Masihivandana.com

I got an email today encouraging me to read this book written by Deepak Chopra. Do not be misled by the title and do not be misled by the views expressed in the book. You need to read it and understand that being a follower of Jesus is not easy.
People like Deepak Chopra are constantly trying to dilute the life transforming power of Jesus into something that will be ‘acceptable’. For example - lets not talk about sin - Why? Well, it is annoying and it makes people feel guilty etc. etc.

Anyway, rather than rant on I will ask you to read the following reviews on the book.
Book review by Frank Desparrois, Jr
Skeptical of the ‘Third Jesus’

Many times a day I receive emails that frankly I could do without. I delete some without even looking at them and then there are others that i skim through. This one was entitled ‘Resume of Jesus’. Intrigued I opened it and here it is.
It is definitely ‘cheesy’ and is borderline creative in my books.
Anyway, here it is - think what you may and comment away…

Then when I came to Canada, my first job at The Strategic Coach I was reporting to Cathie, a Canadian. She shared with me everything about her job fully realising, in the back of her mind, that I could potentially take over her job. Ironically that is what happened, in a couple of years, she was let go and I was made the Financial Controller. What I appreciated about her is her willingness to share all the finer points of the job without having any concern about her own job security. By the way, for those of you who are wondering, we still keep in touch and are good friends.
When I started the website in 2003, it was the only website catering to the south asian christians here in Toronto. In the North American context, the website wasn’t a pioneer but I would say that it has certainly been a catalyst to start up many other websites. I have to tell you I felt deep resentment when a new website would be launched. I would be furious, I felt that I was entitled to be included in the decision. I did not want to share cyberspace with anyone. It started burning me up and then as I prayed and asked God to help me I was able to let go. I am in a position today that I am able to share information with other websites and have no problems in not being ‘exclusive’. I have learnt to share, to let go.
The reason I shared all of these experiences is to help you get a sense that ’sharing’ is often times painful. However it is a mark of maturity and it definitely contributes to your personal growth. So where is the winning in all of this? I lost my practice, Cathie lost her job, my website lost its exclusivity. The winning was intangible but very powerful.
My father’s giving heart touched many lives, particularly mine, letting go of Umesh taught me that I cannot grow by robbing others, it wasn’t the end of the world, infact it was the beginning of a brand new one. Cathie’s willingness to be open helped me pattern the training plan for my accounting team and by God’s grace they are responsible and accountable colleagues who are empowered by my willingness to share. My website is stronger than it has ever been, the openness forces me to be creative and I am able to stay true and focussed on what it is that I want to do rather than copy others.
I recognise that as a believer in Jesus Christ and having surrendered my life to Him, I am expected to be a sharing person. However, when we accept Jesus in our lives we do not change right away. What I mean to say is - we do not automatically become loving, caring, sharing & nurturing people from the very day that we invite Jesus into our lives. For some of us many of the fruits of the spirit take a long time to show up.
As our lives are gradually transformed and we begin to exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control and then we find it easier to let go of things that do not matter. At the end of it all - what is it all about? Its all about glorifying the Father through our lives, that is what we are here for. When we do that we teach others to glorify Him as well.
If you are holding on to something because it makes you feel powerful, remember, your power and strength is from the Lord, He is the giver of everything. Let go of the temporary and take a hold of the permanent and you will grow - guaranteed.

Sharing is something that we are all taught since childhood. Playing with our toys as kids, we are taught to let others have an opportunity to enjoy them with us as well. As we grow older sharing takes on a life of its own. Looking back at my own life experiences of sharing, I will be so bold as to say that it has contributed to my growth.
Let me share with you a couple of instances from my own life that will hopefully encourage you to make a concious effort to share:
During my growing up years, my father had to travel to Delhi as he was part of a Bible translation committee. The return journey would bring him to Lucknow early in the morning. Since our house was far from the railway station, and we did not have a vehicle in those days, Dad would hire a rickshaw. One particular cold and foggy morning Dad came in and without acknowledging our presence, went straight to his room and came out with a blanket, went out of the house. It was much too cold to venture out and see what he was doing. When he came back in, and after our customary hugs & kisses, we asked him ‘What was that all about?’ and he told us that the rickshaw puller had no warm clothes and it was terribly cold so I gave him our blanket. Well, he would do this regularly at one time taking off his jacket when he reached home.
Another sharing experience was not so pleasant. Dad had returned from a trip to UK, this was in the early seventies, and had bought me the matchbox cars - ‘dinky cars’ we used to call them, don’t ask me why. Now you have to understand that in those days these were a novelty, not many people were travelling to foreign countries to begin with and then I had these toys. I would take them out regularly and share them with my friends. Needless to say my collection slowly dwindled as they were stolen one by one.
Twelve years ago I was a practising CA and had two trusted workers. One of them was Umesh, very bright and a real asset to me. The practice was growing slowly and I was getting work. Umesh had come to me with no experience and since he was new in Lucknow he needed a job. He did have a degree in Accounting. I was a technology freak so naturally I had bought a computer when not many other CA’s were willing to invest in it. I taught Umesh everything, and to his credit he was a great student - creative and intelligent. During one of my visits to HDFC (a Housing Finance Company) a friend mentioned that he had a job opening and would I know someone who would be interested in it? This was the beginning of HDFC and it was clear even at that stage that it was poised for major growth, the environment was fantastic and it would be a great opportunity for anyone. Throughout the scooter ride back home I began to think - ‘This would be a fantastic opportunity for Umesh or my younger brother’. I shared it with my brother and he wasn’t interested, he wanted to complete his studies etc. Now I was in a bind - should I or shouldn’t I share this with Umesh. I talked about my dilemma with my family members, and everyone advised me against it. ‘You will be shooting yourself in the foot’, this would be an act of insanity.
I couldn’t sleep, I wasn’t at peace
and then against all advice I told Umesh about the opportunity. Well. he went for the interview, they liked him and he joined HDFC. That was the beginning of the end of my private practice and the beginning of the journey to come to Canada. …. more tomorrow

It was still early in the days of immigrating to Canada, I had settled down into a nice job. We did not have a lot but we were happy. The boys were small and my wife has opted to stay at home with them until they reached a good age. In those days we were living in a tiny basement apartment and things were moving along. However, my wife was beginning to get bored and I realised that staying at home with two small boys was going to drive her crazy. Her background was a B Ed in India and I was concerned for her state of mind.

Well, in travelling on the subways and reading the newspapers I often came across an advertisment - usually tucked away in a corner that would say ‘Earn money stuffing envelopes - you never have to leave home etc. etc.’ One day I had the bright idea to try it out, what harm could it do eh? I think you had to mail in a money order or bank draft for $25 to an address with a Post Box#. I did that and then we waited. Well, one day we got a letter in the mail. It was from these guys and here is what it said (this is in my words):

‘Are you stupid? Do you think that anyone would give you money just stuffing envelopes? If you want to make $500 per week here is what you do - Take out an advertisement in the newspaper, ask for an amount with the application and then said them a letter like this one and hopefully you will find 20 idiots responding to you in a week and you will have your $500/week. The only investment required is the advertisement.’

I was really embarrassed and thought ‘Oh my word!! How could I have ever fallen into this trap’. Fortunately it was not a lot of money but it was money and in those early days every penny counted. Actually I am not even sure that it was $25 or could have been more, it was ten years ago now and I don’t think about it if I can help it.

So hopefully if you had any similar ideas - Don’t do it. First of all - never pay up front without getting all the information. I have done that one other time and it cost me much more money. I’ll tell you about that one in another post.

In the past couple of weeks I have received numerous emails suggesting that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Considering that I am Canadian and this has nothing to do with Canadian politics, it is amazing that this is being circulated so much among Canadians. In addition to this, last week my aunt asked me ‘Do you know that Barack Obama is a Muslim?’ I replied ‘I don’t know’. That was the last straw, I made up my mind to investigate this a little further.
Please understand:
• I have no interest whatsoever in American politics
• I am not a Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain fan
Within minutes of my searching the web I discovered that the stories about Barack Obama being a Muslim are factually incorrect. I would invite you to look at the facts supported by the stories. Here are a few of the many articles that you can peruse and form an opinion for yourself.
Is Barack Obama a Muslim?
Barack Obama doesn’t put his hand on his heart during the singing of the national anthem
Here is my pet peeve - emails and statements like this make us (Christians) look like idiots and display our paranoia in the worst possible way. I do not support the idea of the church and the state being one - if however a christian is elected to a political office then so be it.
Our fascination with Christians being in positions of authority also shows the others that we have no faith in the authority of God. God is not going to rule the world through ‘born again’ Christian presidents and Prime Ministers in all the countries of the world. God is going to rule the world when ‘all peoples from all over the world’ recognise His lordship and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Leave Barack Obama alone and focus on bringing someone into the knowledge of God. Our countries will continue to be ruled by various people from various backgrounds and beliefs - it doesn’t matter we need to focus on the ‘mission’ that has been entrusted to us.
Please do not be a paranoid Christian and please research your story before you email it to a million people. Remember - the emails you forward say something about you as well.

During our first year in Canada we visited the National Exhibition at the CNE here in Toronto. This event is better known as the ‘EX’, short for exhibition. Its a fun fair and a good place to visit if you have small children because there are plenty of rides and eats. During our visit we came across a box which advertised a contest of some sort, I cannot exactly remember what was at stake but it could have been a motorcycle. Considering that we did not even have a car at that point I cannot figure out why but I put my name, address and phone number on a slip of paper and slipped it in the box. We forgot about it and many months went by. One day we got a call and the lady at the end of the phone told us ‘Congratulations, your name has been picked and you have won a vacation to …..’ I was very excited. I tool down all the details. It seemed we had to go downtown and attend a seminar of some sort. That Sunday I shared this good fortune with my pastor. At that point I was feeling ‘Man, isn’t God blessing us? We have just arrived in the country, I have a great job, we are settling in just fine and now out of the blue I win a contest!! God has his hands on our lives, that’s for sure’ and I think this may have been the tone in which the good news was communicated to the pastor as well. The pastor, also of Indian origin, but having been in the country for longer than me advised me to proceed with caution, mindful not to dampen my enthusiasm.

Fortunately, something clicked and I though ‘Wait a minute’ let me think this through. We got home and I called up the number and asked them a few questions. Pretty soon I realised that I wasn’t going to get anything for free so I told the lady ‘Hey, here’s a proposal, why don’t you give me the cash instead, I don’t really need the vacation’ - needless to say I never heard from them again.

Eleven years later there have been countless number of contests that I have won, without even entering my name in any of them. I can honestly look back to that slip of paper that I had put in the box and trace it back to that. You need to know - agencies collect names and addresses and then sell them to other sales organisations. Be very careful on how you disburse your personal contact information.

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Earlier this month I had an opportunity to visit my friend Elisha Mahabanti in Boston and also got a chance to MC for a ‘Christmas evening’ hosted by the ‘India Centre’. It was a great opportunity to meet a lot of new friends as well to share the story of Christmas in Hindi. Here are some images from the trip: