Today's Links 24/11/2009

A soul-searching, convicting message by Matt Chandler at the Chapel of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It is about 40 minutes long, but well worth watching.



(HT: Justin Taylor)

Arpita introduced me to this great blog series by Noel Piper, in which she writes about how she and John Piper adopted their daughter Talitha Ruth. The series begins with this post, and is easy-quick reading. I found it moving, and got quite emotional a few times during this series, as I remembered our own story. I also found a number of issues that the article touched upon quite interesting: How Noel and John worked through an issue they disagreed about, their letters to each other through this process, how the adoption was linked to their pro-life position and their desire to be examples, and so on.

The very interesting story of the Angola Prison in Angola, Louisiana, and the visit of a team from Desiring God Ministries. The prison is described as "the largest maximum-security prison in America. It is one of the most famous prisons in the whole world. It has only murderers, rapists, armed robbers and habitual felons. The average sentence is 88 years, with 3,200 people in one place serving life sentences. Ninety percent of the inmates will die here. This is a place of hopelessness, so if Angola can change, the rest of the country’s prisons can’t say, “We can’t do this.” I was intrigued by the description of the Bible College within the prison, the six churches, and the missionaries sent out from these churches to other prisons! Here is an interview with the warden Burl Cain (from Decision Magazine in June 2006)

'O Evangelicos', Philip Yancey's final column in Christianity Today, in which he explains his statement "Some of my friends believe we should abandon the word evangelical. I do not. I simply yearn for us to live up to the meaning of our name."

I came across this great picture on one of the blogs I read, and was interested enough to go over to this really LONG article on 'over-parenting' in TIME magazine. (let me also be honest, I didn't have the time to read the entire article) However, I read enough to wonder what we are trying to 'achieve' as parents. Our family mission statement has this to say about our goals in bringing up children:

1. To provide for our children godly roots and wings.
2. To enable them to find love, security and purpose.

'Roots': especially important because our children are adopted. 'Godly roots' because we want them to have a godly heritage, and because we want them to be rooted in God.

'Wings': because we want to be able to help them find their mission and calling, and find the resources and strength to do all that God wants them to. When the time comes, we want them to be arrows: sent out by The Archer to accomplish a specific task.

"Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate." (Ps 127:4,5)

Interestingly, just last week I came across an invitation to a conference called "Raising Kids to do Hard Things". Sounds like what I would like to do.....

Also read this article on Missional Parenting.

(HT:Z)

And finally, some great pictures from the National Geographic International Photography Contest 2009, and the stories behind the photos.

(HT: Z)

Anand's Second Birthday

This last weekend, we had the house full with guests celebrating Anand's life and the past two years. Dad, Mom, Prem and Preethi drove from Bangalore to be with us at this time.

And so, Anand had an extended birthday weekend. Family from Bangalore arrived by Saturday mid morning. Saturday night, we had dinner with Anand's second cousins in Vellore, and their families. Arpita made all the food herself.....Fried rice and Kaju chicken, with raitha and tomato chutney, followed by Anand's favourite green mango icecream.

Arpita made the cake in the shape of a fish, and many small cupcakes, each with a lily pad made of icing, and a frog perched on top. Anand enjoyed blowing out the candles, and cutting the cake. He then surprised us by taking bits of the cake and running around to put in the mouths of the other children there! Each child got a cupcake and frog for himself. We then lit candles for all the children to blow out. I think they had fun.








I have gone into some detail because I was really impressed with the way Arpita planned this event, and set it all up by herself. She made this birthday exciting and fun for everyone who came, and Anand enjoyed every detail.

The next morning, Anand received his presents, and the adults around enjoyed watching (and helping) him unpack them and discover each of them. What fun!

After lunch, the family from Bangalore drove back.

Today, (Anand's actual birthday!), he had one of his favourite people over for dinner...Anandit. He then had the opportunity to blow candles again, and cut the actual bithday cake...again!

Here's a video from a year ago, of Anand trying to climb a chair..




Our little baby has now become a little boy. Here he shows us his attempts to stand on his head...



Discovering his new remote controlled car...



Manhandling his poor tired dad...



Horse-riding with cousin Arpit



Dancing with cousin Tamara..



We are so grateful for the past two years, and for the gift of Anand.

Where does Granny live?

As we were looking at pictures of family, I asked Safina where Granny lives and she said, "In Dia".

:)

Full Armor of G-D!

We had some friends stay with us for a few days last week. Some of you may know Sharad Kunnath. He and his wife, Jenny have two kids, Arpan and Sanna. Arpan is one year to the month older than Safina and Sanna is one year to the month older than Serena.

We had a wonderful time with them and I personally felt so encouraged by Jenny. She is such a sweet heart. Apparently, her grandmother is from the same village in Kerela as Ashish's grandfather.

On Saturday we drove them into D.C. to show them the monuments. Arpan (Appu) rode with us in between Safina and Serena. Earlier during their stay Safina and Appu had an intense theological discussion about whether or not there were monsters in heaven. And, we continued that discussion in the car on our drive.

It was getting dark and Safina was starting to say things like, "I'm scared", "It's scary". After hearing her say this a few times, Appu finally just told her matter-of-factly that all she needed was the sword of the spirit! I was just so impressed by that.

And, because of Appu, I was thinking of doing a project with Safina and hopefully the other kids in our small group where we dress up in the full armor of God. And, have each child talk about a fear they have and then bring it full circle for them.

So, from Ephesians 6:13-19:

-TRUTH banded around your waist
-RIGHTEOUSNESS as your chest plate
-Feet protected in preparation to proclaim the good news of PEACE
-Raise the shield of FAITH above all else, so you will be able to extinguish flaming spears hurdled at you from the wicked one
-Helmet of SALVATION
-Sword of the SPIRIT, which is the word of G-D

And, it goes on to talk about prayer!

Safina has entered the stage where she has become so tuned in to what she senses around her that 'fears' become very real for her. As parents we certainly have to protect our children's innocence. But, fear still creeps in somehow. So, I'm hoping in doing this she will be encouraged.

I love how this passage talks about prayer too because so much of our armor is based on prayer and we're teaching Safina the power of prayer and I think in many ways she grasps this and has internalized it for herself.

Anyway, just wanted to share this sweet story.

I will type up just one more now and this time it's about Ashish.

Ashish and Sharad were preparing to take Safina and Arpan to the park Friday night. Sharad and I were standing at the top of our stairs while Ashish was downstairs getting ready to go. Sharad was telling me how Ashish's dorm in college was a zoo - in one corner there was a flute, in the other a guitar and stacks of paper all around the room. With great emphasis, Sharad went on to tell me that each morning Ashish was always searching for something he needed and could never find what he was looking for. And, right at that 'exact' point in the story, Ashish peeks up from the bottom of the stair and says, "Honey, I can't find my wallet, have you seen it anywhere?".

The timing was impeccable. I always enjoy the history shared between good friends. It is truly something to treasure.

Love,
juliana

at the very least the flu has hit our home

I just wanted to ask for prayer for all of us. I had a really rough patch a few days ago and Ashish and Safina have both been sick. Today, Safina's temp spiked and she has just been very tired and week and not interested in food. Our symptoms match those described under the H1N1.

We're going to wait through the night and see how Safina is doing. Fortunately, Serena has not shown any symptoms yet. And, please pray especially for her since she is in the high risk group. Because I was sick, I'm hoping she has immunity through me since I nurse her.

I'll keep you posted.

Love,
juliana

Are You Educationally Obese? - Questioning the “postgraduate degree delay tactic”

http://www.servantsasia.org/index.php/news/8-general/421-are-you-educationally-obese-questioning-the-postgraduate-degree-delay-tactic

Wednesday, 04 November 2009 02:08

Our generation is faced with more options than ever before. We grew up being told we have the ability to do anything we choose to turn our hand to. But sociologists are now finding that instead of liberating us, that abundance of choice has virtually paralysed us. The opportunities are limitless, but we also sense the stakes are high. We dare not make a mistake. And so, experts have coined a new term: ‘Option Paralysis’ - the tendency when given unlimited choices, to make none, or to delay making a choice. Ironically, as we drown in a sea of options, one of our favourite ways to decide what to do next, is to choose something that will give us even more options. Our indecision usually leads to staying in school: studying more, and longer. This allows us to delay deciding what to do with our lives. We fear making the wrong choice, so we delay, delay and delay, sometimes well into our 30’s, before venturing out into the world to try our hand at something. At 22 more and more people are choosing to do postgraduate degrees, rather than give their chosen field a try. Older, “wiser” folks assure us it will make us more marketable, more competitive. Sadly, by the time we eventually find ourselves out of school we realise we never wanted to be in that particular field anyway, but our debt forces us into the workforce in a downward spiral that keeps us on the treadmill and beholden to society’s expectations for years – until a mortgage, marriage and white picket fence replace the dreams we had of following Christ in a radical way. In Luke 14, Jesus tells a strangely familiar story. It is the story of an exciting invitation. But those who receive the invitation are preoccupied with other things. So, the invitation bypasses the rich and goes to the poor, the lame and the blind. I believe this is the story of our generation. While we preoccupy ourselves with keeping our options open, delaying our entry into the real world, God is forced to pass us by. The urgency of his Kingdom cannot wait another decade for us to venture out of the safe confines of academia to follow him into the hard places of the world: the darkest and most desperate slums and inner cities where 1 in 6 of the world’s population live. So, in another beautiful picture of his upside-down ways, God uses the poor, the uneducated and the under-equipped to build his kingdom. In China, an 18 year old girl, barely converted a year, begins planting churches – over 100 each year. In India, barefoot evangelists, hardly literate, pedal their bicycles to nearby villages, who speak other languages and are hostile to other tribes, to share the gospel. In Africa, widows, sick with HIV minister to orphans despite their own weariness. Meanwhile, in the West our ivory towers are full to overflowing. We gorge ourselves on learning and academia, becoming theologically and intellectually obese. Stuffing ourselves with knowledge, that will likely never benefit the poor or marginalised. Delaying entering the world because we can’t make up our mind what to do with our lives. My challenge to my own generation is this: rather than offering three more years of your life to indecision. Why not offer three years of your life to service amongst the poor? Then you will be older, more experienced, and have a better sense of who you are and what God is calling you to do. If you need further education at that point, you will be more likely to know what direction you are heading in and will be able to make a wiser choice. [Craig Greenfield is the International Coordinator of Servants. He completed a Masters degree in International Development while living in the slums of Cambodia, after several years of working amongst the urban poor. His book, The Urban Halo, on working with orphans is available from Amazon.]

I bestow on you a Kingdom

Today I heard God speak to me through the words of Jean Vanier:

"You do not need to pretend.

You do not need to hide your weakness.

You can be yourself.

I didnt call you to Janta Colony or to another form of community

first of all to help others

or to prove that you were generous or efficient.

I called you because you are poor,

just like the ones you came to serve,

and because the Kingdom of God is promised to the poor."

Recipe Exchange Site

Hi dear family,

In response to Pradeep's post on diet and nutrition, I thought I'd send this information out.

Our friends, Keith and Dayna, designed a recipe exchange site on-line. If you would be interested in joining, please let me know. I would need to send you an individual invitation, they would approve you (since it's a private site) and then you would create a log in and password.

I LOVE this site. I have come to really enjoy cooking for my family, but half of the work comes with thinking of what exactly to prepare. And, members of this site share some of their families favorite recipes and cooking tips.

I would also really love for you all to join because I'd like to learn some of the tricks for making yogurt, for example. Or tamarind sauce, or the ketchup from scratch that Mummy used to make for you all growing up.

Even if you don't have time to post and share recipes, you can still join and have access to the recipes that are posted by others.

In addition, if any of you did end up joining, it would be great to add more Indian-type recipes to the site. A lot of our friends ask me for good Indian food recipes, but I'm only as good as our Betty Crocker Indian cookbook.

Let me know if any of you are interested!

Love,
juliana

Today's links 14/11/2009

I don't know how many of you saw Google's doodle of the day (to mark Children's day) and heard the story behind it and the Indian connection.

The story of the new island twice the size of Texas developing in the Pacific Ocean, formed of junk collecting in the ocean over the years.

While talking about the environment, I was scandalized at the reports of artificially induced snow in Beijing. I don't know enough about this to talk like an expert, but I am worried at the long term effects of this sort of manipulation of the environment.

The account of this professor's irreverent translation of the works of Shakespeare into Punjabi.

The somewhat impractical and unrealistic Ideal Diet for Indians from two reports here and here. I'm sure the principles are well thought out, but I wish the experts would come up with reasonable diet plans that we could follow and recommend to our poor patients.

Nice cartoon from one of my classmates that explains the need for an ideal diet!

Today's Dinner

Home-made spaghetti. Fabulous stuff. And a dessert of custard apple.

Anand's response.....

"Like it, Mummy! LO..O..O.VE it!

Good and bad news

Rejoice with us! Last week, in Bangalore, we have applied to adopt a second child. Now begins the period of scrambling to get the paper work done, planning, preparing and waiting for the phone call we will receive one day telling us our child is ready for us. Pray for us.

Weep with us! Today we lost a chicken to a cat-attack. We are all feeling bereaved at the moment.

Today's Links 9th Nov

I had written previously about this former director of Planned Parenthood who turned pro-life after watching an ultrasound of an abortion being done. Here is an interview with Mike Huckabee in which she talks about what she saw that day.



(HT: Denny Burk)

Here's a church in which worship is literally going to the dogs, and discusses the animals' response to dogma!

(HT: Veith)

A nicely written article about a person who went to church for the first time. How welcoming are we to newcomers anyway?

I recently read a series on Sexual Detox at Tim Challies blog, and found a number of things he wrote interesting and helpful. For example, I thought for the first time about how the culture we live in affects the way we approach our marriages. Challies called this 'Pornifying the marriage bed'. The entire series is available for free download as e-books for single guys and for married guys. If you want, you could read the posts on his blog: Part One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six

Ashish went to pick up his guitar from being repaired and Safina went with him...Oh, to be a kid in a music store. :)

This week's features!

We have downloaded today the audio book of Desiring God, a classic by John Piper that explains the basis of the teaching that 'God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him'.

The book itself is available free online at the Desiring God website, and Arpita and I have gone through a seminar online taken by John Piper, but this audio book is great for listening to while cooking, for example, or driving or travelling.

It is a great resource, and is available for FREE download just for November, 2009. Apparently, the rush to download this book has been so great that the server has crashed many times today, but this offer is open till the end of the month, so make sure you get a copy before the month is over.

Here's news from the UK where a Christian couple has been arrested for trying to discuss with a Muslim customer about whether Jesus was another minor prophet, or God.

Here is a story about how a director of Planned Parenthood ( a pro-abortion organization) had a change of heart after watching an ultrasound of an abortion, and has now joined the Coalition for Life.

Safina's birthday

We've moved!

Its been quite a while since I posted anything, and so there is a lot to talk about!

Our big news, of course, is that we have moved into a house! Quite unexpectedly, we were allotted a flat in a 9-story block of one-bedroom apartments called the 'New PG Quarters'. My cousin Vinod stays on the second floor, and we have been given a house on the sixth floor.

We moved over the last week. In addition to moving all our stuff from the previous room, we had to take out the stuff we had kept in storage. We then went through the good process of deciding what was important to keep, and got rid of some stuff, so that we could fit everything nicely into this new house.

Anand was a great help and we were so grateful for this grace. While we were packing up the previous room, with boxes and stuff lying around everywhere, Anand kept himself out of the way, playing quietly with his toys in a corner. He kept generating imaginary friends, and situations, and we were able to keep working. Sweets packed everything well into boxes, and we hired a few men to come and help us move. Everything went off very smoothly and well.

We are quite pleased with our new home. It is well situated and is not too hot. We have a good view from most of the windows, and a pleasant breeze goes through the house. Before we moved in, the hospital got the house nicely painted, and done up. We have good neighbours, and Anand has found a number of children on our floor to be friends with.

The house has a sitting room-dining room, one bedroom, a study, kitchen and two toilets. Sweets has been very happy to be able to do something she has wanted to do for a long time.....give Anand a room for himself. We have given him the study. He has his own book shelves with all his books, boxes with all his toys, his own bed, and other belongings.

Unfortunately, he has not started sleeping in his room yet. Both he and his parents will find that difficult to do...!

The chickens were another story though. We kept them on the ground floor of the building we are staying in, in what, we thought, was an ideal place. Unfortunately, the oldest of them, a rooster, began crowing the next morning. This infuriated our neighbour's dog, who began competing with his own musical contribution. By the time we came down for the day, our chickens had been summarily relocated some distance away, beside the basketball court.

We have now found another uncontroversial place for them. We are happy to report that there are a number of children who are excited about these chickens, and are happily sneaking away their food from their houses under their parents' noses and feeding it to the chickens.

On a sadder note, we are disappointed that all four chickens are beginning to show signs that they are 'definitely male'. It does not look like we will be able to get any eggs from them. I foresee a good chicken soup in our future...

In between all this excitement, we travelled to Bangalore for my brother Prem's engagement. Anand, as usual, managed to make himself the star in the compartment, rapidly surrounding himself with his admirers and fans.



We would love to have you over in our new home. Now that we have a bigger home, we hope many of you will be able to visit us. A good time to start would be Anand's second birthday coming up on Nov 23rd.

Our first guest will be my sister Preethi, visiting us tomorrow for a few days.

Here are some videos from the last month:

The next Bob Dylan....I especially like the flourish with which he ends his performance!



Helping his mother make an omelette



Helping us shift his cardboard house to the new home. Anand held on to the stretcher all the way, and kept pushing with all his might.



Here's some stuff from last week's reading:

The remarkable story of Brawn GP. I like these fairytale sort of stories, where the underdog comes from behind to pull off a famous victory. I also found these comments of Brawn's leadership style thought-provoking.

"Brawn has now won nine F1 drivers' titles and eight constructors' championships with three different teams - adding his own to Benetton and Ferrari. Button is the first driver other than Michael Schumacher to be crowned under his guidance. But pinning down exactly what makes the softly spoken 54-year-old Englishman the best technical manager in F1 is surprisingly difficult.

"It's amazing - it's all very subtle," says the Brawn insider. "It's almost like you don't know he's doing it.

"He has meetings, and he talks about how he thinks things should be done in the future and so on, and because his reputation is second to none, you don't question where it's coming from. But he doesn't come into the drawing office very much.

"He doesn't tell everyone what to do, he just leaves us to get on with it. He's not autocratic by any stretch of the imagination. He just gives people the confidence to do what they can do, and removes their concerns as they come up.

"The big thing is having the technical organisation he wants and letting them get on with it. It's a strange thing, because it's the same bunch of people who last year designed a dog." "

Here is another good cartoon from my favourite strip Calvin and Hobbes explaining the state of the present economy



(Please click on the cartoon to read it better)

And some wise words from John Piper, that make me think I should stop right here and go on to more important things.

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time."

Elinor Ostrom checks in

Elinor Ostrom, whose work provided much of the theoretical basis for the Chhattisgarh project became the first woman to win the Nobel prize in economics last week. Ashish do you remember that book you bought for me on Institutional Design a while back?

Well heres a podcast that throws some light on her work.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/10/podcast_elinor_ostrom_checks_i.html

The Servant Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_wMO5KxeAI

We sing this song occasionally at our church and it's one of my favorites. So, I thought I'd share it will all of you! I always think of it in the context of marriage, but I think it's intended for all of human kind.

I had a nice birthday. Thank you for all of your birthday blessings!

Now, I'm getting ready for Safina's birthday. She's really excited about it this year. I think she is starting to understand the meaning behind her special day. She has even got specific about what kind of cake she wants. At first she just wanted an ice cream cake, then she wanted a monkey ice cream cake, then she wanted a red, monkey ice cream cake. And, now hopefully she's settled on a red and pink monkey ice cream cake. it gets more elaborate as her birthday nears.

We'll have a fun celebration for her with all of her friends. She LOVES to paint. So, I was planning on having a painting party. I've asked parents to dress their kids in already stained clothes, even though the paint is washable. Since it's autumn I thought we could be creative with the hundreds of leaves that are falling all around our house. And, 3 seems to be the age when kids start to draw more realistic drawings. So, I plan to outline each child's body on paper and then they can paint with brushes, their fingers or use leaves to stamp on their outline. I hope it goes over well with all of her friends.

So, I've been preparing for that, cooking and freezing food so that I won't be so rushed next week.

Both Serena and Safina have colds this week. Serena was just miserable last night, but I'm hoping that was the worst of it. She's such a sweetheart, both of the girls are. Serena has reached the social anxiety stage already and it is very strong. She doesn't like being held by others, even those she sees on a regular basis. The crying starts softly and then continues to escalate until she's in my arms again. It's really the only time this girl ever cries.

Safina has a way with Serena too. And, it's been wonderful to see the bond between them develop. And, Safina seems to be adjusting to her new role as 'big sister' quite well. I took both the girls to an animal petting farm last week with some other friends of ours. And, her little friend Rebekah wasn't listening to her mom, so Safina would run over to Rebekah, take her by the hand and pull her in the direction her mom was calling her.

Ashish and I got our flu shots yesterday. Safina will get hers in a few weeks and Serena is too young to get the flu shot this year. So, hopefully she will be protected as a result of my body creating antibodies. Are you all getting the H1N1 vaccine? There's a lot of debate here about whether to get vaccinated or not for the H1N1 virus.

Anyway, Safina had a fun time talking with Granny a few days ago.

I hope this post finds you all well. The girls are up, so I've gotta run.

Love,
juliana

An update from 24 rr

I am visiting the blog after a while. Good to see the posts from Pradeep and Ashita.

Belated happy birthday, Juliana, from those here who missed your birthday. Hope you had a great day. We thank God for you.

It has been quite hectic here at 24 rr. Mummy has been busy preapring for her track at AICOCIM in Hyderabad, from the 13th Oct. Both of us will be attending it. This is an event that is held every 10 years. I had some speaking engagements and got busy with that, apart from my work at JKT, Bible Study, etc. Anugrah made a trip to some villages in the interior Maharashtra last week. Cheryl stayed back at Seelamapur alone for the first time. Very brave!!

Supriya from Hyderanad has been here for a few days. Today Lavanya also came. They will go back to Hyderabad tomorrow.

I was quite sick for a few days and am much better now. Vipin Clement (St Stephen's college) is getting married on Monday the 12th Oct. A lot of preparartions for that.

That's all for now

'The American Dream' and other ramblings

Here's some interesting stuff from today's reading.....

Will California become America's first failed state? The question caught my attention, and I went to this article. I found it worrying, because in India today, we are trying to imitate the American Dream, which seems basically: Earn all the money you can, as fast as you can. Anticipating all that you will be earning, start spending as fast as you can, and live as 'well' as you can... I was reminded of this line from the song "The American Dream" by Casting Crowns.....

'his "American Dream"
is beginning to seem,
more and more like a nightmare!'.

It's worrying to see where this spending on credit inevitably ends....

Then I came across this interesting contrast of a lady who managed to pile up, over the years, more than $100,000 in debt. She tells her story of the road back over 13 years, and it was good to read about the actual practical ways her family managed to clear the debts...the sound principles and her observations of the results.

Then I found this video of a family who decided to move into a poor neighborhood, and 'live life on the front porch' and the results. I was reminded of Anugrah and Cheryl. (HT: Vitamin Z who calls it a powerful example of living out the implications of the Gospel)



I also came across this great quote.

"The gospel is a door with a sign overhead that reads, Abandon all despair ye who enter here." (Jared Wilson via Vitamin Z).

This is so true, isn't it.

Random notes

Here are some things I have been reading over the last few days, that I thought you might find interesting.......

Some Pictures that make you say "Wow!" from the British Wildlife Photography Awards. My own favourite is the one of the deer in the morning light.

The interesting story of how 74-year-old Jessie Dean is spending her retired years.....

Confessions of a Home-schooler, a well written article that brings out nicely, in my opinion, the passionate views of people on both sides of the Great Home-schooling Divide.

The unfortunate story of somebody who realised, too late, that all the world is not a toilet....

A beautiful video of one of my favourite worship songs. This week, I had to teach my department to sing this song, so that we could do it as a special number in our Sunday Hospital Chapel service.



Finally, a prayer I have just read a few minutes ago, that seemed to sum up my longings for myself and for Anand, especially, and also for each of you who are dear to me. (HT: Tim Challies who has this to say about this prayer:

"This is one of my favorite prayers in The Valley of Vision. It is a prayer for family, asking God not only for grace in raising a family in a way that brings him glory but also asking God for grace in the lives of other family members. I think it is notable that a prayer for family first begins with soul-searching prayer about self. In fact it moves seamlessly from adoration of God to confession of sin to petition that God will grant grace to overcome sin (and especially sin related to ones ability to effectively relate to family) and finally to prayer for those family members. It is a beautiful, powerful prayer.

*****

O SOVEREIGN LORD,
Thou art the Creator-Father of all men, for thou hast made and dost support them;
Thou art the special Father of those who know, love and honour thee,
who find thy yoke easy, and thy burden light,
thy work honourable,
thy commandments glorious.
But how little thy undeserved goodness has affected me!
how imperfectly have I improved my religious privileges!
how negligent have I been in doing good to others!
I am before thee in my trespasses and sins,
have mercy on me,
and may thy goodness bring me to repentance.
Help me to hate and forsake every false way,
to be attentive to my condition and character,
to bridle my tongue,
to keep my heart with all diligence,
to watch and pray against temptation,
to mortify sin,
to be concerned for the salvation of others.
O God, I cannot endure to see the destruction of my kindred.
Let those that are united to me in tender ties
be precious in thy sight and devoted to thy glory.
Sanctify and prosper my domestic devotion,
instruction, discipline, example,
that my house may be a nursery for heaven,
my church the garden of the Lord,
enriched with trees of righteousness of thy planting,
for thy glory;
Let not those of my family who are amiable, moral, attractive,
fall short of heaven at last;
Grant that the promising appearances of a tender conscience,
soft heart, the alarms and delights of thy Word,
be not finally blotted out,
but bring forth judgment unto victory in all whom I love."

Gandhi Jayanti

Happy Gandhi Jayanti!

If I have my dates right, its Happy Birthday to you too Juliana?!! Hope you have a lovely day and a great year ahead.

Did you know you shared a birthday with the great soul (maha atma)?

Tonight at prayers we had a picture of Gandhi in our prayer corner, and had some flowers in front of the picture and lit a candle, that stayed lit through supper and after. and SHyam sang Gandhi's favorite bajan about five times ...

From have just been a "holiday' all these years, it was nice to pause and be reminded about the little (too little) I know about Gandhi. And to thank God for him, and what he achieved in our country and the worlds in general, and the people he has inspired and continues to inspire.

Am re reading his autobiography (a birthday gift from Dharmendra, an assistant here) Its not so easy a read. i find it easier to pick up quotations of his and be inspired by those. Actually one of the best books I've read about Gandhi has been by E. Stanley Jones " Gandhi an interpretation".
(strongly recommended)

So yes, life here in Asha Niketan is good. Yesterday was Theresa's B'day.. she was so happy. Also had to take in Kanna ( a 54 yr ol man with down syndrome, whose name for me is Tu tu tu ) to get all his teeth pulled out. It was a traumatic expereince for both of us - he was crying and fighting and so sad after that. I was sure he would never forgive me for putting him through that. But he was all hugs after that. It was so lovely.

I continue to read a lot. I had a break back to Delhi last month, which was great, but despite that the last month was difficult. Living in community is not easy. And I'm confronted again with my reluctance in really knowing (and accepting) myself and being known....

the internet cafe is closing... so thus ends my ramblings...

Hey I'm going to see a Naseeuddin Shah pay tomorrow with Neema. Looking forward to that. ALl for now...

This man's nuts!

Read here about Muammar Gaddafi's vision for Switzerland, and the tongue-in-cheek responses from the Swiss.

Good job the man has not started making plans for India!

Nice Dilbert for this time!

(Click on the cartoon to view it better)

Our Experiment

Our experiment did not last very long.....On Friday, we finally decided to leave our door open, and allow our new cat to run away. We hoped she would return periodically, especially if we left milk in a saucer for her to find at our doorstep. It looks less likely that will happen though. She has not returned as yet.

Here is our balance sheet on The Experiment.

On the one hand, let me assure you that it is not easy to toilet train a cat in a couple of rooms. Also, as part of what Prashanth called 'knowledge transfer' in his article on his blog, Anand proceeded to unlearn all his toilet training. As Mark Twain wrote in Tom Sawyer, let me now draw the curtain of charity over the scene!

On the other hand, the cat brought out so much from Anand. He seemed to be constantly laughing at every silly antic, so caught up in caring for this cat that he even wanted to sleep with it.









One of my teachers has been talking to us about pet squirrels....

The BJP's internal struggles

Vir Sanghvi's hard hitting comment on the present BJP leadership:

"If the last two weeks have made anything clear it is this: the BJP’s idea of collective leadership is that its senior leaders all collect together and go and meet the RSS chief who instructs them on what to do next."

He warns:

"By the beginning of next year, the BJP of Vajpayee and Advani will be dead. In its place, we will have a new BJP, its leadership a combination of mass-murderers, state chieftains and rootless politicians. All of them will take orders from the RSS."

You can read the entire article here.

Our family get away to the shore...

Here are a few snap shots of our recent trip to the Ocean (Rehoboth, Deleware - the first state in the U.S.). We had a great time and it was very relaxing, for me especially, since Ashish was not working. And, one afternoon while Safina and Ashish were napping, I got a few cute shots of Serena. I was supposed to be napping too, but when the right moment presents itself, there's just no time to nap. :)

Our family get away to the shore...

Our family grows.....

Please welcome the latest entry into our menagerie!





This is called "putting the cat among the chickens!"



Finally, here's a video of Anand trying to bathe. There's usually "water, water evvayvveh" (everywhere!), and very little lands where needed!

I did it....

My first uploads on the web!!! (Hyderabad, August 2009)

So whose birthday is it anyway????




Birthday Party, Cake, Candle!!!

Happy Birthday Gala

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy biiiiiiiiirrrrthday dear gaaa..laaa

Happy birthday to you

Hope you have a good day gala (even though you don't have the day off). Looking forward to seeing you in Delhi and having some fun.

lots and lots of love

The Library on my bed

Its been interesting hearing what others are reading and how they are processing it too. Talking of reading habits, I'm eclectic, and have my paws (among other things I'm enjoying 'winnie the pooh' again) in many books at a time. A friend seeing the range and number of books I was going through at a time commented that I literally had a library on (not besides) my bed : )
So here is my current library....

"The cloister walk", Kathleen Norris http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_C/cloister_walk1.asp
"Finding Sanctuary", Abbot Christopher Jamison
"Silence and honey cakes: the wisdom of the desert" Rowan Williams

I tried figuring out how Pradeep does that thing with jackets and links... alas I am totally net 'unsavy'. But I hope to tell you more about the above three books (the first a gift from Anil and Nisha, the other two from Katharine's great treasure trove that is at my disposal for the year!!), All are about monastic and contemplative life but also speak to me as I live a different yet in some ways similar commitment to the community Asha Niketan that is mine for the moment.

Another book I just finished is "The fishes come home to roost", by Rachel Manija Brown - a very well written, painfully honest yet humorous account of a young American girls life in small town India (Ahmednagar) when her parents move across the globe to join a Baba's ashram.
On the side I also dip sporadically into Amy Carmichael's poems - an amazing collection called Mountain Breezes, Tagore's Geetanjali, and Kabir's shloka's. Does anyone have any memories of studying the last in School? Bangalore recently had a Kabir festival which is what got me interested in him again.

Anugrah, I have quite a few Henri Nowens (back room cupboard and can get you any of the other Indian editions published by St. Paul's. , so let me know your wish list.... about a year ago as I moved to Bangalore I read his "With Burning hearts - a meditation on the Eucharist" and found it very meaningful as it was based on the emmaues walk, and talked about relationship. AT that time especially, it prepared me for the new community and people I was coming to be part of. I'm currently reading another one of his called " our greatest gift - a meditation on dying and caring". I picked this up again after Albert (the assistant on our team with acute kidney failure) suddenly lost his father to a heart attach a couple of weeks ago. Do pray for him. Medical treatment is going to be difficult and his creatinine levels are quite high. So far no other symptoms though. But he is very disheartened. So hard to know what he can do and how we can support him....
I've read the Sabbatical journey too, and would love to hear about your reflections on it Anugrah....

I'm just back from an unexpected family reunion in Hyderabad (thanks to some really depressing property disputes). Juliana, thanks for the pictures of Safina and Serena. I printed out a few for Granny and she has added them to her collection in front of her bed!
Had a great time with Anand ....he was the only male in t he houseful of ladies at Granny;s. Will figure out next time how to post pictures of that on line. Looking forward to mothers visit tomorrow...and Delhi next weekend...Yipee.

Serena Gurgling - 2 months old

Safina movin' n grovin'

Old Irish Saying

There's an old Irish saying that goes something like, "A good swimmer makes a terrible sailor". And, it seems to be true. We have an Irish friend who is a great sailor, but doesn't know how to swim, which is probably why he sails so well.

Anyway, yesterday marked Serena's 3-month birthday!!! I took her in for her check-up and she got one immunization at this appointment. Safina was with me. I was preparing Safina for what was going to happen to Serena just so that she didn't get upset and when we were in the office waiting for the doctor to come in Safina started patting Serena and said, "it's alright Serena, you're going to get a shot, but I'm right here." And, then after the shot, Safina gave her lots of hugs and kissed the little spot on Serena's leg where she got the shot. It was very sweet to see. She's a really good big sister.

She's also a prolific climber. I took her to the park after the appointment and there is a rock wall where kids can climb. This is usually done by kids twice Safina's size, but she can scale that wall so well. Other moms were standing by and were holding their breath as they watched Safina climb. But, she really is good on her feet and just seems to have a knowledge of hand-eye-foot coordination. It's really impressive.

And, Serena is our mellow baby. She is just so mild, loves to converse and smile. She tracks all of us with her eyes, but loves to watch Safina.

Next week we're off to the 'seasore' as Safina calls it. It's our first real family vacation in a really long time. It's hurricane season right now, so we were a little concerned that the weather would be bad at the time when we were at the shore, however, the projected forecast looks great. We should have beautiful sunny weather, and not too hot and sticky. Our A/C is out at our house, so we're looking forward to the nice reprieve. We're trying to hold off as long as we can to repair the A/C because more than likely we'll have to replace the entire cooling/heating system. It's about 20 years old and just an enormous cost to replace. It's something that we'll have to replace though before winter settles in. We can manage living with out A/C in the summer time, very miserably. But, it's just not possible to go through winter without heat in this climate.

Anyway, I hope to type up a more in depth update on the girls and send it on. I've also posted a few videos on my facebook page. I'll have to upload some on this page too.

Love,
juliana

Another nice video

An incredible video I lifted from my classmates Facebook page. I have no idea who the couple in the video are, but I was especially impressed by their coordination. Notice the number of times her right hand plays for his left hand and vice versa.



Maybe Sweets and I should start practising.....

Trip to Mahabalipuram

We were really blessed to be able to go with Prashanth, Joanne and Tamara to Mahabalipuram last weekend for a very refreshing holiday.

Here are some pictures from our camera. Jo has taken some excellent snaps on their camera as well.

We stayed at the Cornerstone Family Life Centre, a really beautiful and well kept Christian guest house which is right on the beach.



This is the life!



'A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk
Along the briny beach...'



Building castles with Tammy





Big Brother!

"A Disciple's Renewal."

A prayer from 'The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions'

(HT: Challies)

O My Saviour, help me.
I am so slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb;

I am in the foothills when I should be in the heights;
I am pained by my graceless heart,
my prayerless days,
my poverty of love,
my sloth in the heavenly race,
my sullied conscience,
my wasted hours,
my unspent opportunities.
I am blind while light shines around me:
take the scales from my eyes,
grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief.
Make it my chiefest joy to study thee,
meditate on thee,
gaze on thee,
sit like Mary at thy feet,
lean like John on thy breast,
appeal like Peter to thy love,
count like Paul all things dung.
Give me increase and progress in grace so that there may be;
more decision in my character,
more vigor in my purposes,
more elevation in my life,
more fervor in my devotion,
more constancy in my zeal.
As I have a position in the world,
keep me from making the world my position;
May I never seek in the creature what can be found only in the creator;
Let not faith cease from seeking thee until it vanishes into sight.
Ride forth in me, thou King of kings and Lord of lords,
that I may live victoriously, and in victory attain my end.

My reading list

Dear all,

Am in Pathalgaon, Chhattisgarh, spent the last 9 days giving 2 batches of training and tomorrow will start another 2 in another place.

So exhausting, but in the evenings, I've taken time out to read quite a bit more than I usually do.

Was reading "The Jesus I never Knew" by Phillip Yancey in the train, loved it, but put it on hold, in order to finish a bunch of Henri Nouwens that Sr. Elizabeth loaned me for these few weeks while I'm here.

So I started on "Wounded Healer" which is supposed to be his best, but found it too difficult to read, so dumped it and picked up "Sabatical Journey" which is his journal (edited by friends) during a sabatical he took which was also the last year of his life. He died a few weeks after the last post.

A fabulous read... gripping... and it spoke right to my situation just like the last 2 Nouwens that I read - "Reaching Out" & "In the name of Jesus".

I've become a fan. And if anyone is thinking of getting me a gift, I'll post a list of Nouwens that I want on the blog.

Now I'm halfway through his biography which is equally interesting but in a different way. It tells of the complex person that Nouwen was and his struggles.

All this reading has been changing me hugely... will ruminate on just how in another post, when I get back to Delhi.

Emergency!

Here's a great audio recording that had us in splits, of a 4-year old who called 911 for help with his homework!



(HT: Between two worlds)

"The Gospel and the Poor", and some good books

Today, Arpita and I watched together this excellent message by Timothy Keller called "The Gospel and the Poor: A Case for Compassion".

Tim Keller: The Gospel and the Poor: A Case for Compassion from Here's Life Inner City on Vimeo.

I thought this was a very comprehensive talk, and very thought provoking.

Tim Keller speaks about how ministries of the word and of deed cannot be separated, and how the two are so closely linked in the Bible. He makes a convincing case that the way a person was judged righteous in Biblical times was on the basis of his attitude towards his wealth, and his sense that he should use his wealth for others. He says, "In the Bible, the word "poor" includes the weak, the elderly, the mentally and physically handicapped, the refugees, the new immigrants, the working poor, the natural disaster victims, the unemployed, the single-parent families, and the orphans." and speaks about the differences between the conservative and liberal sides to the debate on how the problem of poverty should be handled (the conservatives use the term "Ministries of Mercy" while the liberals use the term "Ministries of Justice", for example) and about how both views were in the Bible, both were true, but not wholly true, and each needed the other view to complement it. He talks about the three ways the church needs to act towards the poor (relief, development, and reform), and why all three are needed.

All in all, a very good message, and I would encourage each of you to try and watch it. The video is slightly long (about 73 mins), because it contains the message first, followed by a question and answer session....worth downloading and watching when free.

(HT: Here's Life Inner City via Between Two Worlds)

It was good to hear this message at this time, especially because I am halfway through a book called Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road, also written by Tim Keller. This book was gifted us by Jeff and Janet Leman (at Herbertpur), and has been quite an eye-opener.






By the way, I thought it would be interesting to know what each of us are reading these days. I tried to activate a program called shelfari for the blog, that would display a shelf of all the books the owners of the blog are reading, but it didn't seem to work out. Anyway, just so you know, one of the other books I am reading is "Systemic Theology" by Wayne Grudem, which is a really interesting book on theology, and not at all as boring as I might have expected. I thought it would be a good idea to study the Bible, and the Biblical basis for some of the doctrines I hold on to. Each chapter deals with what the Bible says about a topic, and ends with a passage from the Bible that could be memorised about that doctrine, suggested further reading, and an old hymn about that doctrine. This book is now available in India, as an Indian hardback edition, and, again, was gifted us by Jeff and Janet Leman.

In addition, as I wrote earlier, I am halfway through "When I don't desire God: How to Fight for Joy" by John Piper. You can find the free online version of this book by clicking on the title of this book above.

Another book I have just finished reading is "Autobiography of a One Year Old" by Rohan Candappa. This book was gifted to us by Ashita and is a hilarious look at the world as seen through the eyes of a one year old.

So, do write in with your reviews of what you are reading these days.

' "Father" is the Christian name for God' and 'Cheap vs. Costly Grace'

“If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.

For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. “Father” is the Christian name for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.”

—J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: 1993), 201-202

(HT: Of First Importance)

PS. I just learned about acknowledging your source while blogging, from this source, when I did a google search on the meaning of HT)

Cheap vs. Costly Grace

“Cheap grace is the enemy of the church. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth . . . an intellectual assent to that idea is held to be sufficient to secure remission of sins. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without repentance. . . grace without discipleship, grace without a cross . . . Costly grace is the gospel [of the church] . . . It is costly because it costs a man his life, and grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his son . . . it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God . . . When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York, NY: MacMillan, 1959), 45-48.