MY DAD

I don’t think I have never ever done this in my life, not in person or in any kind, but he absolutely deserves this and this time around I had to do this, even though I am almost 7000 miles away. However this doesn’t mean that both of us did not know about this till today. It was unspoken but understood, unexpected but expressed, never wanted but followed and the list goes on…

 Yes it is me and my Dad. I can say a list of things like most of you would say or read in a father’s day article and also I am sure I can add a lot more to the list, but in a nutshell…  

A Man of God: Born catholic, came to know the lord through my mom but still one of the few people I have known with the deeper understanding of the scripture. He said he wanted to make up for the decades he had wasted before knowing the lord. So he asked the lord to teach him and gently reminded us kids (and all my cousins) in one of their landmark anniversary celebration speeches that don’t ever take for granted that you are born in a Christian home, it’s a privilege.  

A Man who loves his family: He was always there for me, my sister and my mom now extended to his son in law, daughter in law and my wonderful niece and nephew. We couldn’t ask for more. He was tough master for sure but did all that because of the love he had for us. To explain this better I need to share this, he loves moms cooking so much, that no matter where he goes he tries his best not to eat outside (unless we are all together), he always will come home for a fresh home meal cooked by mom, even if he buys something from outside would do a take-out and bring it home to share with all of us.  

A life dedicated to learn: He dedicated his whole life for learning, started with a diploma, then even with a family and kids went to evening college to finish his (B.E) Engineering, then finished his MBA didn’t stop there wanted to study theology so he also went on to graduate with his Divinity degree and if I add all the certifications and honorary titles the list would go on. 

All this doesn’t make him a saint of man/father/son/husband. He has his own weaknesses like we all do but the quality of his strengths precedes everything else 

Today when I look back, I am what I am because of him. I reflect a lot of his qualities. Caroline would ask me how did you start doing this or where do you get this from and to answer that I would think and we both would agree its from my Dad As I would quote “you always end up with things you never wanted to do in life or achieve but always by choice” looking back my teen years now, I made the right choice.  

My faith: He taught me to trust in God. When we were small every time I would ask for a thing he will never get me immediately but would say just one word PRAY and we would get what we want in the right time or from God in a wonderful way. Today my personal life, my involvement in various ministries, boards, organisations etc is a result of the way he influenced my life along with my praying mom.  

My Dressing sense: For those who know me well, you know that I like to dress up well, its from my Dad. You can never see him not tuck his shirt in, or wear an un ironed shirt, we might disagree on how much to spend on clothes but the concept of dressing well and presenting yourself is from him 

My Analytical nature: My last promotion my V.P told me that I am getting promoted because of my analytical nature, for someone who hated maths in school, to become good at the same in life can only be related to the circumstances I grew in and the practical lessons I have learnt and that comes from my Dad. Back then it looked like he wasn’t fair but he was wise and it all makes sense today. 

We follow the same dream now - to be the child of our heavenly father and follow His ways, we share the same passion now. Thinking about These things, cannot forget to remember our father in heaven, how much more he cares for his children who he created, we are so blessed by His love 

Dad on this father’s day this message deserves to be broad casted to the whole wide world. I am proud to be your son and now I hope that the things I do make you proud. May God Bless you, be gracious to you, keep you, make his face shine upon you and give you peace. May he continue to use you for his glory. You are indeed a Blessing to all of us and love you lots  

Augus

JEHOVAH JIREH... HE STILL PROVIDES WHETHER BIG OR SMALL...

Recently after hearing from our friends and reading about margarine, we decided to shift from margarine to table butter. After we came home we realised that we don’t have a container/dish to put it on. Caroline said oh it will be just a few dollars we can buy it next time we go shopping. As Caroline and I, we try our best to be careful on our spending's, I told her its okay, let’s use what we have. Two days later Caroline was having her graduation at school, the graduating kids had given her some gifts, so when she came home and opened the gifts to our surprise we found a box of crystal butter dish/ jar. It reminded us once again no matter whether big or small our heavenly father provides us all. It caught me off guard cos i wouldn’t have even prayed for a small thing like that, but we were provided from the parents of a small boy who probably dint know what it was, and neither his parents knew what our needs were, but our needs were met. That made us to be ever thankful to our father in heaven who makes and provides all things beautiful in his time, for those who love him and are his children(you and me)
It reminds me also of Mathew 6:25,26 which says let us not worry about what to eat or what to wear, he who clothes and feeds the birds in the air will do the same to us as we are more valuable and precious in his sight. Amen

REMEMBER TO ASK GOD....

Many were wondering why I went on exile …. And haven’t written in a very long time. Well it just had been that the new way of life and standards take most of our time and i couldn’t find time to sit and write. But all this had been opening new avenues in our lives.
On my way to work and back I have the habit of listening to radio in my car and often it’s one Christian FM station and in those messages I usually find the message I needed for that day. The other day one of the speakers was talking about how no matter what we do we can ask God for help. She was talking about a salesperson that was on commission and had targets to meet. This lady was worried cos she couldn’t meet her targets for the month. She was asked if she prayed to God to send customers to her and the answer was no. Often things so simple yet could be profound, we tend to forget asking God for help and put in all our efforts and when it doesn’t result well, we complain and blame it on God. Can we ask God to help us do better in our job? Ask God to help us make more money? So that we can meet our needs? Well I think it’s a big YES.
That made me think of my own experience, as I am involved in sales too and how God has been faithful in honouring me in my workplace. I write this not to boast myself but for Gods glory. Even I have targets to meet. Caroline and I we remember to specifically pray in our prayer times that I should meet my targets for the month and that he should send me customers. Same with her, to do well in her school with her kids. By Gods grace I have been doing extremely well much above my colleagues who had been working with the company for years. I remember the day when I realised through my colleague who had looked at my sales revenue and telling me no one usually hits this during this month, but I was able to do it. I also remember coming home telling Caroline, I can’t believe how I did this, it’s happening and It is definitely God who is doing this, cos I don’t see a single reason on how Augustine (me) as a person could do this.
Friends let us not forget to ask God for help even with the smallest thing in life, to the biggest things he has entrusted to us. More than that We shouldn’t forget to thank God for all that he has done and is doing in our lives. cos he who has called us is faithful and will lead us till the end..Amen
Stay Blessed
Augustine

LET HIM INTO THE BOAT...

In our Bible study fellowship we are currently studying the book of John. When we studied chapter 6 the passage where the miracle of Jesus calming the storm it challenged me and made me think further and two things were profound.

• At times Jesus sends us into the storm
• We need to Let Jesus into our boat- (Solution)

Jesus sends us into the storm:
This incident happened soon after Jesus feeding the five thousand. You would also know that Johns gospel record only the key of the matter, looking at the chronology of the Gospels, we see in Mark 6: 45 that it was Jesus who asked that disciples to go into the sea ahead of him while He dispersed the crowd. (Also to be noted is the leadership model he examples here for us, which is so different than the ones we see in the world now especially in the Christian circle) Jesus knowing there will be a storm why did he send them into the sea is a question? I see this as a part of his training the disciples to trust him more. Don’t you see this incident related to your lives too, you obey what Gods asked you to do and then you feel that you are rowing against the wind/ current? But encouraging thing is when they were struggling in the midst storm Jesus went there for their rescue. So even though he sends us into the storm, He is always there to rescue us.

Let Jesus into your boat:
When Jesus arrived in that scene, Disciples couldn’t believe him/ recognize him. They thought he was a Ghost. Jesus said it is I, Don’t be afraid. V: 21 is a great promise to cling on. It says when they were willing to take him into the boat; they reached the shore immediately, where they were destined to go. Earlier we see that they had rowed into the sea about 3 miles, as soon as Jesus came into the boat they reached the shore immediately.
Just before Jesus got into the boat, the picture is- Jesus was there, and the disciples knew who Jesus was still they were in the storm. The moment they let him into their boat it all happened, Storm calmed and reached the shore immediately.
Even as believers we at times in the middle of storms in our lives we try to solve it with the help of human minds and thoughts. But all we need to do is Ask Jesus to come into our situation/ our Boat and take control and so immediately we can reach our destiny too. Isn’t that amazing, It was a very encouraging/ challenging thought for me.

Many a times it is our own disbelief. We fail to recognize him in our lives and keep asking for help cos we have our mind set on what we want to do, not letting God to work the way he wants to do. We also see that it took the Israelites forty years to reach the Promised Land because of their unbelief. If they would have believed they would have reached much earlier. Let us not delay like them but Trust in him and ask him to come into our situation take control so that we can achieve what God has planned / destined for us sooner in our lives.

Here are some words of comfort / strength from the Bible:
Mark 6:48: when there’s a storm against us- He is there and will rescue us
John: 17:9-26, Hebrews 7:25: He will save us and Jesus lives to Intercede for us.
Hebrews 13:8: He doesn’t change; He is the same yesterday, today and forever
1 peter 5:7: He cares for us- so we can cast all our burdens on Him

I was also reminded of this song from my Sunday school, simple and profound. It goes…

With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm
As we go sailing home…

But I liked the new version of it which says…

With Jesus in my boat I can smile at the storm
As we go sailing home

You can also watch this song in the following link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpkQ-Bb78sU&feature=related


Stay Blessed

Augustine

NO OTHER PLEA:

My faith has found a resting place, not in device, nor creed
I trust the ever living one; his wounds for me shall plead

I need no other argument, I need no other plea
It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me

Enough for me that Jesus saves; this ends my fear and doubt
A sinful soul I come to him, He’ll never cast me out

I need no other argument, I need no other plea
It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me

My heart is leaning on the word, the written word of God
Salvation by my saviours’name, Salvation through his blood

I need no other argument, I need no other plea
It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me

My great physician heals the sick, the lost he came to save
For me his precious blood he shed, for me his life he gave.

I need no other argument, I need no other plea
It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me

It just hit me hard when this song was sung in our church recently. It is an amazing song by William J Kirkpatrick written centuries ago, so simple and profound.
You can listen to the song in the following links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDlTXshjq9Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Wmb-jIsKs&feature=related

Stay Blessed

(FEAR + WALK + OBEY) = BLESSING

King David is one of my very favorite characters in the Bible. He was just a small shepherd boy, least in the family. When Samuel went to anoint someone a king after Saul, God told him he was in the Jesse family, but not the name. When Jesse called his sons one by one, Samuel almost misjudged. But that the difference between us and God. We look on the outside appearances etc but God looks at the heart- inside. The family even forgot about David till there was no one left and they had to go to the fields where he was with his cattle, bring him in and he was anointed to be the King after Saul.
But it wasn’t an easy road for David. Even though God was with him, and he knew he would be the king one day, still he had to run for his life for decades. One thing which amazed me was after all the efforts Saul made to kill David, the kind of respect David had for Saul and his family till the end. Finally he became the king and God was with him through out. All his enemies were no more.
The key is, David was a man who feared the lord and walked in his ways, God honored him and his generations. God made a covenant with him, if you walk in my ways, I will bless you. And we see later God fulfilling his promise by making Solomon the King. Solomon fulfilled all that God wanted David and him to do. When he finished building the temple, he was dedicating the temple for the glory of GOD. Solomon’s prayer of dedication in I kings chapter 8 is an amazing prayer. He remembers that our God is a God who fulfills all his promises, he reminds his people of the promise God made with his father David and how he has fulfilled it to his age and why because they “feared the lord and walked in his ways” God had made a covenant with David and the same was reaffirmed when God appears for a second time to Solomon and makes the same promise. But it also came with a clause; all God’s promises are not freebies. It also had a counter part, what if I did not? Blessing turns to curse. The key in both David and Solomon’s life at this point is that they feared the Lord and walked in his ways.

It reminds me of psalm 128: ‘Blessed are those who fear the lord and walk in his ways’, and when we do that, what happens?

• You will eat the fruit of your labor
• Blessing and prosperity will follow
• You will live long
• Not just you, your wife, your children and generations will be BLESSED

Many a times we go after the Blessing part, that’s not the key. They key is to follow the lord and obey his commands. To strive to be people after Gods own heart.
Solomon did not ask for riches and long life but wisdom and we know that in the end all these came along because he asked for wisdom. So let us not look at the end product and be distracted but then follow his footsteps carefully which is the key- fear of the Lord and walking in his ways.

Remember there is also the other equation which we don’t want to be
No (fear+ walk + obey) = CURSE

But let us (FEAR + WALK + OBEY) = BLESSING to us and others. Amen

PRAYER OUTSOURCED:

The other day I was watching the Christian television network and there was a program on it and it had a news section where they were telling us what’s happening in the global Christian world. One of the news was large number of people especially from Canada and America send in special prayer requests to the Vatican. When they send in requests, they pay a cost and it will be prayed for. Because of the huge volumes of these requests coming in and because of the recession, the news said now it’s been outsourced to India. All these requests are sent to India and a priest would pray for it there... I found that news very interesting.
Can prayer be outsourced? Now that leaves us with numerous questions in our mind. Now what is prayer? Isn’t that a way we communicate with our heavenly father? Isn’t that part of our relationship with God? In a human relationship say between a husband and wife, think about having a third person in between them to communicate and they don’t talk directly, isn’t that funny? Do u think a relationship can work that way? We can have people praying with us, but the key is our own prayer. Unless we pray ourselves things won’t change. It’s becoming a trend with many of these new age evangelists especially on TV, claiming that they can pray for us and change our situation. It changes the way people think now… many think we can pay a cost and get someone else to pray by that they can get away without prayer. In our busy, fast track world, it seems to be a good solution. And these people are happy cos they get what they want. Money, which is the root for all evil. Friends let us be aware not to be trapped in situations like these. We have the great privilege of speaking to God directly and he speaks to us directly, what an amazing privilege that is. We don’t need any mediator.
He has given us the privilege of calling him Abba father and so believing in him, we become his heirs. Dream about it…… wouldn’t you want that beautiful relationship? Talking to God directly, when you see the big picture, you would want to do it yourself and not outsource.