Tuesday 31 July 2012

THE GLITCH

Yesterday was a trying day for me! I was woken up early in the morning by an irate friend telling me that his email account was clogged with my emails and that i should do something to put an end to the madness. At first i did not know what he was talking about. I stumbled out of bed into the bathroom and splashed some water into my groggy eyes. I went straight to my laptop to access my mail. To my horror, i saw what was happening! Members from my web mailing list were inundating my box with pleas and threats, asking me to 'unsubsribe' them from the list. So i started unsubscribing them one by one. As i was doing so, even more mail was pouring in from all around the world asking me to stop sending emails.

What actually happened was that there was a small 'glitch' in the setup of the mailing list. The mailing list address was revealed at the bottom of each email that was sent, allowing the list members to respond to all 2000 list members with their responses. Some person somewhere (God bless him!), instead of just hitting the 'unsubscribe' tab, sent an email to the whole list! Everytime someone wrote to the list, every member on the list got an email. That was what was clogging everybody's email account!

After many desperate attempts to reach my web designer/ Administrator in India, i had no other way but to delete the whole list in desperation to stop this madness!

Whilst i will use this posting to apologise to as many readers as possible, i would also like to request readers to send me an email at: jodias27@gmail.com telling me to re-list you on my website. This time around, i promise to be more careful with the mailing list.

I looked at my emails this morning and let out a long sigh of relief that the nightmare had passed at last!

God be praised!

Sunday 29 July 2012

BLACK & WHITE LIES!

Leander was listening to TED TALKS last night. I was doing my meditation and instead of asking him to use his headphones, I let my mind focus on the talk instead of pursuing a thoughtless state of mind! It was about LIES and how to spot a LIAR! As usual, we discussed this topic over dinner and I was surprised how the ‘modern liar’ has mastered the art of deception even to pass the lie detection test!
That made me mull over what the Bible had to say about lying -
Proverbs 6:16-19 says, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."
Everyone tells a white lie on occasion, it’s just a question of why.  Some white lies save relationships, some ease a hectic situation, and others buy us time.  The list could go on forever.  Stretching the truth is a natural component of human instinct because it’s the easy way out.  We all do it, so there is no reason to deny it.  “As long as we aren’t hurting others or breaking the law, these innocent lies can make life more pleasant”- is our justification for our lies! 
Deceit, lying, and falsehoods lie at the very heart of our cultural heritage. As the moral climate of our society has been deteriorating, lying has become a major problem. The business world is particularly plagued by this problem--men’s dishonesty with each other. Even God’s ministers are not immune and many of them are infected with it.
The Bible is filled with admonitions against being dishonest and lying. One of the Ten Commandments states:
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Exodus 20:16
Let us examine our own lives to see if we are infected with the same disease. What kind of witness are we to those around us? Are we deceived and have we become liars ourselves? The Bible also lists this sin of lying as one that can lead us to hell along with some other grievous ones.
Revelation 21:7-8 says, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
A LIE IS A LIE EVEN IF SPOKEN IN LATIN!

Tuesday 24 July 2012

THE EVIL EYE

It's been three days since Lorine left for Portugal to join her sister and mother who are holidaying there. I could not join because of the deadlines at work. My two sons opted to stay behind with me. Last night the topic at the dinner table was 'evil eyes' and is it merely a superstition. Leander popped that question and i had a hard time explaining the 'phenomenon'!
 
From my own experience as a child, specially growing up in Goa, where people are pretty superstitious, i've had my fair share of 'evil eye' attacks and the frequent runs to the 'disht-kan' (The lady who removed the spell). I still remember her sitting outside her hut in Mandel in Margao, rubbing some wierd smelling roots on a stone and spraying the water thrice on the face with much force, accompanied by the 'i believe'.
 
Most of us in Goa has experienced this sometime or the other in their lifetime (I believe?). My grandmother explained it to me as being the ill effect of somebody's envy or praise. It is important to understand that the person who praises the child is not evil per se. IT JUST HAPPENS!
 
A typical account of such a mishap might be: "I dressed the baby in new clothes and took him to town and a woman who has no children saw him and said, 'Oh, what a pretty child!' and as soon as we got home he began to vomit!" The "evil" in these accounts of the evil eye indicate that it is thought to be situational in nature and that it is caused by a failure to restrain envy within proper social bounds.
 
Mentions of the evil eye in the Bible clearly refer to the role that envy and covetousness play in its development. We can read in Proverbs 23:6 "Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meat" and likewise in Proverbs 28:22, "He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him."
 
Then over in Mark 7:21-22, we see that the early Jewish Christians believed in evil eye, for it is written there that when Jesus Christ lectured about defilement, he told his followers that evil eye comes forth from a man and defiles him just the same as if he had committed a physical crime: "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness."

There are many 'cures' followed by people in various countries, some of which may be: Olive oil dripped into water with prayer...Wax dripped into water with prayer ... Coals or match heads dropped into water with prayer ...Passing a whole raw egg over the face, then breaking it ...Breaking an egg in a dark, shadowed place, unseen ...breaking an egg and drawing a cross on the victim's forehead ...Victim drinks three sips of holy water ...Victim is bathed in holy water ....

As for me, i believe in one tried and tested method which has never failed me. It is to confess Holy Scriptures and certain assertions daily. For example: I AM THE BODY OF CHRIST, SATAN HAS NO POWER OVER ME, SICKNESS HAS NO PLACE IN ME.

Wednesday 18 July 2012

TRUE SUCCESS ?

TRUE SUCCESS

What is true success? Let's examine Scriptures to find out!

King Solomon, a man to whom God gave great wisdom, wrote most of the Proverbs such as:

“Do not toil to acquire wealth; be wise enough to desist. When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes to itself wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven” (Proverbs 23:4–5, RSV).

 “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour; and this was my reward from all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labour in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:10–11).

Again, there are the following instances when...

The mother of James and John—two of Jesus’ disciples—came to Him with a request: “She said to Him, ‘Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.’ But Jesus answered and said, ‘You do not know what you ask’” (Matthew 20:21–22). He then told them that those positions were for those chosen and “prepared by My Father.”

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25–28).

The greatest is one who is a true servant—one who truly cares for and helps others! Notice that it was the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, who took little children up in His arms and who stooped over to wash the feet of His disciples. You can read about that foot-washing service in John 13.

Jesus’ example was one of service, sacrifice and love. “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).

Whatever position we may hold in this life, we will never find true success unless we have an attitude of godly service toward others. One of the measures of true success is the degree of godly service one is willing to give.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgement, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:12–14).

Tuesday 10 July 2012

PHOTOSHOPPING!

A few days ago, i spent a good hour at the photo studio. I had gone there to 'photoshop' a friend's image with Justin Bieber. It was her birthday and knowing she loved Justin, i thought i'd poke some fun at her.

Whilst i was waiting there for my turn, i saw a man getting his head transported onto another body that was with a suit on. He wanted a photo with him in a suit and the simplest way to do that was to photoshop the image. Another 'pimply-faced' girl got her pimples removed. yet another couple had their pic done as if they were sitting inside a beautiful house.

What scared me most was how we tend to do the same in the 'spiritual sense', just to look good!
Hmmmm ... Enough said!