Thursday 26 July 2012

Travelling through an Indian city

This  video  was  made  my   family  friend  David  Phillips.Its  a  ride  through  the  busy  streets  of  our  city. You  will  see  vehicles of   all   sorts  vying   for  space  together  with animals.  Modern cars  and  horse carts  nudging  each  other and  an  elephant ambling along. In   the beginning there is  a  clip  of  his   wife  in  a   modern  confectionery.  The chocolate  donuts  cost  Rs  40 a  piece ( 80  cents)  He takes us  to  the  fruit  and  fish  market  also. Pretty   graphic.  The noise ,  confusion  and  colour  will  grab  you.
See  various  worlds  and economies  converge,  merge   together  and  flash past -
Modern - ancient
Rich - poor
Human - animal
Slow -  fast
Like  a  mighty  river  full  of  all  forms  of  life.

 Enjoy!

Wednesday 25 July 2012

When in the Dark





When we are in the dark

In the famous lace shops of Brussels, there are certain rooms devoted to the spinning of the finest and most delicate patterns. These rooms are altogether darkened, save for a light from one very small window, which falls directly upon the pattern. There is only one spinner in the room, and he sits where the narrow stream of light falls upon the threads of his weaving.

"Thus," we are told by the guide, "do we secure our choicest products. Lace is always more delicately and beautifully woven when the worker himself is in the dark and only his pattern is in the light."

May it not be the same with us in our weaving? Sometimes it is very dark. We cannot understand what we are doing. We do not see the web we are weaving. We are not able to discover any beauty, any possible good in our experience. Yet if we are faithful and fail not and faint not, we shall some day know that the most exquisite work of all our life was done in those days when it was so dark.

If you are in the deep shadows because of some strange, mysterious providence, do not be afraid. Simply go on in faith and love, never doubting. God is watching, and He will bring good and beauty out of all your pain and tears. --J. R. Miller

(Adaped  from  Streams  in  the  Desert)
(Google  photos)

Saturday 21 July 2012

Comfort

Yesterday I  shared  a  story  which I  entitled  "Don 't Be  Discouraged". Little  did  I  know  that  I  needed  to  be  shielded  from  discouragement  anxiety  and    people  with  evil  intent.
I  had  a  harrowing  day  today,  but  I  did   find   time  to  visit  a shut -  in aunt  on  her  birthday and  spent  the  afternoon  with  her.
Please  pray  for  my protection  and   safety. I  need   God 's  comfort  ,  strength and  peace.

Friday 20 July 2012

Don 't be discouraged






There are many times when we begin a certain task that God lays on our hearts and because we think our efforts are minimal and not making a difference, we quit the job that God told us to pursue.

The enemy loves to plant seeds of doubt and lure us into thinking that we are not capable of making a difference in this world, but with God's help we can overcome and fulfill the destiny that God has for every believer.

If you are going through a situation of doubting your task unto the Lord, then I hope this story will bless and encourage you to never quit what God has laid on your heart because you may never know of the lives that you are touching.

I read of a man who was involved in a tragic accident. He lost both legs and his left arm and only a finger and thumb remained on the right hand.
But he still possessed a brilliant mind, enriched with a good education and broadened with world travel. At first he thought there was nothing he could do but remain a helpless sufferer.

A thought came to him. It was always nice to receive letters, but why not write them? He could still use his right hand with some difficulty. But to whom could he write?

Was there anyone shut-in and incapacitated like he was who could be encouraged by his letters? He thought of men in prison--they did have some hope of release, whereas he had none--but it was worth a try. He wrote to a Christian Organization concerned with prison ministry. He was told that his letters could not be answered because it was against prison rules, but he still decided to commence this one-sided correspondence

He wrote twice a week, and it taxed his strength to the limit. But into the letters he put his whole soul, all his experience, all his faith, all his wit, and all his Christian optimism.

Frequently he felt discouraged and was tempted to give it all up. But it was his one remaining activity, and he resolved to continue as long as he could.

At last he got a letter. It was very short, written on prison stationery by the officer whose on duty, it was to censor the mail. All it said was: "Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from cell to cell till they literally fall to pieces."
No matter what your situation may be like, you still have the ability to encourage someone who is discouraged and lift up someone who is feeling low.

Take this story as an encouragement to give your all for someone else and do not worry about the results. No good work will go unseen and only God knows of the impact that your life can have on someone else. Let us not do our good works so that we may be praised, but let us do good works so that others may be lifted up and God be praised because of our intervention.

The only thing that we can take with us into eternity is what we have done for the Lord. There are no bank accounts in heaven to show how much your net worth was on the earth, but there will be accounts in heaven of what you did to show your life as an example in leading others to Him.


- Author Unknown

(Taken  from  Coptic  Orthodox)

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Hear and Walk

I  have   fallen  many  times   as  I   suffer  from  hearing   loss,  vision  impairment  and  arthritis -  deadly  mix. This lesson   from  David Jeremiah  speaks  to   me.

Hearing Loss

...Incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding.

Proverbs 2:2

A new study by John Hopkins found that people with mild hearing loss are nearly three times more likely to have a history of falling than people with normal hearing; and moderate hearing loss doubles the danger yet again. Losing your hearing could mean losing your footing.

The same is true spiritually. When our hearts grow hard and our ears dull, we can lose our spiritual footing. The Bible tells us to listen, to hear, and to give ear to His commands.

A tender heart toward the Lord means eager ears and guided feet. Spend time daily listening to the Lord and meditating on His Word, like the prophet who said, "The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away" (Isaiah 50:4-5).

"For if you do these things you will never stumble" (2 Peter 1:10).

The best way to show someone you love them is to listen to them.

Quoted by Michael Card

Monday 16 July 2012

Three Questions

Three Questions


by  Max  Lucado

I’ve got three questions for you today!

The next time you’re mired in a bad day, check your outlook with these three questions:

1) What do I feel guilty about?

2) What am I worried about?

3) What am I about?

Reflect on your answers with these reminders!

Yesterday — forgiven.

Tomorrow – surrendered.

Today — clarified.

Here’s my proposal. Consult Jesus! The Ancient of Days has something to say about our days. In Colossians 3:2, the Apostle Paul says, “Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground. Look up, and be alert to what’s going on around Christ–that’s where the action is.” In Matthew 11:30, Jesus says, “The load I give you to carry is light.”

Jesus’ design for a good day makes sense! His grace erases guilt. His oversight removes fear. His direction removes confusion.

Saturate your day in His grace. Entrust your day to His oversight. Give the day a chance!

Monday 9 July 2012

Family

I  found this  poster  on Facebook which
I  want to  share here.
And  some  cool  vegetable sculpures.
if you  don 't like  red hot  peppers
turn  them into  art!



Trust  your  weekend   was  good..
Our  morning  and  evening church  services  were
very   encouraging.  I  met   and  chatted  with  many
new  comers.
Our  fellowship  lunch  was  different  -
fried rice (pilaf) with  chick pea  curry and  yogurt  and  vegetable salad
called  raita. A couple  bought  a new  scooter
and  they  celebrated  by  sharing  sweets
with  everyone. In  India   when  you  buy  something 
new and  expensive  you share   your  joy  by  sharing sweets with  friends.

In  the  afternoon  we  had  our  church management
committee  meeting  which  went  very  well.

Earlier  in  the    afternoon  something  happened which
upset  me greatly and  hit  me  like a sledge hammer, but  the  Lord  comforted me by  His  Word.we  don 't understand  why  trials   come
but   we have to surrender to God.


.1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

(New  Testament,   BIBLE)

Saturday 7 July 2012

Rainy Friday

The  long  awaited  rain  bearing  clouds  have finally  arrived giving  us  respite  from  the  searing  heat. Flora  and  fauna,  man  and beast  heave  a  great  big  sigh  of  relief.I  took  some  rain washed  photos  on  Friday.
The  rain  washed  the  dust  off  the  graves
in  this  cemetary  of  the Empire.
It  is  a  heritage  site.

This ancient  building  has   seen
a hundred  or  more  monsoons.

A modern highway in  the  far  back

River  Yamuna  drinking  in  the  rain

India 's  economy predominantly agriculture based  and  our  farmers depend  upon  rains. The  delay and   scarcity of  rains  becomes  a  great  cause  of  concern in agrarian, political   and  economic  circles. Over  the  years   farmers have   committed suicide when their  crops failed. Government  support  doesn 't reach  the  poorest  of  the poor. Ansd  the  compensation  is  not  enough. This  year  the  monsoon  is  delaying
causing unrest and  unease.
The North East  is under  floods  while  the rest  of our land  has  had   scanty  rainfall. Its raining hard  in  Mumbai on  the  West  coast too.
The  prices  of food  and other  essential  commodities  have  shot  up.
In    the face  of  this  our  government  has  pledged  million of dollars
to support   the  crisis  stricken  European  economy.
Please  feed  your  own people before  indulging  in  international
charity.
Politicians and  diplomats  can literaly  cross  any border  to  acomplish
their  purposes.
Anyway  God  Almighty  rules  and He will hear
the  cries  of  his  hungry and  waterless  creation.

I  am  having  trouble  commenting  on  some 
blogs  which  have  a  word  identification option.
I  try   so hard  but  bloggeer  doesn 't   accept  me.
So  please  don 't  think I  am ignoring you. I  am  simply 
unable  to  prove that  I am  not  a  robot.
And  another  funny  thing  ha s happened  to  my  blog.
My side bar has  vanished  from  my blog.
Can  you  see  it?



Monday 2 July 2012

Willam Carey- Pioneer Missionary to India


William Carey


Father of modern Protestant missions

"Expect great things; attempt great things."

At a meeting of Baptist leaders in the late 1700s, a newly ordained minister stood to argue for the value of overseas missions. He was abruptly interrupted by an older minister who said, "Young man, sit down! You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to convert the heathen, he'll do it without consulting you or me."

That such an attitude is inconceivable today is largely due to the subsequent efforts of that young man, William Carey.

Plodder

Carey was raised in the obscure, rural village of Paulerpury, in the middle of England. He apprenticed in a local cobbler's shop, where the nominal Anglican was converted. He enthusiastically took up the faith, and though little educated, the young convert borrowed a Greek grammar and proceeded to teach himself New Testament Greek.

When his master died, he took up shoemaking in nearby Hackleton, where he met and married Dorothy Plackett, who soon gave birth to a daughter. But the apprentice cobbler's life was hard—the child died at age 2—and his pay was insufficient. Carey's family sunk into poverty and stayed there even after he took over the business.


"I can plod," he wrote later, "I can persevere to any definite pursuit." All the while, he continued his language studies, adding Hebrew and Latin, and became a preacher with the Particular Baptists. He also continued pursuing his lifelong interest in international affairs, especially the religious life of other cultures.


Carey was impressed with early Moravian missionaries and was increasingly dismayed at his fellow Protestants' lack of missions interest. In response, he penned An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. He argued that Jesus' Great Commission applied to all Christians of all times, and he castigated fellow believers of his day for ignoring it: "Multitudes sit at ease and give themselves no concern about the far greater part of their fellow sinners, who to this day, are lost in ignorance and idolatry."


Carey didn't stop there: in 1792 he organized a missionary society, and at its inaugural meeting preached a sermon with the call, "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God!" Within a year, Carey, John Thomas (a former surgeon), and Carey's family (which now included three boys, and another child on the way) were on a ship headed for India


"This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me," Carey wrote, though characteristically added, "But I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding; and God is here."

Postage  stamp   issued in  honor  of  Carey
Gift of tongues

In October 1799, things finally turned. He was invited to locate in a Danish settlement in Serampore, near Calcutta. He was now under the protection of the Danes, who permitted him to preach legally (in the British-controlled areas of India, all of Carey's missionary work had been illegal).

Carey was joined by William Ward, a printer, and Joshua and Hanna Marshman, teachers. Mission finances increased considerably as Ward began securing government printing contracts, the Marshmans opened schools for children, and Carey began teaching at Fort William College in Calcutta.


In December 1800, after seven years of missionary labor, Carey baptized his first convert, Krishna Pal, and two months later, he published his first Bengali New Testament. With this and subsequent editions, Carey and his colleagues laid the foundation for the study of modern Bengali, which up to this time had been an "unsettled dialect."

Carey continued to expect great things; over the next 28 years, he and his pundits translated the entire Bible into India's major languages: Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit and parts of 209 other languages and dialects.

He also sought social reform in India, including the abolition of infanticide, widow burning (sati), and assisted suicide. He and the Marshmans founded Serampore College in 1818, a divinity school for Indians, which today offers theological and liberal arts education for some 2,500 students.

By the time Carey died, he had spent 41 years in India without a furlough. His mission could count only some 700 converts in a nation of millions, but he had laid an impressive foundation of Bible translations, education, and social reform.

His greatest legacy was in the worldwide missionary movement of the nineteenth century that he inspired. Missionaries like Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, and David Livingstone, among thousands of others, were impressed not only by Carey's example, but by his words "Expect great things; attempt great things." The history of nineteenth-century Protestant missions is in many ways an extended commentary on the phrase.

(Source;  Christianity  Today)


Sunday 1 July 2012

Restored

This  week  I  received   2   financial set backs.
My  laptop had  to  be  fixed, its  keypad
stopped  functioning and  I    was offline   for  3  days.
At  10  PM  tonight  I got it   back  from 
the  repair  shop.
Last  night  my  doggie  Sheeba   chewed  up  my
hearing  aid.
Now  Sheeba  is  a  very  sweet dog  and   she
has  never  committed  a destructive  act-
{except  when  she  was  a   puppy).
But  last  night  after her  dinner,
( she     not  hungry or  anything)
the  four  footed  lady  grabbed  my  hearing  aid  off 
a   table  I   had put  it on
and  chewed  it  to  bits.
While  I  was   hunting  for  it  all  over  the  house.
It  was  too  late   when  I   discovered  it  between  her  paws.
My   hearing  aid  is  a  necessity,  I  can 't   do  without  it.
So  this  morning I  bought   another  one.
It  is  very  expensive  and  I  was  not  happy
as  you  can  imagine.
But  its   something I  can 't   do  without.
I  couldn 't  say  anything  to  Sheeba either,
a playful  animal.
But  when I  was  down  in  the  dumps  I  opened the  Bible,
and  read  a  lot  of  promises   found  in  there.
James  1;2 -4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Bible

What   a comfort!
This  is  a  photo  of   the  moon  I  took  last  Sunday.