Death has lost its sting

Sharon DeSouza

There was a lot more to Sharon’s beautiful, warm smiling face that welcomed me

to Priyam and her flat in Gurgaon. Just spending a few minutes with Sharon would

leave me encouraged and blessed. And that was the inevitable case with anybody

who met her.

There was something different about Sharon. She boasted not in her wisdom
and qualifications, but in the power and faithfulness of Jesus in her life. She
was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. The unshakeable love, peace, joy,
hope and contentment that Jesus promises - she knew it well. And no matter
what situation and sickness came her way, she clung on to Him. She was free;
she was not afraid.

Sharon, you’ve finished the race well and you’ve fought the good fight of faith. Because of what Jesus has done, death has lost its sting and you are finally home with our Father forever.

This is not goodbye.

And on that day when my strength is failing

The end draws near, and my time has come

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years and then forevermore...

O ye of little faith

If there is one attribute of my God that I find most awesome, mind-blowing, and so very consistent in my own life, it is His faithfulness. Yes, He is uncreated, unfathomable, omniscient, loving and all-powerful, but it's His faithfulness that just sweeps me off my feet every time.

If you live in Delhi, and not in your own house - which is, well, the story of every second Delhite - you know exactly how much of an ordeal it is to find a rented flat. And if you're a single girl, then you can expect it to be a bigger pain in the backside. Right from the brokers waiting to get every last bit of money from you and landlords who want to play the hostel wardens in your life, to the sky-rocketing rents and the long and painful procedure of checking out all sorts of strange and unlivable accommodations, finding a decent pad can give you some serious sleepless nights.

So this was my situation – we needed someone to come and replace one of our lovely flatmates, who will soon be married and off to a distant land – and there was not a soul in sight. This would leave Arie and me in a house with space and rent large enough for four. The verdict was simple -  move out.

The worst part was -- cos I'm going and getting myself the missus tag soon -- that I would have to move out AGAIN in another few months!!! This was far from fun.

Though I knew that my God is "large and in-charge", I was beginning to hit the panic button. Arie, however, remained surprisingly calm and composed even as time ticked by. "God will make a way", she told me more than once.

And lo and behold, one evening I suddenly got a call from her. And boy, was she excited! The long and short of it... God arranged a flatmate for us all the way from Korea! Even more awesome – she wanted to move in the same week we needed someone!! A biiiiig sigh of relief.

A small voice in my head echoed these words spoken 2,000 years ago – O ye of little faith! Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’. For your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

Indeed, He does.  

The Value of a Man's Life

One lakh rupees? 

A cancelled trip to Singapore?
A less lavish wedding?
A business class ticket sacrificed?
A pair of Jimmy Choos not broken into?
A Halloween bash not thrown?
A dented car bumper not replaced?
A fancy dinner skipped?
A new pair of jeans not bought?
A software not upgraded?
A Saturday night spent at home?
A night of poker forsaken?
A cup of frothy coffee not ordered?
A burger not bitten into?
Sorry...no change in my wallet?


Where does one stop?
Where does one draw the line between "me first"
and apathy at a dying man's plight?
When does one begin to notice the agony
and helplessness in another man's eyes?
When does one stop speeding past that bleeding man,
pretending to have never seen the accident?
When does one start to raise a voice for the voiceless?
When does one start doing anything about anything?
Beats me.. How about NOW? 


Tomorrow, that bleeding person could be me, my brother, or my best friend. And then, should I dare cry, curse, and utter amazement at the world when it turns its back and averts its gaze? Or shall I remember the many times I thought "aren't there others who get paid to do this?" or, more often "somebody will surely help her!" Will I find the irony amusing then? I think not. 

"Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings." - Helen Keller

The God for this season

It’s that time of the year again – that warm jolly season, when laughing patterns switch from “Ha, Ha, Ha” to “Ho, Ho, Ho!”, and Santa becomes a household name. The time of the year when the spotlight turns on Christians, with our plum cakes rising in the oven, twinkling Xmas lights up well in advance, and a long list of presents almost bought. Yes, green and red splashed hither and thither, and sing-along carols rising from here, there, and everywhere.

It’s quite lovely, isn’t it? Yeah, it is - but what exactly are we celebrating? Is it Santa and his red-nosed reindeer, or the joy of giving and receiving presents? Is it the opportunity to “deck the halls with boughs of holly”, or to wear the best clothes in our wardrobe for that much crowded service at church, when many who don’t make the mistake of wandering down the aisle through the year, show up early to bag the good seats? Oh, wait – they also make a special appearance on Easter.

Of course we know - we’re celebrating the birthday of Jesus! Remember, the nativity scene – baby Jesus, all wrapped up, with his folks looking endearingly at him, the sheep and cattle adding to the ambience, the three wise men on their knees holding fancy gifts, and the little scared, mostly awe-struck shepherds looking on. He’s the one we sing about in church, silly - about Him coming to save the world on a silent, holy night.

And then, we eat, drink, make merry and go home. It ceases to be Christmas - we carefully put away our decorations for next year, shift our thoughts to more relevant things, and put away Jesus for Good Friday and Easter coming up in a few months’ time.  

This was my story for many years, too. But then, something happened. I tasted the real deal; I discovered the real Jesus  – and He wasn’t the voiceless babe in the crib, neither was He frozen in time, hanging on the cross.  But, He was and is alive – in all majesty, glory, and power.

He’s not just the God for a season or two - He’s the God who holds time and space in His hands; the God who loves, and heals, and delivers, and restores; the God who defeated death forever; the God who knows you and me by name. Celebrating life with Him isn't about warming the chairs in church during this season, or even every Sunday, it's about walking with Him all the days of my life into eternity.

No more fear

Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant through the trial and the change
One thing remains

Your love never fails,
never gives up,
never runs out on me

Because, on and on and on, and on it goes
For it overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never, ever have to be afraid
One thing remains

In death and in life I'm confident,
and covered by the power of your great love
My debt is paid,
there's nothing that can separate my heart from your great love

Your love never fails,
never gives up,
never runs out on me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l_jrjd2agU 

- One Thing Remains (Jesus Culture)

No circles for me, please.

“All my life's a circle, sunrise and sundown
The moon rolls through the night time
Till the day break comes around
All my life's a circle, but I can't tell you why
The seasons spinning round again
The years keep rolling by.”

I remember growing up with this song on my lips – a default result of being in the Welham Girls’ Western Choir team. All of us swaying to this old folk song, and smiling at each other as we prepped our lungs to do the soprano bits.

But this was more than just a harmless folksy number. It soon became the way life was to be looked at and understood. Wasn’t it really just a circle - morning-night; summer-winter; 1^st Jan to 31^st Dec, year after year? Just a robotic, assembly line kind of existence. Yes, one got older, spoke more sense, giggled less, acquired this and that degree, had other mouths to feed, led a company to new heights, but still couldn’t stop living to this song’s tune: “All my life’s a circle, but I can’t tell you why”.

Much like a hamster on its wheel, round and round we go..

Really? Nah, not me! I wasn’t created to run around in circles. I was created to fly, to soar; I was created to love and worship, and to learn something new about myself and you, and the world every day. I was made unique, made to dance and sing till my heart couldn’t take it anymore.

My life is not a circle; no sir, my life is full of twists and turns, with the start and finish as far from each other as the East is from the West. Like a brave little boat out in the open seas, I move forward towards home - a land I've never seen, but to which I belong.  

Come, sail with me.

The never-ending rendezvous

Heady fumes of soul-stirring music grip my heart
tearing it from its mortal flesh cape
injecting it with a lethal shock
that reminds me of the first time I met you

Like an arrow of fire that pierced my soul
your presence had plucked me out from the little world I had created.
I was sucked out by a tornado
carried on gentle waves of furious compassion to a higher ground
and I was changed forever

But that was not all...
Every moment in your presence still electrifies me
overwhelms me and brings me to my knees.

Your folly is the wisdom of man
Do I dare claim to understand your ways?