What Is It You Want?

In the Bible we come across at least three instances where people were asked:

What is it that you want?

If God is asking the same question in our life what would our answer be?

Let us look at the three specific answers that were given - the three answers which were acceptable to God and which the Bible says were pleasing to God.

We shall divide them into three phases of our prayer life.

PHASE #1

Matthew 20:29-34

As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"

The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"

Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.

"Lord," they answered, "we want our sight."

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

The blind men came to Jesus expecting a miracle. Note that they were away from God’s family and were strangers. Jesus had compassion on them and healed them completely. Then they followed Jesus.

PHASE #2

1 King 3:5-14

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life."

God told Solomon “Ask for whatever you want me to give you”. Solomon asked for wisdom and the Bible says “The Lord was pleased”. Solomon understood the magnitude of his task being the ruler of people too numerous to count. He was not the eldest of the sons yet God made him King. He did not ask for wealth, fame or victory but asked for wisdom to govern the people. And God gave him all! Often we try to highlight our personal requests to God as though our entire life depended on it. Solomon learnt to ask the right thing.

PHASE #3

Nehemiah 2:4-5

The king said to me, "What is it you want?"
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it."

Nehemiah worked in the King's palace. He served wine to the King. Though he was a captive, he served in King’s palace. But his profession had no bearing on his vision. His vision was not narrow and limited to his profession but he learnt to look outward. He heard a report that Jerusalem was in shambles; its walls had been destroyed. People living there lived in constant fear. He did one thing:

I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

He prayed not for himself, nor for his family, nor for his profession. He prayed for the nation! He was downcast and his face was sad – to the extent that the King noticed it. He said “Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire”

Today we live in a similar situation as that of Nehemiah. The walls have been broken. The Nations’ spiritual state is in shambles. We were captives - oh but now we are in King’s palace, saved and sanctified, serving God - for what? Do we have enough reason to smile? Or like Nehemiah do we need to weep and fast?

The blind man’s vision was limited to himself. And what did he achieve? He followed Christ and that’s all. Solomon’s vision was limited to his profession. And what did he achieve? He built a temple and died. Nehemiah’s vision was broad and outward. He brought a dead nation back to life!

The problem with most of us is that we feel content to stay in PHASE #1 and do not look beyond. We must learn to prioritize things in our prayer life. Our prayer should not be loaded with personal requests or worldly things. While the dear Lord will bless us and give us everything we ask for, He wants us to move forward. We should not become an embarrassment to God. God’s plans for us are great! If there is someone who can limit the power of God in our lives, it is we ourselves.

Leonard Ravenhill is well known for this quote: “If you only want to be saved, sanctified and satisfied, God’s battle has no need of you”.

LOVE

I corinthians 13 chapter describes love.

- Love calls us to God's ministry
- Love changes others

I. LOVE CALLS US TO GOD'S MINISTRY:

- God's love made Mother Theresa to leave her comforts and come to India for doing the ministry for God.

- God's love made her continue God's ministry inpite of shames and tribulations.

1. Short story:

Once Mother Theresa went to a baker and asked him bread for the children and people in her home. The baker got angry and spat on her. She wiped it off and told the baker that she will accept the spit for her and again asked the baker to give something for her children and people in her home. This statement of hers convicted the heart of the baker. So he gave a lot of bread to the home on that day.

- God's love made Mother Theresa do the ministry. She faithfully did the ministry. So, God protected her ministry.

2. Short Story:

Feeling jealous about the ministry of Mother Theresa, few people complained to a governement official about closing the home run by Mother Theresa. To check what was really going on in the home, the officer went in disguise and observed what was going on in the home. The scene of Mother Theresa's ministry broke the govt. official's heart. She was cleaning the wounds of lepers, and feeding them. The next morning the officer told the jealous people that if they could do what Mother Theresa was doing in the home, he'll close the home. So, God protected Mother Theresa's ministry.

- Love of Mother Theresa was honoured:

To honour the love of Mother Theresa, TamilNadu CM, Mr. MGR opened a university in her name.

II. LOVE CHANGES PEOPLE:

1. Short story:

A man fell in love with a girl. The girl was so cruel that she told the guy to prove his love towards her by bringing the heart of his mother. The guy killed his mother and took his mother's heart to the girl. On the way he slipped and fell down. His mother's heart fell down too. It spoke to him from the ground, saying: "Be careful my son, are you hurt?" Moved by his mother's love, he understood what is true love.

Inference : True love is not selfish, but selfless, just like Jesus' love for us.

2. Story from Fr. Berchmans:

In a college, there was a very pious girl. A guy loved her very much. On the farewell day, the guy proposed his love to that girl. But the girl said that she gave her heart to another person (Jesus) and handed over a Bible, asked him to read it, and left him. Considering her gift as a great asset, the guy read the Bible fully and understood that no love is equal to the love of God. From that day he gave his life to God and started doing the ministry of God.

Inference : Love of God changed that guy to do the ministry of God.

3. Story from Mohan C. Lazarus:

In a town, there was a newly married couple. The husband was very pious and God fearing. He never watched movies whereas his wife liked to watch movies. One day the wife wanted to go for a new movie. She told her husband about her wish. In order to protect the peace in the family, the husband took the wife to the theatre, made her sit in the theatre and told her that he'll come and pick her up after the cinema gets over. He went back home and prayed. The wife initially started to watch the movie. But she could not concentrate on the movie. Thoughts of her husband and what he did without any anger or argument, kept running through her mind. She was not able to watch the movie even for 15 min. She got up and ran back home, and from then on gave up watching movies.

Inference : The love of a husband changed the heart of his wife. True love is patient.

Love is a powerful weapon that changes people. So, love one another in Christ.

Calling of God

Only, if we have a clear CALL from the Lord,

1. a real Ministry will begin to fulfill God's plans ,
2. the Ministry will be blessed by the presence of God,
3. the Ministry will sustain inspite of trails and tribulations by the guidance of God.
   

Moses and Paul did a powerful ministry with a clear Call from the Lord.

Moses:

• Calling : God appeared in the burning bush and called Moses to do His ministry.
• Blessing : God didn't inform Moses that, Moses will divide red sea, bring God's people from Egypt with mighty miracles etc. Since, God called Moses to do His ministry, God blessed the ministry of Moses. Thats why the ministry of Moses was powerful.
• Guidance : Moses had difficult time with the Israelites. They dishonoured God frequently and murmurred against God. Several times Moses was discouraged and criticized by the Israelites. Inspite of all these, God guided Moses and sustained the ministry of Moses.
  

Paul:

• Calling : A light from heaven shone upon Saul and the voice of God clearly spoke with him. He became Paul and then the Holy Spirit seperated Paul to do His ministry.
• Blessing : God didn't inform Paul that, when Paul's dresses were put on sick they will be healed or Paul will rise a dead person back to life etc. Since, God called Paul to do His ministry, God was with Paul and blessed his ministry.
• Guidance : Paul was the only apostle who was bruished a lot and was kept in prison several times. Though he went through a lot of pains, yet he considered all his pains to be smaller when compared to the pains of Jesus Christ during crucifixion. God guided Paul in his troubles and sustained his ministry.

So, if we step into God's ministry, we should have following checklist.

• We should be clear about the calling of our Lord to do His ministry.
  
• Only if we are truly called, the ministry will be blessed and
  
• Only if we are truly called, the ministry will sustain inspite of loses and sufferings.

What is Sin?

According to Matthew 5:28, anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. i.e., Just a wrong thought towards anyone in your heart is considered as Sin.

Sin is the only thing in this earth that separates us from God.

Matthew 5:8 tells Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they shall see God. Example - Jesus is sinless through out his life. So he's able to see the father God. Sin is so powerful that at one point of time Jesus himself felt that he is separate from God. (Matthew 27:46)

In this world there is no one sinless(except JESUS). In order not to become prey of sin, we should follow two things in our life.

1. We should guard ourselves by Praying(Matthew 26:41).
2. We should obey everything what Jesus had commanded us(Matthew 28:20).

When we follow these two, God is always with us (Matthew 28:20 - Promise of his Presence).

Work Etiquette - Part I

Genesis 39:2-6 , 20-23

The following points are revealed out of these passage,
1. God was with Joseph.
2. Joseph was given all the works and responsibility in Potiphar's house and in the jail. (Must have been given all the works and his masters sat down relaxly)
3. Joseph didnt say back even a single word that he was dumped with work.
4. Joseph obeyed his early masters and worked for God.
5. God blessed the households of Egyptian because of Joseph.
6. Joseph prospered.

Abstract of the above passage and points.... U have to remember thumb rule.... Have your fingers like that....

Thumb Finger: God is with me
Have a faith and bold declaration that God is with me.

Pointing Finger: I am working for GOD
Always take/say that the task, work or anything that we do is for God and not for our PM, SPM or whoever above us.

Middle Finger: I will be prospered at my work place
This is the tallest of all fingers, so as that i will be lifted high by God - easy to remember this point.

If we work for God, our reward will surely come from him. We might not got the recognition at our work place or might not got the proper salary hike or might not be encouraged by ur fellow colleages, don't feel bad.

Remember we are working for God and expect reward from HIM. He is more than able to lift us high at our workplace.

The following points are reserved for furthur discussions,
1. Joseph wouldn't have done all the work by himself. He must have delegated to his fellow workers and manage them - People Management. How to handle people at our work place.
2. Joseph would have told 'NO' or asked his master to rearrage the priorities of his work to accomplish all the works - Saying NO. How to say 'NO' when we are dumped with lot of work.

Waiting on God's Promises

How can we know God's plans in our lives? Are we waiting for the promises ? Do we forget His mercies , seeing the current situations? Here are two things to know!

Your current situation is not all. Things will change.

Yea. Its easy to say that. So hard to accept this when we are going through tough situations. We see someone in our shoes in the scriptures. Naomi!

Having lost, her husband and her only two sons, what hope could have been left to remain in her heart? We can read all about this in Ruth chapter 1. But God had a greater blessing for her through her daughter-in-law Ruth, in whose lineage came king David and thus Jesus Christ. Surely the mention of her name in Bible, takes its place.

Who knows? The trouble which you are going through at present may take you to any height. May be not immediately, but surely you will look back to see.

Waiting for a promised blessing is not easy. But still not impossible

You know the hype God gave Joseph. What an young age! What a dream!! In flesh I say the envy of their brothers is not an injustice. God promised him in his dream that everyone else will bow down before him, this little fellow. Was his dream fulfilled immediately? This dreamer was looking for a crown. Came only furies, pit, slavery, prejudice and prison. Burst of balloons?? Not really. Yea, the path was hard. If you read closely, in all these tribulations, the Bible says 'God was with Joseph'. You can read the word of God saying this repeatedly!

You know what after prison. He became the no. 2 in Egypt. He was responsible to feed the entire bereaved nation and the neighbours during the great famine.

Yea, promises will come true. It will take its time. But surely the word of God will not fall to ground without accomplishing its purpose.

Cost of Salvation and Discipleship

1.The cost of salvation/redemption

A Preacher was walking along a country road. He met a young lad coming in the opposite direction, carrying a cage. There were three small birds inside - wet, shivering, and frightened. The lad had just caught them. Preacher asked him, "what are you going to do with them?" He said, "I'm going to have fun, I'll poke them, torture them, to my heart's content". Preacher: "how long will you do that? Won't you get tired?" The lad laughed and said, "I have a cat who loves birds, they'll become my cat's dinner".

Preacher said, "How much do you want for them?". Lad: "why do you want these ugly birds? They can't sing, they're not beautiful ..." Preacher: "just name the price!" Lad: "I can get other, better birds for you". Preacher: "no! I don't want any other birds, I want only these ones". The lad asked for a high price, the Preacher paid up, and the lad ran away.

The Preacher release the birds. He took the empty cage to his Church and narrated a conversation between Jesus and Satan. Satan had just returned from earth and was gloating: "I've trapped all these foolish people. I've made them marry and divorce, to hurt each other with words, to murder and steal, to rebel, disobey, and make themselves miserable and other miserable." Jesus asked, "won't you get tired of doing this?" Satan: "when I get tired I'll put them in hell, and let them burn forever and ever". Jesus said: "how much do you want for them?" Satan: "you don't want these foolish people?" Jesus: "I do want them". Satan: "they'll deny You, will not accept You as Son of God, will spit on Your face, drive nails into Your hands, ..." Jesus: "name the price". Satan: "ok. I need all your tears and all your blood". Jesus: "it's done". And He humbled Himself even to the point of death for us.

Jesus paid such a high price for our salvation. We can never pay Him back. The least we can do is try to follow Him, be His disciple ...

2.The cost of discipleship

If we plan to do something important or big, don't we sit down and plan things out? Getting ready for marriage. Buying a house/land. Buying a bike/car. Looking for a job. Similarly, we need to sit down and analyze ourself, if we want to become His disciple.

This is what Jesus expects of us, if we want to become His disciple:

1. Give Him the first priority every day.
There should no one, or no other thing which takes precedence over Him. We need to make sure that we give Him the first priority every day, not just today. We need to seek hard, and find ways to be with Him, get to know Him better, get into a strong relationship with Him ... a relationship that is stronger than any other relationships we have.

2. Find out His plans and purposes for our life and fulfill them.
This is our cross. It is not as heavy as Jesus'. He suffered alone. But because He overcame, we can be sure of our victory, and He is always beside us. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We can easily carry our cross, when we give Him the first priority every day.

3. Emulate Him, do as He did.
In everything we do, we need to check it we're doing as Jesus would do. What would Jesus do? That's a good question to ask, whenever we need to do something important, or make some important decision. Empty ourselves more of our "self", and fill ourselves more of Jesus.

You want to follow Him at a distance? Or, you want to be close to Him? If you want to be close, you know what it costs ...

VR4Christ - Get involved!

Get involved in this group and do more for our Lord Jesus Christ! For any queries contact someone you know in the group, or mail to the group owner: vr4christ-owner@yahoogroups.com.

Before we move on ...

0. Checklist

• Have you read the VR4Christ - Starter's kit? If not, do so NOW!
• Have you made it a point to pray every day asking God how He may use you that day? If not, make it a point to do so now! Whatever you give into God's hands He'll use and multiply, just like what He did with the 2 loaves and 5 fish that a little boy gave to Him!
• Have you joined any prayer fellowship in your area? If not, start one in your area and invite others!
• Have you added yourself to the group's address book? If not add yourself now! The "Address book" is in the database section of the group. You'll have to login to your Yahoo profile to access this page. Particularly, enter the field "mail checking frequency". If you check your mails frequently, then it will be easy to communicate any new plans to you. If you don't check your mails frequently, get to know someone who checks frequently, so that you can get updates from that person.
• Go through previous mails to get an idea of what is going on in the group.
• Have you joined the VR4Christ Flickr group for sharing the photos taken during group outings? If not, join now!
  

1. How to get involved?

1.1 Visits: We visit orphanages/poor children's homes, old people homes, etc. and share God's love through songs, skits, message, and gifts. You can come for such visits and contribute your talents.

1.2 Prayer: We gather together regularly in small groups to pray for the work we do through this group, and for our personal spiritual growth. You MUST join one such group and pray!

1.3 Fellowship: We all gather together once a month, to have fellowship and prayer. Please do be there to have fellowship with the group!

1.4 Testimonies: Everybody can share their testimony to our group. It need not be a great miracle that God did in our life, it could be something minor (actually these are also great miracles which we normally don't realize!).

For example, yesterday, on the way to church, I dropped in to a tea stall and had tea. After I started from there I forgot to take off my bike's side stand. I think most of you know that sometimes it could be very dangerous. Normally I ride my bike little faster, when I took a left turn, that road was also really bad, the stand banged against the ground and somehow I managed to balance. Its really God's grace that I escaped. Thank and praise God!

1.5 Prayer Request: We can place our prayer requests. We can note down those points and can include in our daily prayers and also in the group fellowship. Guys, its always good to pray for others. Lets start practicing bearing one another's burden and cry for others and I believe that will make us draw closer to God.

1.6 Bible Study or Preaching: If anyone is interested and have time, they can conduct a Bible study. Also we can share what message we heard in our Church last Sunday or on TV or anywhere else. By doing like this, we can recollect what we heard, we can start practicing it in our life and we can develop our preaching ability by telling this to others (group).

1.7 Discuss some spiritual topics: Feel free to start a thread on your topic of interest. I believe most of you guys start off with "Marriage" :). We can take any names or stories from the Bible and have discussions on this. Or else, any practical points that would help us realize our ignorance and iniquities in our day-to-day life.

Share your thoughts, or share a message: It is always good to share what we feel when we come across some sermon, verse or anything, so that it would be encouraging to others. Recently I saw one quote: "rich is the person who has praying friends". I was so excited and shared with some of my close friends that we are billionaires! These kinds of small, small happiness we can share with others also. They will surely refresh us in the midst of our busy, tensed, stressful work.

1.8 Greetings: We can share birthday and anniversary greetings. Somebody can pray for the one who is celebrating on that day.

1.9 Forwards: We can share. But only good ones and spiritual ones.

1.10 Fun: Have fun serving the Lord! Apostle Paul says, "rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice."

2. More ideas ...

What if you have a new idea, or suggestion that you want to share with the group? Just mail to the group: vr4christ@yahoogroups.com.

If you are deliberating on whether to discuss with the whole group or not, then here is what you can do:

1. First pray about it, and then discuss it within a small group of people you know and with whom you are comfortable with.
2. When the idea has grown enough to be discussed at the group level, then involve everyone. When to decide that it has grown enough is a judgment call you have to make, no hard-and-fast rule for that!

VR4Christ - Starter's Kit

0. Introduction

If you are new to the VR4Christ group, then this introduction is just for you! If you believe in the mission that we have set forth in this document, then welcome to the group! Let's put our hearts and hands together and do great things for the Lord!

1. Who we are

After our visit to two orphanages on the 18th of December 2005, God placed a burden in our hearts to reach out more regularly for such work. So we formed the VR4Christ group and resolved to do more for Him. We come from different backgrounds, work in different companies/places, have various talents, and united with one purpose: to glorify His holy name through our lives.

2. Our mission

To glorify His holy name, by investing our time, our talents, and our money:

• to help the poor and the orphaned children,
• to help the needy and the destitute old people,
• to show His love in whichever way possible,
• and most of all to share the good news that through our Lord Jesus, we can escape eternal death, and have eternal life!

And in the process, we will grow spiritually ourselves.

3. Our motto

Radioactive: We're for Christ! We radiate Christ's love!

4. What we do

• We visit orphanages/poor children's homes, old people homes, etc. and share God's love through songs, skits, message, and gifts.
• We gather together regularly in small groups to pray for the work we do through this group, and for our personal spiritual growth.
• We all gather together once a month, to have fellowship and prayer.

Look at the "get involved" post for more such activities and ideas on how you can get involved.

5. Why we do this

5.1. Glorify His name

For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. [I Corinthians 6:20]

I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. [Psalms 86:12]

When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself and will glorify him at once.” [John 13:31, 32]

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. [Romans 15:5, 6]

5.2. Bear the burdens of others

Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. [Galatians 6:2]

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. [Hebrews 13:16]

5.3 Give

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. [Luke 6:38]

By this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' [Acts 20:35]

5.4. Testify to His goodness in our lives

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well”. [Luke 17:11-19]

I believe every one of us would like to be that Samaritan. Be thankful and be not ashamed about testifying to this world, of His goodness in our lives!

6. What we expect to get at the end of the day

The fruits of the Spirit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. [Galatians 5: 22, 23]

7. Conclusion

Is it possible to achieve all the above? Yes! If we pray with one accord and press on!

God will make a way,
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for us
He will be our guide
Hold us closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way.

- Don Moen

To paraphrase what Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13, 14: "[We] do not consider [ourself] yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing [we] do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, [we] press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Next steps ...

If you're interested to join us:

• Subscribe to the VR4Christ Yahoo group by sending a mail with a short introduction about yourself (your name, what you do, your occupation, how you heard about us, etc.) to: vr4christ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Add yourself to the "Address book" in the database section of the group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vr4christ/database. You'll have to login to your Yahoo profile to access this page. Particularly, enter the field "mail checking frequency". If you check your mails frequently, then it will be easy to communicate any new plans to you. If you don't check your mails frequently, get to know someone who checks frequently, so that you can get updates from that person.
• Get challenged by the goals that are set forth in this document. Believe us, there is a lot of work that we can do together!
• Grow in your spiritual life, so that you can be of greater spiritual value when we minister to others.

For any clarifications, or to put forth your ideas, please mail to: vr4christ-owner@yahoogroups.com, or drop a comment here.

Let's radiate Christ's love!

The Story of the Monsoon

Misty wind pane and a darkened cloud
Roaring thunder announces aloud
the arrival of the most awaited
A sign of silent prayers answered.

Hurray ! the monsoon has finally set in
Kissing our land and our hearts from within
Children excited and smiles relaunched
Animals happy and Green trees Quenched

All was good and went on well
Till the drizzles tuned on a different spell
four whole days it rained non stop
and all the smiles began to drop

What was welcomed as mother nature's blessing
Had finally shown its ugly dressing
Water water all around
tears and darkness filled this ground

Schools were closed and all indoors
Watching through glass panes how this rain pours
was the sun up there ? Is this the end?
Life out here took a stand still bend.

Then one morning - that familiar call
of the sparrow's return on my wall
The rain had stopped leaving puddles and pools
Thank God for His mercy and for showing He rules.

Mother nature in all her form
Teaches life's lessons in different ways
After every thunder, rain and storm
Sunshine never fails to shine its rays.

Life too has its ups and downs
But after sorrow , smiles only bounce
Remember this always- But don't ask me how
Face the Sun you'll not see the shadow.


~Author~
~ Sumi Rachel Jacob ~

Jesus My First Love

Jesus my first love
None other may do
But HE cares for you
may be you never knew
But His love is true
Trust me not as i'm only human
In my words i give no hope
But there is one up in heaven
At the end of life's cliff your only rope.
World may choke
and kill you sadly
Give HIM your yoke
He'd take it gladly
Like a river for my drying soul.
He came along and made me whole
For a man so unworthy as me,
He gave me LOVE - He set me free
Oh Father how can i repay
So little is the sorry and thanks i say
Oh God ask me for something in return
LOVE you say !! not the wealth i earn?
What is this LOVE - How can i define?
I did not buy it - Yet it's Mine!
Why me Oh Lord - What did i do
To earn someone as priceless as YOU
You are the King of Heaven and of Earth
Still you know me from my birth
So in Awe praises i sing
To you my Lord - My King .
~Sumi Rachel Jacob~

Visit to PUSH (2004)

On its way.. !!!!!

Visit to Banyan (Dec 2003)

Guys ,This started as a small thought among a group of friends who passed out from Karunya Institute of Technology to help the poor and needy during Christmas Time.
The total collection at that time way back in 2003 was around 2000 Rs and the place of visit was Banyan
http://www.thebanyan.org/ .It was an enriching experience in the home . The team consisted of
1. Geena
2. Dennis
3. Deepthi
4. Binny
5. Sumi
6. Hubert
7. Prasanth Manoj

Sumi , Geena,Deepthihad booked a call Taxi to go to Banyan and when they reached there , they were welcomed by the inmates and the keepers of the house led by Mr. Ashok .They were led to the Hall where the Carols was to be conducted , when they busy decorating the hall , an inmate of the house asked them where and why they came to banyan .She wanted all of their attention and cornered them during the speech , both of them were scared as this was the first time for all of us . The keepers soon helped them and then myself and Binny we reached the place and started dressing up for the Santa Claus we were given a store room to make up .Meanwhile Sumi, Geena , Deepthi and company started the Carol songs and Santa was told to come in when they started Jingle Bells... The best part Santa did not know when Jingle Bells is going to be sung , so he had to hurry up with his costume and had to wait in the store room for nearly 20 mins , when all of a sudden they sang Jingle Bells ..By that time Santa was already snoring .. when he heard Binny come running and knocking the door and waking Santa up .. asking him to come.. !! when santa came out .. guess what happened.. .

One of the house keeper screamed .. seeing Santa..
"Man .. thats not a way to welcome Santa " she got scared .. seeing Santa.. !! thats when for the first time I reliazed what everyone says about me .. that i am scary .. !! Gosh i scared some one.. . !!The deal was to enter dancing and before Santa would start dancing the ballons tied to his walking stick started flying off.. !! Loose knots you see.. !!
Being the first time with the Santa Claus dress , i had to keep a lot of things in mind..
1. Dont let the mask fall
2. Dont let the wig fall
3. Dont let the pant fall ( My god the pant was looooooooooooseeeeee)
4. Dont let the additional belly fall .. U would be provided with an additional belly )
5. Hold the walking stick
6. Hold the ballons
7. Distribute sweets.. so on and so forth..
Keeping all this in mind Santa entered.. thats when Santa got his welcome.. man the people started clapping hands and welcoming santa.. !! Santa forgot about all his precautions and once you see the smiles.. you will start dancing ... so started Santa's dance..Soon lot of the inmates started to dance with Santa .. cos he had all the sweets.. !!! obviously you dont dance you dont get sweets.. !! so the whole hall was filled with songs , dance music and fun .Then started the musical chair competition ... in which Santa lost in the first round itself.. !! cos of his over wieght tummy.. ( both original and add on ) .. but then the winner got a prize .. which was again a Toffy.. !!In the end, when we were about to finish .. there was a inmate who came forward and prayed along with us.. and closed the Carol celebrations..
Time was up when we had to head back home .. with all our memories of Banyan .
Would keep you posted on our visit to PUSH in my next blog.. !!!