‘Twas Grace…
Sometimes God just humbles me and reminds me not to take things for granted.
I got hit by a bike, nearly got hit by a Fiat (the big ambassador-lookalike type) and nearly hit a Honda City. Also got hit by something which changed the position of my left view mirror but I didn’t even realize that happened till presumably much later, when I saw the mirror. And I got lost driving, took two hours to get to a place twenty minutes away from where I started out. Circled a certain market 5 times and landed up on the wrong side of it thanks to wrong directions given generously and very graciously by at least 10 different people. Just what I needed to get the strength back in my feet after 3 days of total bed rest! But praise be to God, He gave me opportunity to stop and pray, then I got to where I needed to go and was very moved by the reality of the fallenness of man. Yes, human casualties are much higher than animal and bird casualties when natural calamities occur! It is not a coincidence, is it? And then there was more driving, more privilege, more service, more grace.
[14 November 2009. 11 pm. On the phone to Paul]
Aridhi:
D* has an amazing testimony. They are three siblings who came to Christ through different people in different cities. One of her brothers was a Buddhist monk who turned to the Lord.
Paul:
Wow. Once he was a llama but now he’s a sheep.
—
Aridhi:
And do you know what Moolie* told me today?
Paul:
Why do you ask? Are you implying that she called me and told me before you called?
—
Aridhi:
Isn’t it amazing that so many people will come together to worship God tomorrow? All over the world, the people of God will come together for worship. Why should the earth not be shaken?
Paul:
Sunday is like a mexican wave of worship. That’s inspiring. Ok, I’m definitely going to church tomorrow.
—
So Paul was being funny tonight but not irreverent. I love that meaningful humour which Leonard Ravenhill also had. Paul doesn’t accept it but he is so much like Ravenhill.
*names changed.
Jehovah Jireh — God Provides (Part 2)
[Sometime last month. On the phone to Paul]
Paul:
What are you doing tonight?
Aridhi:
Working. I have a lot of work to do. Moot court memorials, five assignments, research on global warming and environmental crises… etc. Baaaa.
Paul:
You sound tired.
Aridhi:
I don’t want to accept that I am tired.
Paul:
<laughs> you Charismatic.
Aridhi:
<also laughs> yeah man.
—-
There is a test of miracles that Paul taught me about tonight. A miracle from God will testify about Christ. The coming beast will perform many signs but they will not point to “the hour” (ref. John 2) nor to the kingdom of God which is seen by those who are born again (ref. John 3). The difference between prosperity gospel, health-above-holiness kinda miracles and the witness of the early Church, is the testimony of Jesus Christ… God’s word is not understood by laborious interpretation but by divine revelation… God provides everything.
Jehovah Jireh — God Provides (Part 1)
“Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work…” – Exodus 20.9
I hadn’t taken a day off for over a month. Certainly hadn’t slept 8 hours most nights during this time… Often it was less than 3 hours. Planned to take a day off a couple of times, but things always cropped up and there was no rest. God provided energy to labour through this time and I am deeply grateful for the strength to pull donkeys out of pits. Again God provided rest yesterday (it started as something of a burnout) so I slept from 4 pm yesterday till 12.30 pm today with some short breaks… slept for a few hours again this afternoon and I’m so ready to sleep again now and it’s not even 11 pm. I can hardly move I don’t know if I will even go to college tomorrow. I’ve been counting down the days but now that the last days are here I’m falling short of the finish line. I suppose God knows how to make me “ready” to leave… I hate controversy more than many other things, I just want a clean exit. God is in control. Clean or not, may my exit glorify Him and let me not be reproached for transgression and fault. If it is for righteousness that I am reproached, I will rejoice.
It looks like I’m headed towards a new start, a new life. There are so many possibilities, opportunities, plans, desires… but there is one above all, my Lord Jesus Christ. I will go where He leads and I know He neither slumbers nor sleeps. I had a dream this morning, the exact same dream three times in the same morning. It was powerful, it was of Christ and of fellowship with His people, and it was exactly the same all three times that I saw it. May the Lord teach me His word and may I be faithful to learn it.
Fire
I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. … Psalm 101.3, Galatians 4.9
I will not play with fire. … Proverbs 6.27-28
The way is NARROW… Narrow, narrow, NARROW…
Broken because of my foolishness… How do my eyes stray from Him?
Lord, forgive me, correct me, lead me in Your righteousness…
I am Yours, let nothing of this earth ever claim me except You, O Lord.
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire but you.
Let me be that virtuous woman, whose husband is known in the city gates, whose children rise up and call her blessed, who trusts not in beauty or charm, but clothes herself in kindness and wisdom, and the fear of the LORD is her strength…
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” –Romans 12.2
Words fail me tonight. For horror of sin and deception.
Things Only A Mother Can Say
[4 November 2009. 9 pm. In Mum's room]
Mum:
Not long till your moot court is over now, Friday is almost here.
Aridhi:
Yes Mum, it will be over by Sunday evening.
Mum:
Why Sunday? Why not Friday?
Aridhi:
Thanks for being my well-wisher…
Mum:
Isn’t it over on Friday?
Aridhi:
No Mum, the researcher test is on Friday and the oral arguments are Saturday. The finals are not till Sunday. You don’t see me getting there obviously.
Mum:
When will you need to wear your formal clothes then?
Aridhi:
Um, from Friday to Sunday?
Mum:
Oh no!! Do you have three sets? Where is that white kurta you had…
Aridhi:
<has tuned out>
——–
[4 November 2009. 9.30 pm. In Mum's room]
Mum:
You must intern at a good place, beta.
Aridhi:
You know where I’m interning Mum.
Mum:
Where? Is it a good place?
Aridhi:
Mum, it’s the same place as last time.
Mum:
Oh, when do you start?
Aridhi:
November 16.
Mum:
Great, have you told them about it?
Aridhi:
Yes Mum, I rang them to tell them, and they were cool with it. In fact, they had recently hired a new associate but they have asked him to leave so that the cabin will be available for me. Everything’s in place.
Mum:
My daughter will have her own CABIN? Wow, are you serious?
Aridhi:
Erm, they will FIRE AN ASSOCIATE to give me a cabin? MUM!!
Mum:
Uff.
——–
Classic. Another one that ends with “uff”. 
I love my Mum. She is adorable.
You Tell’em!
[3 November 2009. 11 pm. On Gtalk with Vidha]
Me:
I’m discouraged.
Vidha:
About what?
Me:
Public speaking.
Vidha:
<long list of links> read these.
Me:
Thanks, you rock.
——–
One of the links*:
The Rule of Tell’em
Tell’em what you are going to tell’em, Tell it to them, and then Tell’em what you told them.
——–
You tell’em?
That sounds good. The last time I made up my mind to tell’em what I was going to tell’em, I went up on stage before a multitude of law students and law professors discussing the relevance of International Law in present times, and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ. I did that once before for a moot court selection process where there wasn’t a set topic for discussion (although they did expect it to have relevance to law and were taken aback by my speech on religion). That’s what I’m here for and that’s what I do. I guess that is a good fall back for Saturday. Don’t tell’em my team…
Do not fear those who can kill the body and beyond that can do nothing else. [Matthew 10.28]
So, while I’m absolutely certain that Vidha did NOT mean for me to interpret her wonderful favourite bookmarked links on public speaking in this way, I’m sure she is happy that I’m feeling better and ultimately does not care how it goes at the moot court. Nobody does.
*I have not linked to the website because of unwholesome content in other parts of the page. I have checked that the quoted text is available on many other websites and cannot be the exclusive copyright of the particular website on which I discovered it. Anyhow, my apologies.
Rodent
Funny how words often mean one thing, but end up being interpreted as something else.
Network Strength: Good
To live is Christ, and to die is gain. — Philippians 1.21
I’ve always heard people say how important it is to have a good network. We had a lawyer advise us on our orientation day to have 120 good business cards in our wallets by the end of five years of law school. We are constantly advised by our professors to make ourselves visible and memorable in the sight of prospective employers, educational institutions offering reputed LLM courses, etc… As the proverb also goes, “the poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends.” [Proverbs 14.20]
People with big lawyer friends will say, “should I get you an internship?”
“Okay, why do you think I should intern with your friends?”
“They are advocates in the Supreme Court”.
“Uh-huh?”
“Aridhi, they plead before judges of the Supreme Court!”
“Do you judge people by who they get to plead before?”
“Yes, because you need a good network to access high people.”
“So it’s good to network with people who plead before the highest judges?”
“Yes, that’s the only way to get to the top.”
“Hmmm, I agree with you.”
“Really? Good, I am glad you are being practical.”
“You can give them my card.”
“What?!”
“I plead before God, the Judge of all in heaven and on earth. And I go through Jesus Christ, our Advocate, the only One qualified to appear and plead before Him. He is the Way and the Door. Leave your earthly treasures behind, they will corrode and they will rot: come to Him, to heavenly treasures which will not fail.”
——-
I don’t know that the apostles or anyone else in the Bible ever did “prayer walks” but prayer is a great privilege and so I’m running a prayer run tomorrow. The Great Delhi Run. For my two weeks, for my six months and for my one year. And for the rest of my exile in this great country. I’m called to fish. He seeks those who worship in spirit and truth. His work is to believe in the One whom He has sent. His power is beyond measure and His love beyond comparison. And as our brother Jim Elliott has said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Fight the good fight, run the good race, that at the end we may receive the crown God has promised to those who love him.
Friend
I was going to write “I am a mouse”. But I am a worm. A lowly worm taking refuge in a God who strengthens worms and says “fear not, you worm Jacob, I will help you, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.”
I have two weeks left at the place my heart is most burdened for. This is where I was at when I came to know the Lord four years ago and I have been here since. I cannot pray to be debarred from appearing in my exams because I will not be allowed to attend classes next semester even if I enroll in the same subjects. I cannot pray to have to repeat the year because it would be too hard on my parents. I cannot afford to return for another programme of study. I will go where the will of God takes me and I will rejoice in His provision for me but my heart is in agony. There may be physical dangers to threaten us at various places but where God wills us to be, there is our safety and there is no safer place than the place of obedience to God. Our father Abraham was a friend of God, and to him was God’s heart and plan opened. Do I dare present before my Lord my petition to have the same honour bestowed upon myself? “Oh Lord, if there be ten righteous people in this place…” Can I take it?
The Lord said “I call you My friends because I have made everything known to you.”
It is a wonder that I am a worm but God is my friend. It is a wonder that He has revealed all His fullness in the life and words and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a wonder that Jesus is the exact nature of God. It is a wonder that I am fearless in proclaiming Him because of the power of His own Spirit working in me. I am a mouse, I am weak, I am a worm, but I have taken refuge in Him and He upholds Me with His might.
Today was a day of trials and wonders. I am not afraid of judgment, because I am His. He is worthy of worship even if He sends me to hell. But His eyes, holy and pure, they glance the way of my heart… and my heart beats faster and I want to pour my life out to Him as a drink offering. Unafraid of persecution, unafraid of death. Because of His love, His desire to exalt what is magnificent beyond words… I will cast out of my sight all that is unclean and I will set no worthless thing before me. I am overwhelmed with longing for Him. My heart feels like it will burst open and all my inner heart gush out from longing for Him. My heart is too small to comprehend the magnitude of longing with which the God of heaven and earth is to be desired.
Thank you PrayerWalker* for all your love and encouragement tonight. You are a beautiful woman of God.
He was there before me and He will be there after. When I am finished, He is not. And when I am overwhelmed, it is not even close to the Passion of Christ… O Sovereign God, we are the sheep of your pasture.
I am a stranger in the earth, do not hide Your commandments from me. My soul is crushed with longing after Your ordinances at all times… my soul languishes for Your salvation, I wait for Your word. — Psalm 119.19-20, 81
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. — John 12.26
*name changed.
