After the rains...

Ray Eicher's simple and powerful gesture of expressing empathy with the people of Uttaranchal

A Reflection from Dr Philip Alexander

A reflection from a surgical giant in the Mission Hospital at Manali.

"Viewed from the legal and academic perspective, my reach had extended beyond my lawful jurisdiction. I had taken a risk, and included the patient in that gamble. In this instance, it paid off. An unanswered question is what if the outcome was bad? Would a remote practitioner still be justified and validated in his altruistic attempt? How many risks will we take, and how far will our reach exceed our grasp?"

Possibly related posts from the past:

What is a Mission Hospital?

Christian Hospital, Bissamcuttack

A Shout out to India's Generalists

Tithing and Giving

Here are a couple of links that I'm sure you will find interesting and thought provoking. These concern the questions of tithing and giving....

1. 10 principles to guide your giving

2. Pastors and Tithing

I seem to agree with the author that the 'tithe' (a compulsory 10 percent giving to God) was basically an Old Testament principle, that was replaced in the New Testament  with the understanding that All (100 percent) that we are and own belongs to God and we are only stewards of what he has given us. Jesus came to fulfil the Law and help us understand what it was meant to signify. (just like 'Do not murder' became 'Do not become angry', 'Do not commit adultery' became 'Do not lust in your heart', and 'Do not bear false witness' became 'Let your 'yes' be yes and your 'no' no')

This understanding actually changes the way we live and give. We would probably end up giving MORE, and definitely more strategically for the building of God's Kingdom.

What do you think?

Possibly related posts from the past:

Giving With a Difference!

Hundreds of couples offer to adopt a child with Down's Syndrome to prevent an abortion

What a heart-warming story that confirms, in my mind, that Adoption is the answer to Abortion!

A child with Down's Syndrome (via) These are some of the most cheerful kids you could imagine

When the Rev. Thomas Vander Woude learned about a young couple planning to abort their unborn baby that had been diagnosed with Down syndrome, the priest reached out and offered a deal: Deliver the child and he would help find an appropriate adoptive family.

But he had to act fast.

The woman, who has not been identified for her privacy and her protection, was just shy of six months pregnant and lives in a state that prohibits abortions past 24 weeks — which meant he had a short time to find a family willing to make a lifelong commitment.

So Father Vander Woude, the lead pastor at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville, Va., approached a volunteer who helped manage the church’s social media pages, and she posted an urgent plea on Facebook early Monday morning.

“There is a couple in another state who have contacted an adoption agency looking for a family to adopt their Down Syndrome unborn baby. If a couple has not been found by today they plan to abort the baby. If you are interested in adopting this baby please contact Fr. VW IMMEDIATELY,” the post read. “We are asking all to pray for this baby and the wisdom that this couple realize the importance of human life and do not abort this beautiful gift from God.”

The post asked people to call the church’s office after 9:30 a.m. Monday or to email Father Vander Woude.

No one expected the response they received.

Read the rest at this news article.

(HT: Z)

Related posts:

Open Letter to M: Why abortion cannot be a matter of personal choice

Image bearers

Is Genetic Selection our Moral Obligation

Only 0.006 percent of abortions are done to save the mother's life

Some Incredible testimony from a Former Abortionist

Feel's like killing a puppy? Are you kidding me?!

"If someone else is driving a car and we're sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will it be painful or not? Of course, it is. If I'm a chief minister or not, I'm a human being. If something bad happens anywhere, it is natural to be sad"

(interview to Reuters, reported on 12/7/2013)


No, Narendra Modi, no!

Narendra Modi

You were not in the back seat of a car when it ran over a puppy.

You were in the driver's seat when your car ran over around 2000 human beings. Not to mention, the number of indescribable, horrific atrocities on women and children that took place at the same time.

The iconic photograph of Qutubuddin Ansari

On a rampage in Modi's Gujarat

There can be no comparison.

At the very least, you could say, "I'm sorry!"

Read again: The Gujarat Violence of 2002 on Wikipedia

A letter to a young (imaginary) Christian couple, Raja and Rani, who are planning to get married soon.

Dear Raja and Rani,

Congratulations! What superb news that you are going to get married next month!  I am so glad to hear that you are excitedly making arrangements and wedding plans. This is a wonderful time, and I know that you are savouring every moment. And believe me, contrary to what the movies portray, things can get even better once you get married!

You have asked me to pen my thoughts on what a Christian marriage should look like. That is a great question, but a huge task! I could write volumes, but (you can breathe again!) let me instead limit myself, in this first letter, to trying to give you a glimpse of the glorious plans God must have had when He arranged the First Marriage, and began this institution of marriage.

Timothy and Kathy Keller, in their excellent book, “The Meaning of Marriage” (you must try and get your hands on this book) write that the Bible begins with a marriage and ends with a wedding!

We read in the first two chapters of the Bible about the first marriage. God had been creating night and day, sun, moon, stars, plants and animals, when suddenly there seems to be a pause. For the first time, we are given a picture of the Trinity talking and planning together, “Let Us make man in Our own image”.... and, we read, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” We are given more details in Genesis 2, about how Adam was lonely, and God made Eve out of his rib, woke him up from his sleep, and brought her to him, and about how Adam sang for joy in a burst of creativity, “Here, at last, Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh!”  I’m sure Adam’s song resonates in your own hearts at this time.

We get a sense of the common origins and destiny of man and woman, and the mandate given to both: To display God’s image, and to be stewards of all of creation, acting as God’s representatives on earth. We are given a sense that both men and women, with all our similarities and differences, are needed to display God’s beautiful image accurately and accomplish His task.

And then, in the last two chapter’s of the Bible we read about the great Wedding feast of Jesus and His Bride.

From the Biblical account of these two weddings, we get some important clues to God’s great design for marriage. I think there are really two great purposes for marriage:

1. I think God intended from the beginning that marriage should be a depiction of the beauty of the Trinity, with husband and wife mutually exalting and mutually submitting to each other, just as Father, Son and Holy Spirit relate to each other.

2.  I think God wishes marriage to display the wonder of Christ’s love for the church, and to remind us of the marriage we are invited to be part of, at the marriage feast of Jesus and His Bride.

These ideas are explained further in other parts of the Bible. For example, we read about marriage displaying the Trinity in 1 Cor 11:3 (“Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ”) and about marriage displaying the relation between Christ and His Bride in Eph 5: 17-33 (the difficult passage in which men are encouraged to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it, and wives are encouraged to submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ).

Another truth that emerges when all these passages are put together is that Jesus is the example for both husbands and wives.

Picture a marriage in which the husband imitates Jesus, as he is instructed to in Eph 5. (“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.”)

Imagine a husband loving his wife as Jesus loves His church. What would such love look like?! Imagine the husband giving himself up daily for his wife. Imagine him taking steps to love first and unconditionally, and to love until the end, forgiving first, taking the first steps to resolve conflict, and truly displaying servant leadership, just as Jesus, his example. Imagine him satisfying her, nourishing and cherishing her, meeting her every need, providing for her, giving her the desires of her heart and leading her higher just as Christ does for the church.

Imagine the wife playing the Jesus-role as she is instructed to do in 1 Cor 11:3. What would such submission look like?! Imagine a wife joyfully submitting to her husband, exalting him, seeking to please him and serve him just as Jesus, her example, who “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men”. Imagine the husband responding by exalting the wife, glorifying her and setting her above himself!

What a glorious marriage that would be!

We bristle at words like ‘submission’ and ‘leadership’ because we do not see that the Jesus-like love of the husband towards his wife demonstrates itself in very similar ways to the Jesus-like submission of the wife towards the husband! Both are continually asking the question, "How can I serve you better?"

As Kathy Keller says, “We, the Church, submit to Christ in everything, and the parallel of the wife submitting everything to the husband is no longer daunting, since we know what kind of behaviour the husband has been called to imitate.” A wife could joyfully and fearlessly submit to such a man.

Unfortunately, one of the effects of the Fall is that this high view of the purpose of marriage has become corrupted. Starting in Genesis 3, men and women have begun selfishly begun trying to blame each other, attempting to dominate, exploit and use each other for their own purposes.

I pray that you will have caught a glimpse of God’s high calling for your marriage, and that you will give yourself to your spouse, just as Jesus gave Himself for you. Your marriage will then display to the world around the beauty of the Dance of the Trinity, and be a glorious reminder of the coming Wedding Supper of the Lamb.

With you in seeking God’s purposes,

Pradeep

Possibly related posts from the past

1. Husbands, A Tip that Could Save Your Marriage
2. A Big Brother models Servant-Leadership

Proud Spirits and Humble Hearts

An extremely helpful list comparing Proud people with Broken people

Oh Lord, Make me a humble man!

12 favourite Steven Curtis Chapman songs

A great collection of some of the best songs by Steven Curtis Chapman....one of my favourite singers.

I have Decided to Follow Jesus

Please read the interesting story behind the song, "I have Decided to Follow Jesus." I was especially interested to read about its Indian connection!

"If I Stand..."

Remembering again, today, the music of Rich Mullins (one of my musical heroes) after watching this video of him singing "If I Stand". An amazing guy.....