Renewed to Honor

A few months ago, I was away with a group of people and I felt hopeless. They needed the gospel, but I felt unprepared, unimportant, rejected, and lost. I felt like no one wanted to listen to me because I was a "nobody." The next Sunday during worship, I was singing a song with the line, "He removed my sin and shame." I tried to name my specific sin—perhaps a lack of faith or courage—and my shame: having nothing to bring to the table. I asked the Lord to take it away. You see, I was angry with people who I felt messed up what I was doing or took me for granted. But deep down, I was under the impression that I was the one bringing something to the table. I was feeling the shame of being 38 years old and bringing nothing—neither worldly wisdom nor spiritual insight. I was feeling truly worthless. But the words I sang, and the God to whom I sang, started working in me. God was moving. He showed me that I was thinking of Church, and people, like a potluck. We are so of...

Джулиус Гарибальди Мелчерс (11 августа 1860 - 30 ноября 1932) - американский художник. Он был одним из ведущих американских сторонников натурализма. В 1932 году получил Золотую медаль Американской академии искусств и литературы.[1] - Википедия Картина "Рождество Христово" написана в период расцвета реалистического движения - в грубоватой и менее идеализированной манере. Для меня наиболее яркой чертой является Иосиф. Он выглядит как немного пожилой человек, кому-то около 30-40 лет. Его покрывает толстое одеяло или пиджак, который, кажется, добавляет веса на его плечи - представление того, что чувствовал бы настоящий Джозеф. Он смотрит в будущее, не сводя глаз с младенца, и в то же время погружен в мысли, которые не дают ему уснуть. Он был новоиспеченным отцом, но эта радость покинула его. Джозеф больше похож на отца, который узнал, что из больницы некуда отвезти ребенка. Слева от него - уставшая и измученная Мария, босая, родившая всего несколько часов назад, (на некоторых кар...

  Übersetzt mit DeepL.com (kostenlose Version) Julius Garibaldi Melchers (11. August 1860 - 30. November 1932) war ein amerikanischer Künstler. Er war einer der führenden amerikanischen Verfechter des Naturalismus. Er wurde 1932 mit der Goldmedaille der American Academy of Arts and Letters ausgezeichnet.[1] - Wikipedia Die Geburt Christi wurde auf dem Höhepunkt der Realismusbewegung gemalt - in einer düsteren und weniger idealisierten Weise. Für mich ist das auffälligste Merkmal Joseph. Er sieht aus wie ein etwas älterer Mann, jemand in den späten 30er oder frühen 40er Jahren. Eine dicke Decke oder Jacke bedeckt ihn, die auf seinen Schultern zu lasten scheint - eine Darstellung dessen, was der echte Joseph gefühlt haben muss. Er blickt in die Zukunft, behält das Baby im Augenwinkel und ist doch in Gedanken versunken, die ihn ängstlich wach halten. Er war ein frischgebackener Vater, aber diese Freude ist ihm abhanden gekommen. Joseph wirkt eher wie ein besorgter Vater, der herausgef...

Come and See! I never thought I would hear these words again. But my 2-year-old son just said that. I felt a rush of memories in my head. I followed my son to his playroom / our living room. In it he had arranged his toy cars in a perfect line and wanted me to see them. He obviously did not know the deep meaning that his three words brought to my memories. Three words that transformed me. Come and See. That was all that took for God to shake my life and as I study the Bible, I realize that I am not the first one whose life had been changed. ( John 1: 35-40 ) . It was in 2008 when someone told me the same. A brother in Christ had said that same sentence. I was on the phone with him, and asked him the following question in some manner "how do I know Jesus" and he just said those 3 words and my world was shaken. I followed what he said and took my motorbike and went to the place that he instructed me. There were about 15 people in all, 5 of them well known to m...

This could be my first ever critique of art that I have ever written and that is because it is only recently art has captured my interest as much as this work. This write up is made both in English and German as I want to practice my German.  'The Nativity' by Gari Melchers.  I am not an art expert and my critique is from a layman's point of view, but bear with me. I have tried reading some information about the art and the culture behind it and I have my two favourite blog posts about the same work and yes,  I have shamelessly copied some of their thoughts. Woebegone but Hopeful and other is by Lisa VO . Julius Garibaldi Melchers (August 11, 1860 – November 30, 1932) was an American artist. He was one of the leading American proponents of naturalism. He won a 1932 Gold medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[1] - Wikipedia The Nativity is painted during the peak of realism movement - in a gritty and less idealised ma...

Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth- haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate.  He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. (Nehemiah3:14 ESV)    In the story of Nehemiah, the third charter talks about people building walls of Jerusalem. I often skipped this portion as it seemed to be a bunch of names. But recently at my Church (Christ Church London) David Stroud spoke from this portion. Only  then had I realised that this portion I skip had a lot of interesting things to teach me. One of them is the story of how a Jewish leader named Malchijah had taken the responsible task of building the Dung wall. Now, we who live or have only lived in developed cities don't realise the blessing of the sewage system. I lived with my grandparents and few years ago in the village and mind you we did have a brilliant sewage system at our house but there was no plastic waste disposal and our backyard suffered very much. I think it was the R...

I recently had a good dinner and this was my view. One of the thing that my Church's small group has been involved in is the Supper Clubs  and mostly all of us in some way have hosted a supper club or been a part of one, served in this culture building venture in some manner - including the Big Supper Club as in the link above.  I recently have been pondering on the thoughts of hosting a supper club, but I am not so sure nor do feel well equipped to host a meal. It is not that I am a bad host or a bad cook, I can cook to live and BBQ, and I thing that would do me good in the long run - but the idea of setting table and getting things arranged often puts me in a 'hard place'. I would love to one day set the table, but I am sure that it would have to take a lot of persuasion. But, the idea of talking to absolute strangers and learning life from a different perspective still appeals me. One of the ideas I am thinking of getting to do a 'different' type of sup...

I am not sure where I came across this poem, and then it did sound amazing, and so I learned it, memorized it, and took it into my heart. I think its most reffered as "answered prayer". So in a poetic manner I am quoting it, the author is unknown, however, Goodreads have quoted it to   Swami Vivekananda although his version is slightly different. I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong. I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve. I asked for prosperity and God gave me brawn and brains to work. I asked for courage and God gave me dangers to overcome. I asked for patience and God placed me in situations where I was forced to wait. I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help. I asked for favors and God gave me opportunities. I asked for everything so I could enjoy life.  Instead, He gave me life so I could enjoy everything. I received nothing I wanted, I received everything I needed.  Now, I have a ...

This is an extract from a mail I had written to my friends and I wish that most of you my readers would get this message too. I want to tell you about a few testimonies that changed my perception of testimonies. Most of you may have heard me say this many times, but then since its that good, I wish your Christmas memories could include this one too.  The first story occurs in a little village of pullad. Now that is in Kerala, and for those who do not know where it is, the place is near kumbanad, and around 15 Kms from Chengannur/ Thiruvalla and some where in the mid point between ernakulam and trivandrum .  SEE IT ON MAP I HAD WRITTEN THE STORY IN A BETTER FORMAT OVER AN YEAR AGO. SEE TOTALLY SIMPLE FAITH.  It is a village more than a town , with rubber trees, bugs and the sweet sound of rain in the woody and leafy region, so it cooler and humid than most other parts of kerala. So, i was here, in a prayer meeting run by a pentecostal group called the hallelujah pra...

This is a small note on how to and why share the Gospel. Please be free to comment and add more details. STORY Imagine someone discovered the cure for cancer, and all they did was run into the cancer care ward and dance around. Someone may come and ask him why was he so joyful, but mostly people would be irritated that he was happy in a ward filled with people worried with life. Now what if he went only telling people but did not show the cure in his life or the evidence of the cure? a gospel only in action lacks intelligibility and a message without action lacks credibility - @ krish kandiah Scriptures: (WHY) 1. Matthew 26: 19 ,. John 1: 40 -42, Matthew 24:14, EPh 2: 4-5, Rom 5:8 2. People are watching your lives, so be an example 3. How did you get the gospel?  Romans 10:14 4. What is the gospel? 5. Spurgeon: “Evangelism is one beggar telling another where to get food” Scriptures: (HOW) 1.Influence : You are the salt of the earth [Matthew 5:13] - Don’t Withdraw ...

Linta's Photography People have stories in their lives that make them want to live for another person. Stories in their past motivating them to do what the others ones did. Life is so precious that we do not realise that people around us, with us, and how much they influences us. Recently I spoke to two of my neighbours, one who recently lost his loved one and the other whose garden I was fascinated by. The gentleman, who lost his wife recently to liver cancer and old age, was telling me that he met her 55 years ago. This really inspired me and even showed me a sense of belief that love is not a one of thing, but it’s a packaged deal.  Linta's Photography My other neighbour whose garden I like a lot was telling me the other day about her husband that she had lost a couple of years ago. She was telling me his passion for gardening, how much he spared his time for the little plants and flowers on the earth. She told how lovely the man was, and that she is planting a...

For many of us God sounds like a monstrous being, some one waiting to smite you if you do wrong. Well, yes God has been strict at many occasions but lets never forget that he is a loving father as well. God is love and care that the image of Zeus we have with thunder bolts in his arms to hurl at you. Jesus said, I call you a friend. I have your name on my arms. As I am trying to understand the grace of God, I learn more about his Holiness. As I understand his majestic nature I realise that God is not a king we know of but rather a loving father. We are then prince and princess in his kingdom. During my exam which is nearly over as I have one more to go on this Friday, I wanted to rest and feel and be filled in God presence. So I listened to a "nearer my God to thee" which is one of my favourite hymns. Normally, if you know Christian slow Hymns, aspecially Nearer my God to thee, you would expect a slow and calming effect like in the last scene of the 1997 Movie Titanic. i was...

celebrating pentecost 2012 to many of us who think of Pentecost as a denomination or a church, this message is for you, for many of us who think there is no reason to be concerned about the church, this is again a message for you. this message is for christians or people who call themselves christians. if you are not a christian, let me warn you, that some things may slip your mind so be free to ask me in the comments or on twitter or personal email at smathew2237@gmail.com . [The following explains trinity : please read if you are interested : else skip below by clicking => SKIP <=] in christianity we believe in a monotheist belief like Judaism and Islam, but worship the God of Judaism not Islam. the turn down for many people is the added effect of deity issues that come with christians saying they believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and blow away the concept of monotheism. so what does the christian believe ? well, we believe God,...

Count your blessings! Be literal in counting them. I have not done them before, but I am going to do that . It should be more than sufficient to tell me that I believe in a great God and that he has a much bigger deal in my life than life itself. I am carried away by the troubles of this world that I forget that there is a better deal than is in store for me. For instance I read today in the bible about God's abundant provision for us and how he loves for us and cares for us.

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This is a very odd post as its very much away from the general perspectives, but I was listening to some public declarations of faith and this boy of 17 years old told me something that I would not easily admit. I have been a strong Christian, but there are times I fail to say "Praise God" for something good that happens in my life. Most of us do, but we have own excuses. Some are like. "what will others think" and "why tell everyone who I believe" or "Why should I praise God publicly, can't I just hide this and praise him in private." http://www.youtube.com/user/JustinBieberVEVO Well for those who are still reading, the 17 year old guy is none other than Justin Beiber. Well for my friends who are not into hip hop or teen pop or R&B music, here is his picture.  Why him ? I would now say why not him? By the time he was 17, he had over 6 million fans. This is one case where people would flip off. Come on think of it, when you were a t...

Exodus 2:25 NLT He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act. This was a promise God gave me on the 1st of January, 2012 and I believe that if God wants to act in my life, then I must Re-act and enact the meaning of what he wants me to do. Are you willing to push the stone in front of the tomb called life in 21 Century and live for Christ? Follow the blog as I make this journey, thank you for your prayers and support.

looking4poetry When Jacob was leaving from his uncle Laban, and yet to meet his brother Easu Bible , he grew worried. He was a very rich man, and most of it was Laban's but he did work hard and earn it, but all this he knew was not possible, if not for the blessing of God. Now, for those who know the story, Jacob took Easu's blessing and now as he was there on the verge of meeting his brother after long and tiresome 21 years or more, he feared the meeting. gaspi *yg This is how most of us sometimes view our tomorrows, not the next day,( only and only if you suddenly knew there was an important test that you did not study), but days when we face uncertainty and say things that are like, "its my fate" or "so be it" or if you were more Christian, you might say "God, i did not study the history lesson, but i know you have my best interest, so let your will be done" .... and yes, you can be sure that God is rolling on the floor of heaven ...