This Week With Jesus

Skydiving is a popular sport. Skydivers do it to experience the thrill of a free fall for various reasons like stress busting, adventure, resilience to adversity and to value our lives. But there is one common factor which encourages people to go in for it: the parachute. The parachute ensures your safety, opening up at just the right time. Coming to the main point, skydiving to meet God? Is that even a thing? Do you remember the first time you turned to God? I mean really turn to Him and let Him into your life? Beyond traditional worship and mouthing of prayers? One believer who captures the moment in words writes - "Honestly speaking, the first time I did experience God was when I was in deep, deep trouble. There seemed to be no hope from any quarter. That's when prayer came out from the deepest recesses of the heart and mind. That's when I really and truly experienced the power of God; not through a solution (which did come in due course) but through a sense of peace an

  Empathy is a translation of the German term "Einfühlung", meaning “to feel as one with.” It implies sharing the load, or “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes,” in order to understand that person’s perspective. Empathy is entering into another person's world and feeling with that person, rather than feeling sorry for him or her. It is the very basis of human relationships and helps us to feel valued, loved, and cared for. Being connected to others is good for our mental wellbeing. There are enough articles and material about the benefits of empathy at work and in personal relationships. But there is another aspect of empathy that we may not have thought about: empathy and the 10 commandments. The Ten Commandments (decalogue=10 words) are ten principles for living in harmony with God and with other human beings. The first four deal with our relationship with God. The final six deal with our relationships with other people. It is in the last five that empathy comes as a

 

If Jesus, His resurrection and God are not true, then Christianity is the biggest con in the world!  Imagine 4 billion people being fooled into thinking that a "man" was resurrected! Charles Colson, who was part of the Watergate scandal and later converted to Christianity, said this about the resurrection: “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world- and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years ? Absolutely impossible.” That was his rationale and his faith based on his experience. Like him, 4 billion people too have faith based on their own logic and experience. But you see, whichever wa

In his book, Pastoral Grit: the Strength to Stand and to Stay (Bethany), Craig Brian Larson writes: "In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. According to Leon Jaroff in Time, the satellite's primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph the planet and its moons, and beam data to earth about Jupiter's magnetic field, radiation belts, and atmosphere. Scientists regarded this as a bold plan, for at that time no earth satellite had ever gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it could reach its target. "But Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and much, much more. Swinging past the giant planet in November 1973, Jupiter's immense gravity hurled Pioneer 10 at a higher rate of speed toward the edge of the solar system. At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; Neptune at nearly three billion miles; Pluto at almost four billion mil

                                                           Like we do every Monday, here is a trip down memory lane with two posts of the past to start the week. Your Comfort Boat - is about our circumstances and how we are constantly challenged to step out and step up. You can read this post HERE Beyond Your Control - Have you ever thought about a time when you are NOT in control of your life and safety? Our calculations show it's about 1440 minutes per day . Read how HERE Happy reading and wishing each and every one a blessed week ahead.

Some people know the true meaning of the words "God provides", because they have lived with nothing in hand, no idea from where they will meet their daily expense and yet they are able to. Quietly and without fanfare, through some God given providence. While Gods provision is true for all, these people have lived on the edge of collapse, with nothing in sight except hope for Gods provision, unlike other people who have wealth or jobs or plans which they depend on, not realizing that even those were provided by God. One is not better than the other. We all go through hard times, possibly living on the edge. We may feel let down or that life is unfair, but there is another perspective: it brings about true dependence on God. Such times remind us of the journey of Israel as they walked to the Promised Land. They were not allowed to store manna as an exercise in trusting Gods daily provision. Why? Ms. Francis Taylor explains it beautifully - "We take these troubling events a