Greetings to all our dear brothers and sisters in Christ. It is indeed a great joy to be with you on the dawn of the yet another month . Let us praise and glorify God for His kindness to be with us , guide us and carry us all through the four months of the year. The month of May brings enormous joy to the children and youth as they get their annual leave and away from the rigorous routine of going to school / college, rush hour traffic, home work and exams and tuition…… And how much the children enjoy the adventure trips during the holidays, ever remain as pleasant memories of childhood. And Father is the greatest hero of the children. The very presence or label of their “father” gives them enormous confidence. For my son and daughter, during their childhood, I was the real hero, six pack strong man, capable of defending them in any danger and capable of fighting any living soul ! This despite myself being of average height and lean and apparently doesn’t look like a strong man of our times. Both my children used to say “ Appa Maadhiri”… (like father) on many occasions and I used to admonish them to look into stronger Bible characters as their role model and strength. I sincerely do not know whether my children think of me as their “macho Hero” today in their late twenties, but I am sure that they would have rightly seen past the “father” and adopted to this world ! Even though their love for me has only increased over the years. In counter, I used to train them to be physically and mentally fit to take on any situation by rendering them to go through routine exercises and enable them to be self confident to achieve on their own. I always used to call them “achievers” and “heroes” despite the shy smile on their faces….Their spiritual growth and maturity was taken care of their mother and grand parents. Life has come a full circle for them and both grown into facing the chaos of life on their with a positive outlook.
Recently I was recollecting as to how much my son and daughter adored me as “the strongest” in their childhood, I was smiling realizing how much ordinary person was I am, fearful (of course internally without expressing) and shy ….But as my children and I saw each other as “the strongest” , there was an young man, fearful of their enemies and hiding in the winepress, an unusual place to thresh wheat. It was the time when the Israelites after reaching their promised land, abandoned their God and went astray…The midianites who would come as a storm, take away all their farm produce and animal wealth. But suddenly Gideon saw the Angel of the Lord appearing to him and saiy“ The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour ! I understand and appreciate very well as to how Gideon must have felt uncomfortable at this title , for a man hiding in fear of his enemies ! He probably thought it was some neighbor who has come making this remark. But he chose to address him as “ my Lord” and responded saying if the Lord is with them, then why are they subdued before the Midianites ? Then the Angel of the Lord told him that he (Gideon) is the chosen one to defat the midianites and save Israel. Gideon is at the bottom of his wits : “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel ? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house “ (Judges 6:15). However, reassured by the Angel, Gideon asks for a sign. But when fire rose out of the rock and consumed the food offering, he again went into a depression of fear that “Alas it is the Lord” as no one lives after seeing the Holy God. The Lord said unto him “ Peace be unto thee; fear not; thou shall not die”. (Judges 6:23). When Gideon has seen the Lord of hosts, anointing him as a mighty warrior, strangely Gideon names the place as “ Jehovah Shalom” (Our Lord of peace). Rest is history as to how with a small troupe of untrained men blowing trumpets with lamp lit pitchers in their hands they won the midianite’s army who came as a great storm of locusts! The Lord of hosts is also The Lord of peace. He makes them (His sheep) lie down in green pastures (Psalm 23 :2) . It is stated : “The country was in quietness for next forty years during the days of Gideon”. (Judges 8:28).
