KC's Writings

Why does God allow temptations?

2012-02-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

Dear reader,

remember - God allows us to be tempted not that we feel helpless and yield to it but that for the purpose that we resist it.. through Him, by crying out to Him for His help! - Kalpana c Sharma

all copyrights reserved - Kcs

Jesus taken into wilderness, immediately....

2012-02-04T21:37:00.000-08:00

I have often heard many preachers preach on this event:

Mark's gospel says in chapter 1: ⁹And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

¹⁰And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

¹¹And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

¹²And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness.

¹³And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

As i read again and again, i see that no sooner God had affirmed that Jesus IS THE beloved Son...than satan tried to tempt him saying, prove it...'if' you are the son of God, do this...and i love the way Jesus so amazingly answers.

1st of all, as someone has said, the minute we have high spiritual experiences, satan tries to tempt us and God allows us to be tempted so we can be ready for higher challenges. We do not need to give in to temptation. We can depend on God's word.

Mathew records and so does Luke of the deals that satan was trying to strike with Jesus.

Matthew 4: ¹Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

²And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.

³And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

you see, how after God had affirmed that Jesus was the beloved Son, satan is trying to cause Jesus to doubt that...just the same trick he played with Eve in the garden of Eden that "Did God really say..." and sadly Eve got into a wrong argument with satan. Jesus did not even bother go into the game," 'yes, i am', no you are not, yes, i am...type.."

I see satan trying to meet the human legitimate need of hunger that Jesus had and yet, Jesus not only chose to not get into the 'son-ship argument but Jesus even eradicated the legitimate hunger need - 40 days of fasting was a legitimate need.

But Jesus answer shows that satan is not really only for the argument, he is there to make us disobey God. as the scripture says, ⁴But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Jesus who fasted for 40 days made it clear that even then, we dont live by bread alone, but by God's word that is sufficient for us. Jesus' ego is not even touched, he saw what devil was trying to incite him to do! if only we can also be that vigilant!!!!

now wait a minute, devil is not yet done. read it:

⁵Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

⁶And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

again, he is using the same card, 'if'...if you are the Son of God....lets have fun...let us put on a show...but Jesus is not buying into that game that would cause him to disobey or test God!

⁷Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

you would think devil now would give up. but no!

⁸Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; ⁹And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

boy! he has the nerve to ask the Maker of the heaven and earth, the one in whom all things hold together to worship him???

like someone has said, devil did not own anything to give to Jesus, but also, he is the god of this world, and God in His Sovereignty has given satan the things for a time. Jesus didn't want to listen to satan and Jesus didn't go satan's way either...

ultimately devil wanted Jesus to avoid CROSS!!!!! yes, he did not seem to want Jesus to be our sacrificial lamb, because we would be saved..so, now he tries to stop people from becoming believers in Christ. Remember, satan's motive is to make us doubt God and eventually disobey God so he can have an upper hand in our lives...

¹⁰Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. ¹¹Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. (by the way, Luke puts it that satan left him for a more opportune time) that means, satan the defeated foe does not leave us alone, he is like a roaring lion, seeking to whom he may devour as 1peter 5 says...⁸Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Dr. Erwin Lutzer says that, "Satan may be a roaring lion but remember that he has been declawed"

Let us stand firm in our faith, in our good God's good plans for our lives, and let us not give into temptations. We can use the scriptures that we have been given.

Be strong and be encouraged,

Kalpana Christian Sharma,

The scriptures are taken from KJV.

Copyrights reserved @ Kalpana Christian Sharma (Mrs.)

My thoughts on my 20th wedding Anniversary

2012-01-18T16:49:00.000-08:00

18Jan1992

Its 18th January, 2012. Its been 20 years of my marriage to the man i love from the bottom of my heart, and to whom i am married to; his name is Bharat Sharma. Happy 20th wedding anniversary to you, my beloved hubby Bharat Sharma!

this Bible with this note was given to me, 20 yrs ago,
on my wedding day by Bharat Sharma

God in His perfect will brought you and i together, sustained and kept us together for His glory and our good. We can clearly see JESUS holding us together thru countless joys and also thru the heavier trials, thru goodtimes and thru difficulties, thru high peak careers having it all and thru deep poverty and necessities, thru painful nights and weary days and yet thru lovely romantic dawns and delightful dusks, :"We have learnt to be content in whatsoever state we have been in", like Paul says in the Bible. No matter what storms have come, like you wrote to me 25yrs ago, "IF God be for us, who can be against us?"(Romans8:31) and of course the answer is, no one and nothing!

Prior to meeting you in 1987 March, sometime in mid 1984, if it was His will, I had asked God to give me a man who will keep me closer to Christ, and God answered that in you; as much as i was in the business world at the peak of my career, at the deep bottom of my heart i wanted to be a wife and a mother and when you fell in love with me, i knew i wanted to be your wife..what a joy it was to read as you wrote to me that, "the best role i can play is to be your homey wife" and how truly God has fulfilled that dream of yours and mine! Thanking God, for bringing us together, putting a hedge of protection around us and keeping us together.

i always wished and wanted a man who will draw me closer to Christ and keep me spiritually high... and even as we thank God for happy days, thru out these many years, as life threw curve balls, i was thrown right at the foot of the Cross every now and then and clung to my Bible, spend hours in prayers and wrestled with God and sought His guidance; but the best thing is, I learnt to enjoy His divine presence on regular basis, with Prarthna - (Narita Sharma and Stuti - Sharma) (our girls as well as in reality true with prayer and praise). It is a wonderful beautiful journey even with the ugliness and difficulties that came in. I meditate on God's Word on the solidity of the holy institution of marriage as well as your following promises to me:

"Kalp, you are God's best for me, do you think I will go for anyone less or other than you?"
"When we get married, I will make sure our bed will be smaller in width so that when you will sulk, you wont be able to go far from me and thus stay closer to me"
"When people decide to walk away from each other, do they not remember at least one special close moment for which they will still choose to stay in a marriage?"
"Pastor, Christianity does not permit divorce so even when i have not put a ring on Kalpna's finger, i feel that committed to Kalpna"

and the most one too strong was "Kalp, you have one and only one option: marry me and stay married to me"!

i remember the time you squeezing my hand during taking the vows on our wedding day, before our Holy God at the All saints Cathedral church, in Nairobi, saying "in sickness and in health till death do us part, within God's holy law, and this is my solemn vow."

But i must say that human love at the most as someone has said it is human after all, and not divine and human love regardless of how determined, its bound to fail and we have witnessed that. That is when God reminded me in His Word in Acts 5: 38-39 saying similar thing, that if there is anything that has its origin in human beings it will not last but if it has its origin in God, you can do nothing about it. Acts chapter 5:38-39 reads as follows: "If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!” So on such promises of His Word i have lived, hoped and trusted that this relationship and this marriage (family) is built to last for His glory, that is!

I also recalled that we used to pray, "God add anything to our lives and takeaway anything from our lives, for your glory" little did we know what He would allow to come in and take out...humm!

So, no matter how tough, marriage is great to work on and work with, anyone reading this may know that God brings us and holds us together because HE ordained marriage as the 1st social institution and he holds it very high; He uses it to show our relationship with Him, and also for our sanctification; we must be ready to be used of Him thru this holy vital means. Never give up on your marriage no matter how hard!

And now back to you my sweet heart, I love you, Bharat, and thank God for bringing you in to my life and for working in and thru us. Remembering all the flowers you sent for 5 years in Nairobi with personal hand-written notes and cards every day of those beautiful years prior to our marriage! And after marraige my car filled with candies all around on special occassions, or bunches of balloons flying at the back of my car and many more surprises that you showered on me in the lovely land of Kenya! As we work thru and put behind us the ugliness of unwanted intruding messages and incidences from the recent past we trust God to redeem our past...and like the Bible says, "What God has joined, let no one separate", so, knitted in a lasting bond, we are a family, washed in His precious blood, bound with His cord of love, His presence to abide, His spirit our guide, together we'll conquer, life's every trying time..till death us do part...have a blessed day!

bees saal baad - after 20yrs

from Kalpana Christian Sharma - © Copyright reserved (Bharat and Kalpana Sharma)

Joyous Christmas 2011 and Might Swell 2012

2011-12-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

Have A Joyous Christmas and a mighty swell 2012

Dear precious family and friends,
It is December 2011. The word “Joy” keeps popping up all around. Jesus, the true joy-giver, keeps reminding “Let my joy remain you.” As the devil tries to snatch that joy away, Lord Jesus continues to be our strength. We share the story of His faithfulness thru our lives here with a prayer that you too will sense Lord Jesus’ presence in a deeper way!

From Bharat: This year had started with prayerful thoughts of last year’s verse “Because thou hast made the LORD, [which is] my refuge, [even] the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways; Psalms 91 9-11”; I had an assurance to be in the will of God, not in my own might. But the stronghold of the enemy was strong - to break that, God divinely brought up all covered up issues of past years. There was a huge impact of it on my life for the choices I had made and my own reasoning for disobedience. Of course the hurt and pain caused to God and to my family is irreversible and irrevocable. Not that I want to swift my short falls or failures to God, expecting miraculous air lift, its rather acknowledging the sin, the falls and asking Jesus to forgive and strengthen me, so that in doing so, His glory and mercy can be seen. Despite of past mistakes and wrong choices of couple of years, the last few years taught me to be still and know that He is God. He asks me to do the best, walk in a narrow path prayerfully with peace, and leave the rest to Him. One of the lessons I have learned through incidences and events is: there is peace in following Jesus and seeking His forgiveness to erase my sins forever. If I have to sum up 2011 for the Lord’s love and love of Kalp and both the girls, Narita and Stuti, for me I could echo it with the words of the song ‘ Lift Me Up’ by “The Afters” as follows:

Waiting for the sunrise, Waiting for the day, Waiting for a sign, That I’m where you want me to be, You know my heart is heavy, And the hurt is deep, But when I feel like giving up, You’re reminding me, That we all fall down sometimes, But when I hit the ground, You lift me up when I am weak, Your arms wrap around me, Your love catches me so I’m letting go, You lift me up when I can’t see, Your heart is all that I need, Your love carries me so I’m letting go I know I’m not perfect, I know I make mistakes, I know that I have let you down, But you love me the same, And when I’m surrounded, When I lose my way, When I’m crying out and falling down, You are here to lift me up. I can see the dawn is breaking, I am feeling overtaken with your love; I don’t know what I can offer, In this moment I surrender to your love! Quoting this I am able to say that now I am trying to move on with truth clarity and peace to celebrate ‘His birth’ and His death for me by choosing to obey Christ.~

From Narita: I don’t think I will ever forget 2011. It started as a turbulent storm (both literally and within our home). But, God has been so faithful. Personally, I had started the year with doubt hanging over me. This is my last high school year, so questions about college, jobs, etc. are beginning to want answers. I had begun to let my doubts take over my emotions which began to invade my relationship with the Lord. In the spring, I was able to read C. S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain. There was something he said that went somewhere along the lines of “How can we, who aren’t even inherently good, tell Goodness itself that it isn’t good.” Oh, how could I have doubted the Savior’s goodness? I’m speechless at God’s faithfulness, goodness, and love. This was a year of miracles! The house we live in is a huge blessing. He has blessed us with a wonderful neighborhood and sweet neighbors. Food, clothing, and miscellaneous items are so faithfully provided that I am amazed at how our fridge is always full, how we’ve never had to go without some clothing or shoes, or even how small things were miraculously provided. Jesus’ words in Matthew 6: 25-30 “²⁵

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ 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? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]? ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in his entire splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” Circumstances may resemble storms, but I will release my fears and troubles to the Lord and rest knowing I’m in His hands. A verse that I was so touched by was Isaiah 43:2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” ~

From Stuti: Sometimes you don’t know what to say to conclude the year because you don’t know if it’s an end of things or if things can really be summed up; you don’t know if you can really sum up the year. 2011 went by very fast, although at some times it seems like it was very slow. It started out rather difficultly, both personally for me and for our family. God has taught me much. God has promised me that He will complete the good work He has begun in me, and in our family. God has helped me. Even through all the difficult times, whether with our family, my personal problems, and health problems, God still allows some very fond memories. Despite the pain, I recall many occurrences of the past year as nice. This year has many good memories: we were able to move into a house that God provided. Every time I think of the miracle of this house, I don’t know how to thank God enough for it. He is so merciful. It is such an immense blessing in each and every respect. When I look at our fridge, I recall the words from Psalms, “I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.” Or “Even the young lions go hungry, but the children of God lack no good thing.” In all our struggles, I do not ever recall going hungry or not having nutritional food.

This year has been different. This school year is my last school year with Narita as my schoolmate; needless to say, it is bittersweet. This year has marked some extraordinary events: One of these being that we got to meet some friends that we had known solely through written/spoken communication. It was such a wonderful blessing that God made it able for us to fellowship with each other and “have our joy in full, when we talked face-to-face.” In addition, during the year, I have made some new, very meaningful friendships. I have also been introduced to so many impacting books. I have learnt many things this year: the one lesson that comes to mind is being honest and sincere.
And, another lesson is definitely gratefulness. God does not have to give me a warm home, God does not have to give me understanding, God does not have to give me a mother who loves me and cares about me regardless, God does not have to give me a sister who loves me and makes me laugh regardless, God does not have to provide delicious food, quality clothing and shoes through my dad’s mystery shopping, God does not have to give me His love. But He does, because of the blood of Christ. Sometimes there’s quietness, quietness that hurts and I don’t know what to figure out about myself. Sometimes there’s a tumult of emotion that pains that makes me feel paralyzed and powerless. With all this uncertainty, I know that God is not uncertain. I do not say that because I have an extra amount of goodness or faith, but because “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Throughout this year, Philippians 4:13 is the one thing that always reappears to me in some way or another. I remember one day when I was feeling especially low, we were at Family Dollar, and I saw a cross plaque had that verse on it. Another time I recall is when we were walking in downtown, I glanced to the side of a Christian bookstore, and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” was on a displayed water bottle. The most remarkable one in my memory is when we had a bag of chips; the words “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” were printed on the packaging under the product description. God has shown himself so remarkably through providing a house just when we needed it, God has been so faithful to provide food and even little insignificant “desires of our heart.” way in the coming year.~

From Kalpna: 2011 seemed a start of a new dawn of a new decade - going to bless us in many ways. After much hardship that we have faced, with faith we have grown closer to God the Father’s heart. It was a year that cannot even be explained in better words, than to say that on February 1^st, when the snow storm hit Chicago land, the storm was not just outside in the streets, but our home had relationship storm within that was worse than what was outside. God, through His divine Will, purpose and mercy, pushed the waves and worked in and through us. “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength” Isa 30:15 shouted aloud to me many times.

As we shoveled the snow outside, God exposed the dirt that needed to go from inside-debris of many years. What came out in the open is being dealt with tears, hurts, sorrows, joys and hugs and many PRAYERS! The reconciliation work is not easy especially when stuff was put under the carpet for so long; but God in his mercy has held us together as a family in the palm of His hand and is bringing healing in our lives. We are thankful for the few understanding people who keep us close to their hearts and in their prayers, who continue to encourage us, near and also far from where we are on the globe. Some faithfully call every week without fail, praying with us on the phone. We need your prayers! Thank you, dear close friends that care in Christ.

In home schooling, Narita is in the final year of her high school; my! Oh my, I didn’t even realize that time passed this fast. The years have rolled away so fast and we have enjoyed and share a close knit friendship with both girls that I cherish so very much. Stuti is happy to spend one more year with me alone. Please keep the girls in your prayers as they seek God’s wisdom in the areas of their strength where they will attend college and what they will serve God with. They are well versed in so many areas and I am just waiting to see what will become of these two fine ladies that God put into my lap to train, teach, and bring up. I am thankful to be their teacher Mommie and their mentor. I make mistakes but God uses my close dear ones to correct and teach me. He works on each of us, isn’t that awesome?
We also have moved, as most of you know, to a south suburb in Chicago; it’s a blessing. We know we shall continue to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and be a living testimony of His grace working thru us. Jesus heals the broken hearts and walks the hard path of the long journey so faithfully.
Finally, each picture here even though it seems like a material blessing, it is more than that. These are the signs of God’s unfailing faithfulness to us. Each is a gift, including the reindeers, the car, home, food, and the kitties…all glory to Jesus…

Jesus is the centre of this household and we lift him up high in our lives.
This year also marks 10 years since we released our CD “Reach out” in Kenya. I am thinking of the words of the song I wrote for our family, “Knitted in lasting bond, we are a family, washed in Jesus’ precious blood, bound with His cord of love, His presence to abide, His spirit our Guide, together we’ll conquer life’s every trying time” this has be so true in the last 10 years.
Eternally connected to Jesus - knitted in a lasting bond to each other to proclaim His faithfulness - Bharat, Kalpna, Narita and Stuti Sharma
We wish you a Christ-filled joyous Christmas and a peaceful, mighty swell twenty twelve - 2012.

2011-11-23T20:04:00.001-08:00

True thanksgiving is 'Thanksliving' for God, every day! (written on an outside board of a reformed church in my 'hood').

Its a Thanksgiving time. So i want to wish you a very blessed Thanksgiving time to God, not only for the things He gives us and for sustaining, although we should give thanks to God for all the blessings that come from His good hands but let us thank God for who God is! HE is Good, Compassionate, Just and Holy One!

God, we thank You for YOU!

I also thank God for you, a reader of this blog!

(copyright © Kalpana Christian Sharma (Mrs.)B. A. I.T.C.

Parenting story of a good farmer....

2011-11-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

This will warm your heart as it did ours when we heard this short story from a pastor at church here in our little local neighborhood. He was speaking on "what will it profit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?" In addition to that he shared this story.

The story is of a farmer who was raising 2 fine boys. The boys were working with Daddy during the harvest season. At harvest, folks usually hired the harvest croppers to do the work to ease up the load as it is huge. Harvest croppers go from fields to fields doing the work for different farmers.

Some harvesters were hired by this dear good farmer; as the day progressed, Dad heard the harvest workers use some foul language and share dirty jokes amongst themselves. He warned and told them to put a stop to that; once, and twice; he explained to harvesters that there were young boys of his, also working and assisting and he did not want the boys to be influenced by the lose talks and blue jokes. The harvesters did not pay attention. On the 3rd confrontation, in reply the 'offended' foul mouthed workers threatened the farmer with a cocky attitude that they will leave and if they left, he will lose his precious crop, as there will be no one to assist. Resolute Dad replied,"I would rather lose the crop than lose my boys!"

Bravo! brave and courageous! we need more parents like this today to stand up for kids; to teach right things and even though the world seems saturated with evil words, actions and thoughts, we can choose to shield and protect our kids at the cost of anything; even if it means we will lose precious material possessions! Nothing is more worth than fighting for our children's character building!

You will hear many well meaning well-wishers even try and correct you stating that you are 'over reacting' or even 'rebuke' you for standing up saying, "Its part of the 'world' our children need to be exposed to!" This is a lie and we do not need to buy into it. Regardless of what was going on in Noah's world, as a step of obedience, he still chose to continue building the ark for 100 years in which he eventually ended up protecting his children and family; because he chose to obey God and his wife support him in that. Even in New Testament we see the 4 virgin daughters of Philip, prophesying...Acts 21:9 "And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy."

God has mandated us to train and teach our children, with a promise saying, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6) We can choose to be different and teach the good godly Christlike values to our children. I do not believe we need to be at ease allowing our children to face compromising situations, in order to think they need to be rough to face the rough world. I believe they need to be tough to face the rough world! And we also just don't want to settle for our kids to be good only, we want them to be godly! Jesus calls us for that solid integrity deep within - the righteousness that exceeds more than the Pharisses' righteousness. Even when no one is watching or even when it is not mandated, our children will do the right thing as God would do if he were in that situation. That is our role and that is one of the things I believe we will be accountable to God for! Happy parenting!

©copyrighted by Kalpana Christian Sharma (Mrs.)B.A. I.T.C
(the good farmer's story was told in a small umc church in Lansing, IL on Nov 13th 2011) and The Bible verses taken from online parallel bible - KJV Cambridge Ed.)

lost?

2011-11-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

a friend recently wrote to me that 'I feel lost". While writing back, I sensed as i prayed and wrote back, "Being lost is a good place to be in, because Jesus can then find you; take time to find Jesus also in that state" The bible says in Isaiah, "Call on the Lord, while he may be found" (Isa55:6)/KJV
(copy right - Kalpana Christian-Sharma. Mrs. (KC)

confident, yet silent....

2011-10-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

silence due to indecision is different than being decisive yet choosing to be silent, that is confidence! -k

copyrighted...kalpna chrsitian sharma

Reading and learning from the weak Fathers' roles in the old times

2011-10-04T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have been reading the book of 1st Samuel in the Bible and its interesting to note that Eli the priest was a godly man but he failed in his role as a diciplining father. Twice God sends a message, 1st that 'he honored his sons more than God and did not rebuke them' and 2nd time He talks to young Samuel that 'Eli knew the problem and failed to restrain his sons.'

His sons were perverting justice and did not walk in the ways of the LORD. Even though just few verses before, we see that Eli is 'gently rebuking' the sons, it does not work by now as the Lord has decided to put an end to the roles Eli's family will be playing. His family is rejected and severe punishment from the Lord fell on Eli's household of male dying in the prime of life; and if they survived they would be not straight forward.

More interesting thing is that inspite of such environment, Samuel (the handed over child) turns out to be godly. He is not influenced by Eli's grown up sons. Samuel seemed to have followed in Eli's foot steps in terms of godliness but interestingly enough, Samuel also seemed to have followed Eli's route when it came to being in a fatherly role. Samuel's sons also did not walk in the ways of the LORD and they too perverted justice, to an extent that people came and asked for a king, as Samuel was now getting old and his sons were not forthright. (the infrastructure of the society was going to change drastically at that time for this ethnic group of people)

Samuel annoints Saul as the 1st king of Israel as per God's instruction. Saul is ordained as a king; a king who also does not heed to authorities. He was neither a good king nor a good father.

later, David too, annointed by Samuel, happens to be a godly man in many areas of his life, who started out well, but when it came to his fatherly role, he failed terribly. His daughter suffered incest at the hand of a lust driven step brother and David did nothing. His sons were not living right and David is not able to restrain them nor discipline them.

As thankful as we are for Proverbs, Song of songs, and Eccleciastes books, Solomon too failed to train and teach his son/s(!) the godly ways and the story goes on. Rest of the kings and prophets are a long story we still need to dig into.

This is one of the reasons, i continue to admire the parents of John the Baptist and also Mary and Joseph.
no1. This is God's story and God allows us to live for him. 2. When we sin, we are responsible for the sins we commit. 3. We will still be judged by God for our parental role and are accountable to God who puts children in our care. 4. It is important that we teach, train up, discipline the next generation and impart godly values. 5. introspect and see where do we fail as parents? what are we compromising, and what inauthenticity our children see in us that they do not want to follow the Lord? 6. humble ourselves before God and ask his help like samson's parents did, in how are we to raise these children? though samson didnt turn out to be moral in his living, God used his life to bring about the purposes that He had in mind. How blessed samson's life would have been had he chosen to live morally above his own weak human desires and learnt self control? but that is samson's choice. Parents job today is more challenging and we need to take it seriously. We must honor God more than other things and people and if and when required, rebuke, train and teach our kids godly ways despite of what the culture tries to imply, impose, mock and make us to do. Jesus said, "if you honor others, even your own family more than me, you are not worthy of me" even when this is used so many times out of context to suit the leaving of children and famliies to make mission field another career opportunity at times, i see this verse more so in line with what God told Eli, that we are not to honor our children or parents or spouses or other family members more than God, that means, when they are not walking in God's ways, or when they dont pursue righteousness, we are not to enable them in the name of 'loving' and accepting' while abusing 'grace'. Love means discipline, correct, instruct, admonish, nurture.

Let us encourage one another to live godly lives and be good role models. Given in our care the lives of these precious souls, teaching the word of truth, let us be good role models.

Copyrights by Kalpana Christian Sharma (Mrs.)

samson and lessons from his life

2011-09-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

I have been reading thru the book of Judges and am on 13 to 16 chapters on the birth of Samson. oh my! what can i say. to start with, his father and mom's attitude and humility warmed my heart. Their childlessness and then when she comes to know that she will have conceive a child, with humility to ask the angel of the Lord, how are we to raise this child? hum....what a question, if every parent who is expecting a child were to take this seriously what kind of parents shall we all be?

I have heard and seen many parents over the years want to make their children what they want or would dictate in no uncertain terms what they want their children to do but we see a different picture here, the parents are humble and wanting to know how the Lord wants them to raise this child?

samson was to begin delivering his people from the hands of the philistines. His mother was to be careful in her eating and drinking habits and samson's hair was not to be cut at all as he was going to be set apart for the LORD right from his birth. that is where his strength was going to be for God's glory and for God's purposes.

It is sad to see from samson's poor choices and lusting after women and also from who were not really a marriage material girls that one can feel disheartened as to where did the parents go wrong. Did they let him learn to brag along the way? perhaps? is it possible that in some areas he was not corrected being the only child, did they spoil him in some ways? he was rude at times and at times seemed over confident. i am tempted to think the parents were perhaps not wrong, and did their part but whichever way, it was samson's poor choices.

At times Samson also fails to wait on the Lord and goes on his own sinful ways. the result is evident. lets look at the 1st woman that he wanted to marry. he demands of his parents that 'go get that woman to be my wife' and even when his parents are rebuking him, he is adamant and not listening to their advice. The bible tells us that they didnot know that this was from the Lord who was waiting for: verse4 (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

if we go thru the story we see that there is no holy covenanted marriage involved. while samson wants to get a wife, the Lord wants to confront philistines using this occasion. Parents also dont want this marriage to take place. So, who wins? of course the LORD and parents in some way.

because, the girl is siding with her own people due to fear; coxing him every day so to reveal the mystery of his riddle, keeps nagging him and manipulating. it was interesting to read that for 7 days of her own wedding feast, she was crying every day and made life miserable, that of hers and that of samson. what a wedding preparation! no blessing of the Lord is seen. also, samson does not seem to be trusting these women because at 1st he is refusing to tell her the answer to the riddle, and says to her, “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?”

neither samson nor the woman seem to be prepared for a holy marriage institution and is it any wonder no marriage takes place? it was not meant to be!

after he explains the riddles she goes and tells her people and samson now knows. he calls her, his heifer! and strikes 30 men down. He is angry and as a result, the father decides to give the daughter as a wife to his friend.

Samson returns with a hope to see 'his wife' and the father explains she is given away. now father is offering the younger more attractive girl. but again marriage is not in the view and samson retaliates with burning the farms and in return the philistines are burning the father and the daughter. Now Samson's anger is even fierce and he kills them as well as other 1000 of them. God's purposes stand firm thru and thru whether his marriage plans are working out or not.

The bible says honor your father and your mother that it may go well with you and that you will live long in the land. neither of this happens in samson's case, 1st because God is in control and second, samson chose not to honor the parents as we read.

20 years samson rules. then we read that he goes to a prostitute to spend a night with her. hum! samson is weak but God is using this opportunity and allows samson to destroy some more of the enemies.

now the real trouble comes in. there is delilah, with whom samson falls in love. the fall of samson's life has started. This woman is no different than the prostitute and no different than the 1st philistine woman that he wanted to marry. She too is siding with her people and betraying samson over and over again. the same game is played by delilah and over and over again, she is using the same words and samson is playing the game. manipulations are seen day in and day out and nagging is on and we see finally samson gives in. he is so fallen that he is not able to rise above to see the reality. as a result he reveals the secret and he is now betrayed thoroughly not only that he is actually now ruthlessly blind, without hair and thus without strength, but the worse thing is he is without the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord has now left him. That is worse state for anyone.

Once a strong man now he is in shackles grinding grains not to forget the mockery he had to face. yet we see, God being merciful and his hair begins to grow. i bet samson is now repentant. we read samson is now praying the Lord's will, to ask for strength to destroy the enemies with one blow, infact he is now willing to die and not live, he really has been thru a lot of thinking while in shackles and grinding without eyes. Does God answer? of course, this prayer is in line with his will, his initial will that was foretold to his parents before his birth.

The Bible says he killed more people when he died than when he was alive. again, it was not samson's strength but God's strength. In his weakness, God used him to do a greater work. if only samson had chosen to obey the Lord and his parents thru and thru, his life would have been a blessed one.

but there are lessons also for us to learn as well. 1. let us ask the Lord how are we to raise our kids and raise them well in every area of their lives. 2nd we must realize that our talents and gifts are not for our own selfish use. 3rd, when we mess with our lives, we will suffer as a result of our poor choices but God's purposes still stand and come thru. 4th, for the young people who develop liking for opposite gender, ask, is it God's will for marriage? is there a marriage blessed by God, or does God want me to learn what am i here for in this to accomplish His divine will, is this an opportunity for me to let God be glorified or am i going to insist my own way? am i a blessing? 5th, once beaten twice! be careful! ask the Lord to protect you from the manipulative people who will side with your enemies and betray you.(its the people we love that betray our faith) 6th, commit to living a holy and pure lives. 7th, when we mess up, we will suffer but when we turn around and cry out, God truly hears us and in our weakness he gives us victory, bigger than when we were too much full of ourselves. 8th, we must humble and submit to God. 9. every temptation is an opportunity to say no to it and overcome with God's help. 10. we must remember we are here to do God's work as per His divine will and anytime our soul can be required of us, how shall we answer him, the way we lived?

(the Bible verses are taken from the NIV Bible.)

Copyrighted © by kalpana christian sharma (mrs.)

death, life and every moment

2011-08-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

Death and life are in God's hands and so is every moment of our lives. He controls the very breath we breathe as per His divine will. Instead of God at our bidding, its the other way around, we are at His bidding...

Copyrighted by KC kalpna Sharma (Mrs.)

baking and cooking...famous black forest cake, french silk pie and some spicy Indian dishes.

2011-08-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

black forest cake

French silk pie

Double receipe black forest cake

Indian wheat thin flat bread called Chapati!

mint, cilantro, coconute chutney with hot spicy chillies

chinese chicken

Guacamole dip

Kenyan-Indian Kachumbari (hot spicy salsa)

Indian sweet dish of Halwa made of green fresh gourd

Indian sweet dish of Carrot Halwa...

famous spiced up Bateta Paun..POHA. potato and flaked rice

marinated and baked turkey

This special cake was made by my husband for my surprise 1st birthday after my marriage in 1992

very hot blazing flavor chicken and onions, bharat has his hands in this, he poured the blazin' souce little too much...but kids love it...with lots of cold water to sip with it of course!!!

our favourite green lentils soup (daal) and pickled spice with plain rice

Parents of John the Baptist - my role models.

2011-07-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

John the Baptist happens to be one of my favorite characters in the Bible; i am copying the text from NIV below that shows the events concerning the foretelling the birth of John.

i honor his parents equally. Zechariah and Elizabeth. When i look at the role of his parents it is humbling, for all of us as parents to learn. They were righteous in the sight of God, as i have underlined below. they followed all the commands and decrees of God and were blameless. they didnt try to help God out in any way like Abe and Sarah did many many years ago nor did they let their son loose like Samson, even though his parents were good, godly and sought the LORD how to raise Samson. Somewhere along the way, Samson lost his sight and his vision. But John's parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth; their faith and trust in God even at the old age is par excellence.

God in HIS own time, said, Zechariah, "your prayer" has been heard, for all those years, One God, one man, one wife, and one prayer!!!!! and not only for Zech and Liz's joy but John was to bring joy to the entire kingdom of God; be a forerunner for Christ, so God fulfills his promise and answers our prayers in his wise time; we need to learn to be patient. He answers prayers which benefit to the entire human race and eternity. All we need to do is be still like Zech and Liz were before the LORD and trust God; and even if God chose not to bless them sooner with a child, they still didnt try worldly ways for their 'comfort' or their desires to be fulfilled. to me this speaks volumes. Either God will give us a child or we will die childless. They chose no other option. That is the truth and faith in God!

Bible clearly says, They were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive. here i honor Zechariah. He didnt take another wife or a concubine, perhaps he didnt even think, as the bible says, they were blameless and righteous in the sight of God, (who searches our hearts and intent, who knows what others dont know) Nor do they think of adoption, now, dont get me wrong, adoption in and of itself is not wrong, if God calls one for it that is between them and God, but in this case they were trusting God to bless them with a child even after it was 'too late' too late meaning as per the worldly standards. God is the God of impossibilities and above any human system.

Zechariah loves his wife and honors her to be his wife for better or for worse with child or without child till death do them apart. Married people what do we learn here, about loyalty, faithfulness and choosing to love and stay in the marriage? or honor the God blessed and God ordained marriage! not adding any extention to it nor cutting the chords.

Do we at times, try to see if we can twist God's arm to answer our prayers our way in our time, like i want what i want and i want it now? then our concept of God is like a Ginnie who answers our requests and who is at our service. While God has asked us to ask anything in line with his will, we need to also submit to what he wants in our lives and at his time. So, praying and fasting helps us to humble before God and adjust to his timings rather than demanding our way with him. We need to ask for grace to hold on and trust Him.

We also need to remember that our job description has been laid out for us before we are born. We need to just report for duty. check this out.

Angel told Zechariah that his son that Elizabeth will bore will be a delight and a joy to you and many will rejoice because of his birth, (not just a couple but many) and will be great in the sight of God. Oh! what a wonderful promise! He will live a godly life and make good choices, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit before his birth. He was further told, john will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

John's job apart from being a forerunner of Christ, was to bring back many people to their God, be a forerunner in the spirit and power of Elijah and turn the hearts of parents to their children and children's heart to their parents.(reconciliation)

Parents, are we listening? where are the parents hearts' these days? if their hearts are in making money, or wordly passion is it any wonder that when children dont walk in the ways of the LORD, parents' hearts are not to their children? and children's hearts to their parents. This speaks a great relationship of John with his parents. he would have to see his parents hearts to him and him as obedient to them.

It was a shock to Zechariah that he almost was in disbelief. how can this be? i am old and so is my wife! He had perhaps accepted and adjusted to being empty nested for life and then just when we are at the end of ourselves God does the inconceivable and brings life into it. let us not be in disbelief then. Because he didnt trust God at that time, he was made mute until John's birth. Gabriel was sent to speak to Zech. Gabriel was being obedient to God's call. Zechariah goes home and later on we are told Elizabeth stayed in seclusion as she was 5 months pregnant. "The LORD has done this for me" Elizabeth was a woman of God, she gave glory to God, infact, she knew 1st about Mary's 1st and holy miraculous pregnancy. we can see these couple walked close to God and not only they had relationship with God but they fellowshipped with him and God told them the stuff that was to happen.

May we all desire to be the spouses, and parents that Zechariah and Elizabeth were! boy! that must not have been easy to live in the society that put children as a 'thing to gain and show off', to have been married young and live upto be old, very old, and still continue being righteous in God's eyes as not to complain or be bitter. The purity, loyalty and dedicaiton to God and to each other that this couple displays is excellent. is it any wonder God chose them to nurture, bless and raise John who would be that loyal and submitted to God and humble to Christ, and at one point in life so bold as to the point of being beheaded for standing up for righteous holy living?

Are we willing for our children to be that bold, fearless and speak up for God. Are we raising them meek and fearless? walking in the ways that please God?

May this bless you as you ponder the character of Zechariah, Elizabeth and John and let God speak. in His peace and faithfulness, kalpna

Copyright at Kalpana Sharma (Mrs.)

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold : Luke 1: 5 onwards (NIV version) In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. 8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” 21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Handmade Crafts

2011-07-06T23:55:00.000-07:00

this family heirloom was made especially for our precious daughter Narita after her birth.

This cute one was made for our cutie, Stuti, as I was execting her.

this is called a Muiko, a wooden spoon in Swahili language, we have used home made dough to fashion little vegetables and glue them on and colored and varanished them. Did this with a precious friend in Kenya.

This is a baby basket with artificial flowers inserted in an empty Icecream plastic can.

This is a miniature grocery shop version of an indian grocery of many different lentiles and nuts placed in sacs.

the different styles of pastas are glued on a wooden chopping board and varnished. we added a colored wheat strands in a sac and a wooden spoon too. perfect to hang in the kitchen.

this is a jewelery box, made of metal structure and organza material with loads of beads and ribbons glued on to it.

and these are bread or food covers

too good to call it a trash can, so we stored girls' unused pampes in it.

this is a tissue box container.

i made this in the 1980 while in college. its a flower pot hanger, in India they would use it to put yoghurt pot and hang it in the home.

This is a soap basket, made with covering a lux soap and artificial flowers and a ribbon covered wire for a handle.

strawberries and arrangements colored and arrange together.

this is a soap swan, again soap covered with loads of feathers and artificial flowers and lace. u can mould the beak from handmade dough.

the furry scarves in all colors and sizes, this is my winter activity.

the two baby sweaters made just for fun, one is crocheted and one is knitted

these are crocheted baby booties and a cap

All images have copyrights to http://www.kcswritings.blogspot.com/ / Kalpana Christian Sharma.

Dog chase -unpleasant accident of start of summer 2011 and the experience of angel's blessing

2011-06-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

'twas the 1st day of summer - 21 june 2011 and my daughters and i were on our regular daily walk. the weather was just right and warm as it heated up but windy and breezy, so loved it. as we walked in our neighborhood on the side walks, lo and behold, in about half an hour or so, an untamed dog pushed open the fense gate and charged at us for no reason. 1st encounter, and he attacked me straight; the owner was standing right there, unable to control the dog.

I started to scream while the dog was still chasing me and barking loud. I tripped and fell down from the side walk right onto the tarmac Burnham road, in Lansing, IL. The on coming traffic stood still looking at a drama on a broad day light hour of 1:30pm. The ordeal lasted for sometime as i got hurt, bruised and tried to stand up, remove my backpack trying to defend myself. i was also worried that since i am down, the dog might get a good size of my flesh in his mouth, so i tried to push him with my hand, feet, and my backpack. i managed to get up and thank God that the dog didnt succeed at taking my flesh but he was adamant. he tried to go round and round as i also, in defense, screamed, swung my backpack going round and round. the dog owner managed to chase him away from me, but just for a while. 2nd encounter, since he didnt think the leashing of dog was necessary, the dog again tried to attack me as i was gathering myself and seeing which way to go as i checked my bruises. again, the dog tried to have the same game for few more minutes and the dog owner again came to chase him away from me. i was thankful that no car hit me, or hooted; they were patient. i managed to walk away on the opposite side of the road, and lo and behold, 3rd encounter, the dog ran to chase me 3rd time now crossing both sides of the traffic onto the opposite side and again my defense charged up and i continued to scream, swing my backpack to chase him away. The traffic stopped watching the drama as one of the onlookers screamed, 'Leash your dog" and the dog owner now came all the way to the opposite side walk to chase back his dog and tried to leash him.

Paranoid, shocked and hurt, i started walking away from there to a place of safety and saw a parking lot at an intersection; just sat on the pavement in a shade; called 911 but couldnt hear them in the traffic rush so the police called back and left a message so i called back to report the incident. she asked if i needed the ambulance, but i didnt think it was that bad, so i declined the offer but i still took her offer on sending an officer to report the incident. sadly we waited for more than half an hour; meanwhile, all of a sudden we saw a good samaritan/gentleman pull his car to us ward and asked if we needed any assistance as he thought we kinda looked new in the neighborhood. That was so sweet; we said we were on our walk exploring the new 'hood and got chased by a dog so we were waiting for the police to come and report the incident and he noticed my bruises. he said, ok and left. as we waited further, the gentleman came back again after sometime but this time he brought cold drinks of two large size strawberry lemonades with cool ice. Thank you, God, and thank you, nice stranger, unknown gentleman, who made us feel that God was right there, protecting us from the cars, from the dog and not only that but sent an angel to attend to us. What more can one ask for?

Went home since police were busy and couldnt come on the scene til then and the police station was far so went next day, noticed the house number to report. After a long wait, the animal cruelty officer came and took down the details, promising us that he was going there right away to give them a written warning.

but, on the dog chase, i almost felt like a demonic attack as well as an angelic visit after, both in a same hour of incident. God hasnt promised a smooth ride but a protecting side amidst the adversities and this was evident this summer day.

Thank God, that dog was neither able to bite me nor take my flesh; thank God, that i got chased and none of my daughters; thank God, that cars stood still patiently and didnt race up, hit me or hoot. Thank God, for the stranger/angel gentleman that showed God's loving care. God is good, all the time.

Dog owners, please save us and your dogs a trouble and yourself too. We need safe neighborhood, not only from thieves and robbers but from wild dog chases too. Please curb your dogs! a friendly rightly said, 'He loves dogs but not the dog owners."

Copyright by Kalpana Christian Sharma (Mrs.)

Fathers' Day - 2011

2011-06-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

Father's day is celebrated mainly in the USA much the same way like Mother's Day and other holidays.

This year, I want to give a special tribute to my father, the late Nandubhai Christian,who was born on 18Jan1933 and died on 19May1984 after he dedicated his life to Christ on 01Aug1982. It was a fatal, tragic 'hit and run' road accident where he was hit by a drunk driver. i regret not going on a walk with him on the last day of his life, when he had asked me to. i was a 19yr old teenager, crazy about guitar learning and had learnt a new song, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost.." so i chose playing guitar over a walk with my Dad in the last hours of his life; but i have captured in my memory, Dad walking alone on the jogging field of Jamhuri High School, Nairobi, from my bedroom window as i played the guitar and watched him walk!

Dad was born in a humble home in a small village in India, called Navagam, in Gujarat State. Out of 13 kids, he was the only child that survived, so my grandparents loved him much. His childhood best friend, Narendra Bhatt, was so fond of him that he came from Kenya, Africa, in the late 60s- early 70s, to take Dad to be with him to teach Math and Physics in his school. it was sheer joy for Dad to reconnect with his childhood friends; after his arrival in Kenya, he enjoyed many barbques with uncle Bhatt and other childhood friends from India, that is later in Dagoretti suburbs of Nairobi, the green city in the sun.

His famous song lines were: "The Lord of love has come to me/I want to pass it on!" by Kurt Kaiser!

"I am so glad that Jesus set me free... Jesus is a soul man and I am sure sold on him, Jesus is a soul man, hallelujah,.."

"If I live well, praise the Lord, If I die well, praise the Lord, if I live or die my only cry will be, Jesus in me, praise the Lord!"

"One of These Days, I Am Going Home" was his favourite song, he sang often in the last years of his life.

Written in his own handwriting, on the back of a hymn book, are the words, "God is the great sphere whose centre is everywhere but circumference nowhere. God is the sphere of infinite radius."

he had a superb memory when it came to remembering the Math axioms and at the age of 3, he made me memorize (a +b)²= a²+ 2ab + b²

While Spring cleaning, i found an old diary where he has written: ds²=gijdxⁱdx^j, i&j=i…n., he used to keep saying this out loud many times.

Everytime there was a new side walk being plastered by a handyman, outside/inside home, he cherished writing/imprinting a Math equation on a fresh cement so it would be there longer. It was almost like he put his signature there..hahahha..from this, one would know this is where he lived. He admired rose flowers so much and in his Dagoretti home, he had 40 flowers blooming each day in the front yard, he even named our home in India, "Gulab Kunj" meaning Rose pot.

From observing such things, his belief in God and his passion for Math is evident. You will enjoy reading these anecdotes. He understood Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity that very few have grasped till today.

Handsome-looking, Mathematician, Physicist, a weightlifter, scientist, Faith in Christ, intelligence, strength of a horse and love for the family, Pa had it all under his belt. He was positive to an extent that he would carry a motor bike up the hill when it had mechanical issue and he would say to me, "Bubblee, every day the bike carries us, its our turn today to carry the bike, up the hill that is! hey, why not!" Great thinking, Dad!

He was married to my mother, Germana (a nurse by profession)-- they lived a simple life with 4 children, I being the youngest. Early in their marriage, they seemed to have settled their differences well; for their own space and time, he enjoyed doing Maths, while Mom enjoyed watching movies and they seemed to have a pretty good understanding to let each enjoy their fields of joy. They had a good marriage and I am thankful to God for that.

He had faith and love for God, but in early life he was not that passionate about it. He grew up in a Methodist denomination in his early life but after coming to Kenya, he attended Nairobi Baptist Church, particularly the 8:30 am youth service. He was introduced to Nairobi Baptist Church by his godfearing colleague who also happened to be his neighbor, Rev. Norman Dodman. The dear Dodmans are special to us as Mr. Norman was a chaplain at the Degoretti High School where Dad taught. Dad called him his role model. Many years later, Mr. Doman also preached at my wedding. His wife Jean was a music teacher who taught me to play piano. Prior to death, Dad became a member at the Baptist church and longed to serve as an usher but before his 1st service, he was ushered into heaven on a Saturday night. I remember him telling me to read Proverbs - his favourtie book in the Bible.

In younger years he was so passionate about Maths and Physics that even now I visualize him studying at night by a small candle light doing his Masters' degree in the 60s. You will enjoy a super hilarious incident that I am mentioning here. But before his death, his Bible became more of his passion; he loved reading the gospels more often.

Going back to the hilarious incident in Nadiad, India, in the 60s, on his way back from work one fine evening, his craze for Math and equations led him surrounded by traffic jam and full public, right on the tarmac highway. For few days he had been struggling to solve a hard equation and just as he rode the bike, the answer popped in his head, and instantly, he stopped, stooped down and started writing the equation on the tarmac road, unaware of the traffic jam that his actions would cause! There was an uproar, but he requested even the police to please be patient with him until he got the answer! writing all on the tarmac road with a chalk that he always carried in his pocket! Afterwards, when he saw the people and traffic they all smiled and laughed at his craze for Math!

I remember Dad taking my brother and me for fresh veggie shopping in the evenings. Being the youngest, i would be in the front and my brother would be at the back seat as Dad rode the bicycle. i was hardly 4 or 5 years old. While returning, one twilight, my leg got trapped in the front wheel of the bike but i was strong not to let Daddy know. I didnt want to disturb him and took as much pain as i could, i was thin and even though my leg was squeezed and about to bleed, i was quiet. Some passerby stopped and brought Dad's attention to the front wheel and my leg. My Dad got down, saw and couldnt believe that i was so brave and meek at that age. Only as they tried to pull my leg out, and it started bleeding, i started crying profusely. humbly i am thankful to God for giving me strength to handle pain, even now many folks dont get it why i 'enjoy' pain in life. well, its not that you 'enjoy' but you trust God to carry you thru! Thanks, Dad!

His job took him away from us in our childhood, so part of our lives we grew up without him. Later on, at the age of 15, I was the first one to get reconnected to Dad and he and I had meaningful five years together that we enjoyed. Dad knew he could bank on me to do the most difficult task, be it getting a blank paper from a huge pile of scratch papers or looking for a can-cover in the early dawn for his trip. Dad also laughed at me when i would come up with silly ideas like "A girl in my grade1 got only 1 number but i got 27, not knowing 1 is the smartest.." When he taught higher Math in a school i was hardly 3, and i was taken to KG class; i disliked going to school just because they would make us go to sleep in the hour when we should be playing. hahaha kids' thinking at that age! i remember fussing everyday in my school uniform and how my Dad would persuade me by buying roasted peanuts (my favorite till today) to make me agree to go to school happily. and yet, i would run to the top floor in my Dad's class but i would be taken back.

In my childhood, Dad used to take my sister, my brother and me to farmhouse every other weekend; i loved climbing trees in our backyard farm. once, i climbed so high i had difficulty coming down and just couldnt come down even when everyone kept persuading me for a long time. Dad finally said, "I will catch you, just throw yourself down." wow! i trusted him so much, i actually closed my eyes and jumped right into my dad's arms. i dont forget that incident. Dad made it easy for me to trust God no matter what the height or depth, i can be in Heavenly Father's arms and He will catch me, and wont let me fall or let go off me. at one time when my brother had a plaster on his leg for 6 months, due to road accident, Dad carried him in a basket on his head to the farms during harvesting season. We all enjoyed when we brought home a bumper crop, piled up in our living room at farmhouse, he would throw me on top of it with joy to what God had blessed us with. i remember making curds and buttermilk manually in a huge pot that required a lot of strenuous work. Dad loved to cook for us. During Christmas season, there were no radios in the car back then, so my sister and i were his 'live Christmas carol singers' all the way from home to church or to town. Dagoretti, a beautiful Nairobi suburb was what he called his heaven on earth.

In growing years when hooligans in the 'hood in India, tried to bully and name call me as i was young, my Dad's just one roar of a lion or even his presence used to send every hooligan behind closed doors. No one dared come out. That was my Dad that i miss so dearly today as i am going thru one of worse periods of my life but i am reminded to be able to trust even bigger Heavenly Father who comes to my rescue without fail.

I have witnessed Dad love and respect God and my mom. When she would do night duty and he had cooked a delicious meal, he would drive 17miles from Dagoretti/Waithaka all the way to Park Road Nursing home, even at late night to let my mom taste his fresh cooking.

Dad taught my sister and me to ride the motor scooter and drive the car too; those were beautiful moments in the green deep valleys of Dagoretti area.

These are some more anecdotes that I would like to mention to encourage you.

his famous one sentence encouragement to everyone was: "You dont know what will happen in one minute." "Leave everything to God"!

Along with being a professor at the Anand Science College in India, he was an Agriculturist, too. He had many farms that he looked after, during weekends, after working as a professor on the weekdays. One day, he had plowed and planted rice and was waiting for rain to come but there was no sign of rain. He prayed and asked the Lord to send rain and he said, "I saw only one black cloud came and rained only in my field!" What a faith!!! Years later, when someone challenged him if his God can bring millions of Shillings in Kenya, he said, "Forget the money, my God brought rain down for me and that only in my field." He witnessed for Christ in his circle of friends and people knew him to be a believer Christian who professed faith in Christ. He loved to take me with him for theological discussions, as he could bank on me for many. LOL!

By the time I got reconnected with him, I was a teenager, and I used to tell him to receive Jesus as his personal Saviour but he couldn't relate to that spiritual jargon at first, as he was a good godly man and did his regular church activities without fail. But on 1 August, 1982 while dropping my mom for her morning shift to her hospital, they got trapped in a huge trouble caused by an attempted coup in Nairobi, the political disruption; a gun was aimed at his forehead, ordering him to surrender; he prayed and asked the Lord to save him, saying, "Lord Jesus, on one side here is death, on the other side, my daughters are waiting for me to take them to church so we can go and worship you, please save me so i can take them and go and worship you" yes, he wanted to go to church and worship. In a friction of a second, the gunman changed his mind and allowed my parents to go and flee for their lives!! bingo! as they ran for their lives to a nearby friends home, now my dad connected the saving faith of Christ. He knew that not only did God save him physically, but also eternally, and he received Christ as his Saviour.

From that day on, he became passionate for living for Christ and witnessed even more. I remember the days when I was in those teen moods and he would sing songs for me, "No friend closer than Jesus, no friend will more love you than him!" and because of that I was able to leave my rebel attitude and come to the foot of the Cross, fully!

Once he lifted a huge trainwheel in India and assisted the railway workers, as he was a weightlifter and the workers were not that strong. I remember as a child, my Dad would lift weights, with a rod, and my brother and i on opposite sides, hanging, as he made the "snatch" while doing the exercise.

Not only that, on 1st day of every school year, his students would witness him bringing a hard coconut and cracking it open with just one blow of his open hand and his students would be impressed; next day they would all bring one, the hard ones to check him out and he would break open each with just one blow. then he would say that he never misuses his strength but gives his heart to his students, reminding them he was in charge of their studies and would expect them to do their best! Years later, after his death, one of his students shared with me that one day my Dad took his students at Jamhuri High School in Nairobi, for a lab work and left them to do some experiments after giving instructions. After sometime he came back and asked them how did it go. The students replied, "It didnt work! we tried many things couple of times to no avail." the student retold me saying, "I will never forget what your Dad taught us that day. He said, "No! you did learn, you learnt what does not work; if what you tried does not work so something else will work. Never give up trying," look at Thomas Edison and his invention of superb incadescent bulb work after so many trials. Even though he was a professor in early years of his career, he chose teaching the high schoolers and helped them build a great foundation, i admire Dad for that.

He oversaw the hockey team practice and took them for tournaments. and you can believe this without a shadow of doubt that before the game began, with all students at the centre, Dad would go right in the middle and pray before they started the game, this was his normal practice.

One story that I found in a file, written in his own handwriting in Gujarati language, of which am translating few lines here, was of early 70s when he had gone to climb Ngong Hills in Ngong Karen, Nairobi, Kenya, with a friend and how he enjoyed climbing with weights in his hands, making a pathway in the wilderness, up the hills, with wild animals around and yet unafraid. He had met the Masai tribe families who shared with him some of their customs, one of which was the criteria for marriage: if a man wanted to marry a girl, he had to go kill a lion and bring his dead body, and then a wife will be given to the groom; so my Dad challenged them to bring a live lion instead of a dead one.. :) When he made it to the top of all the hills, he saw the only tallest buildings then in Nairobi, like Kanu building and Nairobi Hilton like small toy jars put upside down. He wrote that when you see a big thing from a wider angle, or from a higher distance, it looks small, in the same way when we look at others faults with a big heart, they look small; how great must God's vision and heart be to extend grace to us and let us get fresh start everyday! Not that he overlooks but he allows grace to help us, accept our big faults as big as they are and work the process.

On the evening he died, he had willingly given his helmet to my brother who was riding the bike and a drunk driver hit from the back, since Dad was a passenger, he got hit badly. a good samaritan lady stopped and took them to the hospital where he was brought in dead.(BID) but on his funeral day, all the people, students friends, and folks that he wanted to share the gospel with, came and heard the gospel, that is the high light and grand finale of Dad's spiritual life that i thank God for. "The Lord of love has come to me, i want to pass it on"

I am so glad my Dad has left a heritage and legacy of faith, bravery, boldness, importance of studies and hardwork. I had a privilege to work with cars under his supervision as he taught me the mechanism of cars; repairing the parts and enjoying the meaningful time with him. I am thankful on this Fathers' Day for my Dad who loved God and is in heaven; I hope to see him on the resurrection day and sing with him there as he sang with me here, " O what a wonderful day, the day I will never forget...Heaven came down and glory filled my soul, when at the cross my Savior made me whole, my sins were washed away and my night was turned to day...now i have hope that will surely endure, after the passing of time, i have a future in heaven for sure, there in those mansions sublime...its all because of that wonderful day" Yes, Dad! Go on singing and keep praising God, as one of your colleagues, unaware of your death, had the accident on the same evening and in her after death experience, she witnessed you going in heaven. When she was discharged and healed, she shared that experience with the world, 6 months after your passing away. I know you are in heaven rejoicing and i look forward to seeing you at the feet of Jesus!

Mothers' Day 2011

2011-05-08T20:53:00.000-07:00

Each year different celebrations come and go and we enjoy the days, the family gatherings and of course the food with fellowship.

Mothers' Day is special because it reminds us of the special person who has taken a lot of pain to bring us into this world. We would not be here unless it was for her. So we are indebted to her for lifetime.

Mothers are strong, hardworking, disciplinarian and caring. This year my mom is not alive as she passed away 3 months ago so today's tribute is to her. Her name is the late Germana Nandubhai Christian.

She was born in a villege in India some 85 years ago. Born to a nurse mom, she lost her Dad before her 2nd birthday. So, life was tough for her.

She also chose to be a nurse just like her mother. She truly was a blessing in her nursing career and looked after her patients from the age that she was 16 to 76 as if she was a missionary serving the Lord. many people have her in their memory of just being in a nurse's dress that she mostly wore. i am thankful that she had the serving heart.

I remember me as a child; my mom had to do late night duties or day duties and she would come while we were still sleepy and put sweets in our mouths that she would bring for us as many babies were born and it was customery in india to give gifts to people to rejoice over the new birth. yes, she loved working in the maternity ward and many kids are grateful for her presence. The sweets that she put in our mouths. yum. it was a treat, my sister and brother and i, we loved it.

the birth of our own daughter in 1995 was also special as my mom was the 1st one to spot the umbilical cord wrapped wrongly around her neck and immediately asked the doctor to cut it loose so narita can breathe. Narita is thankful for grandma's presence during her birth. Stuti remembers her granma as looking after her before we found a fulltime nanny. Bharat my husband shares her joys for watching indian movies.

During her nursing career, even though she had to attend to many different operations whether she liked or not, She saved the lives of so many infants as a midwife as well as of adults, as full trained nurse. On occasions, she had to pay from her own pocket for the ambulance to transport the tiny babies to bigger hospital and she willingly did it. Things go different in Africa where some of the greedy business/hospital owners won't foot the bill, so she ended giving up her whole salary to pay for the ambulance. i know God will reward her in eternity for this generous act.

I remember she would be in an operating theatre assisting doctors with operation and yet praying, "Lord, look after my kids i am looking after one of yours!" that was an awesome prayer.

I have witnessed while on duty, whenever mom took over from a nurse on the previous shift on duty, she would personally go and greet each patient in her ward and find out how they were feeling. That was so special. I am so glad mom did her job well with passion.

She prepared special breakfast on Sunday just for us to know it was special because it was the Lord's day, something i try to do for my children even today.

She loved me making 'Thepla', a spicy indian whole wheat flat bread, shallow fried in a pan. Due to her diabetic condition, she had to be careful with her diet so i had to make whole wheat flat breads for her every day. As a teenager i dreaded making them as a constant everyday mundane of life routine but a believer friend once prayed with me and showed me this gesture as a loving discipline from the LORD. she said, 'kalpna dont make chapatis for your mom, make it for Jesus as if he were coming home to eat it everyday' and that changed my whole outlook. yes, you guess it right, i did it with joy and i became really superb at making chapatis (indian whole wheat flat bread)something families take pride in when their daughters become daughters in law. Thank God thru Mom for that discipline.

Wait hold on, i have not yet told you that she was a good cook. In my childhood, i remember my cousins loved her lentil soup called 'Daal' and later in years, oh! i loved her vegetarian spicy rice (Mutter Bhaat) with yoghurt curry that goes either with whole eggplants stuffed with caraway seeds and spices or okra. (the recipe for whole egg plant stuffed with caraway seeds and spices is in our family from her side since last 4 generations) and my girls cherish it when i make it just like hers. oh, i could die for that. i always told her if i died before her, she would make the vegetarian spicy rice, curry and eggplant and put it in my coffin. (smile) my Dad loved her long beans veges fried with fenugreek seeds.

Mom was a strict disciplinarian and would not accept nonsense. She would discipline us at any cost, my brother and i still remember her spankings. Thanks Mom for teaching us the right way.

She was widowed in 1984 when Dad died in a tragic fatal road accident, so for 26yrs till her death, she lived depending on the Lord i am sure it was not easy for her to have all responsibilities on her shoulders but she managed well.

Being the youngest of the 4 kids, i always wanted to be close to her, in my years apart from her in my childhood i missed her a lot. From my mid teen years to nearly in late 20s, i was able to reconnect more closely. i became a close companion of her especially after my Dad's death in 1984. She could lean on me. I owe my air travel career to her, she had introduced me in the air travel industry. During the years i was able to spend with my parents when they were alive, we made the most of it. God allowed me to put a big smile on my parents faces when i would do unusual things for their birthdays or Christmases and special occasions. God in his mercy and grace allows these times and i dont take it for granted.

i had the honor of sharing the gospel and leading her to say the salvation prayer and transfer her trust in Christ for her salvation, although she believed in Christ and was faithful in her work all her life. She shared with us that when she was young, she grew up as a Methodist and in order to study further she had to accept Catholicism so i had a burden to share the importance of personal relationship with Christ. isnt that amazing to hear your mom say the sinner's prayer? her grandma was an evangelist, so wow, single women faced life as widows in 3 generations in my family.

This is personal and i have tears as i remember this and write. When she was a small child, and this is going back in the 1920s, in India, as a little girl mom was asked to do some chores for an elderly neighbor; that helping, she enthusiastically did, after which, she was falsely accused of taking some coins, which mom had no idea about. The neighbor's daughter had tricked mom into this just to have fun. They told mom, they had to put real hot coals from the kitchen (burning charcoals) on her hand, if she has not taken the money, her hands wont be burnt, but if she had, her hands will burn. my mom, as an innocent child agreed for the hot red burning charcoals to be put on her hand as she had not taken any coins!!!!! and boy, they held her tiny hands and put the coals! she willingly held not knowing what mess she is into. In few seconds, her hands were severely burnt, so she threw away the coals with screams. Now she was so scared to show her burnt hands to anyone, that instead of going home to be further punished by her mom, in fear she ran to the common lake in the villege, soaking her burnt hands to be soothed. oh! how can people be so cruel? but, i am so glad mom forgave them and she was rescued later by her mom who believed she had not taken any money, and they promised they would not beat her. isnt this heart breaking?

But let me put a smile on your face, by sharing this lovely encouragement. when i went witnessing for Christ, in my early 20s mom loved it and encouraged me to do more. Once an Eastern religious angry mother came home to abuse me as i had introduced her son to Christ, and given some books to read. She came home charging, looking for me, but i was not yet home from work, so she abused mom and humiliated her in front of our neighbors throwing Bible and Christian books at her. when i returned, i felt so embarrassed for mom and said how sorry was i; especially she as a widow had to endure this in her old age, and yet my mom with a smile on her face said to me, "hasnt the Lord told us that we will have to suffer persecution for His Name sake?" oh my, i had tears and i thanked God for giving me a believing, brave and bold Christian Mom who was willing to take the blows in my place for the sake of the kingdom of righteousness.

My mom is in heaven today and i am thankful for her life. Many people wrote on her death day and shared how blessed they were to know mom. She always smiled and loved humour. She had a lot of burdens on her shoulders trying to balance the career, home, her walk with the Lord, her social life and responsibilities, yet did it joyfully. She believed and said, "If life gives you bitter pills you've got to take it, you've got to live the life." A growing neighborhood girl actually shared that she was inspired as a small 5yr old child to become a doctor and doctor she did become; she shared, she owed it to my mom, for that inspiration.

In the last years of her life due to distance and circumstances i was not able to see her for more than a decade; she had suffered much but i am glad in the last 4 months of her life she was well looked after by my elder sister (who also chose to be a nurse), her husband and her precious daughter. i am so thankful to them for looking after mom.

I rejoice for mom's dedication to her job, to her service and to her LORD.
I look forward to seeing her in heaven when i go there in eternity at the feet of Jesus.

May these few life story lessons from my mom's life encourage you deeply.

copyrighted.© by kalpna sharma, May 2011

Happy Resurrection Sunday - 2011 - Jesus is Risen, indeed!

2011-04-23T21:35:00.001-07:00

2011 Resurrection Sunday - JESUS is ALIVE!

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection and the life, He who believes in me, even though he were dead, yet shall he live again. Do you believe this?“

Dear family and friends,

This is to wish you a very blessed and a happy Resurrection Sunday.

We do not find the term ‘Easter’ in the Bible. Jesus rose from the dead and it is called Resurrection Day. This day gives us hope beyond the grave. The Bible says, “Oh, grave, where is thy victory? Oh, death, where is thy sting?”

During his earthly ministry, there are 3 recorded resurrections that Jesus performed. One was the 12yr. old girl who had just died, the other was a widow’s son on his way to the grave during the funeral procession; and the third was of the Lazarus, the beloved brother of Mary and Martha.
In one way these all show that Jesus has the power to raise the dead be it dead for few minutes, few days or many years. He is the one who gives breath and life to all creatures big and small. Even as we are in the spring season and see the dead trees come alive again, we find the earth green once more, is there anything that we face this Resurrection Sunday that needs to be resurrected? I know we can have an endless list, from our circumstances to finances, to relationships to deaths and many more. We need to trust Jesus to do this in his time and his way. He is the Resurrection and life.
The resurrection of Lazarus speaks volumes to me. One of the reasons is Jesus knowingly, delays going to cure him. The 4 days delay was too much for the sisters. Jesus comes in his time and speaks peacefully, “I am the resurrection and life, he who believes in me, even though he were dead, yet shall he live again.”
Do you find God delaying in your circumstances, answering your prayers? Do not despair. He won’t be long. He comes in his time. His timetable does appear to move slowly but it moves surely.
What takes my breath away in Lazarus’ story is that Jesus knows he delayed purposely, he knows in few minutes he will raise Lazarus from the dead and there will be immense joy yet, in the moment of grief, when he sees the sisters and relatives crying, mourning the loss of the loved one, the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35 says, “JESUS WEPT.” This is a real deal. I love Jesus because he lives in my today, even though he holds my every tomorrow, and has all my yesterdays, He cries with me in my today. He understands my pain. He does not tell me to ‘get over it’ he does not tell me ‘get on with life,’ he mourns and weeps with me, and wipes my tears, he picks me up each time I fall.
Because He is alive, we can face tomorrow, Because He is alive, all fear is gone, because we know he holds the future, and life is worth living just because Jesus lives forevermore.
May this Resurrection Sunday bring hope in your today no matter what the circumstances. If we can trust Jesus with eternity, we can certainly trust him with hear and now.
Death has no power over Jesus; He is the Son of God and our Savior. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, we invite you to let him in your heart. He promises you resurrection. You can always bank on his promises, they are true and forever.
Because Jesus lives,
We do - Kalpna, Bharat, Narita and Stuti Sharma.

having a heart

2011-02-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

Many times i have encountered that folks in the world want the behaviour change, they do not really mind if the heart is not in it as long as you can see visually the results and process, it is good enough. While this can help us see, God acutally looks at the heart. The motive and the commitment.

At times, it may look foolish what we may do or say according to the world, we may not be eloquent speakers or communicators, and not that it cannot be worked on, but God calls the worldly wisdom foolishness.

There is a saying, i would rather have heart than words, rather than words but no heart. We could be great speakers but it may be just the words.

At times God uses people in my life to teach me what he wants me to be and at the same time i see that God does not miss what the world misses to see in me.

I am not sure about you, but i am a very passionate person, i love passionately. i am passionate about biblically right things. i get angry when i see the wrong doings exalted and evil being so prevalent. but at the same times, i also see that God speaks to me thru many people that i need to be careful as many take advantage of our sincerity and openness and frankness and we are left hurt and injured.

i am at peace when i am able to do something for someone because it comes from the heart, if i am taken advantage of, its their loss not mine, because they will continue in their pattern, lose friends and opportunities while i am blessed because i do it sincerely.

God justifies us because of our heart issue. it is a big thing to God. If our hearts are right, we have 90% of battle already won.

Proverbs says, above all guard your heart for it is the well spring of life.

copyright @ KC Sharma

God's way and our schemes in parenting- Isaac and Rebecah

2011-02-10T08:18:00.000-08:00

I have often wondered about Jacob and his schemes to get ahead of his brother as I read Genesis again and again. This year i saw something deep. When we read that Rebekah was not able to have children in 20years of their marriage, and Isaac prayed for his wife and she became pregnant. We are aslo told she was expecting twins. Now i want us to read precisely as the Scripture is recorded and not try to add anything to it.

Genesis 23: The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

Now in this no where do i find that Jacob is to learn to cheat, no where do we find that God approves of Jacob's cheating. I simply find it put it in simple terms, God was blessing her with more blessings, not one but two boys and not just two boys, (like her family had blessed her before leaving parents home Gen24:60) she was going to be a mother of many (thousands upon thousands) through these two boys. So God blessed her doubly.

God in his divine plan was blessing the younger one, just for his own good pleasure, God is free to bless the older one as well as the youngerone and anyone inbetween. God blesses each one according to what He wants and we are all unique, gifted to compliment each other not to compete, if we understand this principle,things would be easier. When God gives us strength, it is to bless others also, its not for our pride, and when God gives us weakness its to be humble and not feel intimidated. We need to understand that huge difference. There was nothing wrong in one being an employer and one being an employee...one being a servant and one being a master... Jesus came to serve us, he did not become any less than us..if only the Rebekah would have understood this, she would not have taken matters in her own hands and teach her decieving traits and schemes to her younger son, Jacob.

But, Rebecah took it to mean what she wanted to hear and favored the younger one. She also does not seem to communicate that to her husband. Isaac loves Easu for the way he operates, while Rebecah seems to have her own reasons for liking Jacob. i do know what it feels like when one parent favors the other.

God had blessed Esau in his own way and God chose to use Jacob for his own blessing and blessed plan. but no cheating, deceit or manipulations were necessary.

One son good at hunting, one good at home, would have complimented one another best way. There was no need to sell the birthright nor buy! Jacob seems to want to be two steps ahead of his brother. For people who think, winning is the only way they live, life must be very hard and always on the toes, not peaceful. We can see that in Jacob's life.

Proverbs says, blessings of the Lord makes one rich and he adds no sorrow to it.

Rebecah taught Jacob the world's way to relate to a brother, and others and we see in turn, he gets cheated by Rebecah's own brother. (like brother like sister) One teaches to cheat, one actaully cheats him too.

isnt it ironic that Rebecah also goes full out to deceive her own husband in his old age with identity theft, Jacob being presented as Esau? What do you call this mothering? I have no doubt, she stands responsible before God for her own wrong ways of parenting and 'helping God' out.

Sarah had tried to help God out by getting extra marital affair in their marriage, misusing her own maid to get what she wanted, and when it did not please her, she threw her away. Rebecah for her own ways of thinking, is getting the deceit in her family, and not only that, she is actually teaching her son to do that.

Isaac on the other hand seem to play a passive role. He does not seem to inquire about the LORD now that the children are born, he did when she was barren but now that they are born, we see him passive or even depending on lies for survival like his father Abrahm did for his wife Sarah. What would have been different if Isaac too would have asked the LORD how raise the child? (Samson's parents went to inquire of the LORD, when the wife told the husband the message of the LORD. How are we to raise this child?)
Judges 13:Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” in verse 6, wife shares with the husband what the Angel has told her.

Despite of their good upbringing, what Samson chose is quite another matter, but at least the parents did the right thing.
Parents, we need to communicate with one another about our children and seek the wisdom of God in raising them. Parents let us choose wait on God for what he puts on our hearts concerning our children. Let us teach them to live in harmony and peace, showing the Christlikeness to one another and to the world. let us not favor one child over another. Yes, its possible to have different likings for different child, but let us use that to build the unity in them and teach them the ways of God.

copyright @ kalpna Sharma 2011

a little lunch/supper leftover to share?

2010-11-16T06:05:00.000-08:00

Every time i read the book of Ruth in the Bible, it warms my heart at this beautiful story that took place. i like the way Ruth and Naomi are connected to each other. When you look at the cross cultural marriage of Ruth and Naomi's son, you see Ruth as a Moabite, the people that were disliked, yet Ruth stands out as a diamond, pure, loving, gentle, caring and humble. i almost find myself walking along with them on their way back to the land Naomi came from. i feel like i am being a fellow traveller with them.

Even as a young widow, Ruth is still looking out for her mother in law's interests. we see that she does not want to leave Naomi, no matter what. she is determined to be a close companion of Naomi, an elder widow, mother in law and a friend for a long time.

i find her obedient to God, to the parental authority and the general norms of society, even at that age and in a state of being a young widow, with no hope of ever getting married, she is commited to Naomi; something so precious yet part of our present culture will perhaps not grasp fully. beause as in the days of Judges, when majority is doing what they feel like and even nowadays, here we see Ruth and Boaz doing what God likes!!!! she is ready to go wherever Naomi feels its ok to stay. she does not seem to argue that she will be better off in her own land and be able to find a job, as she spoke the language well and the place was familiar to her, her own people who were nearby and she could visit them often. no!

she is choosing instead, to be Naomi's close person, more of a daughter even though coming from an Eastern culture i do know the terms 'you are more to me that seven sons'. when a daughter or a daughter in law does an extra ordinarily different and impacting thing, this term is often used. its the respect that is bestowed on.

my heart went out to her fully when i read that when Boaz and his workers were nice to her and when she was offered lunch, she eats and then keeps some part of that food for her dear Naomi. This is so precious. we do read that she was blessed with a basketful of grains to take home but that little leftover lunch that she wanted to share with Naomi shows the depth of her love. she does want her to experience the good taste that she herself experienced.

this impacts me more because i have two little Ruth types and one male version of Ruth around in my house. we have noticed that since their childhood, when one of our two daughters were offered something even if its a small thing, they will keep a part of it to come home and share with the other.

23 years ago, when i met Bharat, who later married me and is my husband of 18years, worked in an Accounts Department of a Panel Beating Company, back home in Kenya. In our initial meetings, even though i was working right in the down town of the beautiful city of Nairobi, and my office was surrounded by many a good restaurants, Bharat used to make a point of bringing a special egg curry that the cook at his place of work cooked for their staff. This curry used to be made at least once a week. He relished it so much that he felt he had to share it with me. He would bring it all the way to downtown to share with me. i have never forgotten that. i know that he was in love back then and so it felt kind of normal for crazy lovers to do that but even right now, as a part of one way of earning, he does Mystery Shopping. and oh my! at times some places he has to visit are few of the best resaurants we have, as well as the fast food ones that he goes to perform his duty at; and catch this! yes, you got it right, whenever the shop requires him to do it alone, he brings home and shares with us. he says he does not feel that he can enjoy it alone. (see the similar Ruth personality?) after 23years, it makes so much sense to read Ruth and connect these incidences together to see the depth of love and care that a loved one can show. When his assignments require two folks to taste, either one of us would go with him. Whoever accomnies him knows that we are bringing back the left over big portions for the ones at home.

So now we can see where the girls get it from? well, we thank God for such precious little things that have huge meaning behind it and how these things reflect the love God has for us to bring us close to one another.
"There are more things that brings us closer than that keep us apart," as one of the airlines slogan says.

May these stories warm your heart to share what God places in your arms.

in His immeasureable love, kalpna.

Copyright @ kalpna christian Sharma

Father's day 2010

2010-06-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Any Male can be a father, but it takes great courage to let go off ego, self and greed and be someone special- to be a DAD!

We have been told that Dad are providers, protectors, priests of the homes and promoters of his little flocks and quite rightly so. I also looked at 1Thessalonians 2:11, "For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. "

Dads are also supposed to be Encouragers, Comforters and Challengers to live holy lives, affirmers who affirm our walk with God.
Kalpna
Copyright © KC's writings 2010

teaching children the virtue of honesty

2010-05-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

Teaching children the virtue of honesty.

"Providing for honest things not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of men!" 2Corinthians 8:21 and Romans 12:17

I still do enjoy as i did in the past, taking my daughters on errands that i run from time to time. Few years ago when they were barely 8 or 9 yrs old, i witnessed these incidences.

A friend joined us to McDolands and we all ordered our food with kids meals for both of our girls. Little did we know that by mistake the kids meal packs came with an extra toy. Stuti and Narita, our girls, went to the cashier and returned it saying, "excuse me, instead of one, someone put two toys by mistake, so here it is." The manager was so pleased, he treated them with icecream cones as an incentive for being honest. They refused saying no, it is ok but he still insisted and gave it to them.Catch this! girls told me, 'Mama, the man gave us icecreams but we didnt do it for icecream, we did it to honor God, it would never be right to take things that dont belong to us. and to that a privilleged mom said,"To God be the glory."
On many occasions at the Currency Exchange office or even at park districts, as well as laundra mart, i have witnessed that whenever they find extra quarters or a toy or a candy that is not theirs, they willingly and gladly return to the owners. They return 1st and then come and report to me.

I remember Narita was nearly 3yrs old when she watched the Disney movie, "Robinhood" and at the end of it she came explaining to me that, "Mama, it was a good movie but it was not right for Robinhood to steal from anyone whether rich or poor," when i heard this, i know the Spirit of God is at work in this little girl. And at 4yrs, Stuti watched a regular movie 'Fine things' that she rated as not biblically moral, we got rid of it.

At times, they see me feeding the faulty parking meters with quarters as a little way to be honest and yet at times i am humble and openly share when we dont have a cent to park; we pray and God provides a free parking! That transparency and dependence as well as honesty is important between parents and kids. I also keep affirming to my children that i feel so privilleged to be their driver driving them around; its an honor to be a mommie in different roles. They are special to God and to us. As parents we need to be faithful to what God has entrusted to our care.
Kalpna Copyright © KC's Writings 2010

Mothers' Day 2010

2010-05-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

In USA Mothers' Day is celebrated in the month of May while in the UK it is in March. Whatever the month, mother is a special person in everyone's lives.

Mother gives us birth and right from the word go, our 1st touch, 1st language, 1st relationship, 1st nourishment, our life comes from God thru a mother and a father.

While i write this, i want to say that many folks share with me about how good their relationship is with their mother or how bad it is. There are some inbetweens as well. I pray that those who read this will read with an open mind. Regardless of how we have been treated in our life, our mother chose to give birth to us. if for nothing else, let us be thankful for that. the very life that we live, the bones we have and the flesh and blood that runs thru our veins, was formed by the Creator in her womb. God chose for whatever reason for our mom to be our mom. anything else that comes more than that is a bonus.

I pray that world will give more honor to the mothers and assist mothers to be moms, instead of offering different options, even within the Christian circle. Let us not just encourage women to give birth only, but truly empower them to be real moms and provide and assist them with tools to be one! I know kids and the real moms will in the longer run be more blessed by that than taking away their Godgiven role and God ordained tie, unless the parent is no more in the world. Motherhood is something sacred, anyone can give birth but it is a long deep delightful commitment to be a mom.

in the Bible God is portrayed as gentle as a mother and good as a father. He has both characteristics that is why He can empower us to be the moms that He knows best that our kids need.

Rejoicing with you in being a mom to the precious kids God has put in our laps, thanking God for the them and for my husband whom God used to make me a mom!

To all dedicated moms, happy and blessed is your calling, so happy mothers' day!

Kalpana©copyright 2010

my notes on Mothers' Day of 2006

2010-05-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

Dear great fellow disciples of our LORD Jesus Christ!

These are my notes on this mother's day and i would like to share with you! May 12, 2006

The thought of Mothers day, so widely celebrated in the USA in the month of May and in England in March, i salute many moms in the world and also in the Bible. each one who loves God and what difference they make in the lives of their child/ren. The one that particularly caught my attention was the one Cannanite woman.

Do u know she came to the LORD and the LORD answered not her a WORD! not that, even his disciples had to tell him, Lord, please send her away, she is really being a pain! (to put it in today's language!) and guess what! Jesus did not pay any attention to her!

She kept pleading and do u know Jesus shuts her, "i was not sent to the gentiles but to the lost sheep of Israel." (dare i kalpna repharse it, "to the FAITHLESS lost sheep of Israel").

she kept pleading... now notice folks, when Jesus says to her, It is not right to take the meat from the children and give it to dogs!! (OUCH!!) i know it feels so humbling and belittling..but hold on folks, let me disclose something here!

all my life, before, i got this insight just a few months back, i too had kept questioning this radical answer but the minute i realized some truth about GOD, God opened my eyes to see an amazing fact! ( he reveals his secrets to those who are humble!)

1st not as a mom or even as a gentile, but as a child of God, i realised my Heavenly father CAN NOT BE WRONG! the Word of God can not be wrong! and Jesus can NOT be wrong! so i prayed Lord, forgive my little understanding mind and in your own time you will show me your truth! aha! guess what i learnt?

He had made that woman, and he knew her inside out, be it Canannite or Jew! Even before pharasees spoke, He knew their thoughts, Jesus knew this lady's faith was GREAT, GREATER THAN THE JEWS TO WHOM HE WAS SENT! and by no means he was belittling her! He knew a MOTHER'S HEART, becoz he is our HEAVENLY FATHER AND MOTHER.. can a mother forget her child? even if she does, I WILL NEVER FOREGET YOU!!!

So he knew he was talking to a persistant, consistant and persuading parent and her faith was not willing to take any thing less than what she had come for! from the ONE WHO ALONE CAN GIVE HER WHAT SHE HAD COME FOR!! she was not going to take a NO for an answer! Jesus was drawing out the words from her, that was going to leave an impression on the listeners hearts for generations to come!

so she replied, and boy! i want u to picture this humble experience, she said, Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the kids' table! and JESUS said, GREAT is your FAITH, let it be to you as you desire and instantly her daughter was healed!

Now unlike the centurion, a gentile too, whose "servant" was sick not his child but a servant and Jesus knew he was not talking to a father but a boss! and Jesus had said, i will come to your house... now notice becoz the Jews and Canannites did NOT share any relationships so for that lady to come to a JEW was a big thing! This was a Roman soldier! but he also humbled and said, Lord, i am not worthy that u should come under my roof, speak a word and i know it will be done as i am a man under authority! wow! JEsus said, TRULLY I HAVENOT SEEN THIS FAITH IN ISREAL...

These folks had humility that gave them faith. Everytime disciples asked Lord increase our faith, He kept telling them BE humble!

Folks, we gentile are in the kingdom of God thru our FAITH and HIs grace! by grace we are saved thru faith! even that is not our own, its a gift of GOD!

Would you and i humble ourselves before this GREATER ONE and take anything that comes in our lives to help us be HIS faithful CHILDREN, TO BE THE KIND OF PARENT, MOM OR DAD THAT HE WANTS US TO BE!! not our dreams but as per his dreams??

I pray that this LORD Jesus who knows us inside out will make a difference in our lives to be godly parents!

Happy mothers day to all those faithful moms! From the mother of our Lord Jesus to this cannanite woman, to Hannah, to Sussanna Wesley to mother Teresa to Ruth Graham, and to any mom that we have not yet heard of and to some of us who are in the middle somewhere!
kalpna
Copyright © KC's writings 2010

Equity, Fairness and Mercy of God!

2010-05-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Every time I read this passage from Mathew 20, it just reaffirms and ressures me of God's compassion, fairness and justice that the world and also at times we who are his children dont understand.

1st of all, the Vineyard owner goes out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agrees to pay them the wages for the day and sends them into the vineyard. Even if you look at the end of the passage, He keeps his promise and pays them the agreed amount. The problem was not that he did not keep his promise but the problem was that those who had worked longer hours felt he was too generous to those who worked only few hours than those who worked the whole day. God does not function like we do and its high time we accepted his sovereinty. He is free to run his world his way; not in a cruel way, although at times it seems like it, HE is a compassionate, merciful and just GOD, that is his very nature and He acts as per his nature.

at times we think others dont deserve the goodness of God or mercy or compassion and when God shows it to them, we think God is not fair. But that is our problem because our vision is limited. God sees a view from above and He sees it clearly.

Lets look at this passage more clearly! The 1st batch of workers went to work early morning. He hires them and agrees to pay the day's wages. The 2nd batch is hired at about 9am and these are the ones standing in the market place waiting to be hired. Notice, they are looking for jobs, in the market place, and we often misunderstand such! He is kind and offers them a job for remaining hours. Notice, there is no precise offer but He does give his word to pay 'whatever is right'. They trusted him, that was enough. (no agreement is done only His word is what they bank on and that is when God is honored when we take the promises in the Bible and claim them without questioning)

And again at 12noon and also at 3pm. he does the same thing. Have you noticed the desparate job seekers? they did not seem to give up even when not hired till more half the day was over. This is what the Vineyard owner notices and sends them to work in his vineyard, they do not question how much will they be paid nor do they doubt his goodness. (Do I honor God like this?)

This is the real deal. at 5pm, he still finds others waiting, standing. Talk about perseverance, patience, hope! At 11th hour, even if someone hired they will get very little as the day is almost over. As per world's way of looking at it, they had wasted their day, standing in the market place, (one may conclude they were not good enough, their resumes were not steller nor their skills stood out, but God saw a different scenario and that is what matters!) They did not waste time, they were hopefully waiting to be hired even at the 11th hour!!! Do I quit easily or do I wait on God? This is what we dont notice but the vineyard owner does! Catch this, they obey and take him at his word, they dont question what's the point? what will I work in less than one hour and how much will I take home with me? The biggest question of today, "what's in it for me?" This unquestionable obedience pleases the vineyard owner.

We can see that when it comes time to pay, he calls his accountant and asks him to pay the last ones 1st. I see that they did not question, they had no agreements, they just depended on his goodness and trusted him and that pleased him more than those who had lawful agreement of day's wage from the morning. He still keeps his promise and pays them their due but he also wants us to learn to be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful and the hard workers missed that point. (they compared their hard work to other workers and felt it unfair. The owner seems to have compared their trust to those who without any question had chosen to trusted him for 'whatever he felt was right' amount and they went away blessed!)

God is free to impart his goodness to anyone and everyone that He sees fit. also, at times when we have jobs, or things under control, we think we earned it, we think we make it happen, not knowing they got the jobs in the morning because the owner hired them. Our very breath belongs to God and if he did not give us talents, time or strength, we would not even be allive, or working, let alone boast about 'our achievements'.

The Bible also says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. This parable is so consistent with that verse.

For those of us who are employed at this difficult time of recession, let us thank God that it is His mercy and grace that is allowing us to continue to work, not our own merits, we can lose it anytime, as promotions and demotions come from the hand of our good GOD, and let us be merciful to those who have no jobs.

For those of us who have no jobs and are struggling, keep standing in the market place, trust GOD, when your turn comes, it may be at 11th hour but He will hire you and use you. Whether he pays you for waiting the whole day or working the whole day, it belongs to him to decide; our job is to wait on the LORD! Trust Him and He who owns cattles on a thousand hills will provide as He knows our needs and has promised to meet them. Let us not be anxious about anything.... when we seek His kingdom and his righteousness, these things are added to us as a bonus! (lets keep the main thing, the main thing)
Kalpna
Copyright © KC's Writings 2010
Here is the word for word parable from the gospel of Mathew.
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3"About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' 7" 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' 8"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' 9"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'
13"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

He is risen indeed! Because Jesus lives.......

2010-04-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

Resurrection Sunday - 2010

Widely known this day is as Easter Sunday. For kids there comes Easter bunnies and Easter eggs and all that this Spring season brings with it. But to top it all, this day is special because, JESUS rose from the dead and lives forever, never to die, He is ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father God Almighty, interceding for us. That is what the Bible says, and i believe it.

On Good Friday we reflect on the Cross and the death. On Sunday we reflect on the Resurrection but on Saturday, we think of the tomb! we know its a big deal since Jesus not only died for us but became a corpse, a dead body that needed to be embalmed! Does that notion send your thoughts running in many directions? the Creator of the universe did this!! Well, at His birth He was wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger, at His death, He was wrapped in stripes of linen cloth and laid in a tomb, and dare i say, during His earthly ministry He wrapped folks in His eternal love.

i also think of what He promised the thief on the Cross, 'I promise you, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.' so, we do know that in Spirit Jesus did go to the Father, we also know as the Scriptures say, JESUS descended and experienced hell. We are also told, then He ascended into Heaven.

But are we not glad that when women went to the tomb on the 1st day of the week, that is a day after Sabbath, that women did not find the body of Jesus! aren't we glad that they did not find what they were looking for like Dr. Irwin Lutzer says, they found the risen Jesus instead of the dead body of Jesus.

Jesus lives and he showed himself to many after his resurrection, nearly 500 people, and still does today. He who has eyes to see finds Jesus.

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1Co 15:43–55 NLT). How wonderful; His resurrection for sure gives guarantees to ours!

He is risen, He is risen indeed!

"We serve a risen Saviour who's in the world today! we know that He is living whatever men may say! we see His hand of mercy, we hear His voice of cheer, and just the time we need him, HE is always here!"

"Because He lives, we can face tomorrow! because we know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because HE lives!"

JESUS lives! Let us shout it from the mountain top, in the streets and let us proclaim, HE is risen and He can resurrect any person dead in sin, who have no hope, He gives hope, He resurrects dead lives, dead marriages, dead relationships, dead everything and brings us new life.

Let everything that has breath PRAISE THE LORD!! Praise the LORD !!!!!all PRAISE to JESUS!

Kalpana - Copyright © KC's Writings 2010

Good Friday, 2010 - love that held Christ to the Cross, not the nails!

2010-04-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

It is said that it was not the nails that held Christ on the Cross, it was His love for you and me! i remember the words of a song that said, 'He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free, but He died alone for you and me."

As i ponder on the suffering of Christ that He so willlingly chose, i am amazed that He had me in His mind. Every slap that was given to Him was for the lies i have spoken, every stripe on His back was for the disobedient acts of mine, every insult that He bore was for each prideful word i have uttered; every mocking word that He endured was for my angry attitude; the nail on his right hand was for the wrong things that i do with my right hand and the nail on His left hand was the things i dont do that i should do; the nails on His feet were for the wrong steps i have taken in life that were far from the narrow path on which He has called me to walk; the pushing of the spear in his side was for the hurts i have caused Him by not siding with Him, and the thorns on His head are for the shameful thoughts that i have entertained in my mind; while He thirsted and was offered bitter vinergar, i thirst not so much for him but for the things that world offers and i still remain thirsty until i drink from HIM the eternal water, and His love. my JESUS, i love thee, i know thou art mine. help me to live for you and be the little JESUS to who you sent me to. i dont do that well, i need your help. i want to walk with you and help me to remember always that you are interceding for me at the Father's right hand, that is just mind blowing for me. Who can separate me from your love? nothing...nothing...and for that i am forever grateful to you. kalpana Copyright © KC's Writings 2010

Being clean and staying clean

2010-03-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

It is a hard thing to come out of bad habits, and it is even harder to stay out of bad habits. On a spiritual note, God takes us out of sin in a moment but taking sin out of our lives takes a lifetime. We need God's grace daily to keep us on the narrow and disciplined path. We need JESUS to help us clean our hands and feet daily even when we have had a bath. That is why JESUS told Peter, those who have had baths dont need another bath but just to get rid of the dust that settles in everday.
John 13:
He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

Have a clean life, would you?
Kalpana Christian Sharma, © copyright kcs writings

staying connected - learning thru kids' games

2010-02-20T16:53:00.000-08:00

In 2008 i was teaching a Vacationa Bible School in one of the Chicago's Suburbs' churches. i want to briefly share something that i learnt on the 1st day as i saw kids were playing games. It was about friendship knots..how Jesus reaches out to us. and then, how we in turn need to reach out to one another. The thing that i learnt as they played the game, was we were a group of 4 or 5 folks and holding hands of each other; we had to untangle the hands WITHOUT LETTING GO OF OUR HANDS. by turning or jumping in or out..wow! We did a great job many times again and again, and i thought if only we as adults can learn to untangle our messes with each other and our friends WITHOUT LETTING GO OF OUR HANDS-OUR CONNECTIONS WITH EACH OTHER, BY OUR LOVE THE WORLD WILL KNOW WE BELONG TO CHRIST...biblically speaking..isnt this awesome? our families will have lesser divorces because we are connected and yet trying to untangle the messes...sort out any differences as they come.

On that note, may we be connected with Christ's chord/bond..and may we untangle issues as they come with one another without letting go of each other's hands as God lets us...

The fun part is to twist in and out of the circle, up and down within the radii of hands, jump and come out and yet not let go off hands...its fun..you hold the hand of the person not next to u..but one after next...so untangling is easy.. Stay connected, kalpna
Copyright © KC's Writings 2010

What can we do without?

2010-02-16T05:33:00.000-08:00

Having lived in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa, for many years, camping was a part of life that we all enjoyed. Camping experience reminds us of the things that are temporal.

Few months back, I was pondering on this thought even as I saw my daughters pack, from time to time as they go for their youth camp trips. I learnt that for going on a camping trip, we usually make a list of what we must carry with us and quite rightly so; but when you flip the coin and see the other side of it, at times, a thought crosses my mind, its not "what I must take with me but what can I really do without?" matters. Have you ever made a list of what can we do without? it would be a great checklist. Authentically speaking, there are lots of stuff that we can really do without.

So now if we focus on that thought and did the same thing with our daily living, and while making a list of what we must buy, what if we made a list of things that we really dont need and can do without? I guess in these days of hard economy that would be a great way to live life with contentment, look at life and praise GOD in ALL circumstances..always rejoicing as Paul says.

So where is our identity? is it in our stuff that we own? the cars we drive? the homes we live, the latest electronic device that we possess? or the community we associate with?

Someone has said, 'We buy things we dont need to with the money that we dont have, to impress the people we dont know." May I dare to add, and we incur debts that we sometimes seldom recover from? A song says, "Little is much if God is in it" and 1Timothy 6:6 reminds us. "Godliness with contentment is a great gain."
And a famous old Indian movie line says, "It is so simple to be happy but it is so very difficult to be simple."
Copyright © KC's Writings 2010

love from God's persepective

2010-02-14T05:13:00.000-08:00

this is from year2006
Wish you a very happy valentine's day... a day that world celebrates as what it knows as love..

i read that in the game of tennis, 'love' means nothing, in relationship, love means everything.(Harold Sala)

i am amazed as i read the 1st corinthians chapter13, the love chapter, saying, so profoundly that if u have all knowledge and are all in all, and are full of power, and all that u can think of, and if we give up our bodies to be burnt up for what we stand up for, and even if WE ARE SO KIND even TO GIVE ALL OUR GOODS TO POOR, but IF WE HAVE NO LOVE... WE ARE NOTHING...

ouch!!!! that is so powerful.

and in the end, it says, now abide these three, faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love...

i am also learning that love and forgiveness is a CHOICE rather than a feeling...we choose to love and we choose to forgive... thats what Jesus did, He loved and forgave when He was in the worst of pain... right on the cross, bleeding, thirsting, gasping and dying and he said, in those hurting moments, Father forgive them... A PERFECT EXEMPLE OF LOVE AS A CHOICE...wow! and its not because he was helpless, he could have called on ten thousands angels to destroy the world and set him free, but HE DIED ALONE FOR YOU AND ME...

I am glad that there is one day we can celebrate (though it should be an everyday event) but just 1 day set aside to acknowledge and express Love.

so, we need to LOVE THE LORD OUR GOD WITH ALL OUR HEARTS, WITH ALL OUR SOULS, WITH ALL OUR MIGHT AND WITH ALL OUR STRENGTH AND LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS AS OUR SELVES!

hi neighbor, we love in His everlasting love...

beloved, let us love one another, for the love is of GOD and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God, he that loveth NOT, knoweth not God for God is love...1st John four seven and eight...

kalpna
Copyright © KC's Writings 2010

Humbling before God and learning from HIM..

2010-02-13T07:18:00.000-08:00

These are some of my old writings that lift me up at times when i read and want to encourage readers as well. This was written on October15th 2005---

The Bible says, Humble Yourselves under the mighty hand of God that in due time, he may lift us up. (higher and higher and he will lift us up)

You and I have sung this chorus many times but recently i understood that in the fast pace of today's world where success counts and being number uno/one counts, the self that is so glorified comes inbetween us and God as that self is so much against God! Hardly anyone pays attention to humility. being humble wouldn't be the in thing in the culture.

While with God, humility is what counts. The bible says, God inhabits eternity, (can u imagine that? eternity?) and yet, (watch this) he lives in the hearts of those who are humble!

i also learnt that it says humble YOURSELVES. God expects us to humble ourlselves, before he brings circumstances to humble us.

the qualification to come to Jesus is "all who are weary and with heavy burden...come to me and I will give u rest..." Isn't this qualification different? i mean the world looks at your resume, your success, your ability what you can boast about! while Jesus says, come as u are, with your inadequecy...with your heavy yoke..'

It has been long since i played my guitar. years after, this week, i picked up my guitar and in the quiteness of hours, i played this chorus. i have sung it many many times but singing it alone not to anyone but to GOD, tears rolled down my cheeks as i sang with the meaning, humbling myself before God....that led me to sing this lovely hymn, i know it will bring tears to your eyes as u sing alone before God! Please take few moments to sing and ponder upon the words as u read it and be blessed..

"Teach me Thy way O Lord! Teach me thy way, Thy gracious aid afford, teach me thy way,
help me to walk aright, MORE BY FAITH, less by sight, lead me with heavenly light, teach me thy way.

When doubts and fear arise, teach me thy way, when storms over spreads the skies, teach me thy way.
Shine thru the clouds and rain, thru sorrow, toil and pain, make thou my pathway plain, teach me thy way...

When i am sad at heart, teach me thy way, when earthy joys depart, teach me thy way,
In hours of lonliness, in times of dire distress, in failure or successs, teach me thy way...

Long as my life shall last, teach me thy way, where ever my lot me cast, teach me thy way..
until the race is run, until the journey is done, until the crown is won... TEACH ME THY WAY...

Have a blessed Sunday tomorrow!Kalpana

Copyright © KC's Writings 2010

Cross of Christ - 2

2010-02-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

While i ponder about the Cross of Christ, 'the sacrificing pole' that we are commanded to carry daily and follow Jesus, i am reminded of a great truth learnt from a gentle, brahmin, hindu family in Nairobi, Kenya, who owned a sweet shop and we used to witness to them about Christ and His gospel.

This was in the 70s and 80s when Dad used to give tuition for Physics and Maths to their ready-to-go-to-college boy! Dad and i used to witness to this family about Christ and one day they shared with us, saying "Do you know we really adore the Cross of Christ so much? The reason being the Cross of Christ shows you to deny the 'I' and self." They so simply showed me the crossing out of the vertical line from top to bottom by the horizontal line from left to right! wow! that means he said, No to the big 'I', the self... without making it an idol, have you tried to draw a cross and see how much of I and self we are called to cancel out???

i know some theologians will disagree with me that Christ did not die on the cross but on the pole, on a tree, yes that is true, but as Cross is widely known today for the symbol of Christianity, without making it an idol or a statue, or like fascinating stuff that most movie starts and singers wear in their necks and ears, can we use the available resources, anything and everything to raise Christ up? like moses raised up the serpent in the wilderness, we need to lift Jesus up!

and that starts with saying no to 'I', my very self, me, my shadow, my dreams, my expectations, desires, my words, actions and thoughts and like paul says, "i have been crucified with Christ, its no longer i that live but Christ that lives in me"....we are called to be a living Sacrifice...daily, pick up the cross and follow Jesus..DOING WHAT JESUS WOULD DO IN A GIVEN PLACE, TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES. WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? DOING THAT VERY THING.

So you may ask, why it is so important to deny self when today's culture tells you to love yourself, help your self with so many self- help books? God knows its easy to make a god and an idol of ourselves, and we will have to do all we can to sustain the idols while God sustains us. We should not make any image as we are commanded not to...that is why Old Testament said, THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER gods before and beside me.. not shalt now make any image nor shall thow bown down to it...and Jesus emphasized, If you can not deny thy very self, you are not worthy of following me...

Lord, help me to love you with ALL my heart, all my soul, all my strength and all my mind...to crucify me, my self and 'I' daily, on the sacrificing pole that i am to carry and to let the beauty of Jesus shine thru me... Kalpna

Copyright © KC's Writings, 2010

Cross of Christ- 1

2010-02-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered, 'Cross' in many ways has different meanings in English langauge? I am talking about the Cross that JESUS in the Bible talks about. Recently a lady pointed out to me the real meaning of the translation in my own mother tongue, Gujarati from the State of Gujarat in India. Cross means 'the Vadh-Stumbh' the literal meaning 'The Pole of Sacrifice'. The cross of Jesus as used in Bible in Gujrati language. I was surprised with joy even though it is my mother tongue and I grew up with it little had I paid attention to that. The reason, Jesus calls us to carry our Pole of Sacrifice and follow him...like the famous Indian movie would have its heros and brave folks say in lines such as..."Sir pey Kafan bandh key chaltey hey"..(we walk carrying the coffin cloth on head).
I asked my self, Do I carry my Cross, my pole of Sacrifice and live like that for CHRIST EVERYDAY? It is a big question! We are called by Him to do that. Denying self and following him. being a living sacrifice!

Vadh-stumbh (Vadh no Stumbh) the pole of Sacrifice! To die to selfishness and sin, to comforts that call my name, the fun and cultural values, Tv and movies that allure us, to die to that, to die to being the person who is totally incharge and in control and let God help us handle all aspects of life HIS way! To die to prestige, fame and what more than sing, "When I survery the wondrous cross on which the price of Glory died....Forbid it LORD that i should boast, save in the cross of Christ my LORD, all the VAIN THINGS THAT CHARM ME MOST, I SACRIFICE THEM TO HIS BLOOD...(carry our vadh-stumbhs and follow him...) like Paul says, i must decrease and HE must increase in me!!

LORD Jesus, Help us carry our vadh-stumbhs (poles of sacrifice) and follow you. kalpna

Copyright © KC's Writings, 2010

Job and his honorable behaviour towards women

2010-02-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

Job42: 12So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.--

I have read the book of Job's many times and every time I see something new and exciting. Even though few folks in many cultures look down on women, we see in this scenario, many years back, here when GOD restored all to Job, notice how the Bible records it. He had 7 sons and three daughters. Now see how much of info is given on daughters compared to on sons' information, in the culture that looks down on women. This is biblical womanhood that i am talking about. The names of his daughters are given, their beauty is praised, and the inheritance given along with their brothers is recorded. They are co-heirs with the sons and that is precisely what JESUS talks about in his sermons and preaching. He honored women and offers them the same eternal inheritance. 1Peter 3 talks about wives being co-heirs of grace.

further more, This man Job honored women and their purity. He said in Job 31: 1, I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

Women of God, our GOD is a God of equality contrary to what the culture wants us to believe. JESUS is the lover of women's souls and He cares for us, how we feel and stands up for us. Please do ever feel free to go to God anytime, He is there and He hears, you are his daughters.

Copyright © KC's Writings, 2010

Jesus' love

2010-02-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

Jesus daily offers his pure red blood instead of mere dozen red roses and his hard cross to bear instead of a soft candy box; His blood cleanses and his cross edifies us; furthermore Jesus' love is available every day and not just on 14Feb.-kalpna

Copyright © KC's Writings, 2010

Attitude Saying

2009-11-26T17:15:00.000-08:00