Blessing

2008-03-20T01:02:00.000-07:00

“. . . whoever believes in him shall not perish . . .”

How could a loving God send sinners to hell? He doesn’t. They volunteer.

Once there, they don’t want to leave. The hearts of damned fools never soften; their minds never change. “Men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory” (Rev. 16:9 NKJV). Contrary to the idea that hell prompts remorse, it doesn’t. It intensifies blasphemy.

Remember the rich man in torment? He could see heaven but didn’t request a transfer. He wanted Lazarus to descend to him. Why not ask if he could join Lazarus? The rich man complained of thirst, not of injustice. He wanted water for the body, not water for the soul. Even the longing for God is a gift from God, and where there is no more of God’s goodness, there is no longing for him. Though every knee shall bow before God and every tongue confess his preeminence (Rom. 14:11), the hard-hearted will do so stubbornly and without worship. There will be no atheists in hell (Phil. 2:10–11), but there will be no God-seekers either.

But still we wonder, is the punishment fair? Such a penalty seems inconsistent with a God of love—overkill. A sinner’s rebellion doesn’t warrant an eternity of suffering, does it? Isn’t God overreacting?

Who are we to challenge God? Only he knows the full story, the number of invitations the stubborn-hearted have refused and the slander they’ve spewed.

Accuse God of unfairness? He has wrapped caution tape on hell’s porch and posted a million and one red flags outside the entrance. To descend its stairs, you’d have to cover your ears, blindfold your eyes, and, most of all, ignore the epic sacrifice of history: Christ, in God’s hell on humanity’s cross, crying out to the blackened sky, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).

The supreme surprise of hell is this: Christ went there so you won’t have to.

The Phone Call at 4.00 Am

2008-02-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

At Church, we had an all-night prayer on the night of 19th Feb 2008. Like all the all-night prayers, it went beyond 4.00 am in the morning of 20th Feb.

Followed by a four hour sleep, went to the office at 10.45 am (as against 12.30 pm on a normal day), and jumped out of the office at 5.45 pm in the evening to attend the Bible Study at the Church.

After the blessed time at the Church, I went home and had by dinner. And then, I was struggling get sleep.

At 12 midnight, I felt sleepy for the first time. But the issue now was getting up at 4.00 am for the morning praising.

As I was lying down, my heart prayed to God to wake me up at 4 in the morning.

I don't know when I slept.....

I was awaken by a phone call at 4.00 am.

As ring grew louder, and I woke up, and attended the call.

I asked Hello, Hello, and repeated for several times - till the time I completely got over my sleepiness. No answer from the other end.

Now I checked the number on my mobile. This phone call came from a far-off place, +20XXXX. +20 is the country code for Egypt.

Yes, now I am awake for the morning praising.

God has answered for my prayer.

This may look silly.... but the truth God prompted someone in Egypt to dial a wrong number at odd hours.....

Can tongue describe the measure of God's Love....

Why me GOD?

2008-01-28T02:07:00.000-08:00

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983.

From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?

To this Arthur Ashe replied:

"The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'.

And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Sorrow keeps you Human,
Failure keeps you humble and Success keeps you glowing,

but only Faith & Attitude Keeps you going...

God & the Spider - An incident happened in the Life of a US Marine

2008-01-10T03:27:00.000-08:00

During the War, a US marine was separated from his unit. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades

Alone in the hills, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.

As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen." After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one.." Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave. As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave

"Ha, he thought. "What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor."

As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on.

Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. "Lord, forgive me," prayed the young man. "I had forgotten that in you a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall." We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget the victories that God would work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways. As the great leader, Nehemiah, reminded the people of Israel when they faced the task of rebuilding Jerusalem,

"In God we will have success!" [Nehemiah 2:20]

For the love of GOD

2008-01-09T00:36:00.000-08:00

At some point two years ago, he found me and I found him," Robin Uthappa says. "Actually I think we just found each other. And I could communicate with him. And things just happened for me since then. There was a time during the World Cup when he wouldn't talk to me, and that was a really bad phase. But it passed and we're communicating again."

Uthappa isn't talking about his relationship with his captain, coach or mentor. Nor is he referring to his father or a confidante. He's trying to explain his faith in God, the main reason he thinks he has got so far. A lot of sweat has gone into the making of Indian cricket's audacious young hope, but talk to him and you'd think he's destiny's child.

We're at Café Mocha on Bangalore's Lavelle Road, but Uthappa is "fasting". Actually he's not. "I'll have the Cookie Monster. But I want it blended really well. I'm off solids."

His Reebok t-shirt fits neatly, and in his designer shades he seems right at home in the yuppie haven of the coffee shop.

Uthappa is coming off a seven-match one-day series against Australia, one where he attacked with both bat and lip. He kicked the series off in a gung-ho manner ("We'll fight fire with fire.") and didn't mind looking silly midway through it ("Man for man, we're a better side than Australia."). In the one-off Twenty20 in Mumbai, Brett Lee rapped him on the gloves with a bouncer, walked up and howled, "It's a different ball game, isn't it?" Pat came Uthappa's response: "But it's the same bat."

Brave new India or silly, reckless India? "I said we'll fight fire with fire, and we lost the series 2-4," he says, fidgeting with t-shirt, glass, seat. "But we gave our best. This was the best team in the world and we gave them a fight. They probably had the most uncomfortable Indian tour. I don't think they had seen an Indian side talking back so much.

"And I still think we are probably the more talented side on paper. They're very professional, no doubt. They know what to do and stick to the basics. And they make very little mistakes. And that's what makes them successful."

Does the media reaction worry him? "When I'm playing, I don't watch TV," he smiles cheekily. "And I don't read the newspaper reports. I just look at my pictures sometimes and see if the photo is good."

Nobody who meets the upbeat, bubbly Uthappa of today would imagine that he seriously contemplated giving up the game five years ago. A prolific run-getter at the school level, Uthappa couldn't come to terms with the political wrangling commonplace in junior cricket. Medication had made him fat, and fed up with the vagaries of the real world, he was perilously close to throwing in the towel.

"I was a very fat kid. I put on weight because I had to take steroids to overcome epilepsy. At the age of 16, I felt there was a lot of politics which was affecting me and thought I'd give up. I decided to get away from everything and go to Coorg. But my dad always said I should give it a last shot, only because of the kind of talent the Lord had blessed me with."

Enter Makarand Waingankar, a journalist turned coach turned cricket administrator, who was then working as a consultant with the Karnataka side.
"The funny part is, I didn't know he had given up the game," Waingankar, currently the chief administrative officer at the Baroda Cricket Association, says. "But I was surprised that a batsman of such talent wasn't being given more chances. I wanted him to join Frank Tyson's newly launched academy in Bangalore."

Uthappa consented in what was a defining moment. "I worked really hard, lost 12 kilos in a matter of a month, and that's where it all changed. Things started happening for me after that."

Waingankar sounded out Dilip Vengsarkar, then the chairman of the Talent Resource Development Wing of the BCCI. Uthappa was thrown in the deep end, picked for a match between two National Cricket Academy teams (where an emerging Karnataka player was usually given a chance).

He has rarely looked back since. "I did well, was picked for India Under-17, became the highest run-scorer in the tri-nation championship in Sri Lanka in 2002, made it to the Under-19 side for the Asia Cup, and then played the Under-19 World Cup."

It was in these Under-19 tournaments, shown on television, where most had their first glimpse of Uthappa. Standing well outside leg stump, he walked across as the bowler delivered, prompting several coaches to write him off instantly. Those who looked beyond saw the ferocious straight punches, which form the bedrock of his game even today.

"The shuffle happened because my batting was still developing. In school I never had an initial movement. I always went on the front foot. At some point I thought I was going too far forward. So I tried to go back and then forward.

"I wasn't mature enough to understand my game that well. You need to train your muscles to go over the same movement constantly. When you're playing a lot, you pick up some bad habits. But it's just muscle memory. And once you make a constant effort, it gets okay.

"The punch down the ground came about because of where I grew up. There's a house in front of the apartment where I stay, and in front of that house was an empty plot where we played. There were roads on either side, so if I had to score it would have to be straight. If I hit over the house and into the gutter, it was six. So I always tried to punch straight." Sessions with Waingankar, where he concentrated on hitting within the width of the sight screen, helped him fine-tune the shot.
‡‡‡

The rest, as he says, is destiny. A whirlwind hundred in the 2005 Challenger Trophy showed Uthappa's destructive prowess. Six months later, in his first international chance, he produced the highest score by an Indian debutant.

Chances were hard to come by but he was making people take notice. Eight hundred and fifty-four runs in seven Ranji Trophy games, a firestarting 70 against West Indies in Chennai to seal his World Cup berth, 55 in his first chance on the England tour, a series-levelling 47 not out in the cauldron that was The Oval, and two sizzling knocks in the World Twenty20.
"Destiny, destiny, destiny," is his simple explanation. "There's nothing more to it. When I got selected for India, I was playing corporate cricket for Air India in Bombay. And to be honest, I wasn't batting well. Even the day before the match I was struggling. It was a dead rubber and they decided to play me. It was the last game of the series and if I had been dropped after that not many would have noticed.

"But when I went into bat, I felt as good as ever. And now I hold a record for an Indian debutant. That doesn't happen to everybody. A lot of things that have happened in my life have a lot to do with God. If you see me batting, you'll see me mumbling, saying something. I pray the most when I bat. That's my time of prayer - on the field and when I bat. My love for him has only grown over time.

"Let's take the Oval game. I go in at No. 7, a position I've batted in just once in my life - and that was an Under-13 match - and win a game for my country. How do you explain that? When I went in to bat [with 83 needed] I thought, 'I can really win this game with Dhoni.'"

What comes next is most baffling. "When Dhoni got out, I knew I would win it. I knew this was my game. I knew I had been sent here to win it. The trust in the Lord was enough. Fortunately I had the tail with me and they've been batting brilliantly."

Surely the final two shots - a cute paddle past fine leg and a smashing drive past mid-off - had something to do with Uthappa? "Stuart [Broad] got the long-off up for the final ball. I'd just scooped him and knew he was trying to fool me. I knew he was bringing him forward to make me think it was going to be short. But even if he had bowled a short one, I knew the Lord would help me pull it away. I trusted myself and trusted Him. So I walked down, took it on the full and finished it."

There was a time last year when Uthappa ran the risk of being pigeonholed as a one-day specialist. It was at the start of the season, midway through the opening game against Haryana in Mysore, that he received a jolt. It came from Venkatesh Prasad, the Karnataka coach last season.

"I'd scored a fifty in the first innings and felt happy about it. It was then that Venky came up to me and showed me the list of run-getters in the previous season. I was 62 on the list and he said, 'Do you realise how low that is?' That's when the realisation hit me on the face. It was then that I took it upon myself to take Karnataka to victory in every game. I got a hundred in almost every game after that. Had I played the semis, we would have won that too."

Through the season Uthappa showed an ability to adapt. Often he began in a blaze but occasionally he knuckled down and batted through the day. "I remember the Duleep Trophy game against Sri Lanka A in November last year. VVS Laxman was the captain and he gave me a useful piece of advice before that: 'Just concentrate on staying at the wicket all day. The runs will come'. And when I did that, I ended the day on 141. I didn't even need to think of smashing the ball around."

Some doubts still remain. Can he adapt his game to the bouncy tracks in Australia? Isn't he too much of a front-foot player? "I enjoy the longer version the most. I think I have a decent back-foot game too. I pull and cut okay. I have a good back-foot drive. Ultimately it's only about situations. Put me in a situation and I'll adapt.

"I also think technique is a bit overrated. Steve Waugh didn't have the greatest technique but came with a lot of grit and determination. Viru [Sehwag] is the only Indian to get a triple-hundred. It's all about how you feel inside. It doesn't matter if your batting looks bad - it's about how much you score."

Mention the two tough tours ahead, Pakistan at home and Australia away, and Uthappa's thoughts immediately turn to fast bowling. "They're going to be exciting. Shoaib Akhtar is coming back and I've always wanted to play him. Australia will probably have Shaun Tait in their side, and he's another who will be good to bat against."

You get the feeling Uthappa will be well up to the challenge of whatever those two bowlers, and others down the years, can serve up. After all, he's got help from above.

Taken from CricInfo

Living Testimony

2007-10-02T03:11:00.000-07:00

Terrorist attacks, 7 Bomb Blast in Mumbai (India) Local Trains on 11th July 2006
Testimony of an annoymous Indian Christian
11th July 2006, this day will be indeed remember and go down in not only in the history of our city Mumbai (India) but also innumerable families that have suffered irrepairable damage it has caused.

There were 7 Bomb blast that took place on the 11th July 2006 on the life line of Mumbai in the local trains, hundreds of people were injured and many lost their life.

In one such train that took off from Churchgate station and arrived at Andheri Station at around 5:53 pm was boarded by me. For my colleague and me things seemed normal and as usual over crowded. Just before the train arrived Mira Road Station, I got place to sit, seeing my senior colleague standing I offered him my seat to which he refused saying that he was all right.

As we were casually conversing with each other all of sudden a loud BLAST took place in the same first class compartment were I was seated in. Within a matter of a split second all the people standing and seated with me in the compartment were thrown all over the place with multiple injuries and lifeless bodies filled the place.

Due to the blast, the compartment was ripped open sending down train fixtures such as fans, tube lights/bulb fittings, switch boards, iron rods etc. An electric switch box fell and rested on me sending down a high voltage electric shock that shook me violently from head to toe that's when I cried aloud *JESUS, JESUS, JESUS* that was a desperate cry for help and HE did, His presence filled the compartment *( Psalms 91: 15 says: He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.)* & (Act 2 : 21 says: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of JESUS shall be saved.) and that electric box fell off by it self, Hallelujah!

When I opened my eyes and looked around I saw people fallen all around me, one person was right on my lap his face was disfigured and was bleeding, to my amazement I found out that I was the only person in that compartment who still remained seated and the rest were thrown all over. *( Psalm 91: 7 says : A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. *) Some how I managed to pull out my hands and legs from under the people fallen over me and jumped out of the wreckage without a scratch on my body *(Psalms 91: 11-12 says : For He shall give His angles charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone ).and (Psalms 34 : 20 tells us : He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.)

The people who managed to crawl out of the compartment tried to speak to each other but due to the loud sound our eardrums were badly damaged. I walked to a nearby station where some strangers helped me to find a hospital and started my treatment. The E.N.T Specialist who checked my ears initially said that both my eardrums are ruptured badly and I'll required a surgery. We prayed that night and the next day the doctor said that though both my ear drums are ruptured its amazing that my hearing was good! Hallelujah!! !!

Now a month later on 18th August 2006 Doctor checked my ears and was amazed at the speedy recovery and gave a report stating eardrums healed, no surgery required. Praise be to JESUS. ( *Isaiah 53 : 5 says : JESUS was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed )** *That's why I share this testimony so others can know that JESUS IS ALIVE and He is our Saviour and our Healer.

Condition of Present Days Church

2007-09-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

The Cleaning Woman

There was a little old cleaning woman that went to the local church. When the invitation was given at the end of the service, she went forward wanting to become a member. The pastor listened as she told him how she had accepted Jesus and wanted to be baptized and become a member of the church.

The pastor thought to himself, "oh my, she is so unkempt, even smells a little, and her fingernails are not clean. She picks up garbage, cleans toilets - what would the members think of her." He told her that she needed to go home and pray about it and then decide.

The following week, here she came again. She told the pastor that she had prayed about it and still wanted to be baptized. "I have passed this church for so long. It is so beautiful, and I truly want to become a member."

Again the pastor told her to go home and pray some more. A few weeks later while out eating at the restaurant, the pastor saw the little old lady. He did not want her to think that he was ignoring her so he approached her and said, "I have not seen you for a while. Is everything all right?"

"Oh, yes," she said. "I talked with Jesus, and he told me not to worry about becoming a member of your church."

"He did?" said the pastor.

"Oh, yes" she replied. "He said even He hasn't been able to get into your church yet, and He's been trying for years."