured the exposures carefully and could not put our finger on where she could have picked up such a grave statement. This morning we decided to be children and carefully planned our day accordingly.We spent the morning painting pictures after which as the sun rose we went to the garden to discover different wild flowers of all colours in different parts which had sprung up,thanks to the spring.The daffodils took the cake ,flashing,pretty and very much' Wordsworthian'. Stella ,her toy cat ,had quite a bit of hiding to do even as we searched the gardens for her in turn...

Vicky Tiberio's heart was running all over the place.He had an intractable ventricular tachycardia.He had an Intracardiac defibrillator in place but the device had gone haywire it seemed.He was brought in with a history of collapse with a very poor cardiac function,The doctor saw him ,tried his best to do what he could do and ultimately had to call the nearest of kin and let them know that it was a lost case.They gave him five hours. One by one all the family members came to bid him goodbye,it was done with a lot of sadness and good humour.Even the tiniest member of the family had a voice that was heard about the decisions regarding the last hours. The next morning,twelve hours later ,his heart beat was back to normal and he was weak but still very much alive. He had a grouche against his wife though.She had not supported Arsenal ,his favourite football team, in the previous night's match. His family members walked in one by one,giving him updates about the match from vari...

London is showing it's true colours.The sun has started playing hide and seek with us.I walked back at eight thirty after my duty to a confused twilight sky which had never quite looked like it.It was like the night sky in my camelin water colour canvas,angry,beautiful with spots of cloud grey and confused, pushing aside the streaks of the daylight sun which was out to outdo the night for some extra time.I took out my mobile and captured it and shared it with my friends. It was a strange day indeed.A man in his seventy revisitng the trauma of the second world war-living mementoes of man losing reason.More than fifty years later he remembers the events with tears in his eyes.It is never too old, is it? .A youth,out in the trenches running for cover, away from the booming of the gun and death with his legless best friend held in his arm,reached the safety of his allies rescue troop only to realise that his friend had long been gone. He wept bitterly even as he recollected ho...

My dad and mom is visiting my sister in Australia.My dad's younger sister who's widowed recently is accompanying them.This is their first visit to their daughter's in Sydney.Every step of the way arrangements were made for pick ups and things like that because all of us were extremely anxious about the long flights they were to take. My sister who went to the airport to pick them up was looking through the glass ,anxious even as they landed in Delhi.She was extremely touched to see my aunty marching ahead with the luggages and my dad catching my mom's hand and leading her with her handbag on his shoulder.My father is 84 years old and my mom must be 78.My aunt must be touching 70. My parent's have never been the demonstrative kind but as they get older, all of us get to see glimpses of heaven in the relationship they have with each other. My favourite story is the one my 'man of few words ',brother shared with us. My mom had gone to be with my sister for...

We have this tuck shop at the side of the entrance of the hospital.To me the value of the shop lay in the 50 pence pens one can hastily dive into on a busy day when one cannot find one's pen for the fiftieth time in a  month. The other day,after five months in the trust I took some time to read the writing at the entrance.The shop belonged to WVRS,another abbreviation in a market place of abbreviations one is forever trying to decipher in the United Kingdoms. It is not that I haven't scoured the shop I have,and it actually frightens me. It has variety of sweetmeats,cakes,biscuits,fizzy drinks,chips,fries,ice-creams,host of feel good romance novels,dailymails with local news...anything and everything I would normally run ten miles away from. The other day I googled WVRS and guess what it stands for?-Women's royal volumtary services-and it works towards making life easier for the older people. Now that was something that was very close to my heart. So the n...

Tomorrow could be the last day of living off rack soups,apple crumble and canteen pannini.Perhaps I will make it to the market on saturday. Anyways,what do I normally eat.A full meal consists of baked potatoes and chicken drumsticks with a readymade sauce.To make me feel better I push in a few green leaves on the top.The reason I eat this meal is because all you need to do is put the ingrediants on the baking tray and forget about them. In the mean time my mind wonders all over the place. Do I cook rice?Very seldom because when I do I have to start worrying about the curry,dal....and it goes on. For instance today I forgot to eat my breakfast,did not have the time to eat my lunch and did not have the time to think about tea.The morning cup was what kept me going.At the end of the day I dragged myself to the canteen and ordered a takeaway of fish pie,mash and vegetables and picked a couple of oranges to quieten my conscience.Eversince I have come to England I have become an avid te...

She was my last but one patient.Was born tomorrow in 1935.She was smoking away like a chimney. Brought in by her daughter for apparent confusion for the past four days,had apparently cleared this morning but the GP had sent her anyways because she was often found walking around with a saturation of 75. She had home nebulisors and LTOT but she had packed it in, into the garage.The daughter was petrified because she had this habit of smoking next to the oxygen cylinder.None of her kids had picked up her habit.She had lost her husband to cancer some five years back. I was, as usual trying to asses her orientation and she seemed to be as clear as can be. She scored a ten out of ten in her abbreviated mental test. When I asked her the dates of the second world war she told me she was four when the war began. When I asked her the date of the first,she suddenly remembered watching a movie of the first world war when there was a ceasefire for the christmas day, how England and Germany h...