What gives

Had an amazingly humbling time during baptism.The pastor and the congregation were so encouraging and gracious in the message they shared.Had some precious people attend the baptism-was a time of revelation for most of us who attended-Our God is great indeed! Amazing thing about praying for situation and people is that there is indeed a movement,a dynamism,of God moving in mysterious ways,it seldom stays status quo. May we be people who are willing to walk the thin line for the Kingdom of God,people who are willing to come out of the comfort zone every day of our lives in the choices we make,choosing above all to be with Jesus! Was on the flight back via Guhawati with my sister.Midflight there was an emergency call for medical help for a passenger who had angina.I was extremely grateful to God that I could be useful and the experience made me richer.....in the sense that matters the most. Our God is a wonderful God and his mercy endures forever.

Watched 'The King's speech','the Black swan' and an old favourite,'One flew over the cuckoo's nest'.Loved the first and the last but found the second a triffle too disturbing. Incidently lost an aunt of mine two days before easter and so had to postpone my baptism by two days.By God's grace all my siblings but one are going to be around for it.It has been scheduled for wednesday.My mom's been at it goading me in her own subtle way to be on my knees for it. My parent's have lived their faith all their life through. My sister incidently was doing a write-up on christianity in Sikkim and was knocking the doors of old christian contacts for materials and she was sharing with me how the doors just opened up when Dad's name was mentioned. One very highly revered man of God in the capital went so far as to compliment my sister on her being so fortunate as to have such a Godly heritage in my parents.She was so grateful to the parents that she...

I lost a dear aunt yesterday evening. She was a grand old lady,something of an enigma the entire life through. She lived in a castle,wore a golden shoe,she was almost like a fairy godmother during our growing up years. She was widowed at the age of thirty and all my growing up years I remember her as an aunt,blessed abundantly materialistically and she left no stones unturned to pamper us kids.We had the best of tucks and the best of pocket money all our life through,thanks to her. She smelt good and was an eternal discipliner.She tried extremely hard to turn all of us girls into elegant ladies.We always remember her as the person who used to work hard at teaching us the finer details of sikkimese etiquettes.There were a lot of does and don'ts.There have been days when we have sat with her through the day with stiff backs,politeness personified. Through all the good and bad times of our life she was there in the background ,someone my mother could always turn to. The previous...

"Do not come any closer,Take off your sandals,for the place where you are standing is Holy ground."Exodus 2 vs.5. "Take of your sandals,for the place where you are standing is Holy" Joshua 5.vs 15. God has picked up two men and is recruiting them for an agenda which is entirely His. He is going to use them for His burden to the glory of God. Why does He ask them to open their sandals? What are the sandals in our lives that prevents us from fully being used for His glory? What are the things in our lives on which we stand, which prevents us from being bare-footed on the Holy ground,submitting humbly to the lord saying-'Here I am Lord!'. Is it our agenda?our comfort zones?,our positions?,our profession?our competence?or just plain lack of faith.One great man of God sums up the sandals in one phrase-'Our rights!' In one of our morning meetings one of the residents prayed a sentence which touched my heart.'Lord let your Glory be revealed thi...

Manoj died this morning.He was brought dead to the casualty. His mother called Jenniffer ,the doctor who had been looking after him for the last three years .She testified that she felt a deep peace in her heart even as she declared him dead.Somehow she felt a deep assurance in her heart that he was home with the Lord. I have known Manoj for the last six months since I have been in Herbertpur.Almost his entire family has been ravaged by XDR tuberculosis.Now his mother remains. His life has touched mine in various ways and I have already dedicated two of my articles to him.The last time I met him was several weeks back when he walked into the TB clinic to collect his medicine ,I asked him if he had a bible with him,he said not.I handed him a new testament which he received with such gratitude that it struck me that he had understood the worth of the bible. His mother shared that on the last day he had spent the whole day reading the bible and sharing the good news with his mother ...

I have been counselling a few ladies off and on on subjects I am not exactly masters in.I pray for them and on retrospect I myself get surprised by the prompting of the Holy spirit even as I venture into the foreign land in faith. One evening I had called a few ladies over for tea.One of them in all good faith was talking about another christian lady who inspite of having so many problems would make all the ladies in the group laugh.She used the line 'rote ,rote bee sabko hasaate hai!'.It almost sounded like the story of the joker in the circus who was hilarious in his public shows but his life per se was a tragedy all through and finally the story ends with the joker committing suicide. What are we as christians inheritors of?Are we inheritors of such burdens which are to be placed under a facade of 'all is well' mask? Jesus has called us to 'Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled ...

God is not interested in what you have achieved but is very interested in what you become. All of us receive our portion from the Lord everyday. What do we do with it,is the question. The way we deal with the portion God places in our lives determine where we will be in the coming days. Do we go through life receiving with reverance and awe the portion God gives in obedience to the Holy spirit? Do we submit to Him so that he can work his perfection in us and through us or do we go around searching for answers where we will never receive it? Portions can come wrapped in various wrappings.It is not always shining and beautiful as the world makes it out to be. The most precious and lasting gift I have received in my life came mounted on the cross wrapped in hate,rejection and sin of the world,the gift of salvation. Receive your portion with reverance and awe. How does God deal with us? Thomas Merton puts it this way. "He plucks the world out of my heart and then throws it ...