Please come in...

New city, new job, new people, new living conditions. These are a few important events that became part of my life during the last three days; current settings of my nomadic life that has been successfully taking me places over the past six years.

As I moved into my new PG with roomies D and K who were also my colleagues at office, I wondered what this place had in store for me. One thing was definite: this was going to be the place where I would define myself and become truly independent. You might be wondering why I think so. Well, because I had to cook on my own!!

After a long time of being served food on your plates, four times a day at fixed timings, this was a bit of a nerve-cracking surprise.

Not that I’ve never cooked, but it’s always been under the guided mentorship of granny who is one of the best cooks I have ever seen or would ever see again. To be left alone to decide what goes into your tummy and to prepare it on your own, without having granny to suggest how much of spice or salt should go in seemed like pushing me into the wrath of an ocean after a couple of swimming lessons in a pool in my backyard!!

As I lay on my bed wondering about what to do on my first lonely day in the kitchen, a thought flashed my mind. My mind raced to the prayer meeting I had attended the previous Sunday where a friend spoke about how we should bring Jesus into every situation. There are many situations in life where we freeze or we are in pain and don not know how to handle it. BRING JESUS IN.

“But will Jesus come into my kitchen?” I wondered. Of course he will, said an inner voice. And so, I decided to check it out.

I took Jesus along with me into the kitchen that day. And he was beside as a mentor and a friend. Yes, it all went fine and there were no cooking disasters! Funny as it may seem, I blessed the rice and curry as it was being prepared. It works, you know.

That day, I learnt two lessons. One is that Jesus will come in anywhere at any time( even if it sounds stupid to human senses) and second is that we should believe that he will come in when and where we need him to.

It’s unto us if he bring Jesus into our situations or not.. As I always think, Jesus is a perfect gentleman who doesn’t barge in unnecessarily. Ask him to come in, even if it is something you think you can handle gracefully. It can work wonders if you try it out. After all, He’s the one who changed water into wine!

To believe or not to believe

There are times when life brings you to a point where you doubt His existence. Believer or not, each of us might have gone through this question at least once…to me it happened at a point when I was going through a tough transition in life.

Believer friends counseled me…talked to me about faith. But over my head it all went. It made me all the more rebellious against a “higher” power. A higher power that was not ready to answer my questions. I questioned His existence, His love for me. 

“If He is the all powerful, why can’t He come down and show me signs of his existence? If He loves me so much the way He claims He does, I want answers,” I rebelled. I was not going to have blind, illogical faith.

And nobody could really bring me back to that faith I thought I had in Him.

It’s been nearly an year now since I’ve begun this ride of confusion. Sometimes I returned to Him, but it never felt the same. I needed something palpable.

But once again, out of the blue He spoke to me, this time through a church sermon. I just got what I had wanted. 

Hebrews 11:1- Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

It was like bells ringing in my head. 

We have read about the woman who was healed when she touched Jesus’ clothing. She was bleeding for twelve years and couldn’t be healed. According to the Jewish law, she is unclean and to be shunned. Anyone who touches her would be considered unclean. She had faith that if she just touches the edge of His cloak, she would be saved. And that’s how it was.

What we need is faith in the power behind the miracles, not in the miracle itself…not in mere signs and wonders.

I know He is and that He will be the lord above all. I know what He has done for me, the paths we have taken together and how he has cornered me through life.

Each of us know it…and even if we doubt it, we’ll return to Him.

Our relationship with Him is such that voidness comes without Him...and we can always feel the pull back to him.

And yes, He does show you signs of His love, His existence…just like He showed me today. He doesn’t let you go that easily.

Acknowledge it!!

My roomies from engineering college and other friends who know me closely, know my obsession with my hair and my "bad hair days" almost every other day. I hated my hair for the terrible way it looked and felt.

Five years down the lane, the hair looks much better. I get comments from friends and family that it truly has changed for good. Now I like my hair and don't really have bad hair days anymore.

That's when I remembered that I had been constantly praying for my hair a few years back!! It sounds silly to me now, and maybe to you as you read it...but it's true. I realise that a prayer has been answered, although very small and probably ridiculous to many of us.

When this realisation dawned on me, I said, "Thank you lord."

The other day, I brought two shirts for my bro. I wasn't really sure of his size.. so, on an assumption I gifted him two. He tried them on and wola!! It was a perfect fit, I should say a tailored fit. And he did look good in them.

I thought to myself, "Should I thank HIM?"

"Yes, I should."....or I'd rather say, "It'd be nice if I did."

Jesus is a gentleman. He doesn't demand acknowledgements. It doesn't take a lot of time to say a thank you...does it?

So, simply acknowledge it...even little things...those little things that cross our mind......those little things that we don't realize he's done for us.

My love, My Jesus

We often come across situations in life where we run crazily behind I don't know what not! And He waits patiently for us....to just look around at Him.

Alone I stood there that day,

Into never ending darkness I gazed.

The count of clock ticks, I could barely count.

Not a single soul I saw,

Not a single sound I heard,

Deserted I was there,

Not knowing where to turn…

He walked in at the blink of an eyelid

A handsome young guy he was,

A lot I had heard about him,

About the prince, the heart - throb.

In to my wretched life he stepped in,

It just wouldn’t make any sense.

He saw me for what I was.

Picked me up from the dirt,

He had just fallen in love with me,

What do I offer in return, I do not know.

 

I just left him,

Couldn’t bear someone taking over my life.

Each morning as I ran out for the rat race ahead,

He would wait at the door with a smile that would melt me.

He would run behind with an umbrella,

Getting himself drenched in the torrents,

But I barely bothered.

That night I still recall,

When devastated and lonely I was,

For a warm embrace my heart longed.

That’s when the doorbell I heard,

In hope of a kin, I ran to the door,

Only to see him at the door,

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

At his face I shut the door.

I wondered who this handsome young man who bothers me is.

Time and again I ignored his love,

Questioning his existence and faithfulness.

All questions were answered when,

The news of his death struck my ears.

I ran …

Heart pierced, vision blurring…

There I saw him; eyes shut peacefully, drops of red dripping from wounded flesh,

Alone he lay there,

The world came crashing down when on the palm of his hand,

My name engraved, I saw..

He was so madly in love with me,

That he went and gave up his life...

For a wretch like me….

My love My Jesus…