What gives

The count down begins post a day after Christmas.I am 'Christmassed in' in Ashford because the public transports are not functioning this week.It has been a deeply calming christmas though.Was on call on christmas eve.A few hours before I actually went in for the duty at nine I felt a deep sense of calm and I knew that everything would be allright.I saw and felt the grace of God in bits and pieces of sunshine in the eve celebrated as Christ's birth.I felt covered by His grace and so it has been all this time post-christmas.Some things are beyond explanation and at this phase of my life I find myself bathed in His grace,perhaps it is the prayer of the believers. Some things that brought a deep sense of joy in my heart was to see a daughter and a son (perhaps with families of their own )sit by a sick father's bed-side all through the night.I saw a daughter never leave a mother's side through the twelve hour wait in the corrider and further more just sat by the bedsid...

This Christmas has been a thoughtful one.I am on duty on Christmas Eve. This Christmas strangely ,the book of Hosea has been a predominant theme in my personal promptings.One morning as I lay in bed,God's sigh to Ephraim became mine. The book of Hosea is a picture of a God, who pursues us inspite of our waywardness and callousness.The love that the Lord has for Ephraim is a sigh that was manifest in Christmas and later in easter.Our God who loved us so much that He paid both side of the bargain to restore us to Him. To those of us who are not familiar with the book of Hosea in the old testament,Hosea is an old testament prophet who is instructed by the Lord to marry a wayward,promiscous and unfaithful woman.He obeys and marries her but she leaves him and finds another man. However God instructs him to accept her back and he obeys again,is faithful,finds her redeems her and brings her back to Him. It is analogy of God's love for His people manifest in Christmas and easter ,...

I was watching a movie about Austria around the time of second world war made from the point of view of a Jewish girl and the feeling seemed familiar.The same strife goes on today in veneers of sophistication ,coated in different colours.Ask me ,I know what it feels like to be a minority. I am a woman from India,single,belong to a tribe of people from a state of Sikkim,who were the original inhabitants and yet have become the 'vanishing tribe' as one author puts it and to top it I am a mixed breed or as one of my friends often used to tease me half breed with my root in three main comunities of Sikkim.Even to a Sikkimese we present a strange picture.I am a christian to boot.That confuses a person from Sikkim even more.How come ?They inadvertantly ask,in a state, where we number 0.6% of the already scanty population.I think I might be one of the two people from my organisation to come from my state and perhaps the only doctor. At the moment in UK everywhere I go people have ne...

Attended the hiisong carol service in London. It was in SSE arena in Wembley.The morning service was the only one with any space and it was packed to the hilt. The O'Holy night,the moment when Jesus' birthplace was sighted by three wisemen and when Pastor Gary stroddled out to share the message of Christmas,the message of Hope ...was the highlight for me.

SSA arena has a seating capacity of 12500.This was the only carol service which had some space,there were two more at three and seven at night which were capacity so I booked it.I had some doubts in the morning but since I had to attend a church service somewhere I just bucked myself and went for it.Thank God I did. It was a spectacular show of talent by the youngsters with a lot of poignant moments in between. When one of the lady singers lead the 'O'Holy night' one could just feel the movement of the spirit,it was powerful! In between the grandiose and spectacular show of lights and the technical glitz of a first world stage which just overpowers one in terms of light and sound ,it was reassuring to see pastor Gary stroddle out in his semi casual attire to do some straight talk in his 'australian' accent( I only noticed it today).He shared the Christmas message,the message of Christ,the message of Hope.The moment when the three wiseman see the birthplace of Jes...

Someone has a deadline A terminal disease I am told. He winks at me and tells me plain till christmas he should hold. Another daughter looks at her mother in total frustration tripple dementia,all downhill will be her christmas spoiler. Everything is normal,Ofcourse it is one never hears of it but for the frantic call from abroad asking for your safety, The news is a disaster overdosing on negative feeds a sure recipe for clinical depression, so now I just follow Ranveer Singh. Talking of Ranveer,he was in the airport Mobbed by 'the classic Indian pesterer'..... He looked like he could sock the guys, He clenched a toothy pose with them instead. Weather forecast said snow in kent. It's snowing allright on the rooftops,cars, the children sleighing on the ground In the television in Kent.

Today the preaching was on the ten virgins,five with and five without oil. The Jewish tradition of marriage goes something like this. The groom travels to the bride's house where they have the main ceremony and then they wend their way back to the groom's house .However there is no telling how long it is going to be before they return with the bride.So the people at the groom's house have a long wait.In the parable we see them returning at midnight.One can visualise in the mind's eye the tiredness of the groom's family awaiting the arrival of the groom with the bride.The ten virgin's are likewise awaiting the groom ,five are actually ready with the oil in their lamps full whereas five are not. One can imagine when the groom comes back all of them fumbling to receive him ,out of their slumber.The one's who have oil will light their lamps and happily go forward to greet the groom but the ones who do not have the oil will be begging the ones who are ready bu...

'You shall know the truth and truth shall set you free.'(John 8 vs 32) I remember the first few week into my job I met a second generation indian foundation year student.As I got talking she suddenly blurted out that she was from a hindu background in Gujarat but she was a christian and had accepted Christ as her Lord and savior. I was taken aback because west is not necessarily conducive with a roaring evangelical bent,especially in England, where people are by nature 'stiff upper lip'.However,though believing christians are few and far between they are comitted,now only if they would open up a bit more!,love a little more. She further added that she reads her bible everyday and prays.I asked her why? She told me in so many words,'Because it is the truth'.Isn't it?She asked me.I was taken aback a little by what she said. I have with age learnt not to come to quick conclusion.I have by God's grace learnt to hugely respect and stand back in awe at t...

Church was mourning the passing away of a fellow member.One could not miss the sadness and yet the preaching was a powerful one on second coming. The pastor observed that all our celebration was in commemoration of events of the past which had a great implication for the future.What about celebration and an alligning of our lives in anticipation of the things to come? Today the advent begins and the latin word adventus is the greek word parousia commonly used to refer to the second coming of Christ. We looked at the city of jerusalem today. Jew perspective-There are graves of the jews on the Mount of Olives,an expensive space to be burried in .Amidst the tombstones we find the graves of the prophets also.According to the prophecy in Zechariah 4 and 5,it talks of the Messiahs feet being on the Mount of Olives and how the elect will come up with Him.The Jews anticipate the coming of the Messiah first to the Mount of Olive and thus believe that they will be the first to rise up from d...