Greetings to all our dear brothers and sisters on the dawn of yet another month. Our dear Lord is kind and gracious as always been in our lives…..He is the Lord of our fore fathers. Generations blessed.  I am reminded of a real life incident in which a senior naval officer, a veteran of submarine warfare of the US Navy was on a routine mission in  a nuclear submarine, thousands of nautical miles  away from home , deep in the oceans, when suddenly the submarine developed serious problems and slowly one by one the systems started shutting down. Even the back up systems kept for such eventualities failed due to a serious system error….And the submarine started slowly going down. After fighting with the systems suddenly this officer was reminded of our dear Lord. He started praying for the entire crew of the submarine to be saved. Minutes passed as hours and he was fervently pleading with the dear Lord Jesus. Suddenly, the systems started functioning again. And the crew was saved. The officer testified: When I was sinking in the deep sea, far away from home, I suddenly realized how beautiful life has been and how wonderful is to live…which he has never seen in that perspective ever before. Simply being alive….Then he realized the magnificence of God not only to have created life . but also remaining as its protector. After returning back home to the US, he undertook his theological studies and became a minister of God. I had a colleague way back in 1985 while I was working in Thiruvananthapuram, an officer and a gentle man, who later became a civil servant. One day when he visited a doctor for a brief illness, the doctor told him that he is suspecting of a life threatening condition and if diganoized so, his days are numbered. After a dreadful week of running  series of tests,  he was cleared to be safe and back to his normal life again. Those days, we used to be engaged in long, secular, philosophical conversations. He said: “Amal, we have discussed so many things. I have seen life and death. But when you , yourself is confronted with such a question in the brim of your youth, my strength and courage failed. But I suddenly realized how beautiful life is ! As it is,  just to be alive….!  How many good things I have seen and enjoyed in the past ! Even our friendship to have discussed so many things about life, people and society and its systems. I simply wanted to live………! “

So much about our precious life ! Most of us either don’t contemplate much or have time and energy left to properly appreciate life and the life Giver ( dear Lord) in the appropriate sense…It even happened to a great prophet like Jonah !He was a prophet for nations and unlike what happened to his tribe in the old testament days, he was revered by the then King and even among other nations surrounding Israel.. A day came,  running away from the God’s appointed mission. Even amidst the great storm when the ship he was travelling was dwindling in the great waves, this prophet did not bother, but was enjoying (?) his solitude and slumber in the lower decks of the ship, until he was summoned by the captain ! But later,  as he got embedded inside the belly of  a great fish  ( as commanded by the Lord to the fish and not known to Jonah), life appeared to be precious and  he looked upon to the dear Lord and prayed:” I have been cast out of Your sight ; yet I will look again to Your holy temple (Jonah 2:4). But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord…(Jonah 2:9). The next sentence in this Book states that the fish vomited him on dry land (shores), Years later Jesus said : “ And indeed a greater than Jonah is here”  ( Mathew12:41)

You may wonder, are we not contemplating on the saving (salvation) of our soul rather than our (physical) life in this earth ? Yes Indeed. But amidst our chaotic and mechanical life style, unless we appreciate the beauty of the Lord’s creation  and the most precious of His creation, we , His sons and daughters, we may not really appreciate the precious soul saving ! Even the great orthodox ruler of jews, teacher and learned man like Nicodemus was taken aback when Jesus said one has to be born again to see the Kingdom of God ( John 3:1) !

An young man approaches Jesus, bows down and asks Jesus as to what good things he should do so that he may have eternal life. When he pledges that he has adhered to all the commandments diligently since his youth, Jesus asks him to give away all his possessions to the poor and follow Him.(Mathew 19:16-25).  The Gospel according to Mark records as follows: “ Then Jesus looking at him, loved him and said to him” (Mark 10:21).( இயேசு அவனில் அன்பு கூர்ந்து ). It is very clear that Jesus did not put through this question to discourage the man from his redemption, but with all sincerity for him to be saved. As the rich man went away in distress, Jesus makes his famous statement about the camel passing through the eye of the needle. At this juncture his baffled disciples ask him about “who then can be saved?” (Mathew 19:25). Jesus response was to believe in God, for with God all things are possible (Mathew 19:27).

There is no step by step guide or manual to enter the Kingdom of God and be saved. Who then can be saved ? The answer lies in the Holy Bible itself :

“that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”   (John 3:15).

Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the Kingdom of heaven

 (Mathew 5:3).  

Let us go to him in faith and with a simple heart. Our dear Lord is more than willing to embrace us and open the gates of His kingdom. As His sons and daughters.

Amen.

God’s Love Missions family.