How I got my calling..

Every journey have had a beginning. Every human, a birth.

How did I embark on this relationship with Jesus? Actually by default, I was born a Catholic ( up to a few years ago). But the Jesus in that church was as accessible as your local politician. Many layers in between, normally people and hierarchy. That's a story for another episode all together...

Fast forward to today.

With all the jobs I have done in the past, I never felt I belonged. But I did excel. Something was missing..something deeper..more meaningful. I knew what I did was right (mostly) but there were no real governance, no real direction or an operating manual. No, I do not like to be told what to do all the time just like anyone else. I felt that as an adult, I could do most anything. And the question of morality became an non-issue due to the fact that I was way over 21 years of age.

Fast forward again.

One day while attending a disciplining session at Ronald's house, he asked me to read the book of Jonah. He had read that the sign of Jesus being a Messiah that He would be dead and be risen again on the third day, similar to Jonah's turbulent episode in the "great fish". Feeling irritated ( because Ronald could read it himself), I read it. I laughed a lot because of Jonah's behaviour after God's proclamation that He would save the city. While being swallowed in his temporary watery grave, Jonah prayed to God to have mercy and let him live. When the people of Nineveh repented and God wanted to spare them, Jonah asked God to take his life. Twice! Read the book of Jonah..there's a lesson or two for everyone!

Pause to right this moment.

While I was the main character in a play depicting Jonah, I was acting out my future role in the God's plan. I had endured hardship, loneliness, depression, poverty and lack, much like Jonah's experience in the "great fish". I learnt obedience and trusting God's plan, even though it did not make any logical sense. I understood through His words that His ways are not ours. His plans are not comprehensible to us because we see the scene of the play not the whole play. We are short-sighted and are not equipped or skilled to solve our problems. God has not lied. So believe Him when He says He knew us from the womb. And that His has magnificent reward for those who are faithful to the end. The end is not far off....

I received prophetic words today about the future directions I am to take. In fact, I have been "renamed" Jonah. I was humbled to told this as it is a tremendous responsibility, especially when I think how inadequate I am. But God has given many talents to me ( and you too, I'm not the special one) and I have been asking Him to give me an avenue to use it. So here it was, the avenue that is. But I keep in mind, all things happen in His time, not ours. In the mean time, I have devoted more time to read His words and to study the many resources that are available on the web.

In many advanced countries I read and hear about the evil in forms of sexual immorality, pleasure-seeking, dishonesty, theft, murder and a host of other alarming trends that are on the rise. We in the developing countries are mimicking every single sin and cannot get enough. The whole world is getting rotten by the day, nay by the minute! With time running out, He wants us as His labourers in His vineyard; the world that is.

God has called on the few to reach out to the many. I am learning every day to be His servant. I just want to serve Him because of His coming government that Jesus will lead. There is an awesome time ahead of us. This is not God's earth, it's satan's. He is the ruler of earth right now. But you and I will be inheriting a glorious kingdom, with the present one being wasted away with Jesus' second coming. He will come again, yes He will.

Do not believe me? Good! Prove me wrong by reading the book of Revelation. It has a blueprint of the calamities, disasters, diseases, violence, price hikes etc detailed in it. Want immediate proof? Read your newspaper, it corresponds to what the bible is saying. Go out in the web and find resources about the book of Revelation. Read it. It is the best thriller ever known to man and the best part of it all is that we are in it. No, it was wrong to label it as a thriller, instead it is a a real-life situation. You may say that it is a depressing book to read because your life may be in the pits or living in want for basic necessities. God never intended His people to suffer but He wants us to have abundance so that we can be a testimony to others. That is the most lop-sided trade off ever! We are the beneficiaries, mind you.

If you trust Him to lead, He will lift you up. One condition: Learn To Be Humble. After all He created the very universe we live in, He is not impressed with the work of our hand. He resists the proud but listens to the poor and the contrite in spirit. That does not mean we ought to be broke all the time. In those days, a poor man was often seen as a humble man. If you are blessed with abundance, thank God for it and be humble to Him because He is the provider. Be humble and have a child like innocence, we are His children. Many times I wished I could throw it all away and run to my father and ask him to solve my problems. If you had felt that, how much more our Father God is waiting for you to run to him and to cry to Him like a child. How did you feel when you see a crying child being comforted by the parent? How did you feel the child would have felt when the father or mother hugged, comforted and assured the little one that it going to be okay no matter what. How different do you think our Father in heaven would react? We are similar in many ways to Him. After all, we are made in His likeness.

Stop for a moment and examine where you are headed. Time is a precious commodity, use it wisely! Your Father is waiting...He wants to talk to you.

Your long-distance calling

Every now and then, there would be a nudge. This would come quite frequently if you take notice of it or on staggered intervals, depending on you outlook and position in life. When I say position, I mean the following formula:

Earnings-expenses-liabilities=ZERO.

And so it came to me one day in 2007, when the above equation was the first to greet me when I looked at myself for the very first time that morning in the mirror. Not that it had bothered me before but this time, I could not see anything else. Can there be anything more in life than to live to pay people, debtors and taxes? Would there be a alternative to this destructive lifestyle if I could call it that?

And then the nudge prompted me to examine the very circle I was in and how the same old stuff was poison to my life and family that have drifted away. I drove them away, no doubts about it, no excuses. The blame game had to stop. I had to take my life back and fulfill my purpose on this big blue marble. But what was my purpose, to begin with?

I was very religious during my early days. Now here's the catch-word: Religious. That was a problem to begin with. Did God intend us to be religious or develop a relationship with Him. Notice I avoid spirituality here. The 'R' and 'S' words are often a long drawn conversation about God and not with Him. Yes, I found God and in the very pits of my life. Its funny when you realise you have no where to turn to, you actually do. But it takes faith, in God and in yourself.

I left a large-denominational church without much fanfare a couple of years back. It began during my days as a medical sales representative, when a surgeon devoted about two hours of his time and explained a heck of a lot about what was going on in the world. And all this took place minutes after I had visited a chapel located in the hospital. I guess I prayed for some breakthrough and it did. And from then on, I look at major religions at a very different point of view. All this organised, orchestrated, communal sit-down-kneel-bow moves had me thinking for the first time in my life. What did it amount to. I have done all these, memorised hymns by heart and tried my best to observe feast and fast days. It took me further and further away from God and closer to human traditions, hierarchy and human politics within the church. In actual fact, not a single passage in the bible was dedicated to large and grandiose structures in praise of our Maker. After all, God declared that He is not impressed with our works, as He has the Earth as His footstool. Now before you decide that God is very hard to please, He states however, He looks on the poor and the contrite in spirit. He is moved by one's humility not worldly gains. More of that in another episode.

So what is it that I am saying? Nothing out of the ordinary, other than I have embraced Jesus as my saviour and that I believe and have full faith in Jesus' death have caused a sinner like me and you reading this, to be saved from everlasting death. We all know the famous verse: John 3:16. Just read it, blow the dust from you bible if you have one and READ IT. If you do not have one, what is stopping you from getting one? Would you feel ashamed or ridiculed? Would your friends, colleagues or family ask you uncomfortable questions? My answer to you is this: Good for you! You would have embarked on a journey going against the grains of this world! The Kingdom that is about to come if far glorious and greater than the world's population put together can imagine. Do not take my word for it, look it up in the bible. Understand one thing though: Its not a Sci-Fi or a comic you can cover chapter upon chapter a day. It is the living word of God. More of this in coming episodes.

One might say they're too much into the world or beyond help. Do not forget, God has called upon murderers and prostitutes and they in turn have become greatly blessed personalities in the humble service of God. If there were a chance we could meet Rahab and Paul (Saul), they definitely would give all glory to God and not take an ounce of credit.

And so, this has been my mission from now on to share my life experience to you as it unfolds. Jesus is coming SOON! Possible in our lifetime and while the world is partying out there, He will come, riding on the clouds. What would you be doing at that appointed time?

More updates soon.....