History- His Story

History is truly His story.
Yes, in God Almighty's story
Many characters played a part
Some made it very interesting with a happy end
while some made it so painful to rip the human heart
Many fought  hard and brave to keep the fire burning at home
while some managed to sit on the throne by ruthless power and greed.
 Some marched on the streets fighting for freedom to his fellow men
while others spent their time to have control over the poor and helpless.

Because it is His story
History is not about you and me
Or about the good and the bad
who trodden the earth in the past.
His story never ends
It continues to cover many generations
with east, west,kings and paupers included

Irrespective of color, race or country
we are called to play on the stage called life
for a short period of time.
It is how we play our role
 makes the story a happy ending
or a sad and tragic one.


Soon, the pages will turn to another era
And yours and my part in the story will be long forgotten
Yet His story will continue with many more characters
bringing twists and turns to the story
and making the plot a wonder
as well as a mystery.

This is My Doing!

"The disappointments of life are simply the hidden appointments of love." C.A.Fox

" Are you in difficult circumstances, surrounded by people who do not understand you, never ask your opinion and always push you aside?
This is my doing. I am the God of circumstances. You did not come to this place by accident-you are exactly where I meant for you to be.
Have you not asked Me to make you humble? Then see that I have placed you in the perfect school where this lesson is taught. Your circumstances and the people around you are only being used to accomplish My will."

All what I have written above is taken from the devotional, Streams of the Desert for February 1st under the title, "This is My Doing (1 Kings 12;24)

It was as if God was talking to me face to face, knowing the inner turmoil of my heart. I enjoyed serving as the Assistant Children's Ministry Supervisor in Bible Study Fellowship under the former Supervisor's leadership. I just blended in with the rest of the Children Ministries leaders and felt good and at ease with my duties. But when Linda (not the real name) took over something within me cringed in discomfort. I know it's not Linda's fault. She's doing a marvellous job. Dedicated and conscientous, she is trying to do her best to train her co-leaders.

Maybe this change of technique and Linda's somewhat demanding personality is making me uncomfortable. Frankly, I resent it. If I'm not careful I might give into satan's promptings and quit, giving some lame excuses. I thank God, I haven't given myself to such foolishness yet.

Todays's message, "This is My Doing." pierced through my heart and awakened me up. I had often asked God to mold me and when He heard my prayer and got into action,I've begun to resist and resent.
I wanted God to make me humble and when He had put me in a perfect situation to grow humble, I'm thinking of getting out of the situation and quit my job. How foolish and arrogant it can be in God's sight.

Lord, if this is Your doing, help me to  yield in with  a servant heart and serve You joyfully under any circumstances.

February 01,2006

The Power of Redemptive love

Every great book is written with the author's sweat and blood. In spite of his blindness, wasn't Homer the unparalleled poet of the Greeks? What about John Milton? And who wrote the timeless dream of Pilgrim's Progress? And who wrote Mere Christianity which sold millions of copies? Who wrote down the hymn Amazing Grace which continues to captivate the hearts of people of all walk of life? Was it the redemptive power or enchanting love which turned a slave driver to craft a hymn on grace, an atheist to turn out volumes of books explaining Christ's love and Christianity?

What has the redemptive power of Christ done to this fallen world? What has His amazing grace accomplished in this self-serving world? Words cannot be sufficient to record what it has don in the last two millennia.

But one thing is certain. If not for the love of Calvary and Christ's teachings on the Mount, Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn't have walked marched on the streets of America with a cry of freedom for his fellowmen or Gandhi wouldn't have taken up non-violence fight to free his country from colonial rule or Mother Theressa wouldn't have left the comfort of her homeland to serve the poor and untouchable in Calcutta or Bill wilson and many street saints like him wouldn't have brought hope and comfort to the hurting world. And most of all,you and I wouldn't have known or understood the meaning of love, hope and forgiveness.

                     IF
If all lips spoke the truth
All pride was cast aside
Greed was packed and stored away
And jealousy subside
If love could rule the universe
Kindness was sown to every race
Then one could glance into a mirror
And view God in his face.....
           
                 (poem IF written by a 16-year old girl on the street who was rescued by the Covenant House member)





January 21, 2006

Principles worth knowing to live as God's ambassadors

(Some tips I took from In Touch magazine Sept. 2005)

1. Accept where God has placed you and make the most of it. (Learn from Daniel, Joseph, Queen Esther in the Bible.)

2. Commit yourself to excellence relying on God to reveal Himself through you. (Learn from Moses,     Joshua, David)

3.Let God define your Identity.

4. Practice diplomacy in dealing with confrontational situations.

5. Approach relationships with respect, earn trust and learn to love.

6. Expect God's glory to blaze through the world you are living in.

7. " Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative  and original with others as He is with you." -Oswald Chambers.



(September 09,2005)

Where was God on the day Christ was crucified?

Father,
Where were You when Your Son
the only begotten one
hung like a criminal on the cross?
Why didn't You intervene when
lowly soldiers spat on His princely face
and whipped Him bloody on the way to Golgotha?

The One who promised to offer living water to others
cried out in thirst on that day for a sip of water
Why didn't You rain down water from heaven to quench His thirst?
When the King of kings and Lord of lords
was mocked, beaten and pierced for no committed sin
Where were You, who sent Him to earth with Your message?

Truly, You must have had the answer
to all the questions for those who loved Your Son
and cried out to You in desperation.
Yet, You kept silent
till history revealed it's answers and vital purpose.

Today, as I read the book Night by Elie Wiesel
I cry out to You with the same question
Where were You when six million Jews
were exterminated by the most cruel and evil manner on earth?
What were You doing when those people, called to be Your chosen ones
many devoted to You and Your ways  all their lives
were starved, shot or buried alive before their loved ones?

Where was the deliverance Moses praised about?
Joshua talked about
and David sang about?
Why didn't deliverance come to those helpless, innocent
young and old
who recited daily prayers and followed Your laws so dearly?

Why didn't you strike the oppressors dead and free Your people
As the Bible records in history?
the author of Night wrote that
his God has died on the night of that fateful day.
I wouldn't blame him, for I too would have written the same
if I had seen my father die before my eyes
and my mother and siblings going to the gas chambers.

How could I expect him or anyone in his place
to have faith or look up to You for any help?
Bear with me God, my thoughts are not Your thoughts
And my understanding is far below than Yours
The reason and purpose of the Holocaust I cannot fathom
and I don't want to fathom either
But You, O God, who has the last word
knew it from the beginning and kept silent
for reason You only know.

Was it already designed in Your plan
Or the freedom You gave mankind
You couldn't or didn't want to interfere
whatever reason it may be
I beg You and plead with You that
Never again, such a vicious act should happen
Never again, I cry out to You
People of any race or color be treated
or exterminated like this in generations to come.

Deliver us from hate and prejudice
Enable us to love and forgive
strengthen us to reach out across barriers of race, religion and ranks
And make us to choose mercy over doctrines.

(June 26,2006)

It's A New Day

Another day has dawned
The sun is shining
Clock is ticking
And the world is rising to another day.

Another Sunday
Some go to worship at church on this day
Some go to play golf on this bright sunny day
Some wake up to the blasting sound of bombs falling
And some wake up to the growling sound of empty stomach of their kids


The one thing that we all take for granted
however and wherever we wake up
We are blessed to see another day.
To be alive and to be free
Is truly a  gift from God.

This day has presented us with many choices
To love or to hurt others
To build or break relationships
To dream or to give up
To seek or to denounce
To accept or to reject
To trust or to suspect
To laugh or to lament

How we decide to spend this day
Would determine the day for those around me too
 If I'm thankful for all I have and all those around me
Each day will be a happy day, whatever trouble may come.

What if Christ hadn't come?

If Christ hadn't come this world we live in
would have been far bitter and cold
with no hope of eternity
and no faith to sustain  life.

Love would have lost its glow
Grace would have been a foreign term
Forgiveness wouldn't have become our choice
And mercy rarely be on display.

If Christ hadn't trodden this earth
Mother Theresa wouldn't have arrived in Calcutta
to touch and soothe the untouchable
And to serve the oppressed with untainted love and kindness

Martin Luther King wouldn't have marched on the streets
With his dream of freedom for his fellowmen
And a passion of equal rights to black, white and brown.

If Christ hadn't come to earth
Slave driver John Newton wouldn't  have
turned to be a slave himself to Christ
And  given us the most loved hymn-Amazing Grace.

If Christ hadn't come
Nicky Cruz-the leader of the toughest gang in New York
A man, high on hate and violence
Wouldn't have turned to God
And become a tool to bring fellow gangsters to love God.

If Christ hadn't come
I wouldn't be the person who I am today
And my life would have missed the joy
peace and contentment I'm blessed of today
amidst life's echo of trouble and uncertainties.

(July 05,2005)