Happy New Year!

The Chronicles of Travelling Sisters—Bangalore

This post is first in the series of many posts that will follow. My sister and I always dreamed about going to different places, exploring cities, and meeting family and friends we know of. Initially, it was all talk, talk, and talk. Finally, one day, we did pack our bags and began our journey, a series I will call, ‘The Chronicles of Travelling Sisters.’

Our first destination was Bangalore. Located in our dear home state, Karnataka, we booked our tickets to this city one month prior to our departure. We traveled by KSRTC Airavat Club class and boy, was it a cool ride. It took us 14 hours to reach Bangalore. But, it took us an hour to enter the city itself.

Let me tell you, this city is enormous and well populated. We reached the Majestic circle as it was the final stop. Public transport is pretty decent and within 15 minutes we were in a local bus on route to another part of the city.

One thing I noticed was the many number of colleges and churches. Every place seemed to have a college and a church neatly tucked in. You either had places called as Bannergatta road or Bommanahalli or something like Cox Town or Frazer Town. The difference is striking.

There were parts of Bangalore that immediately reminded me of Pune. But compared to Pune, everything in Bangalore is huge and big. Another thing I noticed was the n number of Cafe Coffee Day outlets. They had CCD lounges out there. Ok. That was something new for me.

Travelling in the city at peak hours is maddening. Since, I experienced it firsthand; it was amazing to notice the amount of time it took to travel from one part of the city to another. Folks here keep a buffer time of one hour when travelling. Lesson learnt: I will not complain about the traffic in Pune.

Food here is fantastic. Christmas night, we went out for dinner with our family friends to a famous steak place. Wow, the flavours were superb! The portions—enormous and the ambience—homey. 

One place that needs mention is the Electronics city, a huge IT hub. I was impressed with the amount of IT companies situated in that part of town. Not to mention the security backup for these companies. There is a long stretch of flyover (about 9 kms and more) that connects Electronics city to Bangalore. You can cut much traffic travelling on that bit of road.

Krispy Kreme: How can I forget this place? Thanks to our dear friends who took us there. This place is famous for doughnuts. I usually don’t use this word, but the doughnuts were ‘awesome’.

Before we wound up, we walked through the famous M.G. Road and drove through Brigade Road. By the time, we reached Majestic circle to board the bus back home; my sister and I were pretty satisfied, though a bit tired.

Next stop, I guess will be Mumbai. That is one place I want to explore. 

Christmas to me means....

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:4-7

Reflections

The year 2013 is practically over and we are already on the threshold of another new year. The past year was interesting in many ways. Some days and months were filled with the usual mundane things of life. And then there were the unusual days that were filled with uncertainty and gloom.

But all in all, a decent year where I know deep down in my heart I can still give thanks to God for His untold blessings. There are a couple of things I would like to list down and look back with gratefulness for the year gone by. Here we go!

Made new friends and enjoyed getting to know them

Made travel plans and even executed them as well

Made peace with the fact that all days will not be the same

Came to terms with the idea that being fit and healthy is a sure gift from God

Came to a humble understanding that all relationships require patience and hard work

Experienced the sweetness of making wise decisions

Doing all things with prayer and total dependence on God


And, finally, each day is a gift from God who is the Giver and Sustainer of my life.

Christmas is here!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Since we are on the subject of reading, right now I am in a hurry to finish the Hobbit. The second part of the movie is releasing next week and I am hoping, seriously hoping that I will be able to complete the book before I watch the movie.

I am a big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and I love his books. Thankfully, I am half-way through the Hobbit, so I guess, I should be done by the end of this weekend. Let’s see.

The movie getting released is, ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.’(Click here for a sneak preview)

My Favorite List—Books

I love to read and there are some books that I would to re-read at all times.

A Tale of Two Cities:  I was introduced to this book in high school and how I loved it! I was studying French in school and the French Revolution from this novel added the much zing to the subject.

The Adventures of Oliver Twist: I received this book as a birthday gift. Charles Dickens has been my favorite writer since then. I remember being brought to tears as I read the account of this poor orphan.

Pride and Prejudice: Yeah, a book many folks love to hate. I came across this book in high school. I enjoyed reading this novel and it was the beginning of many Jane Austen series.

Jane Eyre: This book by far all means is my favorite. Dunno why, but I quite like the story and the suspense it contains.

I think, I’ll stop here. What are some of your favorite books?

Thought for the day

November Rain

Grumbling and Complaining?

We Are Far Too Easily Displeased

by Jon Bloom | November 15, 2013

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Philippians 2:14–15)

I am a grumbler by (fallen) nature.

Just this morning a malfunctioning software program required my attention. Experience told me the likely course: at least two times on the phone with customer support and at least two glitches in the fixing process. Forty-five minutes minimum. Probably more. (All proved true, by the way.) Immediately I resented this time-stealing inconvenience. And when my wife called in the middle of dealing with it, out of my mouth came my displeasure.

Life problems don’t get much smaller. What is the matter with me?

The matter is that I too easily listen to the lies of my pathologically selfish sin nature, which assumes all of reality should serve its preferences and grumbles against anything that doesn’t. The truth is, when I grumble, I have lost touch with reality.

What Grumbling Gauges

Grumbling is a gauge of the human soul. It gauges our gaze on grace. It tells us that we’re not seeing grace.

Grumbling pours out of our soul whenever we feel like we’re not getting what we deserve. Sometimes we’re even crass enough to think, to hell with what we deserve, we’re not getting what we want.

Grumbling is a symptom of a myopic soul. Selfishness has caused tunnel vision and has fixated on a craving(s). The soul has lost sight of the glory and wonder and splendor and hope that is the reborn, redeemed life and thus it is far too easily displeased. Grumbling is evidence of soul-vision impairment.

What Gratitude Gauges

The opposite of grumbling in the soul is gratitude. And gratitude also gauges our gaze on grace. It tells us that we are seeing grace.

Gratitude pours out of our souls whenever we we’re receiving a gift we know we don’t deserve and we experience a humble happiness. And as sinners who have received the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24), we are receiving these gifts all the time.

Gratitude is a symptom of a healthy, expansive soul. The gospel of grace has given it panoramic vision, allowing it to see that this grace will be sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9) to meet every need (Philippians 4:19) when inconvenience, crisis, weakness, affliction, unexpected demand, suffering, and persecution hit. In fact, in all these things this grace will make us “more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Accents of Heaven and Hell

Gratitude is the accent of the language of heaven because there everything is undeserved grace. No creature that basks in the eternal, deep, powerful, satisfying, overflowing joys of heaven will have merited being there. Each will be there solely by the grace of God, which is why we will all sing,

To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! (Revelation 5:13)

But grumbling is the accent of hell’s language because it’s how a creature’s pride responds to the Creator’s decision to do or allow something that the creature does not desire. Grumbling scorns God because it elevates our desires and judgments above his.

That’s why the world is so filled with grumbling. It’s ruled by the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) and its citizens speak the official language.

Do All Things Without Grumbling

And that’s why Paul tells us to “do all things without grumbling” (Philippians 2:14). The children of God should not speak with the accent of hell.

Rather, our speech should always be gracious (Colossians 4:6); it should have the accent of heaven. Those who have been forgiven so much (Luke 7:47) and promised so much (2 Peter 1:4) should speak words that are always salted with gratitude (Ephesians 5:20). That’s one way we “shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). Gospel gratitude is a foreign language here. We are citizens of a better country (Hebrews 11:16).

Doing all things without grumbling is humanly impossible. But thankfully not with God (Mark 10:27). What it requires is getting our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and all God promises to be for us in him. It requires seeing grace. Being different comes fromseeing differently.

Here’s the Bible logic that provides the escape from the temptation to grumble (1 Corinthians 10:13): “all things work together for [my] good” (Romans 8:28), and “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), so therefore I can “do all thingswithout grumbling” (Philippians 2:14).

Yes it is hard. It’s a fight. God told us it would be that way (1 Timothy 6:12). But we will grow in the gracious habit of cultivating gratitude through the rigorous exercise of constant practice (Hebrews 5:14) of seeing grace.

Lord, help us speak more in the accent of heaven!

Prone to grumbling, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to scorn the God I love;
Here’s my eye, O take and peel it
Till I see the grace above.

Then “the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart [will] be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

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Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

• God Desires You Far More Than You Desire Him
• Five Ways to Refresh the Saints in Your Life
• Lay Aside the Weight of Discontentment

Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) is the author of Not by Sight: A Fresh Look at Old Stories of Walking by Faith and serves as the President of Desiring God, which he and John Piper launched together in 1994. He lives in the Twin Cities with his wife, Pam, their five children, and one naughty dog.

Pic of the Day: A TreeHouse

The HemLoft Treehouse (Whistler, Canada)

For more, check here.

Monday Quote

Faith endures as seeing Him who is invisible; endures the disappointments, the hardships, and the heart-aches of life, by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind.-A.W.Pink

My Favorite List—Movies

Top ten movies that I love to watch again and again:

1. Little Women
2. Dark Knight
3. LOTR (1,2,3)
4. While You were Sleeping
5. A Few Good Men
6. Iron Man (1,2,3)
7. Dil Chahta Hai
8. The Wedding Planner
9. Harry Potter Series
10. Avengers

 What about yours?

Waiting

I have always wondered why waiting is such a tiring experience. Is it because waiting slows down things? Or is it my perception that waiting causes a delay for whatever I am waiting for? Sometimes, this impatience that grows within me is a result of the world I live in. You can get everything—practically everything in a jiffy. Click the mouse and you have paid the bills! We live in a world of instant gratification. We don’t have the time to wait…patiently.

In the light of hurried living and busyness, I am glad in a way that God calls me to wait. To wait upon Him for the things I have asked in prayer. It is in this period of waiting I am called to exercise faith in who God is and His ability to bring about what I have asked for. For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

God knows what He is about. It is my own foolishness or the result of leaning on my own understanding that I tend to become impatient. He is wise and does all things according to the counsel of His will. I am called to trust Him and His timing.

Waiting requires courage and strength of soul. Hence the psalmist in the Bible encourages us “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Psalms 27:14)

So, if you are in the period of waiting upon God, take heart. God is good and loves you and desires that you know Him better in this time of stillness. “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Thankful

Just want to thank God for all His blessings.

• Christ, His word, and His promises
• Life, laughter, and love
• Family, friends, and food
• Work, weather, and workouts