Living a fulfilling life as a Lean Christian in a Fat World ©

“I will never succeed”, “I will not get a promotion”, “My dad had cancer, so I too will have”,   "I will not get admission", "My marriage will never be joyful",   "My relationship with my brother will never become okay."  We constantly hear these negative statements within the circle of our family or friends. Inevitably, in due course of time this comes true, even if we believe it or not now.   S uch comments are not only uncalled for, but dangerous. God loves us so much that he wants to bless us, but many times we seem to be inflicting damage on ourselves by putting a curse or a hindrance to our blessing.  There is an interesting story in Luke 1, about a priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. They both were very old and they “were upright in the sight of God.” However, they never had children. One day, as Zechariah was in the house of God, an angel from Almighty God came and told him that, “your prayer has been heard. Your wif...

In the Bible there is a story about the Israelite's, where it took them forty long years to reach their promised land, which otherwise would have taken only 11 days (Deuteronomy 3:1-3).   It is also stated that God took them through a longer path since the Israelite's were not ready to take on their Promised Land on their own and would have become discouraged with the wars with the existing nations. Many times we get frustrated and angry when we see delays in our path of life.   Delays or hindrances seem unacceptable to us, since we are a rushing generation. The shortest path is our preference.   However, the shortest path may not always be the best path for us. Many years back, I remember the time after graduating from High school; I had not got admission into the top engineering schools in India. I was very disappointed, and sad. However, I joined a local college and was determined to give it another try, after studying for an additional year.   A ...

When I was a young kid I used to love watching the stars and the moon in a dark night sky.   I used to wonder how the moon shined and brought light to this dark earth.   It was in my science class that I understood that the Moon does not have any light of its own, since it has no internal source of energy, like the Sun. What we call moonlight was secondary light produced by light hitting the surface of the Moon. The beautiful moonlight was actually reflected sunlight. Another thing that I found interesting was that the moon had a dark spots. However, these dark spots were overshadowed by the magnificence and beauty of the moonlight. As we examine our lives we too can find some dark spots. On our own we too are like the moon. We too do not have a light of our own, since our life is marred with sin. As we journey through life’s struggles, we will be able to see our true nature revealed with pride, selfishness, wickedness, lust, fights, quarrels, hatred…etc.   ...

Some time ago, my wife and I were planting some tomatoes in our backyard. Since the ground was filled with stones I started tilling the ground with a shovel to loosen the rocky ground. I started getting rid of the stones that were restricting the growth of the plants.   We worked hard all morning and were successful in removing most of the stones, but the next day I realized that in the process of gardening I had hurt my back and my hip was out of alignment. One of my nerves started pinching sending shrieking pain to my right leg and forcing me to go to my physical therapist for treatment. In midst of that pain I was reminded of God’s great love, that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us. The shrieking pain that I experienced on my leg was in no comparison to the blood that Jesus shed on the cross, which led to his death.  While I was working in the garden I never thought of the pain that I would experience, since I was more concerned about giving life to ...

Couple of years of back, I had a manager who used to repeatedly tell my colleagues and I that, “Perception is reality.” He used to say it so often that it has become engraved in my mind. As I look back at that statement I believe there was some wisdom in that. However, if we truly understand this to its core, then we will fully comprehend its implications to love and relationships. We all interact and see others with a lens that is defined by them.   They try to understand other people using the same lens or based on their “perception” about them.   We behave, communicate, and express our feelings to others, based on our perceptions.   This perception becomes our reality of our life, even if it is faulty one. Many times we fail to correct that faulty view and continue to live life with the broken view of our perceptions.   This forces us to perceive others, the way they are NOT.   We expect them to behave the way we would expect them to respond. When o...

John 11:22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God , God will give You.” Several years ago, when my older son Edwin was a teenager, he asked me for a basketball hoop (as seen in the picture) at our house as his birthday present, we went shopping and found one at a good deal.   I had it installed next to our driveway, so that our children could play. My son was thrilled about it and continued to enjoy it for several years, until he moved out of the house for college.   Just like my son, don’t you hope that all our requests are answered like this and we too experience the same thrill?   However, when we are praying to our Living God, we do not seem to be getting the answers of what we ask. I am sure you have wondered why!  All the prayers seem to be vanishing in thin air and we seem to be without any peace.   We seem to be missing the thrill that my son obtained. I believe one of the key reasons for that is that we always seem to be approa...

On September 11, 2001, as I was working in my office in New Jersey , my wife called me and said a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center (WTC). I was shocked to hear this news and checked the news websites for more information. As I sat about 35 miles away from WTC my heart was still in New York, since it was just 6 months back that I had moved to work for a firm in New Jersey. The subway under the WTC was part of my daily commute. I used to reach NYC every day around the same time when the two planes hit the Twin Towers . Who knows, I could have been one of the 4000 people who died on 9/11, but that day I was safely sitting far away from this terrible destruction, but  I was in a state of shock and sad to see the destruction of 1000's of lives. As utter destruction came into New York City in just one day, many people were caught by surprise.  But there was one symbol of hope that we all saw in the ruins of the WTC, it was the Ground Zero cross. Couple of y...