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.

September Update

Hi folks, It's 11pm on September 30th, and I'm trying to squeeze a long update this month!!

I've been super busy this month, which sorta scares me. I tell myself that I have to stop to smell the flowers!!


This picture was taken in my apartment complex last month!
And yes, September has gone by real fast, and I did so much, and have so much more to do...........






Let me just highlight what I was doing in September, and I'll throw in some pictures. And be warned, this is going to be a long post as well!!


Early September, Prashanth, Jenny and I invited my friend Char to our apartment, for an Indian Home cooked meal. Jenny is a great cook, and Char enjoyed the food. We had a good time that evening....





That evening, I experienced my first earthquake ever!!
It was 4.0 on the Richter scale, and I could feel the apartment shake. It wasn't powerful enough to throw stuff off the shelves, but was strong enough to give me the tingles.
I'm not afraid of death, becoz of the assurance that God will take me to heaven. But nevertheless, after the earthquake, I did praise God for the breath in my nostrils till date!!

This is Prashanth and Jenny outside our Church.
Cute picture ain't it?








Robert & Sheila (Prashanth's friend and his wife), Prashanth & Jenny, and I went to Waterworld in Concord, California, which was just three miles from where we live. We had great fun for the few minutes we were actually on the rides. The 45 to 90 minute wait under the hot sun wasn't that great though. But we enjoyed ourselves!!




Some of you know that my school studies between the 4th and 10th grades were sponsored by a loving couple in Pasadena, CA, through an organisation called Compassion International. I went to visit them this time at their brother's place. So here is Uncle Paul and Aunt Karen with me. I had a great time with them, especially explaining to them how arranged marriages work!! They were so excited for me.



We visited Robert's home the same day, and here we are, trying to put together some shelves that Robert got from Target. We had good fun putting it together, while the ladies - Jenny and Sheila, looked on, and took some pictures!!





On September 18th, Prashanth celebrated his 29th birthday. He had a long day at work, and came home at 10.15pm, and so it was just Jenny and I who got the cake and candles ready, and had him cut the cake when he came home.
We bought food from an Indian Restaurant and had that ready for Prashanth too!!



Then on a Saturday, I went with some of my Church members, to Mission Dolores in San Francisco. I learnt a lot about the 21 missions in California, in a detailed tour. So here is an ancient Baptismal Font.






Native American head dress at the museum in the Mission.










This is a native American hut at the San Francisco mission.
And here's an Indian posing in front of the hut - not an American Indian, but an East Indian. I know....poor joke...... ;)






Then on Sunday, we had Homecoming carnival in our Church. I had signed up as part of the young adults to help with the Face Painting booth. I really didn't warn the others that I just can't paint!! But Andrew ever so nicely offered to help, and it was Andrew and Becky who did all the work. Lisa and I did the marketing if you will, and brought the kids to the booth!!




Becky's handiwork.....








Andrew's handiwork......








So here's Becky, Lisa, Andrew and ME!!!!








And also in September, I got a chance to present about the billing company to the doctors in our group, at the Board/Finance meeting and the Shareholders meeting. Even though I've made a lot of presentations in India, these were my first in the US. Char and some of the doctors said that the presentation was good.
So Char and I treated ourselves to Fenton's icecream in Oakland after the presentation. So that explains the tie...... :)





Then on the fourth Friday in September, some of the young adults at our Church met at this nice Indian restaurant called Swad in Lafayette. We had good fun, especially with Andrew who constantly reminded me how he was recruited by me to do the face painting, and how I just left him stranded there and went to get my lunch!! Thanks Andrew!!!




And we had Jenny's Aunt Bali and Uncle Prabha visiting us for a few days. They are a wonderful couple, and we had a great time with them. I should have taken some pictures. Hmmmm Where's my camera? Well, maybe next time!!

And last Sunday, I got a chance to speak in front of the entire congregation in our Church about the Young Adults Fellowship. I almost didn't make it to Church on time becoz I slept really late the previous night. I just prayed to God and promised that I'd be good if He enabled me to reach Church on time. And God, in His usual merciful mood, did get me to Church on time.
He is amazing, isn't HE??

The time now is 11.55pm, and so here ends my post!!
Thanks for being patient and reading all that I've written!!