JESUS, THE GOOD SHEPHERD

A shepherd was looking after his sheep one day on the side of a deserted road, when suddenly a brand new Porsche screeches to a halt. 

The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Cerutti shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses, TAG-Heuer wrist-watch, and a Pierre Cardin tie, gets out and asks the shepherd: 

"If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?" 

The shepherd looks at the young man, and then looks at the large flock of grazing sheep and replies:"Okay." 

The young man parks the car, connects his laptop to his mobile,
enters a NASA Webster, scans the ground using his GPS, opens a database with 60 Excel tables filled with logarithms and pivot tables, and then prints out a 150-page report on his high-tech mini-printer.

He turns to the shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep here." 

Rather surprised the shepherd replies, "That’s correct, you can have your sheep." 

The young man takes an animal and puts it in the back of his Porsche. 

Just as the man is about to drive off, the shepherd asks him: "If I guess your profession, will you return my animal to me?" 

The young man answers, "Yes, why not?" 

The shepherd says, "You are an IT consultant." 

"How did you know?" asks the young man. 

"Very simple," answers the shepherd. 

"Firstly, you came here without being called.

Secondly, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew, and 

Thirdly, you don’t understand anything about my business. 

Now please can I have my sheep back?" 

We might think looking after sheep is a simple task but it isn’t. Looking after sheep is a highly specialized job. It takes good Shepherd years to learn his trade – and it is often passed on from father to son.

Let us meditate on “JESUS, THE GOOD SHEPHERD”

“I AM DOING IT EVEN NOW!”

A variant of WHAT DO WE DO WITH ‘THE EXTRA TIME’? (16^th May 2016) is posted here for the readers.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"Well, then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. 

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. 

"You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And after that?"

"After wards? That's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions?  Really?  And after that?"

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take siestas with your wife, and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

“I am doing it even now! Why should I wait and waste 25 years to enjoy what I am enjoying now?” was the Mexican fisherman’s answer.

 "FORGIVENESS IS GIVING UP MY RIGHT  …”

Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-violence, in his lecture at the University of Puerto Rico, shared the following story as an example of "non-violence in parenting":

 "I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies.

One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day in town, my father ask me to take care of several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my father off that morning, he said, 'I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home together.'

After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00.

He anxiously asked me, 'Why were you late?' I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, 'The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait,' not realizing that he had already called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: 'There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.'

So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered. I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again.

I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday. That is the power of non-violence."

"Forgiveness is giving up my right to hate you for hurting me."

A KING HAD FOUR WIVES ...

A king was madly in love with the fourth wife. He used to do anything possible to satisfy her.  

The king loved the third one also but he always had the fear that she will leave him anytime. So he used to do whatever possible to keep her near.

 The second wife also was loved by the king because she was a source of comfort and consolation to him. She always used to console him in his troubles.  So whenever in trouble he used to reach her.

The first wife loved the king very much. She used to help him in the administrative affairs of the kingdom. But he never gave place in his heart and did anything to satisfy her.

One day the king became sick and he knew he is going to die soon. He called his fourth wife and said, “Dear I loved you more than my other wives. I did my best to satisfy you. Shall you not come with me to the tomb, to be with me ever?” She said, “No” abruptly and went off.

Then the third wife was called and the same request was made to which the reply was, “Life is beautiful. My youth still remains and I expect a new partner after your death.” She also left.

King with expectation invited the second wife to his side and told, “You were my succor at the time of my troubles. Shall you come with me to the tomb to be with me to comfort me?  The reply was, “Please forgive me Lord. How can I fulfill your desire? I shall be with you till your body is put into the tomb. I cannot come further.”

The king was very much disappointed. It was at that time he heard a soft voice, “I shall come with you. I shall be with you where ever you go.” It was the voice of the first wife who was always ignored. He regretted that she was not taken care of when he could. He said, “You were the one who must have been considered the most, but I am sorry that I didn’t. If I get a second chance I shall.”

Friends, all of us have four wives. The fourth one is our ‘body’: we do whatever possible to satisfy it. [Once when I told that there are gents who spend Rs. 1000 per month to straighten their hair, a youth in the Church told that Rs. 1000 is old rate; now it is more than Rs 2500! Now you can imagine how much is spent to ‘maintain’ our body by way of make-up materials, hair dyes, vitamin pills etc., etc.!]. With death everything we spend on our body vanishes.

 The third one is our wealth, power and positions. After our death, it goes to some others: it need not be even into our family. You might have come across the reports that crores of rupees are in banks which are unclaimed mostly because the account holders are dead without nominees’ name in the account! I know a widow who could not locate the flats and documents of a couple of property in Mumbai the husband had bought. He died in an accident and the details went with him! Hence she had to abandon it though it was worth crores.

The second wife is our relatives including our parents, siblings, life partners and children. They can come only up to the tomb where our body is buried. They have to leave after that.

The first wife is our good deeds. It only comes with us after our death. Hence remember to spend more on good deeds than to the flashing things, craving for possessions and even for our relationships.

At this juncture, I would recollect the story of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer. Known for inventing dynamite, he held 355 different patents, dynamite being the most famous. After reading a premature obituary which condemned him for profiting from the sales of arms (In 1888, the death of his brother Ludvig caused several newspapers to publish obituaries of Alfred in error. A French obituary stated "Le marchand de la mort est mort" ("The merchant of death is dead"). This incident gave him a chance to re-think about life and its worth. The rest is known to everyone - he bequeathed his fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. Now he is remembered by the world, not as the “merchant of death”, but as the greatest humanitarian the modern world has seen!

LIFE IS ‘B’  AND ‘D’ WITH ‘C’  COMING IN BETWEEN

A group of friends visited their old university professor. Conversation soon turned to complaints about 'STRESS' and 'TENSION' in Life.

The Professor offered them coffee; went into the kitchen and returned with coffee in different kinds of cups!(glass cups, crystal cups, shining ones, some plain looking, some ordinary & some expensive ones...)

When all of them had a cup in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed- all the nice looking and expensive cups are taken up, leaving behind the ordinary ones! Every one of you wanted the best cups, & that is the source of your STRESS and TENSION!

What you really wanted was ‘coffee’, not the ‘cup’. But you still went for the best cup.

If life is coffee; then jobs, money, status and love etc. are the cups!

They are just TOOLS to hold and contain life. Please don't let the CUPS drive you! Enjoy the COFFEE!”

What is life? They say it is from ‘B’ to ‘D’...from Birth to Death! But what's between B and D? It is a "C ": Choice’. (In Malayalam it is said ‘ജനനം’ എന്ന മൂന്ന് അക്ഷരത്തിനും ‘മരണം’ എന്ന മൂന്ന് അക്ഷരത്തിനും ഇടയിലുള്ള മൂന്ന് അക്ഷരമാണു ‘ജീവിതം’) Our life is a matter of choices. We are what we are because of our choices. If a person born and grown in an ordinary family in a remote village of Kerala could become the President of India (K.R. Narayanan), if a person who do not have arms and legs could become a motivational speaker (Nick Vujicic – if you have not heard of this person and if you are depressed about the negatives in life, I strongly recommend you to go to youtube and see his videos)… The above are only a couple of names who took the reality of negatives in life as challenges and viewed them not as problems but as projects and possibilities – in fact it is only those who have seen their possibilities and ignored the limitations and hurdles could become achievers?)

Always hold a positive attitude; it pays and makes your life peaceful and enjoyable.

SEE THE MIRACLE WITHIN TO BE ONE OUTWARD

Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play major league baseball. 

He was criticized and scrutinized more often than the white players of his time. Though facing jeering crowds at every stadium, he was held to a higher standard.

One day while playing in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he committed an error at second base and the crowd began to ridicule him. 

He stood at that base, humiliated, while the fans jeered. 

Then, shortstop Pee Wee Reese came over and stood next to him. 

He put his arm around Jackie and stood with him facing the crowd. 

Robinson was no longer alone   and the fans grew quiet. 

Robinson later said that Pee Wee's act of solidarity that arm around his shoulder saved his career and gave him the strength to go on.

A simple action, yet it changed a heart!

Are you willing to be that arm of comfort? Are you ready to be that light in the darkness? 

We need to die to self and be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you do, you will be a blessing and in turn be blessed. 

Blessed to be a blessing! 

We are called weak by some; hypocrites by a few others; yet we have to be aware that we are called to hold a higher standard. When the world continues to ridicule and humiliate when we miss the mark, our God has given us a part of Himself, to be our Advocate, our Helper, our Comforter.

The Miracle Within is always there when we need Him the most. The Miracle within is there so we can be a Miracle without. 

MIRACULOUS ARE GOD'S WAYS!

Dr. Ahmed, a well-known doctor, was once on his way to an important medical conference in another city where-in he was going to be granted an award for medical research he had recently done. He was very excited to attend the conference and was desperate to reach as soon as possible. He had worked long and hard on his research and felt his efforts deserved the award he was about to obtain. However, two hours after the plane took off, the pilot announced that there was a problem with the plane and that they were going to make an emergency landing at the nearest airport. Afraid that he wouldn't make it in time for the conference, Dr. Ahmed immediately went to the help desk as soon as the plane landed and explained to the woman at the desk that he was expected to be at a very important conference and that he needed to know the immediate next flight to his destination.

She told him that there was nothing she could do to help him as there wouldn't be another flight to his destination for another ten hours; but suggested he rent a car and drive down to the city as it was only four hours away.

Having no other choice, he agreed to the idea despite his hatred for driving long distances. 

Dr. Ahmed rented a car and started his journey. However, soon after he left, the weather suddenly changed and a heavy storm began. The pouring rain made it very difficult for him to see and he missed a turn he was supposed to take.

After two hours of driving, he was convinced he was lost. Driving in the heavy rain on a deserted road, feeling hungry and tired, he frantically began to look for any sign of civilization. After some time, he finally came across a small tattered house. Desperate, he got out of the car and knocked on the door.

An old woman opened the door for him. He explained his situation and asked if he could use her telephone. She told him that she didn't have a phone or electricity but that he was welcome to come in for some food and something warm to drink as he had completely lost his way and that it would take him some time to get back on the right road.

Hungry, wet and exhausted, the doctor accepted her kind offer and walked in. The woman told him to help himself to some food and hot tea on the table and then excused herself to finish her prayers.

Sitting on the table sipping his tea, the doctor watched the woman in the dim light of candles as she prayed next to what appeared to be a small baby crib.

Every time she finished a prayer, she would start another one. Feeling that the woman might be in need of help, the doctor seized the opportunity to speak as soon as she finished her prayers and told her that he hoped God would answer her prayers. He then said that he noticed that she had been making a lot of prayers and asked if there was something she needed that he could get for her or help her with.

The woman smiled and said that God had answered all her prayers except one. She said she didn't know why God hadn't answered this specific prayer yet but perhaps it was because of her weak faith. The doctor asked if she didn't mind telling him what she needed. Nodding her head in approval, she said that the child in the crib was her grandson. She said that the child had a very rare type of cancer and that all the doctors she had seen were unable to treat him. She also said that she had been told that there was a doctor who specialized in that type of cancer her grandson had, but there was no way for her to get to this doctor as he lived very far from her; so she has been spending her days and nights praying to God to help her find a way to get to Dr. Ahmed - the doctor who could treat her grandson.

Upon hearing her words, tears began to flow down the doctor's cheeks and he said: “God is great, there was malfunction in the plane, a thunderstorm hit, and I lost my way; and all of this happened because God did not just answered your prayer by helping you find a way to get to Dr. Ahmed, but he brought Dr. Ahmed to your house. I am Dr. Ahmed.”

Tears streaming down her cheeks, the woman raised her hands  and prayed “Oh God, how great thou art!"

A SINNER RUNNING FROM SIN!

The story is told of a young girl who accepted Christ as her Savior and applied for membership in a local church.

"Were you a sinner before you received the Lord Jesus into your life?" inquired an old deacon.

"Yes, sir," she replied.

"Well, are you still a sinner?"

"To tell you the truth, I feel I'm a greater sinner than ever."

"Then what real change have you experienced?"

"I don't quite know how to explain it," she said, "except I used to be a sinner running after sin, but now that I am saved I'm a sinner running from sin!"

She was received into the fellowship of the church, and she proved by her consistent life that she was truly a child of God.

It is interesting to note here the transition of St. Paul from the feeling of being a very significant person in the Church to the feeling of being a great sinner. He began his spiritual journey after his transformation and the feeling in him was that he was one among the apostles (or may be the most important one because of his special call by the risen Christ! – for example: Ref. Gal. 1: 1, 11-12 etc.). He boasts about his call in the beginning of his ministry, but as days went by, he, because of his association with Jesus Christ, began to realize that he is a sinner and his final conviction before his death was that he was the greatest of all sinners (Ref. 1 Timothy 1:15-17)

Have you seen the growth of a paddy plant? When it flowers, the head shall be held high, but as days go by and when the husk is filled with liquid to form the rice grain, it starts to bow and as it becomes ripe for harvest the head shall be in the lowest position possible!

When the love of Christ fills our hearts, we shall naturally be humbled – arrogance, selfishness, evil motives etc. shall be reduced (it is ‘ego’ that tempts us to hold our heads high). When the love of Christ fills us, we shall become aware of our sinful nature and we shall say, “I am, because of Him; I do because of Him and I have nothing to boast of”.