Sunday Blessings - A Mariner 's Psalm

 These  are  hand  carved  models  of  ships  
I saw  in  a  gift  shop

Sara  Lewis wrote  a  sea captain 's

version of the  23rd Psalm.

I read  it  in Joni  Eareckson 's devotional

and want  to share  it   here.

How  different  from

The  Rhyme of  the  Ancient  Mariner

A Sea Captain 's 23rd Psalm

The Lord is my captain; I shall not be in want.
He makes me anchor in calm harbors,
He leads me beside quiet waters; He restores my soul.
He guides me on a course of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I sail through the troughs of the storms of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
Your sun and moon they comfort me.

You provide food from the sea in the presence of sharks and barracuda.
You rinse me with sparkling rain; my tank overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will sail in the ship of the Lord forever.

Do you ever feel far from God's love? Or that life is swamping your deck? Know
that God's love is deeper than any weights you may have aboard.

Thank You, Lord, that even when the wind has left my sails limp, I can count on
your love to bring a fresh breeze.

The Royal Band Baaja Baraat ( Wedding)

Today  all  eyes  and  TV  sets  will  be  tuned  in  to  the Royal  Wedding.We  all  want   a  bit  of  fun  and  celebration. In  India  the  wedding  interest  is  high.

I  remember the  wedding   of  Charles  and  Diana.

I  was   a student  then and  since  TV had  not  yet

reached  our  city, I  heard   the  commentary  on  BBC  World  Service radio

and  baked   cookies.

No  one  can  beat  the  British

Pomp and Circumstance.

This  is  the Queen 's  official  approval of  the  wedding.

Today  is  nephew Ash 's  birthday,

so  double reason  to  celebrate.

I  going  to  make     English  muffins

and tea.  Put  out   some  Indian canapes,

and  don my   straw hat to get  into   the spirit.

A  Pastor  and his  wife are  attending

their  church  council  meetings,

so  their  daughter  Pinky

who  is  physically  and  educationally

challenged spends  the  day   with us.

She  is  fun company.

Pinky  wants  to  see the  Wedding Show  too.

Pinky  is  grown  up but  she  is  like  an

innocent sweet  child,  so gentle hearted

and  caring. Every  morning she goes to

a  nursery school  to  assist  a  teacher.

She loves  children.

She  is  also  writing  her  special education  exams.

P.S.

Watched  the whole  show  this  afternoon.

Good   fun.

The  part  I  liked best  was  the  procession  after  the

church ceremony  in the 

horse drawn  royal  coaches.

It  was  a  fairy tale wedding.

Did  you   watch  it?

What  was  your  favourite  part?

Watch  this  video.

Easter Events in Pictures

On  Maundy  Thursday  the  V  family visited  us.

There  were  on  a short  holiday  in Allahabad.

T ,a younger  brother  in Christ studied, grew in

the Lord  and  worked  here for many years.

He  studied abroad, came   back and  married 

a lovely girl from  Germany.

T and  A  are  like family.

They  have  3  boys and

live in a  hill  town in  the  Himalayas.

They brought  us  Darjeeling Green  Tea

from there.

T & A left  Allahabad  about  10  years  ago.

Our  home  was  like a

refuelling and  relaxing  place  for  them.

Their  boys  are  doing   the  same.

They  enjoyed  playing with  Sheeba.

You should  have  seen them  eating sour

green mangoes  with  salt.

Their   mum  loved  our  grapefruit  and  lemons.

In  the  Thursday Communion Service

we  had a  special visitor.

An old  lady in  her  80s.

She  was  born in a Christian home,

but  married  a non Christian

and  adopted  his  religion.

Her  son  and  daughter in law

attend  our  church and were

recently baptized.

That  must  have  stirred this  old  lady 's 

spirit and she  came  to  church

after  decades.

Do pray for  her,

May she  make a  confession  of  faith.

We  call her  Ammaji

(mother ).

On Good Friday I spoke

on  the first  and fifth last

statements of Christ from

the  cross.

Preparing  the  messages

was a great  blessing  to  me.

 On Easter I wore  my  Grandma 's sari.
It  must  be  40 -50  years old.
After  church we  had  fellowship  with Easter buns
and cold drinks.

 My cousin and  her  kids  visited  on Easter  evening.

We are  praying  for  the  salvation

of  this  family.

We served  them  dessert of  cheesecake

and  ice cream.

Tonight I  made Korean pancakes.

I replaced  the  traditional Korean

ingredients with green onion,

fresh coriander and chicken.

Korean Pancakes  called Pajeon

Check recipe HERE

Guru' s Obituary

Let  us celebrate  Victory Day.

Victory  over  death  our  final  enemy.

May  your  joy  be  full.

"These  days  should  be  remembered

and   observed

in  every generation

by every  family".

Esther 9;28 (NIV)

A Soldier 's Story

The Centurion at  the Foot  of  the Cross
by Max Lucado

The day began as had a hundred others—dreadfully. It was bad enough to be in Judea, but it was hell to spend hot afternoons on a rocky hill supervising the death of pickpockets and rabble-rousers. Half the crowd taunted, half cried. The soldiers griped. The priests bossed. It was a thankless job in a strange land. He was ready for the day to be over before it began.

He was curious at the attention given to the flatfooted peasant. He smiled as he read the sign that would go on the cross. The condemned looked like anything but a king. His face was lumpy and bruised. His back arched slightly and his eyes faced downward. “Some harmless hick,” mused the centurion. “What could he have done?”

Then Jesus raised his head. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t uneasy. His eyes were strangely calm as they stared from behind the bloody mask. He looked at those who knew him—moving deliberately from face to face as if he had a word for each.

For just a moment he looked at the centurion—for a second the Roman looked into the purest eyes he’d ever seen. He didn’t know what the look meant. But the look made him swallow and his stomach feel empty. As he watched the soldier grab the Nazarene and yank him to the ground, something told him this was not going to be a normal day.

As the hours wore on, the centurion found himself looking more and more at the one on the center cross. He didn’t know what to do with the Nazarene’s silence. He didn’t know what to do with his kindness.

But most of all, he was perplexed by the darkness. He didn’t know what to do with the black sky in midafternoon. No one could explain it.… No one even tried. One minute the sun, the next the darkness. One minute the heat, the next a chilly breeze. Even the priests were silenced.

For a long while the centurion sat on a rock and stared at the three silhouetted figures. Their heads were limp, occasionally rolling from side to side. The jeering was silent … eerily silent. Those who had wept, now waited.

Suddenly the center head ceased to bob. It yanked itself erect. Its eyes opened in a flash of white. A roar sliced the silence. “It is finished.” (John 19:30 NIV) It wasn’t a yell. It wasn’t a scream. It was a roar … a lion’s roar. From what world that roar came the centurion didn’t know, but he knew it wasn’t this one.

The centurion stood up from the rock and took a few paces toward the Nazarene. As he got closer, he could tell that Jesus was staring into the sky. There was something in his eyes that the soldier had to see. But after only a few steps, he fell. He stood and fell again. The ground was shaking, gently at first and now violently. He tried once more to walk and was able to take a few steps and then fall … at the foot of the cross.

He looked up into the face of this one near death. The King looked down at the crusty old centurion. Jesus’ hands were fastened; they couldn’t reach out. His feet were nailed to timber; they couldn’t walk toward him. His head was heavy with pain; he could scarcely move it. But his eyes … they were afire.

They were unquenchable. They were the eyes of God.

Perhaps that is what made the centurion say what he said. He saw the eyes of God. He saw the same eyes that had been seen by a near-naked adulteress in Jerusalem, a friendless divorcée in Samaria, and a four-day-dead Lazarus in a cemetery. The same eyes that didn’t close upon seeing man’s futility, didn’t turn away at man’s failure, and didn’t wince upon witnessing man’s death.

“It’s all right,” God’s eyes said. “I’ve seen the storms and it’s still all right.”

The centurion’s convictions began to flow together like rivers. “This was no carpenter,” he spoke under his breath. “This was no peasant. This was no normal man.”

He stood and looked around at the rocks that had fallen and the sky that had blackened. He turned and stared at the soldiers as they stared at Jesus with frozen faces. He turned and watched as the eyes of Jesus lifted and looked toward home. He listened as the parched lips parted and the swollen tongue spoke for the last time.

“Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit” (Luke 23:46 NIV).

Had the centurion not said it, the soldiers would have. Had the centurion not said it, the rocks would have—as would have the angels, the stars, even the demons. But he did say it. It fell to a nameless foreigner to state what they all knew.

“Surely this man was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:54 NIV)


NEW Gift Book! This story from:
This is Love - The Extraordinary Story of Jesus

Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2011) Max Lucado

Dear  friends  this  afternoon we  watched Mel Gibson 's

The  Passion  of  the  Christ

once   more on  Sony PIX.

Simon  of Cyrene  and  the  centurion

are  very  vividly  portrayed  in  it.

Simon 's Cross

by Max Lucado

“A man named Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was coming from the fields to the city. The soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross for Jesus”
(Mark 15:21)

Simon grumbles beneath his breath. His patience is as scarce as space on the Jerusalem streets. He’d hoped for a peaceful Passover. The city is anything but quiet. Simon prefers his open fields. And now, to top it off, the Roman guards are clearing the path for some who-knows-which-dignitary who’ll march his soldiers and strut his stallion past the people.

“There he is!”
Simon’s head and dozens of others turn. In an instant they know. This is no dignitary.

“It’s a crucifixion,” he hears someone whisper. Four soldiers. One criminal. Four spears. One cross. The inside corner of the cross saddles the convict’s shoulders. Its base drags in the dirt. Its top teeters in the air. The condemned man steadies the cross the best he can, but stumbles beneath its weight. He pushes himself to his feet and lurches forward before falling again. Simon can’t see the man’s face, only a head wreathed with thorny branches.

The sour-faced centurion grows more agitated with each diminishing step. He curses the criminal and the crowd.
“Hurry up!”
“Little hope of that,” Simon says to himself.

The cross-bearer stops in front of Simon and heaves for air. Simon winces at what he sees. The beam rubbing against an already raw back. Rivulets of crimson streaking the man’s face. His mouth hangs open, both out of pain and out of breath.

“His name is Jesus,” someone speaks softly.
“Move on!” commands the executioner.

But Jesus can’t. His body leans and feet try, but he can’t move. The beam begins to sway. Jesus tries to steady it, but can’t. Like a just-cut tree, the cross begins to topple toward the crowd. Everyone steps back, except the farmer. Simon instinctively extends his strong hands and catches the cross.

Jesus falls face-first in the dirt and stays there. Simon pushes the cross back on its side. The centurion looks at the exhausted Christ and the bulky bystander and needs only an instant to make the decision. He presses the flat of his spear on Simon’s shoulders.

“You! Take the cross!”
Simon dares to object, “Sir, I don’t even know the man!”
“I don’t care. Take up the cross.”

Simon growls, balances the timber against his shoulder, and steps out of the crowd onto the street, out of anonymity into history, and becomes the first in a line of millions who will take up the cross and follow Christ.

He did literally what God calls us to do figuratively: take up the cross and follow Jesus. “If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me” (Luke. 9:23 CEV).


NEW Gift Book! This story from:
This is Love - The Extraordinary Story of Jesus
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2011) Max Lucado

Gethsamane is a place to visit today

by Max Lucado

Go with me for a moment to witness what was perhaps the foggiest night in history. The scene is very simple; you’ll recognize it quickly. A grove of twisted olive trees. Ground cluttered with large rocks. A low stone fence. A dark, dark night.

Now, look into the picture. Look closely through the shadowy foliage. See that person? See that solitary figure? What’s he doing? Flat on the ground. Face stained with dirt and tears. Fists pounding the hard earth. Eyes wide with a stupor of fear. Hair matted with salty sweat. Is that blood on his forehead?

That’s Jesus. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Maybe you’ve seen the classic portrait of Christ in the garden. Kneeling beside a big rock. Snow-white robe. Hands peacefully folded in prayer. A look of serenity on his face. Halo over his head. A spotlight from heaven illuminating his golden-brown hair.

Now, I’m no artist, but I can tell you one thing. The man who painted that picture didn’t use the gospel of Mark as a pattern. Look what Mark wrote about that painful night, he used phrases like these: “Horror and dismay came over him.” “My heart is ready to break with grief.” “He went a little forward and threw himself on the ground.”

Does this look like the picture of a saintly Jesus resting in the palm of God? Hardly. Mark used black paint to describe this scene. We see an agonizing, straining, and struggling Jesus. We see a “man of sorrows.” (Isaiah 53:3 NASB) We see a man struggling with fear, wrestling with commitments, and yearning for relief.

We see Jesus in the fog of a broken heart.

The writer of Hebrews would later pen, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.” (Hebrews 5:7 NIV)

My, what a portrait! Jesus is in pain. Jesus is on the stage of fear. Jesus is cloaked, not in sainthood, but in humanity.

The next time the fog finds you, you might do well to remember Jesus in the garden. The next time you think that no one understands, reread the fourteenth chapter of Mark. The next time your self-pity convinces you that no one cares, pay a visit to Gethsemane. And the next time you wonder if God really perceives the pain that prevails on this dusty planet, listen to him pleading among the twisted trees.

The next time you are called to suffer, pay attention. It may be the closest you’ll ever get to God. Watch closely. It could very well be that the hand that extends itself to lead you out of the fog is a pierced one.

 This story from:

This is Love - The Extraordinary Story of Jesus

Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2011) Max Lucado

Trust  you  are  doing   well my  dear  friends.

Tomorrow in  the  Good  Friday service

I  am  going   to  speak  on  the  first  and  fifth

last  statements  of  Christ from

the  cross..

Hold My Hand

My  dear  blog  friend Doris  of

"Hold my  hand" A  social worker 's  blog"

gave  me  this  award.

Thank  you  Doris.

Your  beautiful blog  has  a  therapeutic  effect  on  me.

Your  stories are  so  heart  warming 

and  inspiring,

I  can 't  miss  any  of  them.

I have  to state 5  things  about  myself

I  love  to  wear  high  heels,

but  because  of  arthritis  can' t  wear  them  anymore

My dream holiday would be

visiting  the  rural (villages)

of  Europe specially

Italy, France, Greece and  Spain.

I enjoy reading, but  blogging

uses  up  a lot  of  my  time.

Mint  is  my  favourite

candy flavor.

This  Good  Friday  service

I will  be  speaking  on

2 of Christ 's words  from  the cross-

the first  and  fifth.

I  want  to  pass  on  this  award  to 

all my dear  blogfriends.

You all  are  much  more

creative  than me.

Please  take  a  moment  and  watch  this

very  creative  video.

Our  Frangipani tree  is  blossoming.

It  reminds  me  of the  novels  of 

Somerset Maugham,one  of my  favourite

authors.

His  novels are set  in South East  Asia

of  the early 1900s.

The  frangipani flowers adorn his   gardens.

Aloe Vera is  doing  good.

We   have  while and red  Lillie's

Sunday Blessings -Company

Miss  Jha (right) is  my  mother  's  friend and

occasionally  attends  our  church  too.

She  has  been  a  teacher  and headmistress  of  the  Methodist  School

since  the  past  28  years.

She  is  past  retirement   age  but  continues  to

work.

On  Friday was  her  birthday, so  we invited

her for  dinner. Her family lives

far  away in  a neighbouring  state.

Miss  Jha  is  a  very  godly  and  wise  lady.

Its  been  a  tradition  in her

family  to  dedicate the  first born

male children for  the  Lord 's  service.

I  baked  her   a  cake

Mixed  vegetable  soup

(counter wise from the top)

cucumber salad, idlis (South  Indian Rice  cakes),

Spaghetti ,  dosas (South  Indian stuffed crepes)

coconut chutney, hot lentils called  sambar.

 The  South  Indian food  

I ordered  from  a  restaurant.

Please  pray  for Miss  Jha.

Her  school  is  undergoing  changes

and  her  job  is  at stake.

She  is  looking  for  new  options.

May  she  find  a  good  job  and 

a  safe  place  to  live.

Psalm 68:6

God sets the lonely in families (BIBLE)

In the House of God

Today  the  Eu   &  EGF  met  for  a  half  day

morning  retreat  in  our  church.

This  mission  is  very  similar  to

IVF (Inter Varsity  Fellowship.

We 've  been  a part  of  it  since  the  past  35  years  or  more.

University  students  from  various  disciplines , working 

people  and  married couples  with  young  children

came  together  to  worship  the Lord

and  have  fun  and  fellowship

Girls  leading  in  praise  and  worship

                                                          

Budding  engineers singing  for  God 's glory

These  guys  added  dance  to  the  music

This  young lady  gave  a powerful testimony.

She  once  belonged  to  another  religion.

Her  father  was  encouraged  by  a  Christian to read 

the  Psalms  from  the  Bible.

He  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  23rd Psalm

"The  Lord  is  my shepherd,

I  shall  not  want".

He  pondered  over the  concept of

God  being  a  shepherd, this  was

absolutely  alien  to  his  religious  background.

As he  read  more of  the  Bible  ,

he  became  convinced  of  the reality

of  Christ  and accepted  Him

as  Saviour.

He  encouraged his  wife  and  children to  read  the  Bible

and  one  by  one  they  all

put  their  trust  in  Christ.

When  this  family made   an open

declaration  of  their  faith

they faced tumultuous  opposition

from relatives  and  their

high caste   wealthy  community.

They  were  completely  ostracized and  denigrated.

This  hurt  them deeply but  they

held  on  to  their  faith in  the face

of  trouble.

They  attend  a  church  which

comprises  of people  who  have  turned  to  Christ

from various  religions.

They all  are  learning  and

growing  together.

Uncle  Kumar (our  Patriarch) brings

a  word  of  encouragement  and blessing

Brother  Emmanuel  with his  children

Games  time

Playing  ball in  the blazing  35C plus or 95*F  sun.

Youngest ball  player

In all  we  were  about  60  people.

God  gave  us  a  wonderful  time.