Calling

I went to God and asked - 'What's my calling?'
'Ok, that one's simple,' He said,  'It's to emulate me; it's to die loving'. 

Love

"Perfect love is a kind of self-dereliction, a wandering out of ourselves; it is a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to himself, and all his own interest, not thinking of them, nor caring for them any more, and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves; thus , he is quite undone, unless he meets with reciprocal affection; he neglects himself and the other hath no regard to him; but if he be beloved, he is revived, as it were and liveth in the soul and care of the person whom he loves; and now he begins to mind his own concernments, not so much because they are his, as because the beloved is pleased to own an interest in them: he becomes dear unto himself, because he is so unto the other. " 

- Henry Scougal in 'The Life of God in the Soul of Man'

Coolness

Q: Do you know who is cool?

A: Lucky Ali

The Cliché Irony

Breaking gramatical rules and having seemingly-scandalous titles in blog posts to avoid chichés, is. so. cliché.

Fast!

Jenny,
I believe God made me for a purpose,

But he also made motorcycles fast!
And when I ride one...
I feel his pleasure. 

America

Pivot

Ok, so now I want to start a shop that sells wedding stuff just so that I can call it 'Wedding Wows'. :)

Yay for cheesyness!

Random Thought

He is the healer because he is the healing.

'To love is to not compare... '
                                    - Mark Noll

About Today

Today,
you were far away...
and I,
didn't ask you why
What could I say?
I was far away,
You just walked away,
And I just watched you...
What could I say?
How close am I to losing you?

Tonight,
You just close your eyes,
and I just watch you
slip away...
How close am I to losing you?

Hey,
are you awake ?
Yeah, I am right here
Well, can I ask you
About today?
How close am I to losing you?
How close am I to losing ...

         

                                   - The National

Exalting Christ

For the record:

My favorite Steve Fernandez quote -

"I am planning on eating some really unhealthy food today" 

Ind-yeah!

Have I told you lately...

that I love my job ?

Newest joy-giving thing

Willows...

                                                                              

                                                                                                   Source: http://bit.ly/RbrsCE ... until I have my own camera

Blind Babies

Dear Christ,

Did you know that some of our babies are born blind?
They are autistic, they can't hold a thing together, they have broken minds.
If that is not enough, the breasts that nurse them have cancer inside!
And men are called to bear this and plod through life...
Its not like life comes with a soundtrack - theres no pianist playing some slow soothing tune on the side,
Neither are we on camera, for the world to sympathize.
Just sayin... you know, it feels like something is not right.


Dear Gagan,

You write bad rhymes.
I agree, something's not quite right,
And I think it's because you turned your back; cuz decided to draw your own lines.
Don't forget, I chose to be like you, forever, so that I could empathyze
I went through hell, to open gates of paradise.
And those babies you think you care about, they are mine.
Take my advice - trust my word and give it the fullness of time
I promise, no pain, no tears and no missing eyes
allright?
sleep well. yours truly, Jesus Christ.

Wait... Bambi is a guy???!!!

Crutch

A perfect man would never act from a sense of duty; he’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people) like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it is idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs (our own loves, tastes, habits etc.) can do the journey on their own.

- C. S. Lewis 

Git

Glory

you know what would be glory? 

if god were holy, holy, holy

and say he was also big, powerful, righteous and all-knowing

if he were to look me in the eyeball, 

and say that he knew every sin I had committed, 

and he bled for it, and I was for now and forever forgiven 

that would be glory … and for it, I would give my all

Random thought

To act is to believe. 

Someday

may be, some day, 

when the sun shines bright,
when music from a distance floats over the air, mild, 

when there are blessings divine and no cares on my mind

when callings for the day are well satisfied

oh and when, for once, the time is right

may be, some day, 

when friends approve with a wink and smile

i will look into those eyes

and sit beside the girl
who is mine

Washing Dishes

Do you have to be a downtrodden pretty girl for a fairy godmother to magically wash dishes for you?

.
.
.

What if you pay?

All Good Gifts

 Hold a dime upto your eye
And it will look an enormous size
So you'd think God shrinks As you look down here for more 

We don't get it right, who would've guessed?
Hallelujah, God doesn't expect
More than his own grace to carry you to shore
 

                   - Michael Morgan, All Good Gifs | Before The Throne

Those Few

Failing with those few is so much better than succeeding with some others. 

Covenant

Through the Pensieve

For self-sacrificing love, friendships and redemption:




Thanks to Ben Hutton

Gethsemane

Here are some reasons to why you should not 'read' this post:

1. It will completely spoil a movie for you if you haven't already watched it, and I really would not want that to happen. So if you haven't watched Se7en, and you want to, you probably shouldn't continue 'reading' this post.

2. The clips are dark and disturbing.

3. If you are sensitive to swear words, every third word that Brad Pitt's character utters is a swear word.

Now, having washed my hands clean of any guilt of making you watch it, here's the clip:



You get the intensity right? You get the struggle. You feel the dementedness. And then, there is a part of you, that keeps repeating in your head: "Ok, don't pull the trigger. DO NOT PULL THE TRIGGER" and yet when it is pulled there is a there is no anger, but a resignation of our fallenness. Somewhere you go back heavy hearted saying, "I know. You are human. It's ok. I would do the same."

"And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." - Luke 22 : 44

Gethsemane was intense too.

And, He did what I would not do. He stood up, crushed the head of the serpent, and went to the cross.

That is why I worship Him.

Magic

"Why were you so different last term?" said Jill presently.  

"A lot of queer things happened to me in the hols," said Eustace mysteriously.  

"What sort of things?" asked Jill.  

Eustace didn't say anything for quite a long time. Then he said:  

"Look here, Pole, you and I hate this place about as much as anybody can hate anything, don't we?"  

"I know I do," said Jill.  

"Then I really think I can trust you."  

"Dam' good of you," said Jill.  

"Yes, but this is a really terrific secret. Pole, I say, are you good a believing things? I mean things that everyone here would laugh at?" 

"I've never had the chance," Said Jill, "but I think I would be."  

"Could you believe me if I said I'd been right out of the word - outside this world - last hols?"  

"I wouldn't know what you meant."  

"Well, don't let's bother about worlds then. Supposing I told you I'd been in a place where animals can talk and where there are - er - enhancements and dragons - and - well, all the sorts of things you have in fairy -tales." Scrubb felt terribly awkward as he said this and got red in the face. 

"How would you get there?" said Jill. She also felt curiously shy.  

"The only way you can - by Magic"

Progress Sheet

So I thought that I should take some time to give you guys a straight up idea about my progress as a developer. So here goes:

Where I am at:

Where I need to be:

What I do

So, I didn't create that thing, and don't know whom to give due credit to. :-/

A whole year of work

So I recently finished what seems to be the first year of doing real work in my life. Here is what I learnt:

• Life is a fight. Take it that way. Don't run away from it. Don't take the escape routes, not because real life will end up catching you one way or the other, but because you might actually end up escaping it all throughout. You might actually end up taking each escape route, all your life and then die, painlessly while you sleep in a your royal bed inside the mansion that you build from 80 years of your life's savings. Don't do that. Stop running, turn around, look the beast in the eye, and fight. And don't look the beast in the eye because you are mightier, but because He is watching… because He is mightier. It might beat the crap out of you, but He knows the beast, and He knows what he is doing, and He knows what He is letting be done.
 
• Ok, agreed, we are fallen. May be he did He ordained pain... real, painful, heartbreaking, i-don't-feel-i-can-go-on-anymore pain and death. May be he indeed made no promises of health, the continuous availability of your limbs or skills, money or of your loved ones. May be He didn't suffer so that we don't suffer. But then, you see, He is the business of making you a better worshipper.
 
• Apparently, God takes his job of being a father seriously.
 
• Good design is good. Good code is good. I want to say it is godly, but I won't make a doctrine out of it.
 
• If you are not learning, then you are not living. So, learn a lot.
 
• Money is too quantifiable to not be deceptive.
 
• God is a giver, through and through, and he definitely wants his sons and daughters to emulate that. He takes it to heart if they don't.
 
• Pray a lot. In-fact, 'a lot' should be defined by how much you pray. It is really worth the shot.
 
• God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 
 
• Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
 
• Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, then all those things that you need, and, really, much more,  will be added to you. 

Apart from that, I learnt a huge amount of ruby, rails, sysadmin, git, unix and software engineering  

Insolence

Dear God, 

I have bent my knees, 

And humbled my heart, 

I am ready for the daily

routine of ours. 

Shall we wrestle? 

"Punk! do you know who you are talking with ?"

I do, 

I really do, 

He could break me ,

He could wound me, 

With just one commmand

But I am talking with my Father, 

And asking for my friends. 

It does not matter to me then, 

That you think I am insolent. 

Swades wali milegi?

This post is for all the friends, aunties, mom and sisters I have who are looking out to set me up -  Oh and yes, for the girls who would want me to get interested in them. ;)

I guess no movie character has come so close to having a personality that I would flat-out fall for as Geeta does.  

The following video does not give a very good idea about the character - you have to see the movie, but I thought I'll add it nonetheless. 

Into the west

Dhobi Ghat

The Judsons

Time for a short story.

The Judsons were crazy. Like really crazy. When Adoniram asked for Ann's hand in marriage he wrote to her father:

"I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left is heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteous, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Savior from the lost* saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?"

He got married to Ann on Feb 5, 1812. He set assail with her to India on Feb 19, 1812. Ann bore Judson 3 children, all of whom died. When her second child died she wrote:

Our hearts were bound up with this child; we felt he was our earthly all, our only source of innocent recreation in this foreign* land. But God saw it was necessary to remind us of our error, and to strip us of our only little all. O, may it not be vain that he has done it. May we so improve it that he will stay his hand and say 'It is enough.'

* Words changed to make more contextual sense. The word 'heathen' used is really not meant derogatorily. It is meant to imply people who do not share the same faith, but it is not used without love. People who do not love the heathen do not end up sacrificing their, theirs spouse's and their children's lives for them.

The story was picked from here

Mother Teressa on clarity

I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust

- Mother Teressa  (apparently) 

Random Thought

If you are weak, then you may not be loved. But if you are strong, you do not know what it means to be weak and still loved. 

Random Thought

It is more joyful to be involved in producing one quality human being, than thousands of average ones.