Serving God's Purposes in Our Generation (Acts 13:36b)

Useful Garbage

Spiritual Truths from Contemporary Life to Build You UpI was thinking… Can garbage become useful? Can waste turn a profit? Can what we don’t need generate what do we do need? It’s happening, with new technology. Much garbage, collected and compressed over the years is slowly turning to fuel that can heat homes and cook meals. Bio-technology turns a trash burial project into a huge plus for their community. They lay pipes into the garbage which pump in landfill liquid to saturate the trash and make a better food source for naturally occurring organisms. As the organisms feed on the…

Random Thoughts While in Argentina

To Surya: hahaha...I´m laughing and shaking my head at the video, "Typical Indian Parents." Aren´t we glad that our Indian parents are much more "liberal" than others? When I say liberal I mean as in Indian culture´s standards. Speaking of which, I feel out of place most of the time because I don´t fit in anywhere, whether it is American or Indian culture or church culture. Sure it makes me unique because why be like everyone else? That is overrated because being unique makes you frustrated very often. A man at church once told me, "We are not Americans, Indians…

I Asked The Lord

I asked the Lord to give me a revelation of His love…He helped me accept and grow in love for the unloved around me. I asked the Lord to give me a revelation of His grace…He helped me forgive someone who I once said I couldn’t forgive. I asked the Lord to give me a revelation of His joy…He walked with me hand in hand during the most difficult time of my life. I asked the Lord to give me a revelation of His glory…He taught me to see Him whenever I look at all that He created. I asked the…

This Is Real. This Is Me!

Discussing Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas’ song - This is Me Lyrics *  Video I Always been the kind of girl that hid my faceSo afraid to tell the world of what I’ve got to sayBut I have this dream right inside of meI’m gonna let it showIt’s timeTo let you know, it’s about you know This is real, this is meI’m exactly where I’m supposed to be nowGonna let the light, shine on meNow I found, who I amTheres no way to hold it inNo more hiding who I wanna beThis is meDo you know what it’s like to…

Surprisingly Receptive First Generation Indians

Over the last few days, Shainu and I have had some great opportunities to talk with 1st generation Indian folks about 7 Mile Road. And get this…none of them threw anything at us. Ok, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, but often I expect something to come flying at my head when I tell people in my parent’s generation about our call to plant a church. For a number of reasons, many are hostile to the idea of a new church being started to reach a younger generation. But from the beginning, we’ve been doing our best to be respectful…

China’s Testostrone Problem

I recently read a report about a group of young men gangraping a young girl in Southwestern China, which even included the son of a local politician. This incident set off a series of protest against government in many parts of China. But all of this is a fallout from China’s famous “one child” policy of 80s and 90s. The one child were selectively chosen to be male and created the greatest gender imbalance in the history of the world. There are 37 million more men than women in China; and almost 20 percent more newborn boys than girls nationwide.…

Mobilizing Indians for Missions: An Interview with Shibu K. Mathew

India is basically a spiritual country, we yearn for something beyond ourselves. "God lead us from darkness into light, from death to life, from falsehood to truth," is a common prayer. This is our prayer, and God hears it. Sometimes I look around and wonder how it can happen . . . . The Indian missions movement is not yet as professional as I'd like to see it. I believe we'll see more go-getters in the next generation. I look forward to seeing this scenario: An IT guy climbs the ladder. He's a vice president by the time he's 30. He's traveled, enjoyed the world, then begins to think, "What should I do? Is there anything more to life?" Guys like this come to my class as brilliant chaps, running big companies. It would be good if we could see them bring that expertise into missions. 

Pakistan for Christ – It's Harvest Time

The moment I was converted to Christ, I was plunged in to spiritual warfare about which I knew nothing about. Every redemptive work I did, I was attacked. Later, I learned I was worth being attacked because Christ has chosen me and I had a greater calling and responsibility than I had realized. . . . The visions of the Lord are usually for the appointed time. The hour of Christ's vision for Pakistan has come. This realization is taking place and its fulfillment has begun ( Habakkuk 2:2-3). Now is the time that we may write it on the walls (write it, print it, proclaim it and publish it on the hand bills as well as the Internet). The hour of God's mercy on Pakistani people and on the small Church rests now. Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them on our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy (on Pakistan) - Habakkuk 3:2

New Nepal Needs New Minds!

Recent events have proven that the much hyped new Nepal is very much like the old, but without a king in Narayanhiti. Instead of the monarch, others of similar dictatorial bent are trying to impose their wills on the innocent Nepalese population. Beware, an individual as well as groups can practise totalitarianism. First, the orgy of destruction. G. K. Chesterton wrote about British youth hooliganism, and his resolve neither to laud it nor be impressed by it. Our newly born republican nation went through several days of needless, crippling strikes . . .  discarding these vestiges of old Nepal, we need selfless, far-sighted students, transporters, political parties, and garbage-people (besides others) to make our country prosper. A new Nepal needs new minds.

Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" And The Question Of How Much Is "Enough"

A reader responds to my piece on "enough":"I am not completely convinced that "enough" is primarily related to contentment, philanthropy, spiritual, cultural, or economic factors. It seems to me that the concept of "enough" has several levels and that Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" serves as a good initial classification scheme. For all living entities, the satisfaction of primary physiological needs of the organism, enabling the maintenance of the normal homeorhettic processes of life, define the first level of "enough". The next level would then be the satisfaction of those additional physiological needs required to propagate the species, but not…

Weekend In Malacca . . .

I spent my last weekend in Malacca. It was really fun and many interestin thing hapened up there... Including my Chinese which is improving at a damn quick rate ha ha ha... Well we left on saturday morning. In total there were 15 of us.. 14 chinese and 1 INDIAN ha ha and thats me... Hilary, her Mum, Auty, Uncle cousin and many more..... IT was time to get to know them and i really enjoyed my time around with them I had no barrier talking with them i was being myslef to them and i did not have to…

Busy July

I think this is probably my most busiest month of July ever. - this sunday we'll be leaving after church to go to six flags in california. we'll be spending about two days in Portland as well on our way to Calli. we come bak the next sat. - the next weekend I'll be off to Portland again with Mia for the Western Youth Conference -the weekend after that hopefullly i'll be able to go to edmonton for the next western penti conference. Hopefully my bank account can withstand all that! I'm so excited to travel again! leaning on His…

Too Inspired for My Own Good

We visited the Museum of Modern Art of Latin America in Buenos Aires. This is me in front of the museum by the water fountains. The museum wouldn´t let me take pictures inside. I saw pictures of famous Latin American artists. The interesting thing was that many of them studied art in Europe. They were inspired by artists like Picasso and art movements like surrealism and impressionism. They added their own flair to it. I would describe the art as eclectic. One famous Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo caught my attention because her art has bits of surrealism, exoticness, symbolism and…

Early Years of Marriage

Most casusalty happens in early years of marriage. Contrary to the popular notion, many marriage break up in the honeymoon year itself. Others within first three or five years. If couple survives ten years or so, they are likely to stick on even if they do not have a great marriage. A recent study by the Creighton University Center for Marriage and Family suggests that time, sex and money pose the three biggest obstacles to satisfaction in the lives of newly married couples. In its report, "Time, Sex and Money: The First Five Years of Marriage,'' the center noted those…

The Power Of Purpose

The question of purpose is central to gaining personal [professional] competence and productivity. It is purpose that drives us. What if we don’t? Well, as they say if you don’t know where you are going any road is okay. Most of us spend most of our lives wondering about life’s purpose. We mimic what are friends do, we get to do things our parents tell us to do and worse, we get to do what we find in the immediate and the familiar, little knowing why we do what we do with our lives. In Lakshya, it took Karan (played…

Majority Religious Belief

Spiritual Truths from Contemporary Life to Build You Up I was thinking… “Most Americans agree with the statement that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life. Among those who are affiliated with a religious tradition, seven-in-ten say many religions can lead to eternal life.” This national poll (released June 23, 2008) on what America believes comforts us in terms of social relationships. Social relationships can easily fray when they are driven by ideologies and demagogues. We must treat each other humbly, and view all religions respectfully. All people are precious. And religions are precious…

Spirituality In The Common Things

Sometimes you get a realization of truths that most people take for granted at the most unexpected and most ordinary things. I always hear church VBS, youth camps, church conferences and specifically designated church events advertise, "Come here to find God, grow in spiritually and be fullfilled..." and basically anything along those lines. It´s as though you are expected to have a road to damascus sort of experience at these places or else you are missing out on something. Christianese jargon, hype and other clichés surrounding these environments. I have nothing against them. However, there tends to be a subtle…

Raising Support

In April, I had attended the Dwell church planting conference in NY. One of the seminars was about raising funds for the work of church planting. The speaker challenged us to be bold and ask specific requests to potential supporters. I took his advice and decided that I would begin by asking 2 friends of mine to consider committing to give towards 7 Mile Road monthly. This week I got to hang out with one of those friends. But get this. Before I could ask him, he and his wife gave us a card. In it was a check and…

An Overdue Update

Its been crazy days.... Things are looking up for me... I want to thank God for his grace and mercy in my life.... Look out for more soooooon David Bala

India – Diabetic Capital of the World

India has a new dubious distinction now - Diabetic capital of the world! A Recent Report tells about the dramatic rise in diabetic cases in India, amouting for nearly 25% of cases in the world. WHO reports that by 2025, India will have over 57 million cases of type 2 diabetic. November 14th is the World Diabetic Day (never heard of that?) Guess what, Indians are some of the leading medical reserachers and scientists in this field. In my own families,  many suffer from Diabetics and I have lost some due to this disease. Changing lifestyles, work habits, diets, new…