Training For Gold

The Olympics has put people on the pedestal based on their ability to perform under pressure, their agility and strength. These athletes have trained for years for this event. Strict diets and lifestyle changes have been a must for the last several years. And yet only a few walk out with a medal. The majority lose, their dreams fading behind. A small error, a little bit of slack, and years of training goes waste. Their names will not be etched in history. Yes, they are way better than most of us but only the finest will win a medal.

Athletes train their body to win a prize. Many of us train our body to stay fit and healthy. But we often forget our soul. The body that we put so much of time and energy into will one day be gone. It will be completely destroyed. But our soul, our soul will remain forever. Shouldn’t then we be putting a lot more time and energy into building it? Shouldn’t we then be mindful of what we feed it and how we protect it? It is so tempting to ignore the eternal and find gratification in the temporary. But it is good to remember what’s more important.

Grace is free, it was purchased by the blood of Jesus at the cross. Everyone is welcome at the cross, no questions asked. Sanctification, however, involves discipline and hard work. It involves working out with the Spirit of God, our Soul Coach, day and night. Our Soul Coach knows what’s best for us. They may seem like restrictions at first but once we start trusting Him, we will quickly realize that what seem like restrictions are often helpful in building up our soul and help us in winning the prize. May we recognize what really matters and train for gold.

Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24‭-‬27 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/1co.9.24-27.NLT

Amazing Grace?

I love the song “Amazing Grace”. Is grace truly amazing though? When our sins are forgiven, it is. When God wipes our slate clean and says “you are forgiven and you don’t have to earn it”, it’s amazing! What isn’t amazing though is when we have to extend that grace to others. Grace is anything but amazing during such times.

Have you ever been in situations of conflict? I seem to have no trouble being in the middle of a conflict. Conflict, intentional or unintentional, gives us a valid reason to withhold grace. Like any other human being, I’ve had the desire to just walk out, hold on, give back. But the cross pursues me to do the exact opposite. Grace is hard! Very hard to be honest! It destroys your pride and ego. Once you have given your heart to Jesus, you cannot simply follow your heart. You are no longer a slave to your feelings and emotions. Your heart belongs to Jesus and He is grace. While He doesn’t force Himself on us to extend grace, He pursues us. He shows us how His grace covered us. None of us deserve God’s love or grace. Our hearts are crooked and are perfectly capable of every kind of evil. But His grace surrounds us and He pursues us to be like Him. Grace is amazing when received but hard to give…very hard to give. But grace is not ours to keep. It must be passed on. There is no other way!

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:16 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.1.16.ESV

PS: Isn’t extending grace equal to putting ourselves in harm’s way again? Sometimes it is. Removing ourselves from a situation of harm is good, healthy and often required . But wherever possible, grace should be our goal.

The Temptation To Run

I’m at a season in life where the temptation to keep running is very real. There’s opportunities to pursue, ideas to implement, deadlines to meet. The problem with running constantly is that our mind starts to think we can’t rest. It takes on a perpetual fight mode and stays alert all the time. The line between night and day blurs and the brain constantly tries to keep up with our run.

Our desire to keep running also exposes the condition of our hearts. We start thinking if only I can do a lit bit more, run a little longer, I can chance the world and then I can rest. But we never rest. We start pretending to be gods, trying to accomplish all that we can with our own limited strength. We do it to have absolute control over our circumstances. We do it to have our way. We do it so we won’t have to wait and so we can be in the front of the line. Our constant running is an indicator of our pride. We run to please ourselves and to out perform ourselves. In the process, we are possibly running away from God.

When I experience the temptation to keep running, it has helped me to focus on rest. Not lazy, but rest! In the scripture, God speaks of Sabbath as an essential part of being His children. What is Sabbath? A time of resting and enjoying the presence of God. The practice of resting in His presence is to let our brain know who is in control. Without the Sabbath rest, we start pretending to be mini gods. Sabbath rest is an act of surrender and a posture of utter dependence in God. The brain usually resists such surrender. It wants to show who the boss is. It is quickly distracted by the next item in the list of things to do. All great things, things that make us feel good and make us believe that we are changing the world. But no matter how good the things we do, if we are constantly running ahead of God, we are missing the whole point. If we are constantly rushing through life, it’s a good indicator that we need Sabbath rest.

So every time your brain is tempted to run at 1000 MPH, go into your secret place with God. Talk to Him. Enter His rest. And then do it with Him. Not lagging behind Him, not running ahead of Him, but walking step-by-step with Him. He loves you too much to see you burn out doing the work He has called you to do.

The All Knowing

The All Knowing – Acrylic on Canvas

Remember this: He knows it all. He sees you and your pain. He knows the ending from the beginning. His light and love remains, whether or not you see it. He can breathe life into your dead situations. Trust that He is for you and not against you.

This painting was started after I sensed an urge to paint a lion on a blue background, the background looked liked the night sky. Lions in my paintings represent Jesus, the Lion of Judah. After getting done with lion, I just added his breath(symbolizing life itself) and Greek symbols Alpha and Omega (As mentioned multiple times in the book of Revelation). I added a very discreet infinity with cross and an open to represent eternity through Jesus’ death and resurrection. I added faint stars in the background to represent how He exists outside the time and space. The painting is done with metallic and iridescent paint. Very difficult to photograph because with shifting light, the painting changes. At certain angles, the details become invisible – just like His presence is sometimes hidden from human mind and eyes. There is a brilliant blue sparkle to the painting in a darker room with a single light source, reminding of the light source that’s Jesus and through Him we shine like the stars in a night sky.

I loved painting this and has become one of my favorites till date.

Don’t Try This Yourself!!

Have you ever done skydiving? If you haven’t, don’t ever do it yourself. Of course you wouldn’t! I know you want to live and wouldn’t risk jumping all by yourself from 14,000 ft, unless you want to kill yourself.

Me on a tandem skydiving

I once wanted to do sky diving and I did it with a professional diver. When you jump with a professional, it’s called a “tandem sky diving”. When you dive in tandem with a professional, you don’t have to know anything. You don’t have to know when you should be jumping out of the plane. You don’t have to know when to deploy the parachute or how to maneuver it. You don’t even have to know how to land. You entrust your life into the hands of the professional and let him do everything. If you start messing with what he is doing, it can turn really dangerous. Trust is key in tandem sky diving.

As I was thinking about sky diving, I wondered if we trust enough to do life in tandem with God? There will be situations in life when we feel like we are in a free fall, just like jumping out of an airplane. But do we trust God enough to realize we are doing it in tandem with The Pro! He knows when to deploy the parachute, maneuver it and land us safely. Do we trust or do we try to do it all on our own and take a fatal fall? Trust is key in life too!

Abide In Me

Sometimes God speaks in a whisper but there are times He speaks over a megaphone. I’ve had quite a few of the megaphone instances in the past and when I get those messages, I know God is serious about it. The latest of the megaphone instances has been the message “Abide in me”. Be it while reading the Bible or while talking to friend or reading random article online or a random book, the message stays the same, “Abide in me”. I could no longer ignore it John chapter 15 is now probably my favourite chapter in the whole Bible. It’s a simple message but I forget it all the time. Jesus asked us to abide in him so that we can bear fruit. He asked us to abide in him so we can learn to follow his commands and love others. He asked us to abide in Him so that His joy may be in us and that our joy may be COMPLETE. But all too often, I’m tempted to do it on my own strength and I fail every single time. In His patience and grace, God is still not giving up on me and is gently pursuing me to abide in Him. God is good.

Recommended Reading – John chapters 14, 15, 16I did a very simple, very loose, watercolor painting to insist on the simplicity of the message.

A Hike Gone Wrong

Couratallam in South India is one place I loved visiting as a child. The town is very popular for its many water falls. Our family has visited this place several time. One such time, more than 40 of us, all closely related family members, made an epic trip to Courtallam. It was epic for various reason but the highlight of our trip was a hike gone wrong. Having visited many of the popular waterfalls in the area several times, we decided we should do something new. We got exclusive passes to a VIP only waterfalls called Palathotta Aruvi. It was a long hike through a dense forest to the hilltop. Thankfully there was a paved road to help us get the there. The lone security guard at the foothills sent us with a warning to return before sunset to avoid encountering wild elephants on the road as they take evening stroll to find food and water. We saw elephant foot prints on our way to the falls. The waterfalls was a hidden beauty inside the dence forest. Water was crystal clear. The aroma of herbs mixed with fresh water scented the whole place. There was a small pool of water just the right size for kids and two short but powerful waterfalls to cool us down. We had such fun that we lost track of time. By the time we started our hike down, it was almost sunset and few minutes into the hike, we lost all sunlight and it was pitch dark. It was so dark that I couldn’t see the person standing next to me or even my own hands. The dense tree cover hid any light that came from the stars. The only light that we saw was that of few random fireflies flying near the tree tops. None of us had a flashlight and so we had no clue where we were headed to. The hill was so steep and one wrong move could take us all downhill. One of my uncles found a long branch and used it to tap on the ground before him to lead us to safety. However, at one point, he almost lead us straight to the edge of the hill. One more step, we would have all fell down, one after the other. It was like a blind leading the blind. We remembered the warning that our security guard gave earlier that evening. We could encounter wild elephants! We could take a fatal fall down the hill! There were little babies in our midst. We were terrified! And in the darker than the darkest night, in the distance, we saw the dull glow of a torch light slowly moving towards our group. A huge sigh of relief, loud sounds of praises to God for saving us. Our security guard realizing we were probably grappling in the dark, took a hike to ensure we were okay. Thanks to his compassion, we were safe at last!

There’s something amazing about light in absolute darkness. It has the power to drive away fear and give hope and life.

Jesus knew what He meant when He said

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

John 8:12

He is the life giving source of light in our darkest moments. He, like our security guard, did not wait for us to grapple around in darkness. Instead, He came into our darkness to lead us out into the life giving light. Are we struggling to find our way in this dark world? We don’t have to look any further, for the light has come into the world to give us hope and life!

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.

Isaiah 9:2

It’s That Simple

My little son who is 2 years old can sometimes be very mischievous. I tell him something and he does the exact opposite with a smile on his face, wanting to test my boundaries. When he sees me getting upset, he comes straight to me and says sorry like he means it. Asks for me to hug him and kiss him. How can someone refuse to hug a child with those large innocent looking eyes? Once he gets his hug, he walks away happily knowing that his wrong wasn’t counted against him. He blows kisses like nothing ever happened

One of the passages of scripture narrates a similar story, just more powerful.

Then he (the criminal) said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

A criminal who was judged to die for his crime, looked to Jesus with his dying breath and asked Jesus to remember him. And Jesus instantly said, “you will be with me in Paradise”. His records of crime were wiped clean in God’s book because His crime was now on Jesus. Jesus took on his sins and died so he could be set free. All it took for the criminal to be counted as a good man was to turn to Jesus and say “I need you”. Nothing else! It’s that simple to enter into God’s love that’s available to every single human being in this world. His love is endless, and He desires for us to come to Him just as we are. All messed up, broken, with all the failures and mistakes. He is willing to take them all and set our records clean. We don’t have to strive anymore to be perfect to be loved by our God. We just have to run to Him and say “Lord remember me!”, and He can never say no.

My Humble King

There is beauty when a powerful person stays humble. Humility is like the crown jewel and is the most valuable in people of power. Throughout history, there have been people who’ve rose to power but chose to remain humble.

There is one person in history that exhibited humility like no one else. Though he was king, he exchanged his status for living among normal people. He chose to set aside his crown to have a personal relationship with his people. He left behind His throne and sat under the feet of his followers to wash their feet and said, “this is how you lead.” And as a final act of ultimate humility, love and sacrifice, he chose to die for his people, so he can defeat the power of darkness over his people.

If he had wanted, he could have been born in a palace but instead he chose to be born in a dirty, stinking, stable amidst cows and donkeys. If he had wanted, he could have preached from a throne with a crown on his head but he chose to hang on the cross and take on the crown of thorns. If he had wanted, he could have commanded an army of Angels to rescue him from the cross but my King loved me enough to value my life more than his own. If he had wanted, he could have stayed in his palace and refused to meet with me but he chooses to live in my heart and meets with me everytime I come to meet with him. There is no other king as humble and as loving like him in this world! Jesus, my humble King!

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,
Philippians 2:5‭-‬7 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/php.2.5-7.NLT

Grandpa’s Love

During my childhood, I, my sisters and my cousins would spend our summer holidays at my grandpa’s. I have so many fun memories from those days. We were 9 of us and quite a handful for our grandparents to handle. One of the memories is of my grandpa’s love. We were a naughty lot and we would do everything to avoid applying oil to our heads. The Chennai heat and humidity and our thick black hair meant we had to do everything we could to cool our bodies down and tame our unruly mane. Grandpa knew we would never apply enough oil to our heads so he took it upon himself to do the honors. He would seat all of us down and pour a huge amount of fresh coconut oil on all of our heads. He wouldn’t be satisfied unless our heads dripped with oil. The smell of the coconut oil would fill the room and we would try our best to escape. We dreaded the oil time. But there was wisdom behind his action and a lot of love. He knew our energy packed bodies needed the extra cooling effect from the oil.

This verse comes to my mind when I think of my grandpa’s love. Incidentally, Psalms 23 was my grandpa’s favorite chapter from the Bible.

He anoints my head with oil and my cup overflows. Psalms 23:5

God, like my grandpa, loves to anoint our heads with oil. His anointing shows how much He loves us. I did a bit of reading on anointing. In the Biblical days, Kings and Priests were anointed. So when God anoints us, He anoints us into kingship and priesthood. In Jesus, we become God’s children, prince and princess of God our King. In Jesus, we become priests, made holy by the sacrifice of Jesus, to knock on heaven’s door to intercede for people hurting around us. The most amazing thing is that God annoints us, not because we love Him, but because He loves us.