Futures & Options !!

Wait a minute, I am not going to talk about derivatives. Then what is it about ? Its about me ..

Every day, every moment in life I make decisions. I decide what to eat, what to do the next minute, which program to watch on TV, which dress to wear etc. i.e. to do something I make some decisions and even if I do not do anything, it is because I have decided not to do anything. So, based on what do I make my decisions? Every moment in life throws options to me and I decide to chose one or the other and these decisions lead to my future. Hence I titled it "Futures & Options".

I will narate a small story from the Bible. When God created man and woman, He told them not to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. He placed two options, eat the fruit and perish or obey the orders and live forever. The woman chose to disobey and the man chose to follow her and their future was designed as per the options they chose. I am not interested in blaming the first man and woman to have brought death to my life but am more interested in the fact that I have been given the opportuity to chose, which no other species in the Plant and Animal kingdom has. I am great because I can chose what I want and I can create my own world.

But with the ability to chose one among the options that life throws at me, I also have a handicap. Unlike a crocodile, which when the egg hatches, is driven by its instinct towards water and fight for its own survival, I could not do anything when I was born. I was an invalid and somebody had to take care of me until I could fight for my own survival. During this period I was fed with a lot of information by the people around me called the elders and based on this information did I chose.

Then I realised, I have one more beautiful option to chose, to interpret the data I have gathered into useful information into Good or Bad and decide whether to chose or not the reaction. Based on this ability do management gurus ask us to be proactive rather than being reactive. Today based on this ability do I make my decisions and the two options always in front of me, to be chosen from, are Happiness and Sorrow. End of the day I want to be happy without delibrately having negative impact on others.

So, how do I define happiness? There is a school of thought which says, Happiness ia a byproduct i.e. I do something to achieve something else and once I achieve that, which is the product, I am happy and hence happiness is a byproduct i.e. I want to score 100 in my mathematics exam and I work hard for it. My score will be the product and the feeling I get is the byproduct.

But I tend to disagree, atleast with my life, with the aforementioned school of thought. For me happiness is the product. I live to keep myself happy, if I accept the definition of the aforementioned school of thought, I will become materialistic and will keep on chasing the product and remain unhappy until the product is obtained. But unfortunately in such a scenario, there is bound to be greed and once the product is available I would want more, a better one and hence the product definition will change and hence the byproduct would not be available. That is why I say, happiness is the product I desire. Hence I weigh my options carefully and make my decisions which decide my future, the future I want with the product I adore. My decision and the results I see may not seem meaningful to somebody else, but why should I care, I want to be happy and so will I be !!

Who Shall I Trust?

                          
Car bomb was identified and defused in London.. efforts of a blast in the Glasgow airport was busted in the last moment.. Indian doctors reported to be behind the incidents .. Two words "Indian" and "Doctors" bother me a lot.

India has always been a state every other state should be proud of, to be associated with, not only because of her rich cultural heritage but also due to the fact that it is surrounded by troubled states, but still she has managed to compete with the elite in the world. Every province in India is different from each other, in terms of culture, language, interests, religion, political beliefs .. I can go on and pointing the differences, but the people here can feel the rush of blood when they hear the name "Mother India". But still ..

One of my friends said, "Doctors are supposed to save life .. !!". I am more concerned about the bigger picture, whom shall I trust ? These incidents will be forgotten in a month or so until the next one occurs, what should we do, should we allow destiny to take control ? No way ..

Security is paramount, you never know, the anti social elements will keep targetting us if we are reactive, we realise the importance of security only if the attack comes close to us, if somebody close to us gets it, otherwise we just dont care .. Why do they target the innocents ? because these so called "innocents" are the king makers in a democracy ..

It is possible that your close friend is incensed with the feeling of hatred .. it is possible that a man dressed in suit, with a charming smile, with a helping tendency towards his associates is actually doing a dry run for an attack .. it is just possible .. Whom can I trust ? No longer do the anti social elements come with uncombed hair .. with a big moustache and a dark mole in the left cheek. It can be any one. These people do not wage any war, the way they attack is aginst the principles of war, the government does not know who it is actually fighting with.

Whenever there is an attack, there are scores of people claiming that intelligence has failed. If intelligence had failed, I believe that not many(atleast in India) will exist. If the intelligence agency provide the public with their day to day report, we would have panicked and might never venture out of our house. A few days back, i read an article in a daily newspaper, one guy cribbing about the security measures taken in multiplexes, searching their body every time and not allowing him to take eatables inside to improve the profits of the multiplex. Seldom does this guy understand the importance, as I said earlier we are reactive, we want to realise the importance only after we get hit.

Why do I write this, what is my intent, it is simple, we have to take the responsibility to save ourselves, we have to help the government and the other agencies by understanding the need for security and be very happy in cooperating with them. We have to take the responsibility in forming a government which can promise our safety. It is our responsibility to make our lives safe. We just cant keep pointing fingers, its not gonna work, we never know whom to trust, because even the near and dear ones of these anti social elements do not know who they actually are. Lets take the responsibilty to face the unknown enemy. Next time when you vote, make sure you scourge the election manifesto about promises made for your security.

Let the Lord's love prevail on this world.

In Jesus name,
Amen.

Who is a Christian ? Am I one ??

November 17 1981, 06 hours 05 minutes, Grace Kennet Hospital, Madurai

Above are the details of my birth. Born to christian parents, according to the census of the government of India, i was registered as a part of the 2% christians in India. I was baptised, the way every child is baptised and started going to Sunday School at the age of 4. Everyone, including myself called me a Christian. I was born to Christian parents not a bornagain, means I was not a Christian, but I called myself one.

Let me boast about myself, the folks in the church call me a nice guy, I am a good person according to this world because, I do not smoke, drink or chase girls. I have always been a winner in the inter church quiz events in my district (Madurai). At present, i am reading the BIBLE for the 4th time. I have heard people say to their children, look at this guy, one day you have to emulate his personality.

Then there came the day when I had my first appraisal with God, obviously no man can judge the way God does because He looks into thy heart and his feedback was ..

I usually read the BIBLE sequentially and on that day I was reading Psalms but on that day I was made to read the book of Revelation Chapter 3, He talked to me through the message to the "Church of Laodicaea"

15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other!
16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!
17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

This has been my life all along, I was neither hot nor cold in my love for God. I was warm, yes according to the world I was not bad, but for a Christian the standard is Jesus Christ and not any "Tom, Dick or Harry" of this world.

I was terrified on that day when I read the 16th verse (listed above). Verse 17 was apt for me because I have been claiming that I was rich with His blessings and actually I did not realise where I stood because I did not ask him until that day. I realised that I was never a Christian all my life !! I was deceiving myself, saying I follow his commandments, whereas in reality I have never obeyed any of His commandments,
1.You must not have any other god but me
2.You must not make any idols
Probably, the above two commands are the only commands I have adhered to.
3.You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God
4.Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
5.Honor your father and mother.
6.You must not murder.
7.You must not commit adultery.
8.You must not steal.
9.You must not testify falsely against your neighbor
10.You must not covet.
It is obvious to me that I have never adhered to most of the commandments mentioned above and I have been foolish to be calling myself a Christian when the standard I follow is that of the world and not Christ.

There have been numerous occasions when my mark sheet have been hidden from my father's observation, it is normal according to the world but not for a Christian
It is normal for the world, to look at women with lust but according to Jesus Christ it is commiting adultery. I do testify falsely against people to save my skin evry now and then I claim it is normal for a human being. These might be normal and accepted among our fellow human beings as normal, but I cannot call myself a christian if my reference point is not Jesus Christ. I ignore His sacrifice if I live a life doing these so called normal things in life, I can never be a christian.

The above commandments are not the only rules from God, the old testament details about numerous other commandments, the importance of the above commandments are, the punishment is Death if we do not follow them. Inspite of disobeying most of His commandments I am still alive, what else could be the reason, the sacrifice was made 2000 years back to save me of my sins.

Who is a Christian ? It is no million dollar question, the answer is simple, a Christian is a person who reflects Christ in his life. A person who has followed Jesus Christ as his role model, a person who has accepted Christ as the standard. Christian means "Christ like" and I cannot become a Christian because I am registered as a Christian in my community certificate, because my community certificate is not going to fetch me salvation it is Christ who saved me. Most part of my life I have been deceiving myself saying that "I am Christian" but I have never been one until He saved me of my sins.

Now, everyday is a challenge, because I have confessed my sins and I have promised myself to live a christian life, I am bornagain and I am preparing myself to be a Chrstian with the standard as Jesus Christ. Now I have to fight the devil with my Dad's assistance, every now and then I slip but He comes to my rescue immediately when I call upon to him. He has always been near me calling my name, to heed to his words, it took me years to listen to that voice. Today I call him, He reciprocates immediately.

Dear God,
There are millions of people in this world, who like me think that they are Christians, whereas they do not understand the purpose of Christ's visit to the world. Lot more believe Christ was a good man, a Prophet, a teacher, a person who preached love and non Violence etc. But the most important purpose of his visit to earth, to "Save me from my sins", to be the "Ultimate one time sacrifice" for "my" sins, is least understood by my fellow brothers. Please talk to them my Lord, please make them realise the importance of your sacrifice of your only son for "my" sins. Help me to reach to people and make them realise what is required out of a Christian.
I love you oh Lord, I love you Jesus Christ, thanks a lot for your Love for being the ultimate sacrifice for no sin of yours. Please save my fellow brethren who still do not realise that Christ is th eLord to salvation and not the evangelists, prophets and other human beings. The humans of this world can never lead us to salvation my Lord, its only through your son that we can reach you. Thank you Oh Lord for the "ultimate sacrifice".

In Jesus Name,
Amen

Deliverance - Isaiah 52

1 Wake up, wake up, O Zion!Clothe yourself with strength.Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem,for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer

These were the words the LORD spoke to me during my troubled times, during the time when Iwas entagled between my sins and I saw no way out of those. This is when I read these words when the LORD asked me to wake up and clothe myself with beautiful clothes washed by by the blood of my saviour, indeed a beautiful dress. Here "beautiful dress" meant a life which was so beautiful when I stay with my LORD."godless people" - the devil and his ways, had no key to enter through the gates.

2 Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem.Sit in a place of honor.Remove the chains of slavery from your neck,O captive daughter of Zion.

Jerusalem was the chosen city for God to reside and so is my heart. But my heart was full offilth and so was Jerusalem. Now God gives me a call to rise, to rise with His name. He has promised to deliver me from my slavery to my sins and honor me with all his might.

3 For this is what the Lord says:“When I sold you into exile,I received no payment.Now I can redeem youwithout having to pay for you.”

This is the ultimate message of deliverance, for God has control over everything, the devil took me to the sins with no payment from God and when God wishes to take control of me there is no payback required, only my submission to his wills is enough and I am HIS and He is mine. When he wants to take control there is no stopping.