Sunday, May 29, 2011

Sunday Blessings -No Threat of Failure

A few Sundays ago we  had an  Evangelical  Union  Team visit  our  church and  minister  to  us
in  music

testimony

and  preaching   of  the  Word.
We  were really  blessed and
encouraged  by  them.
Let  me  share  with  you  an article
from  the  Resurgence  Blog
which  brings across 
a  powerful truth
beautifully  illustrated  in  this  story.

AUTOMATIC   A's
My friend Steve Brown tells a story about a time his daughter Robin found herself in a very difficult English Literature course that she desperately wanted to get out of.

She sat there on her first day and thought, “If I don’t transfer out of this class, I’m going to fail. The other people in this class are much smarter than me. I can’t do this.” She came home, and with tears in her eyes, begged her dad to help her get out of the class so she could take a regular English course. Steve said, “Of course.


So the next day he took her down to the school and went to the head of the English department. Steve remembers the event in these words:

She (the head of the English department) looked up and saw me standing there by my daughter and could tell that Robin was about to cry. There were some students standing around and, because the teacher didn’t want Robin to be embarrassed, she dismissed the students saying, “I want to talk to these people alone.” As soon as the students left and the door was closed, Robin began to cry. I said, “I’m here to get my daughter out of that English class. It’s too difficult for her. The problem with my daughter is that she’s too conscientious. So can you put her into a regular English class?”

The teacher said, “Mr. Brown, I understand.” Then she looked at Robin and said, “Can I talk to Robin for a minute?” I said, “Sure.” She said, “Robin, I know how you feel. What if I promised you an A no matter what you did in the class? If I gave you an A before you even started, would you be willing to take the class?” My daughter is not dumb! She started sniffling and said, “Well, I think I could do that.” The teacher said, “I’m going to give you an A in the class. You already have an A, so you can go to class.”

Later the teacher explained to Steve what she had done. She explained how she took away the threat of a bad grade so that Robin could learn English. Robin ended up making straight A’s on her own in that class.

“The threat of failure, judgment, and condemnation has been removed. We’re in—forever


That’s how God deals with us. Because we are, right now, under the completely sufficient imputed righteousness of Christ, Christians already have an A. The threat of failure, judgment, and condemnation has been removed. We’re in—forever! Nothing we do will make our grade better, and nothing we do will make our grade worse. We’ve been set free.

Knowing that God’s love and approval of you will never be determined by your performance for Jesus, only by Jesus’ performance for you, will make you perform more and better, not less and worse. In other words, grace mobilizes performance; performance does not mobilize grace.
If you don’t believe me, ask Robin


1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8;1,2 (New  Testament)

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Wedding Bells

On  the  26th we  were  invited  to  a wedding  reception  of  a girl who was a  former  member of  our  church.  Her  parents  were  married  here, so  she  grew  up  with us.

The  couple  are doing  very  well  professionally and  they  held  the  dinner in  a  posh , upscale hotel close to our  house.

Here  are  some  photos I  would  like  to share  with  you.







A  family  friend prays  for  the  couple


It  was  a lovely  cake ordered 
from  an expensive bakery.



The  happy  twosome


There were about 200 invitees.
Quite  small  for  an  Indian wedding.
In  the  beginning we were served
colas  and  canapes
followed  by   cake  and  coffee.
Before  dinner  we had  soup
and  then  a wide  array   of  vegetarian
and non  veg  dishes and  salads
and  breads.
For  dessert ice cream was  served
with  various  accompaniments.

Sonia and  Abner

Me

The  bride 's  aunt,
who  is  a  member of our  church.



God’s vision for marriage


Spirit-filled married couples have the opportunity to know and accept each other deeply, as they learn that loving someone else isn’t natural, nor does it come easily. They get to love because Christ loves them (1 John 4:10–11). They don’t need to fear intimacy or confessing sin, they can walk in the freedom of faith and repentance. Since they have been graced and forgiven they can offer grace and forgiveness to each other. Because God has been kind to them, they can be kind to one another (Ephesians 4:32).

As helpful companions who see their spouse as a precious gift from God, together they get to face the blessings, trials, and unexpected surprises of life, saturate their children with Jesus, serve brothers and sisters in the church, and share the gospel with neighbors, extended families and co-workers. Just as Jesus continues to intentionally pursue and love them, they get to creatively pursue and love each other, building a God-honoring legacy as they grow old together.
( taken from  the  Resurgence  Blog)

Thursday, May 26, 2011

10 Years Old on May 24th

We invited  Simran (Angela),
her  mother and  younger  brother
to  celebrate  her  birthday  with  us.
She  likes  paneer ( cottage  cheese)  and  egg  curries.
So we made  those   for  her.
This   is  a  dysfunctional family.
The  father  moved away more
than  a  month  ago.
The  parents  made a  lot of
wrong  choices and  lived an ungodly life  an d they
are  paying  for  it.
We  are  praying  for  them
and  try  to  counsel and  help
them  in  whatever  way  we can.
Please for  the  salvation  of  this  family.
Earlier  the  mother  had  no
interest in  the  things  of  God,
but  now  she  occasionally
goes  to  church, asked  me  to  pray
for  them and  sends  her 
children to Sunday  School.
They need  a  drastic  change  in
their  lives.

Simran and  Abner playing together.

On May 25th was  my sister  Anjali 's  birthday.
We  missed  her  and  talked  on Skype.
Tonight Sonia, Abner and  I  are 
going  to a wedding  reception.
The  bride grew up in our church,
but  now  she  attends   another  church.
We  are  looking  forward  to  this
nice  festivity and  i  will  take 
photos  too.

I  AM  HAVING  TROUBLE  POSTING
COMMENTS  ON  BLOGS IN WHICH
THE  COMMENT  BOX OPEN IN A WINDOW
BELOW THE  POST AND  ONE  HAS  TO
CHOOSE AN ID.
 BLOGGER REFUSES MY  ID
EACH TIME.
I CAN ONLY COMMENT  IN THE  WINDOW
COMMENT  BOXES.
(like  the  one  I  have)
I  always have  trouble  with those
below  the  post  comment  boxes
they  are  very  fussy  and
take  too  much  time.
I  don 't  like  them.
___________
Here   is a  lovely  verse for
  all  my   readers.

Set  your Face  towards  Light

Set your face towards  the  light
and don 't be led astray-
by the things  that  draw your  footsteps
down some other way
Steep and hard the road may be
with not a bend in sight-
but if it seems to run
in the direction of the light-
Keep to it
and do not turn aside
for anyone
Follow where it  leads you
Set your face towards
the sun.

"In Thy light shall  we see light".
Psalm 36;9

(Patience Strong)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Sunday Blessings - Special Children 's Service

All  through  last  week  175  children from  about  7   or  8  churches participated  in the  Vacation  Bible School held in the  Seminary  Chapel. Sonia 's  son Abner woke up  early  each  morning to get ready for  his Bible  class.
The children  were divided  according  to  their  ages  followed lessons  from  a  work book.  They  memorized   Bible  verses. And  had  fun  activities,games and  a  Friday  evening  picnic.
There  was  a  special  Sunday  morning  children 's service at  the  Chapel which  Sonia  an d I  also  attended.
Here  are  some  photos  I  took at the  service.

Abner  in  the  middle







Chandi (2nd from  the  left) won the  first  prize 
in her  Beginers class -she  is
from our  church.
Her  parent 's  were  recently  baptized.

Many  of  these  children came  from
non Christian  homes.

Pray  that the  seed sown in
each child 's  heart may
take  root firmly
and grow.

Last  week was  a stormy one.
We  had  rain  and  dust  storms  on Wednesday.
Saturday and  Sunday evenings.
We  were  without electricity for  about  30  hours
over  the  weekend.
A lot  of  our  mangoes  fell from  the  tree  and  we  gave  away plenty. This  weather is rather  unusual
for  May, wonder  what  it  will  do to the
onset of  the  monsoons.
Several trees  fell down  and  power  cables  snapped  because  of  high  velocity  winds.
The dust  made  the house  look like
the  set  from the  movie -
The Mummy-
the  dust  storm scene -Ha!
And of  course  without electricity - no  Internet.

And  something more.
This evening Sonia  and Abner  witnessed
a child kidnapping in  a commercial
area close  to  our house.
A  young  woman  was going  on a  rickshaw with
some luggage  and a small  girl
about  2 or 3  years  old.
Sudden a man appeared and asked
the rickshaw driver to  stop saying  he  was
her  husband. He then snatched the little
girls from the  mother 's arms  and  dashed  down the  street. The  women let out  blood curdling screams.
A crowd gathered  around  her and some  boys  gave
the  kidnapper  a  chase, a policeman was 
also  summoned.
 Then the distraught  woman ran back to
into a lane where she
supposedly lived.
Sonia and Abner, too shocked and  stunned
moved away from the  excited  crowd,
both  quite  upset   by what
they  had  witnessed.
Wonder  what their  story  was.
A separated  or divorced  couple -
with the  father  wanting to
take possession of his  daughter?
Its one  thing to  just  read  about
such  cases in the  newspaper,
but  quite  an experience  to 
see  it played  out in front
of your  eyes.
I just  pray the  little  girl  is  safe

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Cool Memories

 Sonia,  her  husband and  son   Abner   arrived  on  Saturday. The  house  seems  full  and  lively. Avinash left this  morning - his  leave  ends  today. Sonia  and  Abner   will  stay till  the  second  week  of  June.
Abner is  attending  Vacation  Bible  School every  morning  from  7 to 10 .30 am.
Its  a  time  for  Sonia  and  me  to  get  away  from  our   daily mundane activities.  There  is  a lot  of  therapeutic  sharing  among  us  women too.
 Daytime temperatures  are over  110* F  with  high  humidity. Can' t  escape  that. The  monsoon  rains  will   arrive by  mid June if  all  goes well.

I lost  my  Internet  this  weekend and  it was  restored  yesterday.

Thank you for   praying  for  me. This  Sunday we  had  a  glorious service  with guest  speaker  Sunil Joy. We  had  a new  family  visit and  lots  of  lively children in  the  audience. I  enjoy  the  presence  of  children in church  services. They  are  our  future.

I want to share some photos of the  Horticultural Show we  all  went  to in the  last  week of February when nephew Ashish and  friend  Megan  were  with  us.
They bring back cool  memories  in  this  heat. The  temperatures  were  in  the  70s then.
(me, Sonia and  Abner)

Megan and Ash





Megan looking  at  Terra  cotta artifacts

Terra cotta  idols




British physicist Stephen Hawking
declares
"There is no heaven
it 's a fairy story".

1 Corinthians 1
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:


“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”[c]

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.



26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

(New  Testament)
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