"The Toll of our Toiling"

Most of you may have heard the "big news" that John Piper is taking a 8 month break, ("No sermon preparation or preaching. No blogging. No Twitter. No articles. No reports. No papers. And no speaking engagements."), because, he says, "the precious garden of my home needs tending." You can read his announcement here.

Christianity Today ran a surprisingly admiring article about this development, saying, "Thousands of ministers who have learned from Piper through his books, sermons, and conference talks will now have opportunity to learn from his silence."

The author gives examples of how "an intense work regimen was ingrained in several evangelical leaders of the post-war era." and concludes,

"Evangelical leaders serve out of their personal relationship with Christ, modeling the life of faith for others. Yet it is exceedingly difficult to tend to this most important relationship, not to mention our friends and family, when work consumes every day. To be sure, we're called to toil for Christ, "struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works" within us (Col. 1:29). Even during the busyness of this Lenten season, though, we might follow Piper's example and pause to examine the toll of our toiling and the state of our souls. Does our work truly point others to the power of Christ? If not, it may draw attention to the one who plants and waters, not the God who gives the growth (1 Cor. 3:7). Ministers who lose this perspective are in danger of losing their congregations, not to mention their families.

Instead, let us live up to our belief in the God who holds out the promise of Sabbath rest for his people. If God rested from his works, so can we (Heb. 4:9-10)."

Our new desktop wallpaper

Chosen by Arpita for April, this verse speaks so much encouragement to my soul.



(click on the picture for a better view)

Today's links 28/3/2010

1. Christ Conducts His Choir




(HT: David Murray )

"In this astounding video, American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre spliced together nearly 250 videos of individuals singing individual parts of “Lux Arumque.” He sent out the music, auditioned the singers, and then chose 250 of the submitted videos, which he spliced together to form this “virtual choir.”

As I watched in wonder, I could not help thinking of how Christ our Mediator gathers His people’s praises from every church and every believer in the world every Sunday and presents them, as a perfect choir, to His Father.

Then my mind went further and “I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.""



2. I recently spent two hours watching "An Evening Of Eschatology". This was a round-table debate between Doug Wilson (representing the post-millenial view), Jim Hamilton (representing pre-millenialism) and Sam Storms (representing amillenialism), and moderated by John Piper. I seem to be moving towards thinking that amillenialism is probably the correct view. What do you think?



3. (HT: Thabiti Anyabwile)

“It is a growing conviction of mine that no parish can fulfill its true function unless there is at the very center of its leadership life a small community of quietly fanatic, changed and truly converted Christians. The trouble with most parishes is that nobody, including the pastor, is really greatly changed. . . .

We do not want ordinary men. Ordinary men cannot win the brutally pagan life of a city like New York for Christ. We want quiet fanatics.”

John Heuss, Our Christian Vocation (Greenwish, 1955), pages 15-16.



4. I also watched this sermon By Michael Horton on Christ and the Workplace.

Christ and the Workplace from Westminster Seminary California on Vimeo.

This addressed a question I have often asked myself, especially with all that I hear about the Christian doctor. Dr Horton gave me much to think about, and so, I looked him up online, and found an interview he gave, where he discussed some of these questions, and found even more to mull about.



5. Talk Deeply, Be Happy

"Would you be happier if you spent more time discussing the state of the world and the meaning of life — and less time talking about the weather?

It may sound counterintuitive, but people who spend more of their day having deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier, said Matthias Mehl, a psychologist at the University of Arizona"



6. It's hard to stop laughing once you really get going, even when you know you should not be laughing in the first place!



(HT: Vit Z)

Oscar Romero: Reflections for Lent

It is 30 years ago this week that a sniper killed Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero with a single bullet that exploded through his heart as he said mass.

Read an article here.

Read some meditations of Oscar Romero in a book (download here) called The Violence of Love.

Excerpts:

People do not mortify themselves during Lent
out of a sick desire to suffer.
God did not make us for suffering.
If we fast or do penances or pray,
it is for a very positive goal:
by overcoming self
one achieves the Easter resurrection.
We do not just celebrate a risen Christ,
distinct from us,
but during Lent we prepare ourselves
to rise with him to a new life
and to become the new persons
that are what the country needs right now.
Let us not just shout slogans
about new structures;
new structures will be worthless
without new persons
to administer the new structures the country needs
and live them out in their lives.
February 17, 1980

This Lent, which we observe amid blood and sorrow, ought to presage a transfiguration of our people, a resurrection of our nation. The church invites us to a modern form of penance, of fasting and prayer – perennial Christian practices, but adapted to the circumstances of each people.

Lenten fasting is not the same thing in those lands where people eat well as is a Lent among our third-world peoples, undernourished as they are, living in a perpetual Lent, always fasting. For those who eat well, Lent is a call to austerity, a call to give away in order to share with those in need. But in poor lands, in homes where there is hunger, Lent should be observed in order to give to the sacrifice that is everyday life the meaning of the cross.

But it should not be out of a mistaken sense of resignation. God does not want that. Rather, feeling in one’s own flesh the consequences of sin and injustice, one is stimulated to work for social justice and a genuine love for the poor. Our Lent should awaken a sense of social justice.

Let us observe our Lent thus, giving our sufferings, our bloodshed, our sorrow the same value that Christ gave to his own condition of poverty, oppression, abandonment, and injustice. Let us change all that into the cross of salvation that redeems the world and our people. And with hatred for none, let us be converted and share both joys and material aids, in our poverty, with those who may be even needier.
March 2, 1980

Easter is itself now the cry of victory.
No one can quench the life that Christ has resurrected.
Neither death nor all the banners of death and hatred
raised against him and against his church can prevail.
He is the victorious one!

Just as he will thrive in an unending Easter,
so we must accompany him in a Lent and a Holy Week
of cross, sacrifice, and martyrdom.
As he said, blessed are they who are not scandalized
by his cross.

Lent, thus, is a call to celebrate our redemption
in that difficult combination of cross and victory.
Our people are well prepared to do so these days:
all that surrounds us proclaims the cross.
But those who have Christian faith and hope
know that behind this Calvary of El Salvador
lies our Easter,
our resurrection.
That is the Christian people’s hope.
March 23, 1980

Isaiah 26:3

My aunt sent me this. It is a tremendous comfort. And, it's so amazing how much depth there is to one verse in the Bible!!! I wrote this out and am taping it to our cupboard in our kitchen!

Is 26:3

You will keep in perfect peace him whose

mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.

1. You will keep: Hbrw for keep is nasar

meaning to guard protect, keep, used to denote

guarding a vineyard, a fortress, God is a

watchman guarding over my thoughts 

2. …in perfect peace: perfect peace Hbrw

        means shalom meaning safe, peaceful, sense of

Well-being, prosperous relationship between

2 people.

3. …him whose mind is steadfast: mind in

Hbrw means is yester it means frame, pattern,

image, conception, imagination thought, device. 

It is what is formed in the mind-plans purposes.

Frame: more than physical, our minds work to

frame every circumstance, temptation and

experience we have,

Hebrw for steadfast is samak meaning to sustain,

to be braced, to lean upon to lay on, to lay one

hand on.  When temptation and troubling thoughts

come the steadfast believer chooses to lay her

hand on God’s word and know that it’s true.  

4.)  …because he trust in You: trust in

Hbrw is batach meaning to attach oneself,

to confide in feel safe, be confident, secure.

Like a small child who trust her parents. 

The Lord be the Watchman of my mind-help

me to love and trust you alone.

Excuse me?

Dinner done, Anand slid off his chair onto the floor. His parents, however, were still eating.

Mom: Anand, I didn't hear you excuse yourself. Can we try it again? Can you get back onto your chair, and excuse yourself before leaving the table?

(Anand climbs back into his chair)

Anand: Excuse me.....?

Mom: Yes, of course, baby, you may leave the table.

Anand slid off the chair again, and looked up at his mom, with question marks all over his face.

"What's the point, Mama?"

Swords into ploughshares contd.

Below is an article by Jeph Mathias published in the NZ Christian magazine "Tui Motu", which contains the compelling arguments I mentioned before. Feel free to comment. I've put it here with his permission, to help in our discussion.

International air travel, just like hitchhiking, tins you like a sardine: the doors close and you're packed beside another body fished from the human ocean, rubbing shoulders and breathing the same air. Even if you are from very different walks of life you might identify commonalities and intersecting interests, exchange what is in your head and occasionally your heart. Destination reached the door peels open like a lid, your canned-fish camaraderie is broken and you never see each other again. It doesn’t always work but 'sardine tin' conversations can be the best.

On my way to the health project we work on in a tiny Himalayan village the eleven hour Christchurch-Singapore sector put me next to Steve, a Central Otago grape grower and vintner off to peddle his wares at an international wine fair. We started with the Crusader’s chances in the super fourteen, the pleasures of parenthood, the world price of oil and the arcane science of turning thin sun, dry soil and cold air into fine wine. The harsher the conditions the finer the flavour Steve reckons. Then I opened the magazine section of the Sunday paper and found a large picture and long interview with Peter Murnane, the Dominican friar who broke into the US spy base at Waihopai with two others, popped a balloon and set up a shrine. Only the ‘balloon’ was an information collecting satellite worth $1million and they had illegally entered a national security installation. Cutting a 40,000V security fence to find it turned off no doubt has embarrassed somebody powerful.

“What d'ya reckon about these guys” I asked Steve.

He replied in a crisp end-of-matter tone “We'll just have anarchy if we don't lock their type up”.

He didn’t add “and throw away the key” but made it clear that for him it would be no bad thing if the key were somehow mislaid. I tried various angles to tease out the nuances of the issue, for instance

“D’y reckon it can be right to break the law if it is a wrong law”

“Dunno mate” he said “but those guys knew the rules and broke them. Lock 'em up.”

He turned on his monitor and started surfing the in flight movies, leaving me to ponder it all myself. Anarchy seemed to be central and “The Second Coming”, was it by Yeats?, came to mind. As best as I remember it goes:

Turning and turning

in the widening gyre

the falcon cannot hear the falconer

Things fall apart,

the centre cannot hold

mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

“Things fall apart... mere anarchy is loosed up on the world.” Don't we all, at some level, fear the uncertainty that things might fall apart, our things… our safe thing-filled lives? “Anarchy” is derived from Greek an (without) and arche (rules). We want, need, no crave rules- glue to hold our centres together.

But turning and turning the word anarchy around in the gyre ever-widening inside my own head I began to doubt that a safe, predictable rule based world is necessarily a good world. When legal and moral diverge being a good law abiding citizen may be wrong. Take South Africa in the bad old days of apartheid. Most citizens, white and black, chose the legal, complied with immoral laws, kept their heads down and looked after their families. Yet they were grateful to Mandela and others who chose truth over the law. The centre, trying to hold itself together, gave Mandela “the terrorist” 23 years on Robben Island to ponder the nuances of legal and moral. When apartheid finally fell apart the Oslo committee gave Mandela the Nobel Peace Prize. We cheered and told ourselves we too would have chosen moral over legal.

Now let's consider the economic rules of the world in which we participate. These rules allow some people to fly around the world to visit health projects or sell wine for delicate palates while, debarred from most of the world’s resources, others live in villages and watch their children die of TB or malnutrition. Through that lens we see ourselves unquestioningly complying with an immoral global economic apartheid. Shouldn’t we resist, be a little anarchist?

The gospels often push me into the grey zone between legal and moral. I’m in the crowd around the adulteress turning and turning a heavy stone in my hand while some hippie talks of not following the law. And I’m a good temple-on-the-Sabbath Jew with my wife and children feeling things falling apart when a ranting madman appears, turning over tables and swinging a whip. When a paralyzed man gets up and walks would I have been with the Pharisees or the long haired guy? Time and again Jesus shows us how to choose rightly when the paths of legal and true diverge. And notice his answer when someone tossed him a coin. The moral dimension was not clearly identified, the question was simply about political power so he said “Rend to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is Gods” Great answer. Hard to live, the second bit at least.

But back to Peter and Co in front of their burst balloon and their shrine. I hadn't told Steve-the-vintner but I know Peter well. Long ago he was a priest at my church, visiting prisoners and refugees and quietly inspiring us to higher things. He married us, Kaaren and me but when I moved from Auckland I only heard of his more spectacularly news-worthy exploits: protesting the Iraq invasion by daubing a cross in his own blood (clandestinely secreted in a bag strapped to his leg) on the carpet in front of the gaping US consul, cycling from Canberra to Uluru to urge the Australian government to apologize long before Kevin Rudd’s famous “Sorry” and mot famously offering a home and support to Ahmed Zhaoui as the NZ government bent to the powerful world centre. They said “We’re breaking the rules to keep order but anyone else who does is a terrorist”. As yet another person was detained without trial most of us just looked on because the centre held us in its thrall. But Peter, again, tested the ice most of us blithely skate over by saying “He is a human being”. We need his type, prophets who fly falcon-like, shake the centres we crave to hold and loosen things we strive to keep together. Now he’s popped a balloon used to help USA's war of terror and he’s looking at me out of a Sunday newspaper.

Suddenly all was clear. Peter’s action/prayer is not in that fraught space between legal and moral where we sometimes find ourselves. The invasion of Iraq, lies about Sadddam's weapons, the coalition's own grotesque weapons of mass destruction, Abu Gharib and Guantanamo Bay ... these are all illegal and immoral. If Peter and friends get time behind bars it will be for going into the still more slippery underground room of our world. The room under the cellar door which most of us keep firmly bolted while we continue neatly ordered lives upstairs. The scary room. But we’re meant to go down. All my heroes did. Mandela got 23 years, Jesus got a cross. Gandhi, Luther-King and others died trying to bring light to where power grapples with truth. And there it was! Jesus’ message soft and clear: Love and Truth are your rules. Follow them. Live them. No matter what. If you meekly do what you’re told, go where you're pushed the terrible anarchy of unresisted power will be loosed upon the world.

Beside me Steve was asleep, head back and mouth open.

I reached my hand up to shake him awake, ready to say “Steve, Steve! Not breaking immoral laws- that’s what leads to anarchy.”

But I didn’t.

interesting perspective

Well, I thought I'd open another can of worms. Have you all heard of that saying? I tend to use a lot of American idioms without even knowing it sometimes.

Anyway, I'd be curious to know what your take is on this. I've read a lot of books by C.S. Lewis and have really appreciated his way with words. But, his view on the Bible could be viewed as highly controversial.

http://submerging.reclaimingthemind.org/blogs/2007/12/19/c-s-lewis-his-most-controversial-statement/

Swords into ploughshares

A friend of a friend... along with 2 other friends... are on trial this week in New Zealand.

Heres a question for us to debate... Would you do something illegal, if there was a moral imperative to do so?

In April 2008, three Christian pacifists, Sam Land, Peter Murnane and Adi Leason, entered the Waihopai spy base and deflated a pressurised dome covering one of the satellite dishes.
This followed in the tradition of previous “non-violent direct actions” by the Ploughshares movement in which military planes, ships, hardware and bases were symbolically disarmed. In the last 20 years Ploughshares activists have undertaken over 120 of these actions. One of these, in 1991, involved New Zealander Moana Cole who disarmed a B52 bomber by hitting it with a hammer. She was imprisoned in the USA for a year.

Sam, Peter and Adi, who are practising Catholics, used sickles to deflate the dome, symbolically disarming the spy base. Their aim was to draw attention to New Zealand’s involvement in the US war in Iraq through the presence of this base in our country. While waiting to be arrested, they prayed and set up a shrine in remembrance of victims of US torture, assassination and mass murder.
The hope of the Ploughshares activists is the closing of the Waihopai spy base and the severing of military links to the United States.
* Waihopai spy base is not a weather station, as previously reported.
* Waihopai is a major secret US spy base.
Waihopai is NZ’s biggest contribution to America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
* Waihopai intercepts and records your international phone calls and e-mail.
* Waihopai is part of a five nation network of global surveillance known as “Echelon” which is implicated in the mass killings of innocent civilians.
* Waihopai does not operate in the interests of NZ or our neighbours.
* Waihopai is not effectively accountable to Parliament or the people. It is exempt from key provisions of the Privacy Act and Crimes Act
* Waihopai intercepts huge volumes of electronic data and sends it to Washington for analysis by the US military.
* Waihopai has cost the NZ taxpayer $500 million to build and operate over the last 20 years.
* Waihopai is shrouded in secrecy and key information about the base - such as who exactly is being spied on and what happens to the information - is classified

Also read profiles of the 3 men and an interview with one of them.

Did somebody say being a paediatric surgeon is fun?

I was called over to the pediatric ward to see a child who had developed a painful swelling in the buttock. He had been diagnosed to have leukemia, and started on chemotherapy.

So there I was, squinting at this kid's bottom, and wondering whether to drain this abscess, when he let fly with an expulsive explosion, and, (there's no pleasant way to say this) shat all over my face. There was stuff in my eyebrows, beard, and everywhere else. Fortunately, I had kept my mouth shut......

Today's Links 11/3/2010

1. Remember I wrote about the Modern Parables of Jesus. Arpita and I downloaded and watched The Prodigal Sons. (Notice the title with "Sons" not "The Prodigal Son" as it usually is). I found it powerful and thought-provoking. If you have never seen these films before, this is a great parable to start with. I found myself thinking about this parable many times during the next few days. I think I was especially impressed with the realisation of how BOTH sons dishonoured their father with their behaviour, and how 'right' the elder sons was in his response, and yet how wrong.



2. Russel Moore writes back to a young woman who asks him how much she should find out about her boyfriend's sexual past. Its a thoughtful post, and has much in it for both the younger and older of the Prodigal Sons, and ends with this great statement of fact that had me spinning...

"Jesus was a virgin. His Bride wasn’t. He loved us anyway."

(HT: Denny Burk)



3. Missy, a mother of four, writes an open letter to her children while waiting for the next child to be adopted from Ethiopia, explaining why she does not want them to be happy. Yes, you read that right!




4. The Scandal of Gendercide — War on Baby Girls. Al Mohler writes a review of the Cover Article of this month's Economist. It discusses the issue of 'Gendercide' (which includes what we in India have come to call, Female Foeticide')

(while the whole investigative report is only available in the print editions, an editorial Gendercide: the war on baby girls can be found online)

Here are some quotes:
* 'In its detailed and extensive investigative report, the magazine opens its article with chilling force. A baby girl is born in China's Shandong province. Chinese writer Xinran Xue, present for the birth, then hears a man's voice respond to the sight of the newborn baby girl. "Useless thing," he cried in disappointment. The witness then heard a plop in the slops pail. "To my absolute horror, I saw a tiny foot poking out of the pail. The midwife must have dropped that tiny baby alive into the slops pail!" When she tried to intervene she was restrained by police. An older woman simply explained to her, "Doing a baby girl is not a big thing around here."'

* 'In one hospital in Punjab, in northern India, the only girls born after a round of ultrasound scans had been mistakenly identified as boys, or else had a male twin.'

* 'Wealth does not stop it. Taiwan and Singapore have open, rich economies. Within China and India the areas with the worst sex ratios are the richest, best-educated ones. And China’s one-child policy can only be part of the problem, given that so many other countries are affected.
In fact the destruction of baby girls is a product of three forces: the ancient preference for sons; a modern desire for smaller families; and ultrasound scanning and other technologies that identify the sex of a fetus. In societies where four or six children were common, a boy would almost certainly come along eventually; son preference did not need to exist at the expense of daughters. But now couples want two children—or, as in China, are allowed only one—they will sacrifice unborn daughters to their pursuit of a son. That is why sex ratios are most distorted in the modern, open parts of China and India. It is also why ratios are more skewed after the first child: parents may accept a daughter first time round but will do anything to ensure their next—and probably last—child is a boy. The boy-girl ratio is above 200 for a third child in some places.'

* 'Mao Zedong said “women hold up half the sky.” The world needs to do more to prevent a gendercide that will have the sky crashing down.'

(HT: Challies)

"Parenting is your primary calling"

"You must regard parenting as one of your most important tasks while you have children at home. This is your calling. You must raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. You cannot do so without investing yourself in a life of sensitive communication in which you help them understand life and God's world. There is nothing more important. You have only a brief season of life to invest yourself in this task. You have only one opportunity to do it. You cannot go back and do it over.

You live in a culture in which there are opportunities for you to do things unheard of in history. You are presented daily with scores of options for investing your life's energies and creativity. There is more than you could ever do. You must, therefore, prioritize.

Parenting is your primary calling. Parenting will mean that you can't do all the things that you could otherwise do. It will affect your golf handicap. It will mean your home does not look like a picture from Better Homes and Gardens.It will impact your career and ascent on the corporate ladder. It will alter the kind of friendships you will be able to pursue. It will influence the kind of ministry you are able to pursue. It will modify the amount of time you have for bowling, hunting, television, or how many books you read. It will mean that you can't develop every interest that comes along. The costs are high.

How can you measure the cost against the benefits. I have spent time with broken parents. I have seen the drawn faces of parents who have known the heartbreak of seeing their children fleeing a home in which they had not been understood or engaged by their parents. I have also known the joy of hearing children who have been biblically engaged by their parents say, "Dad, I am amazed at how thoroughly I have been prepared for life. I will always be grateful for what you and Mom have given me." What price tag can a parent place on that."

Tedd Tripp Shepherding a Child's Heart p97.
(emphasis mine)

What do you think?

On the one hand, I wonder if he is overstating his case. After all, so many people bring up their children with so little effort and inconvenience. They continue to lead busy lives, climb the 'corporate ladder' and pursue all that interests them. Their children don't turn out so bad either!

On the other hand, I fear he may be right. We will have only a short time to invest in our children, and help them find the resources they need to live their lives to accomplish God's purposes for and through them. Maybe it should be our top priority at this time.

Today's Links 5/3/2010

Brace yourselves. This is going to be a LONG post, coming, as it does, after a LONG time. Do go over to these links. I'm interested in knowing what you think about these random thoughts, and would LOVE discussing these links with you. So do leave comments, even if you completely disagree with what I've posted!

1. The MCI has proposed setting up 300 medical colleges to provide a truncated medical education to rural students and deploy them there to provide basic healthcare facilities to villagers. You can read two press releases here and here.

What do you think?
1. Do you think this will only perpetuate inequalities and disparities in health care, with villagers getting 'poor quality' medical care? Is this just?

2. Do you think the City-doctors, who have no intention of moving to the country, are right in trying to block this development?

3. Or is this an ingenious way of forcing a solution to a difficult problem.

(For the record, I think this is a great idea. I am not sure, though, that in the long run it will not create more problems than solve them.)



2. Suffering Well: Faith Tested by Pastor's Cancer....An article that appeared in the Associated Press, about Matt Chandler's battle with brain cancer.











3.While at Herbertpur, we had a vibrant Sunday evening Bible study group. At one point of time, we watched together this series of movies on the Modern Parables of Jesus. I found these movies very professionally made, thought provoking, and world-view changing. I can still remember watching this series together with friends at Herbertpur, the animated discussions that followed, and the way my understanding of many of these parables changed, and the effect that had on my life.

I have now found that for a "limited time" it is possible to watch all the films online, even though it is not possible to watch the application videos. Do grab the opportunity.



4. The nice truth about marriage (from a letter of John Newton to his wife, Polly)

"It is no wonder if so many years, so many endearments, so many obligations have produced such an uncommon effect, that by long habit, it is almost impossible for me to draw a breath, in which you are not involved."

(HT: 9Marks)



5. "Beneath the Sun" The heart-breaking (and very well-written) story of a child's liver transplant



6. Hard words from Robert Murray McCheyne (Works (New York, 1847), II:482.)


"I fear there are some Christians among you to whom Christ cannot say ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.’ Your haughty dwelling arises in the midst of thousands who have scarce a fire to warm themselves at and have but little clothing to keep out the biting frost, and yet you never darkened their door. You heave a sigh perhaps at a distance, but you do not visit them. Ah my dear friends, I am concerned for the poor, but more for you. I know not what Christ will say to you on the great day. You seem to be Christians, and yet you care not for his poor. Oh, what a change will pass upon you as you enter the gates of heaven! You will be saved, but that will be all. There will be no abundant entrance for you. ‘He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly.’

And I fear that there may be many hearing me who may know well that they are not Christians, because they do not love to give. To give largely and liberally, not grudging at all, requires a new heart. An old heart would rather part with its life-blood than its money. Oh my friends, enjoy your money. Make the most of it. Give none of it away. Enjoy it quickly, for I can tell you, you will be beggars throughout eternity"

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Bangalore...Hyderabad...Delhi...Herbertpur...Delhi...Vellore in 12 days

Here's another long overdue post.

We're now back in Vellore, after an unexpected trip to Delhi (but, of course, you already know that!)

Thank you, everybody, for the great time we could have together. We feel pampered and spoilt by all the care and attention you took of us. It was especially good that Ashita and Granny could also be in Delhi at the same time, and that we could chat with Ashish, Juliana, Safina and Serena. We feel refreshed and blessed in so many ways.

Here are some photos from the trip (some taken by Anugrah)