A state of peace

During the 2nd Saturday Delhi EU-EGF central meeting this month, I met Philip, who shared his learning on the extensively used (more these days) profound word 'Peace', from Prof. Nicholas Wolterstorff of Yale University. A gist of it is given below:

(Please note that the views are personal of the professor as mentioned above)

There are a few prerequisites to be at peace, which are:

• Absence of Conflict
• Justice needs to prevail
• Absence of Poverty

To be at peace includes being at peace with few including:

• Being at peace with our Fellowmen: One needs to be at peace with his fellowmen, with absolutely no conflict among each other, and having just and equitable relations
  
• Being at peace with the Nature: Absence of conflict also applies to nature, that we co-exist, and not that we abuse the natural resources and deplete them. This only will cause devastation at large, which we today see as global warming, and related threats.
  
• Being at peace with God: YES. Be at peace with God. Do not go against him.
  
• Being at peace with Oneself: Sounds absurd, but people do need to be at peace with oneself. One needs to be forgiving oneself and be at peace with their self.
  

Give me your hand.. to hold!

The first Christmas programme (Love unraveled, by South & West Delhi ICEU) of the year just ended a few hours ago...

Praise God it was good, and many that attended enjoyed.. There's a moment in all such programmes, where I've had a personal encounter with a special person.. God himself..

Today, it was during the slide show created by Prarthna Dickson, and it was the song that touched my heart.. The lyrics I'm sharing below.. But, what's surprising is.. I saw that slide show yesterday twice, and the newness it had as I watched in the auditorium and the moment of encounter with God.. a truly heavenly feeling.. Thank God for such moments..!

Here's the song:

Give me your hand..

No one would love me
if they knew all the things I hide
My words fall to the floor
As tears drip through the telephone line
And the hands I’ve seen raised to the sky
Not waving but drowning all this time
I'll try to build an ark that they need
To float to you upon the crystal sea

Give me your hand to hold
'Cause I can't stand to love alone
And love alone is not enough to hold us up
We've got to touch your robe
So swing your robe down low
Swing your robe down low

The prince of despair's been beaten
But the loser still fights
Death's on a long leash
Stealing my friends to the night
And everyone cries for the innocent
You say to love the guilty too
And I'm surrounded by suffering and sickness

So I'm working tearing back the roof
And the pain of the world is a burden
And it's my cross to bear
And I stumble under all the weight
I know you're Simon standing there
And I know you're standing there

Coming up...

I've happened to finally find my notes (and Amit Paul Kerketta's) of UESI's 1999 CMTC camp at Kotagiri, and want to soon publish the best of them, especially on Relationships, Finding God's will apart from the DIY of Quiet Time, Personal & Group Bible study.. and yes.. with all the attacks happening on Christians in India, there was also a session on 'Christian response to persecution' which I'd like to share.. All of them coming up on http://youngpeopleinchrist.blogspot.com

TDTY - Pursuit '97

11 years of Pursuit... the memories of it still keep coming back...

Pursuit camps were always organized during mid-August to take advantage of the extra-holiday... I can still remember how I reached my school with a bag, and afraid of not knowing none at the camp, and was walking towards the canteen, and soon I was greeted by Peter Banerjee, Venkat Uncle and with introductions, soon everyone was pals...

Ice-breaker, yes, it was there that I heard that word the first time!!! Uncle John Samuel did it for us, it was the rabbits chasing game.. and everyone just loved it... I got to know some really really amazing people, Anita Paul, Benita Paul, Christina Dhas, Peter Banerjee, Abhishek Gier, Corrie Susan, Judy, Alfred Allan, Rajeev, Celestina, Christina Rayalu, Sherry Thomas, Jerry William, Abhy, Moses, Prashanti so many... I can't just forget it!

Thanks to Evangelical Union (EU), I got introduced through Venkat Uncle & Lata Aunty; Mrs. Parrot & Mr. Sahayam few years before that, and that's how I got to do Pursuit '97.

The first day session by Uncle Gier, and the following discussions with Anita, two by twos with Judy, Alfred (our friendship is in the skies), and the last day session where Prasanna Kumar uncle asked us all to share our learnings, and man, everyone was sinking in grace of God, and each could feel the Spirit stirring our hearts...

I still remember how Christina, Myself used to take walk in the night beyond norms, and share how God's helping hand is with us... Throughout the camp, if I could say something it's only that we were soaking in the love of God. No cares of what was outside the school walls, no news from outside world, nothing... And, guess what, we had camp parents... and... at the end of the camp, no one wanted to leave the school campus, no one wanted to leave each other... That's how bonded we got. Perhaps, we got a taste of what heaven is!

But, that's not what God made us for, right? He wanted us to go out and share the love... so we all dispersed from the camp, we again had a camp follow-up meeting at the same place, most turned up, few didn't. A few among them including me, Christina, Jerry, Rajeev, Celestina/Christina, Benita became committee members and led few camps following the same theme Pursuit for couple of years. I even had the opportunity to go for Committee Members Training Camp (CMTC), with Amit Paul Kerketta in Kotagiri where only handful from across India get to go... till I got into graduation and soon I became too (conspicously) busy in other things...

That one camp, was such a gateway to so many opportunities of learning, and most of all to grow in the knowledge of the love of Christ, that I cannot ever forget it! Perhaps, more than my formal education, that's by far, one of the greatest milestones to my life!

What's Pursuit '97?
While still studying at Faith Academy, Prasad Nagar, it was my first Evangelistic Camp I ever attended in my life. I just passed into XII, and had only joined this school a year ago. Haven't really gelled well with the folks around, except for few... My best friends Satish & Vishnu had left Delhi; had it not been for Krishna, I would've been very lonely then...

Thanks to God's abounding grace to provide me more than friends, and worthy purpose to use me in some manner for His glory in those days... Pursuit '97 has been a great blessing in my life! It keeps me amazed, how God, in his grace, keeps me loving a wretch like me... and I just can't help, but fall in love with him over and over and over again!!!