Give God the Glory

Facing the Giants.

Today, I watched the movie "Facing the Giants", for the second time. 

And I cried.....

Some of you who read this may know me well. You may know about my childhood, and how my mom and dad separated the year I was born. I have two older sisters, and my mom brought us up by herself, with a meager income. God blessed our family thru many people - like the sponsors who sponsored the studies for my sisters and I, our Church and the people in our Church who helped us, and all the other wonderful people, like my neighbors Aunty Irene and Uncle Darrell and their family.

But personally, my heart wasn't close to God till my 9th grade when I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. I realised that God loves me no matter what. 

Even after that, I had my share of joys and sorrows, but God was there with me through it all.

My dad had a change of heart and returned home when I was 16.

I was the top scorer in my 12th grade which is the Senior year, and no one has beat my score at my school yet, in all of it's 175 year history. 

I flunked my Chartered Accountancy exam - my first failure in studies ever.

My dad went to be with the Lord in May of last year.

But God brought me back to my feet and has wonderfully guided me to where I am now.

I got a job for a meager salary which multiplied in the 6 and half years I was in my first company.

I was made the manager of one project when I was 23.

When I left that company 6 and a half years later, my salary was more than 10 times from when I started, and I was managing 6 projects and handling 56 employees which included 6 supervisors who reported to me.

I got a good break and came here to the US, and have a great job in a great company.

As I watched this movie "Facing the Giants", it brought back memories.

Memories which I would cherish forever.

Memories which remind me that with God, all things are possible.

Memories which remind me that I need to put my trust in God, regardless of what happens around me.

Memories which remind me that God loves me as I am.

And last, but surely not the least,

Memories which remind me that in all the steps of my life's path, I need to give God all the glory!!

Praise God!!

Amen!!

Mt. Hermon, Jack London Square and Face Book

My October started great with a weekend retreat at Mt. Hermon, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There were close to 300 people from my Church who attended this wonderful retreat with the theme "Perfectly Imperfect". I rode with Joel Bullock and his family, and helped out with Godly Play and Youth on Saturday, and attended the Ray Campton session on Sunday. 

The setting was really beautiful and I had a refreshing weekend which included some whipped cream pies that the kids had to eat without using their hands!!

  

Anna celebrated her first birthday with her sister Heidi, mom Kristin and dad Joel.

     

Kids with their whipped cream pies.

Collage I made on the theme "Perfectly imperfect"

   

Peter our Pastor and the open air communion service.

This is the sanctuary where we had our sessions.

    

Some pictures from the retreat Center....

 

My friend Char, and my buddy Prashanth and his wife Jenny went to the Jack London Square for a walk along the waterfront, and had dinner at Miss Pearl's Jam House. Dinner was Prashanth's birthday treat, also followed by huge ice cream at Fenton's ice cream in Oakland.....

 

A few days ago when my friend Char and I were talking, the topic came up that I met most members in her family except for her son-in-law Ross who's always busy. And so I was invited to her home to meet Ross and his family who came down to go to Kelly's best friend's wedding.

Had good fun with Cameron and had an excellent dinner and more ice cream!!

And finally, the last couple of days, I've created and updated an account in facebook for me. I am part of another networking site in India called Orkut, which is a product of google, and didn't really want to get on facebook and spend time there as well. But I found that a lot of the youth at my church here are part of Facebook and that's a nice way of meeting and getting to know them. Only after I created the account did I realise that I had many of my old friends already on facebook. 

So in the midst of my busy life, I try to fit in Facebook, Orkut, this blog, and few email accounts!!

Boon and bane of technology that brings us all together!!

WHEN ANGELS REJOICE

I need to spend some time on my blog and update it.

Will try to do it over the weekend.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine sent me this poem which was too good not to share!!

"At the completion of the Golden Gate,
No, the angels did not celebrate.
And when the Wright boys flew their bird,
No angelic shouts were heard,
There is only one thing that we are sure about,
That can make those angels jump & shout.
It's when a sinner makes the Lord his choice,
That's when the angels rejoice.

When the light bulb first lit up the town,
No, the angels did not dance around.
And when the Model "T" first hit the street,
It didn't bring all heaven to its feet.
When the first man stepped on the moon,
They didn't sing a victory tune.
And when the first computer was born,
They didn't blow old Gabriel's horn.
There is only one thing that we're sure about,
That can make those angels jump & shout.
It's when a sinner heeds the Savior's voice,
That's when the angels rejoice.

- Larry Bryant

It's possible that you wonder if God could love you.  Maybe you've done things that you are so ashamed of you wouldn't want anyone to know.  Perhapsyou have scorned God or ridiculed him in the past. Maybe you think that God just doesn't like you. You may feel like you have been looking for God but He has been hiding.

He's not hiding.  He's been looking for You.  He's calling your name and inviting you to be a part of His family.  Others may have dismissed you but He hasn't. Others may think you have nothing to offer . . . but He sees You as a diamond in the rough.  You don't have to be afraid that He will reject You . . . He has been looking to bring you home since the first moment of your life.