Exodus 35:35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers.

Everyone has strengths, and everyone need not or cannot do everything. Everybody cannot become everything, and at the same time everybody is someone special. We are talented in a special way. God, give me the wisdom to understand my own talents and others talents. Make me a catalyst to leverage these talents for the good of humanity. Let me not waste any time on pursuits, which are not mine, according to your design.

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Blind faith, dependency on God in everything we do....as a child depends on her parents for everything...It is not about knowledge and logic, it is all about blind faith and dependency on God. A child can make mistakes, a child can be unreasonable, a child can throw tantrums, a child can laugh, a child can play, a child can sing, a child can love...and always a child can depend on her parents without any ego trips. God, please give me a heart (attitude) like a child, and strengthen me to maintain a clean heart in whatever I do.

"Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land." Song of Solomon 2:12 NIV

Oh...again only few more days left for December. I love December. In India, it is the time when the climate is cool, the rain is over, the leaves are fresh and greener, flowering starts, roads and houses get decorated for Christmas....there are lot of goodies about December. I want to enjoy every moment of December in a very positive way. There is no time for negative thoughts...It is a wonderful world and life...given to us by the omnipotent, to be celebrated, as if, there is no tomorrow. Thank you for this wonderful life and the beautiful things around, and for the fitness to enjoy all these blessings. Thank you dear God.

For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. Psalm 103:14

For he knows our frame - Our formation; of what we are made; how we are made. That is, he knows that we are made of dust; that we are frail; that we are subject to decay; that we soon sink under a heavy load. This is given as a reason why he pities us - that we are so frail and feeble, and that we are so easily broken down by a pressure of trial.

He remember that we are dust - Made of the earth. Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19. In his dealings with us he does not forget of what frail materials he made us, and how little our frames can bear. He tempers his dealings to the weakness and frailty of our nature, and his compassion interposes when the weight of sorrows would crush us. Remembering, too, our weakness, he interposes by his power to sustain us, and to enable us to bear what our frame could not otherwise endure. 

the best treasure.....

"Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine," Exodus 19:5 NIV

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Peter 1, 5:8

"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

"Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints...."  Ephesians 6:10-18

But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

I see a cross on top of the control tower....

In fact, these days one of the items in my prayer is the request to give me something interesting to post in this blog and I am never disappointed. While landing at Bangalore, it was sunset time (almost over), the magic hour. Still it was beautiful like any other sunset. Sunsets are more like the reflection of the halo of God. Here is the air traffic control tower at the Bangaluru airport, and while editing the photo I saw the cross on top of it....the cross above the control tower, which controls the entire universe. Praise you Lord.

Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.

That is wonderful verse. "No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to every one in the house". During the past six years, I have had opportunities to speak to thousands of managers across various organizations, as part of my corporate training. Only less than ten percentage of these youngsters are really passionate about what they are doing, and the whopping  ninety percentage is trapped in the corporate rat race, where their potential is not unleashed completely. That is a very sad story.

 Is Jesus asking us to show off our talents?. Never. He is asking us to to use our talents for the betterment of humanity, in his name, relying on his power. As a corporate trainer, as part of my profession, I am going through the same set of slides, answering the same questions, hundreds of times. Sometimes it is really frustrating as a trainer, even though it is interesting for the audience. The moment I start seeing it as a God sent opportunity to influence thousands of youngsters positively, the sense of gratitude overflows. The larger picture emerges. I am charged up again...

The moment we offer our work as an offering to God, we will start seeing it as an opportunity to serve God and humanity as a whole. We will make something extra ordinary, out of the ordinary. Suddenly all the cylinders start firing towards a nobler cause, propelled by God power, converted into actions through us. Whatever may be our job, there is a larger angle to it, than just money making. 

Dear Lord, on this Monday morning, I surrender myself  and all that is given to me by you, to you. Bless me. Use me as your instrument to do good to every one I come across this week. Give me the grace and strength to say 'No' to everything, which is not of any benefit, which can defile me. Propelled by your power, let me spread the light, illuminating everything around me. Praise you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Adore you Jesus. 

This was an attempt to photograph two candles, one lit, and the other one extinguished with smoke coming out of it. I was not successful in what I wanted, and then I got this one :-)

He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. John 21-6

This is a beautiful bible verse which conveys the futility of hard work, when the intent is not in alignment with God's plan for us. It also speaks about complete surrender to God. After a day's hard work, they did not get anything. They must be really tired and disappointed. They all might have called it a day, and started relaxing. In that state, God in the form of man, ask them to again cast their net at a specific spot. The natural human reaction to this would have been resentment. But, they blindly listened to Jesus's words, which was rewarded by a good catch, exceeding all their expectations. This talks about a life of complete surrender to God's plan for us. He has a plan of prosperity for all of us. All that is required is complete surrender, which is possible only through child like faith. It is here the words 'be like a child', 'let the children come to me' have their significance. Like a child blindly depends on her parents, we must completely depend on God, and only then true surrender and faith is possible. Praise the Lord. We are made for that. Have a nice day!. 

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body," (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

About bottlenecks of life....Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:

God has a plan for you, a plan to prosperity. This we must understand. We might aspire for certain things (even materialistic), and pray to God for them, and we may not get it. Later on we will realize that, it is for our good. I am sure that all of us might have faced instances like these...by way of a deal which did not go through as expected, a job loss, failed business expansion plans, delayed projects....the list can be quite long. I know a friend of mine who was keen to expand his business to a particular country. He went ahead and even rented an office, appointed a sales person...all in vain, the business did not really take off. At that point of time he was very desperate, and today he is a very happy man, because that country is reeling under acute recession. In fact, God's plan was to protect him from a major financial crisis. So, whenever we face bottlenecks in life, please turn to God, to seek his will, than ours...and in the longer run, everything will turn for our good. 

Here are some bottlenecks which inspired me to make this blog entry. The photos happened first, then the blog entry...all inspired by the above.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven

To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. 
A time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to reap that which is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to be mourn, and a time to dance. 
A time to cast away tones, and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.
A time to get and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.   Ecclesiastes 3 1-8

How much time do we have on this planet earth?. If we assume that our productive life span is between 20 and  70, we are talking of 50 years, which translates to 16000 days. If we assume that we are sleeping for 8 hours, and working for another 8 hours, the balance available is only just 8 hours, for our personal life. Which is just 1/3rd of the day. So in this whole life, we have only about 5,500 days (1/3 of 16000), for our personal lives. It is very short. Where is time to sin?. There is no time for evil. That is the best strategy for a positive life. 

They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

Planting a tree is the simplest way to demonstrate one's commitment to the future generation. Through that tree, the future generation will remember you. This green piece of land is created by my late father. He worked on it continuously after his retirement for about thirty years. While many of us just while away the precious time given to us, he used it in a very positive way, which is leaving behind a legacy. I wish, I could do away with all time wasting activities, and use that time, for useful things. I ask this grace from my loving God. Lord, give me the wisdom, strength and discipline to keep away from all time wasters. 

Psalm 107:10-14 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High ...Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Jeremiah 29:11-14 "...For i know the plans i have for you," declares the lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and i will listen to you. you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. i will be found by you," declares the lord, "and will bring you back from captivity or will restore your fortunes. i will gather you from all the nations and places where i have banished you," declares the lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which i carried you into exile."

God is wonderful.....

photo by Jessy

"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,

The LORD watches over you--the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

Your heart is where your treasures are.....