Praise the Lord
for this beautiful weekend. It has been a summer like week. Only
our Lord brings summer days in the mid-spring. Alice and I
drove along some country roads yesterday morning, gazing at the
flowering trees and flying birds. Due to the unusual warm days of April, the
trees are budding, brilliant, and beautiful. I cannot but praise
Jesus for the way and the manner, being the wonderful designer and the
artist, He designs and decorates the hills and dales, the mountains and
valleys. I was paying attention to the countless daffodils which
created a canvas of unending beauty that is covering the
fields and hillsides. Praise the Lord for
the way the flowers bloom with so much beauty. We have a peach
tree that we had planted few years ago. It is getting humongous now with
colorful blossoms. Some of the azaleas and forsythia are in luxuriant
bloom.
Our
daughters living in Washington, DC, our Nation's capital were telling me
yesterday morning that the temperature in Washington would be reaching into the
90's. I assured my daughters that they will be blessed with two distinctive
summer seasons this years. One is the early, premature, summer
the other one is the late one. They both will be brilliant.
I
was planning to attend one of the several camp meetings back in Phulbani,
Orissa, India. These meetings are held during early summer at various
strategic locations, where Christians come together for praise, worship,
fellowship, and witness. These are like the old time Methodist Camp
meetings where thousands come. The meetings are held under huge tents. Many
people cook their food over campfires. Campfires illuminate the
landscape, reminding us about the Jewish people who dwelt in
Booths. Due to some unavoidable circumstances I had to cancel my
trip. One of the large camp meetings was held this week, which was held
at the premises of the school where I attended 4th through the 7th
grade. Years later I taught in the same school. It has been
reported that the Lord visited His people during these gatherings. The
Lord was GLORIFIED and His people were anointed and blessed.
As
I was visiting a gentleman the other day I walked in and asked him if he
knew who I was, but at first he did not recognize
me. After I introduced myself He said, "Oh, yes, I do know you.
He said further, "You are looking wonderful". He
further said, "You are talking wonderful too". I took it
very personally. We had a very sweet and winsome conversation.
He said that I can go fishing in his pond any time, and that there
is a bigger pond nearby which belongs to his friend. He said that I can
fish in the big Pond, too. If any one asks and questions me I am
to tell that he sent me. It is good to have friends in high
places. Though this friend of mine is in his nineties, his mind is
sharp and his heart is warm. As I was leaving I met woman at
the front desk who shared with me that she has come down with severe
health problems. "Jesus is taking care of me.", she said.
She said that she still works full time and has moved with her son and his
family. Praise the Lord for the way He places the solitary in the
families.
Praise
the Lord for one of our nephews who is a junior at the Union-Endicott High
School. He was inducted into the National Honor Society earlier this
week. Our nephew was born in India, and came to the United
States after his parents immigrated to America the Beautiful legally 17 years
ago. When he came to the States he spoke no English, but now he
an athlete and a scholar.
I
recently talked with a young friend of our ours, who was 8 years old when we
met her in June 1978. She is married and blessed with a wonderful husband
and three gorgeous children. I officiated in her wedding. The
oldest is in college. They all love the Lord and are involved in the
ministry of their local church. The mother of this young woman is a
dear friend of ours who celebrated her 81st birthday this month. This wonderful
servant of Jesus and her family took us in loved and nurtured us in our first
church that we served. We also learned about a man who was part of our
first church who died today. He was loved by his dear wife and
family and their church family.
We
are praying two for precious boys, both very young, who are battling
with some deadly diseases. We are praying and trusting Jesus for their
healing and wellness. The boys belong to very committed and devoted
Christian families. We are praying for the family of a man who died today
battling with deadly disease with great courage. We praying for his
children, his grandchildren, and his family and friends. We praise
the Lord for family and friends, for the church, and for all the countless
blessings bestowed upon us. Praise the Lord for School and college
students, who are getting ready for the end of the year, for graduations,
commencements, proms, baccalaureates. Praise the Lord for these blessings
and gifts that we can celebrate.
Let
us pray for the world, that is a like tinder box about to explode.
Somehow we trust, believe, and declare that Jesus in control. Let us all
come to Him and yield ourselves to His sovereign reign, rule, and authority.
Pray for the world leaders that they might seek the wisdom of the Lord as
King Solomon did. Let us pray for the persecuted, for the refugees, for
the oppressed, for those who are blinded by the enemy. Pray for those
whose burdens are heavy, that they might come to Jesus, whose yoke is easy and
whose burden is light. Let us come to Jesus and live. The world
needs Jesus. Those who are lost in the darkness need Jesus.
The dead in sin need Jesus. Let us call upon Jesus.
The
Sun has risen on this (yesterday's) Lord's Day with brilliance, and with
healing in its wings. The Lord is Risen from the grave. He is
risen, indeed. Because Christ is Risen, life is a celebration. Life
is a time of worship. Life is a time for thanksgiving. At the
same time life can be a battlefield. It is written, "But Thanks be
to God who gives us the victory". But thanks be to God, who always
leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the
knowledge of Him in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14 The Lord blessed us
in His house yesterday in worship and fellowship. Alice and walked in the late
afternoon, and Alice was naming some of the streets and lanes with such
names as Daffodil Lane, Tulip Lane, or Azalea Lane. The streets are
surrounded with beautiful, blooming flowers and foliage. As we were
walking we stopped by to say hello to a family that just moved to
town. They purchased a home in the town that had been vacant for several
months. It was beautiful and pleasant visit. The young family is
blessed with six beautiful children, whom they home school. Lord
bless their breed and brood.
Today
we praise the Lord for our daughter Sunita. She celebrates her birthday
on this day. She was born in a county seat hospital in
Pennsylvania. Alice was reminding me that it was a hot day on that
special day. It was a sunny and brilliant 80 degrees. It is going
to be warm day today here and it is going to hot day in Washington, DC where
she lives. Sunita is a blessing to us to all who know her.
Just
two months from today we will gather to celebrate the retirement of my wife
Alice. You all are invited. In a way you do not need an
invitation. You are all part of the family. The party and the
celebration will take place on Saturday the July 1, 2017 at the Marathon Civic
Center. We will gather at 4:00 PM to have time for visiting, and the
dinner will be served at 5:00 PM. Our friends and family are preparing a
mega-banquet so, as they say in the South, y'all come.
He broke bread and
they knew him. What an astounding source of revelation! More articulate than
the words he had spoken was his breaking of bread. More vivid than his
countenance was his breaking of bread. More penetrating than the scriptures he
expounded was his breaking of bread.Luke 24
In Christ the Risen
One.
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