The Christmas Story

Three days to go....

Everywhere I turn, I see the nativity scene displayed. The great Christmas story retold. And I wonder...

Which Christmas character am I?

Mary: Righteous and meek, she gave her all for God. Submitted to His seemingly impossible plan, risked her life for the love of God.Am I like her? Do I care about the worldly laws or about God's great plan?

Joseph: The man who supported something that he, I am sure, was not able to comprehend fully. Helped the hand-maiden of God, was equally vital in the birth of Our Saviour. Is it me? Do I, like Joseph, help others carry out the Divine plans?

Innkeepers:'No place. No place'. They did not have place to help poor, needy people. They had to run a business, and businesses are not run on sympathy, isn't it? Do I fill my life with such a lot of worldliness that when Joseph and Mary along with the unborn Redeemer come knocking on my heart, I shout 'No place. No place'.

The Magi: The wise men of East. They traveled thousands of miles, carrying gifts with them, never losing the track, ever focusing on the star. Bringing gifts to lay before the King. Do I seek the Lord, ceaselessly, caring gifts of my talents to lay down at His feet?

The Angels:  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. The angels, we all know, praise God all the time. And on this particular occasion, they praise and sing and tell all who would hear about the Glory of God, and about peace and good will toward all men. They spread the word to the shepherds, so that they would see the Blessed Babe. Is this me? Spreading the Good News? Giving never ending praises?

The Shepherds: Out of the town, in the cold night, tending flocks, these simple folk were one of the few to leave everything they were doing to go and meet the Promised One. Can I leave aside by daily tasks, to witness the beautiful, marvelous events that God directs...

There are many more, but I do not want to make this post extremely long and boring.....


So what role are you playing this Christmas????

Last Few Days of the Year

So, it is. The year 2010 coming to an end. And I am busy running about, completing pending tasks, shopping for the Christmas season, decorating, cleaning, eating, singing, dancing. And I am trying to fit in a lot of activities in these last few days of the year.

It is almost like a ritual every year, come the last two weeks of December and we all are deeply engrossed in our end-of-the-year work list, meeting friends and relatives, setting up parties and meetings. A mad rush to get the best out of the days.

But this year, I want to sit and reflect, I want to see what I did all year long, what did I find, what did I lose, how did I utilize this special and precious year of 2010? To analyze and learn from my mistakes, to strengthen my good points (yes I do have good points!) , to fix the hearts that I broke, to thank the people who helped me when I was down.

I want to switch off the hectic schedule for a while, and thank all my friends of old, who stuck by my side even though I was not exactly a great friend. I want to thank the new friends I made, who accepted me with open arms, the way I am, overlooked my downside and  helped me feel better about myself.

The elders I cannot forget, for their constant support and guidance, my mum who made sure I remained rooted in reality, my sister who keeps tolerating my extravagant behavior, my brother who still treats me like a baby! All these people have been with me, helping me cope throughout this year.

 I cannot forget certain people too, who have been by my side or sometimes against me, but each time teaching me something new, helping me grow in wisdom and understanding. I say a prayer for those who do not explicitly come in the category of friends or family, but have still played a vital role in shaping my life.

And I say sorry too, for all my stupidity, for every time my tongue caused a wound, for all the things I did which I should not have done and for all the things I ignored.

As the year dies slowly, so do I wish that my faults die with it, and as the new year arrives, may I be a fresh and new person with the conviction of constant improvement.

Love you all who helped me!

May God Bless All.

PS: Hey friends, the comment section is open for all who would like to thank me ;-), sorry's are accepted too :-D

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Wish you all a whole, unbroken life!

Are we really ready to die for the ONE who died for us?

The two thousand member church was filled to overflowing capacity one Sunday morning. The preacher was ready to start the sermon when two men, dressed in long black coats and black hats entered through the rear of the church.

One of the two men walked to the middle of the church while the other stayed at the back of the church. They both then reached under their coats and withdrew automatic weapons.

The one in the middle announced, "Everyone willing to take a bullet for Jesus stay in your seats!"

Naturally, the pews emptied, followed by the choir. The deacons ran out the door, followed by the choir director and the assistant pastor.

After a few moments, there were about twenty people left sitting in the church. The preacher was holding steady in the pulpit.

The men put their weapons away and said, gently, to the preacher, "All right, pastor, the hypocrites are gone now. You may begin the service."

Funny! Isn't it. I read this joke on Willing to take a bullet for Jesus? and I rolled with laughter. Once that feeling subsided I read it again. And I began wondering, it is funny, and it is true. If I were one of the members attending mass that day, I would have been one of the first people to run away.

It is so easy to sing 'All to Jesus I surrender', and so very difficult to do so. We all seem to forget that we have been called here as soldiers, we are in the midst of an age old spiritual warfare. Our Christian people of today seem to lack the warrior like qualities, we do not wont to give anything up for Christ, we do not want to suffer for Christ, we do not want to fight for Christ, and we do not want to die for the One who died for us even before we were born.

As it is said in 1 Timothy 6:12 - "Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." How can we sit and do nothing when war is upon us?


We are all called to be soldiers, every day is a battle against Satan and his principalities, every living moment of our lives we need to fight against the false rules and laws of this world, against the evil and sinful thoughts cropping up in our minds ever so often, against the temptations that come in so many various forms, against the act of justifying our shortfalls, against our own human nature so that we can 'take hold of the eternal life to which we are called'.

Now, when I say 'die for Jesus' I don't mean go literally to a war torn country to become a martyr, though that day might soon come to see us. What I mean is that we need to carry forward the battle, death for us is no longer something bad or something to be scared of, death now holds a totally new meaning. By the death of Our Lord on the cross, he has regained for us the eternal life that was lost on account of Adam's sin.


We need to stand for truth, for justice, for peace, for all the righteous causes, against all the wrong notions. We need to follow Jesus, take His road, follow His footsteps. Yes His road leads to the eventual death, but that is not the end of the road, there is a life, beyond the confines of the world. Pursue it, fight for it, die for it.

The battle is on soldier, march forth to Victory!

My Plea to all Girls

Please watch this video first before reading further



























The tension is thick in the air making it hard to see
The fear of what is to come and what will become of me
I say a prayer, help me not run away
Will You please hold me?


And sing me a love song again
Say the words that heal my heart
Sing me Your love song and then
Let Your words remind me who I am


You've never failed me before why do I feel betrayed
If I'd close my heart to You now the darkness would have it's way
I crave Your voice help me not fall away
Will You please hold me?


And sing me a love song again
Say the words that heal my heart
Sing me Your love song and then
Let Your words remind me who I am


'Cause You are all I need
And all that I want is You with me
You are all I need
And all that I want is You with me


So sing me a love song again
Say the words that heal my heart
Sing me Your love song and then
Let Your words remind me who I am

First of all, I praise God for band like BarlowGirl taking up issues like this one. How many of the girls really do not care about their weight, size, skin tone, hair, feet, face, hands and what not...

This world has made a simple living, loving, beautiful woman into an object. An object to sell products, to seduce men, to brighten things up! You gotta be size zero to look perfect, you should have a perfect, no blemish skin to look great, you need to have those shiny hair to look good in the eyes of men.

Stop it world! Cause we girls are not listening to these lies anymore, God made us in His image and likeness and as shown in the video and written in 1Peter3:3-4 "our beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight."

We are all beautiful, we are all lovely, just the way we are. Tell me dear girls and ladies, what is the point of starving your God-given bodies to just end up looking like a corpse? Many young women have lost their lives due to false body image and anorexia and bulimia, I have seen girls going on all fruit diets, skipping meals, eating nothing, drinking nothing, killing their bodies and minds bit by bit.

We say our bodies are the temple of God, and if we do not eat properly, aren't we sinning against our body and against God. It is important to live a healthy lives. Girls and women are not decoration materials, we are living human beings with the breath of God in us.

My humble request and plea to all the girls is, please do not judge yourself by the worldly measure. Your unfading beauty is what counts.

Humble Beginnings

There are a lot of great characters in Bible, Noah, Abraham, Moses, King David, Simon Peter, Paul and so many more. All of these were great people, all most all performed marvelous miracles, rescued the Israelis, healed the sick, confronted the evil ones. Reading about their feats and doings makes us feel that these people were endowed with extraordinary powers, full of superhuman strength and will, they were like the super heroes of old.

I am such an ordinary person, for me to read such fantastic stories in the bible means only to marvel at the things that happened in the past and convince myself that all these are the works of the extra-ordinaries, the ones who are cut above the others, with special supernatural powers. But that is what I thought in the past, and I was so wrong.

When I really sat down one day with The Bible, to again read about the great deeds of the great men(and women like Ruth and Esther, not to forget our Beloved Virgin Mary), I found a pattern in these stories, a strange pattern indeed.

Noah - A righteous man, was an ordinary citizen, not a judge, nor a king, nor a rich man living in a big house, just a common man doing common things, until one day when God calls for him, gives him a command (a ridiculous one at that, how many of you would build a boat on the land?), but Noah did it.(Gen 6:22)  Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. We know the rest. Noah ended up being one of the few people alive after the great deluge!

Abraham - The father of our Religion. Actually the father of the three major religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Abraham, who once was Abram, was again no one important in particular, just a regular guy living with his family. And what did God ask of him? Abram leave your land, your father's family, move out to a place I show. If God asked the same of me, I am pretty sure I'd say, 'You are kidding me, right! There is no way I am doing this God.' Well, God did promise Abram that He would make a great nation out of him, but seriously which one of you would move out of the comforts of your home to an unknown place even if the promises are big, oh, and God did not say He would be paying the traveling cost! But Abraham had to do what God asked him to. (Gen 12:4)  So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. Wow! Abraham was 75! And I am not ready to do it even at a way more younger age. This dude's got guts! So father Abraham leaves and goes through a lot of unknown countries, lands into trouble a few times, and so on, but does end up being a great nation and father of a lots of people!

Moses - Prince of Egypt. How many of us have had the first journey of our lives, floating in a basket over Nile! A Hebrew child escapes death, is raised up among the royals and practically has lead a really good life in the palace. You'd say he is lucky, he got it easy. Think again. He was a murderer. Despised by his own people, exiled and made into a laborer. God made a wonderful and a little ironic demand from him, go save the people of Israel from the clutches of Egyptians. Yeah right, like I can just walk into the land and bring them out, also these people hate me, come on God why are you trying to get me killed? That would certainly have been my response. Moses was not up for it either. He argued in every rational way possible. What name should I give to people - Say that I AM WHAT I AM, they will never believe I came with God's message - Show them these miracles, I am not a good speaker - I am giving you speech, No I am not doing it - I am GOD, THE GOD, I can do everything, I am with you always, I will directly feed words into your mouth, Nope, I am NOT going to talk to the pharaoh or the people, give me some else to speak - Alright take Aaron with you., he will do the talking fine! When he finally does arrive into the land and meets the Pharaoh, we know that he does a marvelous job and takes the Israelis out from right under the nose of the Pharaoh, causes a great damage to the Egyptians, brings a big number of people to the Promised Land, on the way gets the 10 Commandments and really becomes a great hero.But he does all this only after saying yes to the seemingly impossible plan of God.

David - The shepherd boy, the King. The youngest in his family, only took care of dumb sheep, before killing the giant, Goliath, David expelled the evil spirit which was upon Saul(for more details read 1Samuel 16), a small young boy, with not much skills in weaponry then kills a giant, there was something about him, he pitched himself against the giant, and what a faith he had! 1 Samuel 17:37 David said, ‘The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.’ We know he was crowned the king, and he fell later into sin, but we also know, he rose again, he repented. David was a great musician and singer too, and he dedicated his skills to glorify the Lord. From Shepherd Boy to King to being the forefather of Jesus, this man had a great journey.

Simon Peter - A middle aged fisher man. Unlearned, simple, poor, ordinary man, who made a living by catching fish. And now he holds the Keys to Heaven. He fell on many occasions, but was ardent in his faith, when Jesus asked him to follow, he left everything and went with him. Did you notice that Peter left everything, right after he got the biggest catch of his life? With the amount of fish he had caught, he would have been a rich man in no time. Yet, he left it all, and ran behind the Son of Man. Ask yourself, will you leave your 5 figure salary job that you just got to follow Christ? A great disciple, martyred for Christ, he is a perfect example of human failures and God's divine love. A great leader, could make a lot of people follow him, performed miracles and gave great teachings. A fisher man who was a nobody become a great historic figure.

Paul - What can I say about him, great man, learned, with a lot of power and political connections, a great Jew, and a great persecutor of the followers of Christ. This man when he heard the voice of Jesus, and afterwords miraculously regained his eyesight started following Christ immediately. He, of all the people knew the most about the persecutions that would follow, for he himself was once the persecutor. He knew how the followers of Christ were ill treated, massacred, tortured, treated like animals, he had seen the worst, he knew that following this group would lead to a life of torture and pain and ultimately an immature death. Yet he knew in his heart, who the Living God was, having encountered Him personally. He followed Christ, through all trials and tribulations and strengthened others to do the same. He knew Christ was worth dying for.

Jesus - Man and God. Born in a manger, lived as a carpenter, died as a criminal. Nothing I can say about this wonderful man and almighty God, will be enough to justify the true character of Christ. Humble, meek, calm, merciful yet firm and rooted. We know He carried no money, did not have a stable address, no lasting shelter, no food stored in barns. And we also know He lived a lot more fruitful life than the whole of humanity put together. He obeyed God the Father, obeyed even to dead, and not just any dead, the most defiled and embarrassing death of that time.

What is common between all these men?

They all had humble beginnings, even Jesus, they all were common people leading common life, but when God picked them for His work, they gave themselves up for the cause. The only thing extraordinary about this people was that they had extraordinary FAITH and extraordinary OBEDIENCE.

We do not have to be bible scholars, we don't have to be fluent in English, we need not be great achievers, we do not need to be rich or handsome or charming or intelligent. We just need to believe in God's power and obey His command (however stupid or unconventional it may sound at first). We need to listen to what God has to say to us, and give up our lives for His cause. Once you give yourself to Him, He will take care of everything.

And so my prayer for today is,

Living God, grant me a heart that desires Your Will continuously, give me the strength to follow You to the ends of the Earth, grant me the Spirit to accept even the most unusual plan that You have laid out for me, give me the courage to face the ridicule for being a disciple. Make my life an instrument for the coming of Your Kingdom. Give me the will to obey You under all circumstances, without questioning.

Amen.

Awaiting the best time of the year

CHRISTMAS IS HERE!

You might say it is a little to early to shout that, but I really can't wait for 25th of December to dawn. I am already under the influence of 'Christmas Spirit'!


It is indeed the best time of the year, the cold winter, bells chiming, carols being sung, Santa and his gifts, friends, family, cakes, sweets, and the loving and innocent Babe in the manger.


The three kings, and shepherds and angels, Our Lord made a real entrance into this world. No other baby boy must have created such a lot of hype and happiness and political upheaval at his birth.


I am preparing for Christmas, I am preparing for the coming of Christ, I don't want to be like the inn keepers who said no to Mary and Joseph, I want to invite them into my home and into my heart. I want to spread the news and the Christmas cheer about His coming. I want to make sure this time the King gets a royal place to be born in. A clean and loving heart is what would be fitting for Him.


I want to know this young lady who took up such a daring task of delivering the Child of God against all odds. I want to know how did Mary get the guts to say YES and how can I get the same conviction to say it. How did she believe in God's plan and stuck to it till the end, when all I do is try to run away?


It is a marvel and a mystery, this birth that took place more than 2000 years ago, the event still makes people to pause and think, it still ignites the fire of God's love in every heart, it still shows that there is good on earth and it will remain forever. God becoming man, becoming a Baby so pure, frail, innocent. I do not comprehend it in its fullness, this act of kindness, mercy and love of God, but I am glad He was born for me, for you, for all who are alive, for all who are dead and gone, for all who are yet to come.

Merry Christmas!