samson and lessons from his life

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

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.

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)

Kenyan-Indian Kachumbari (hot spicy salsa)



Indian sweet dish of Halwa made of green fresh gourd



Indian sweet dish of Carrot Halwa...

famous casual Saturday dish - Bateta Pau-va..POHA.(spiced up Potato with flaked rice) 

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.

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

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

'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 - thoughts on my Dad, the late Nandubhai G Christian

Father's Day is celebrated mainly in the USA much the same way as 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 joining him for a walk when he had asked me to, on the last day of his life - (had I known it was his last day on earth!). I was a 19yr teenager, crazy about learning to play a new song on my guitar: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost.." so I chose to play 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, as i played the guitar and watched him walk from my bedroom window!

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 other childhood friends; after he arrived in Kenya, he enjoyed many barbeques 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 favorite 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 center is everywhere but circumference nowhere. God is the sphere of infinite radius."

While Spring cleaning one day, I found an old diary where he had written: ds²=gijdxidxj, i&j=i…n.,  he used to keep saying this out loud many times. He had a superb memory when it came to remembering the Math axioms and at the age of 3, he taught me: (a+b)^{= a2} + 2ab+ b²

And my cousin Ashok also helped me memorize as Dad taught him. I can tell you for certain that every time a new sidewalk was being plastered by a handyman, outside/inside the home, Dad would cherish writing/imprinting a Math equation on a fresh cement so it would be there longer. It was almost like he put his signature there.. (Smile)..from this, one would know this is where he lived.

Looking at nature, he admired rose flowers so much that 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, his love for nature, and his passion for Math are evident. You will enjoy reading these anecdotes. He understood Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity which very few have grasped till today.

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

He was married to our mother, Germana (a nurse by profession)-- they lived a simple life with 4 children, Dinker (Dinu), Kundan, Rajni, and me, 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 serious about it. He grew up in a Methodist denomination in India 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 god-fearing 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, Bharat chose Mr. Doman to preach at our wedding. His wife Jean Dodman was a music teacher and taught me to play piano. Before death, Dad became a member at the Baptist church and longed to serve as an usher but before he enjoyed his 1st serving assignment, scheduled for Sunday, May, 20th, 1984, a day before, he was ushered into heaven on a Saturday night (May, 19th, 1984). I remember him telling me: 'Keep reading Proverbs' - his favorite book in the Bible.

In his younger years, he was rather too passionate about Maths and Physics that even now I visualize him studying at night by a small candlelight in our home in Nadiad while completing his Master's 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 zeal for Math and equations led him surrounded by traffic jams and a crowd of people, right on the tarmac highway. For a few days, he had been struggling to solve a hard equation and just as he rode the bike, the answer popped into 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 generally carried in his pocket! so, as his equation balanced on the tarmac road, he breathed in a sigh of accomplishment, and upon raising his head he saw the people and traffic, they all smiled, laughed, and admired him for his Math craze!

I remember Dad taking my brother Rajoo and me for fresh veggie shopping in the evenings. Being the youngest, I would be in the front and my brother would be in 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 enough not to let Daddy be disturbed. I didn't want to stop him riding as it was getting late, and took as much pain as I could; I was so thin and even though my tiny 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 was surprised at my high pain tolerance and my so brave spirit 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 the strength to handle pain, and to persevere; even now many folks mistakenly question why I 'enjoy' pain in life. well, it is not that you 'enjoy' but you trust God to carry you through as even the pain is supposed to work out for your good! 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 reconnect with Dad and Mom and we 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 lid of a milk can in the early wee hours of dawn for his trip to the village during my childhood days in India. Dad also laughed at me when I would come up with silly ideas like "A girl in my grade 1 passed with only 1 number but I passed with 27 numbers!" (me, not knowing then that number 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 that school just because they would make us go to sleep at the hour when we should be playing, and also because my brother and sister were in a nearby school with other neighborhood kids; I felt being excluded from the neighborhood fun games... hahaha kids' thinking at that age! I remember fussing every day in my school uniform and how my Dad would persuade me by buying freshly roasted peanuts (my favorite till today) to make me agree to go to school happily then taking me and leaving me on the lower floor of the school building where KG class met and yet,  later on I would run to the top floor in my Dad's higher class.. but I would be taken back to my class. :(

In my childhood, Dad used to take my sister Kundan, my brother Rajoo, and me to the farmhouse every other weekend; our eldest brother Dinker (Dinu) lived on the farmhouse with our grandma. I loved climbing trees in our backyard farm. once, I climbed so high that I had difficulty coming down and just couldn't come down even when everyone kept persuading me for a long time. Dad finally said, "I will catch you, just throw yourself down." wow! that was it! I trusted him so much, I actually closed my eyes and jumped right into my dad's arms. I won't forget that incident. Dad made it easy for me to trust God no matter what the height or depth, I can jump right back into the safe arms of my Heavenly Father and He will catch me, and won't let me fall or let go of me.

At one time when, due to having broken his leg in a road accident, my brother Rajoo had a plaster (cast) on that leg for 6 months. During harvesting season, every Saturday, Dad would put him in a basket, lift it to his head, and carry him to the farms. We all enjoyed it when we brought home a bumper crop, piled up in our living room at the farmhouse, he would throw me on top of it with joy to what God had blessed us with. I remember him helping my Grandma make curds and buttermilk manually, in a huge clay-pot, that required a lot of strenuous work.

In my growing years when hooligans in the 'hood in India, tried to bully and name-call me as I was young, during his visit, 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 through one of the worst periods of my life but I am reminded to be able to trust an even bigger Heavenly Father who has assigned angels for my rescue without fail.

Back in Nairobi, Africa, Dad loved to cook for us and sing to us too. In those days, there were no radios in the cars, so during the Christmas season, my sister and I became his 'live Christmas carol singers' all the way from home to church or to town and back home to Dagoretti, a beautiful Nairobi suburb - was what he called his heaven on earth. Dad taught my sister and me to ride the motor scooter and drive the car too; not only that, on my 1st Christmas with my parents in Nairobi, our car faced mechanical issues, so Dad took me to his friends' Auto shop in Kirinyaga Road and got Carburetor brushes that needed to be changed. Then as he opened the carburetor he taught me the mechanism and why the generator was not charging the battery. I had fun working on a car with Dad on that Christmas day; later on, we went to our dear Scottish family friends for Christmas dinner. These were beautiful moments in the green deep valleys of the Dagoretti area.

I have witnessed Dad love and respect God, and my Mom. As a nurse when she would be on night duty and he had cooked a delicious meal, he would drive 17 miles from Dagoretti/Waithaka all the way to Park Road Nursing Home, even at late night to give my mom a fresh taste of his cooking.

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

His famous one-liner encouragement to everyone was: "You don't know what will happen in one minute; leave everything to God"!

In Nairobi, while tutoring a student in his home one day, the student's parent asked my dad if his God could bring a million Shillings; my Dad said, "Forget the money, my God brought rain down for me, and that only in my field."  Then he narrated that years back, 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. So he prayed and asked the Lord to send the rain. He joyfully narrated, "I saw only one black cloud came and rained only in my field!" What a faith!!! He witnessed 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 reconnected with him, I was a teenager, and I used to tell him to receive Jesus as his personal Savior 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 off for her morning shift at 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 there 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 friend's home, it was now that my dad connected the saving faith in Christ. He knew that not only did God save him physically, but also eternally, and he received Christ as his personal Savior.

From that day on, he became passionate about 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!" 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 train wheel in India and assisted the railway workers; 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 were 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 so impressed; the next day they would all bring one coconut each, the hard ones, to really check him out and he would break open each with just one blow; then he would say to them that he never misuses his strength but gives his heart to his students, reminding them he was in charge while they studied, and would expect them to do their best! Years later, after his death, one of his students shared with me that one day while at Jamhuri High School, in Nairobi, my Dad took his students for a lab assignment and after instructing them, left them to do some experiments. After some time he came back and asked them how did it go. The students replied, "It didn't work! We tried many things a 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 learned what does not work; if what you tried does not work, something else will work. Never give up trying," look at Thomas Edison and his invention of superb incandescent bulb work after so many trials. Even though Dad was a professor in the early years of his career, he gave that up and chose teaching in the high school to help the young kids build a great foundation, I admire Dad for that.

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

One story that I have found in a file, written in his own handwriting in the Gujarati language (our mother tongue); which am translating a few lines here. It was in the early 70s when he had gone climbing Ngong Hills in Ngong Karen area of 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. En route he met the Masai tribe families who informed him of 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 the lion's dead body, and then a bride 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; the KANU building (KICC) and Nairobi Hilton Hotel appeared like small toy cylinder-type jars put upside down. He wrote that when you see a big thing from a wider angle, or from a higher distance, it looks smaller, 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 every day! 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; a drunk driver from somewhere drove recklessly and hit dad's bike from the back,(rear-ended); since Dad was a passenger, he got hit badly. A good Samaritan (Kikuyu) lady stopped and took them to the hospital where he was pronounced Brought in Dead,(BID). On his funeral day, all the people, students, friends, and folks that he wanted to share the gospel with, came and heard the gospel, which is the highlight 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, challenge, the importance of studies, and hard work. I had the privilege to work with cars under his supervision as he taught me the mechanism of cars; repairing the parts and enjoying his teaching and 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... it 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 to 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!

copyright©  by Kalpna Christian Sharma