Kiran Mathew John's Blog

Praise be to Jesus now and forever.

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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas to you all!

Once upon a time, there was a man who worked very hard just to keep food on the table for his family. This particular year a few days before Christmas, he punished his little five-year-old daughter after learning that she had used up the family's only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper.

As money was tight, he became even more upset when on Christmas Eve he saw that the child had used all of the expensive gold paper to decorate one shoebox she had put under the Christmas tree. He also was concerned about where she had gotten money to buy what was in the shoebox.

Nevertheless, the next morning the little girl, filled with excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, "This is for you, Daddy!"

As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, now regretting how he had punished her. But when he opened the shoebox, he found it was empty and again his anger flared. "Don't you know, young lady," he said harshly, "when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside the package!"

The little girl looked up at him with sad tears rolling from her eyes and whispered: "Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was all full." The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his precious little girl. He begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger.

An accident took the life of the child only a short time later. It is told that the father kept this little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us has been given an invisible golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

For more such stories,

visit http://www.weboflove.org/inspiring_stories_10/christmas_stories and

http://osr.org/christmas/20-famous-christmas-stories/

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Happy Advent

Happy Advent!

The word Advent derives from the Latin word meaning coming. Basically, it is a countdown to Christmas day from the first Sunday after Thanksgiving and can also be thought of as a new year of the Church. The Lord is coming. During Advent we recall the history of God's people and reflect on how the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament were fulfilled. This gives us a background for the present. Today we can reflect on the past track record of God and so begin to understand what it means to us now for the sake of what is to come, in our own future and that of our world.

As mentioned earlier, Advent worship is like a journey through the Christmas story and most often people use Advent wreaths for the same. The circle of the wreath, made of evergreen branches laid flat, remind us of God, His eternity and His mercy, both which have no beginning or end. The four candles on the wreath represent the hope, preparation, joy and love, where the third candle is light pink and all others are purple, as seen in the figure. These are lit in the same order, one every Sunday.

The first candle symbolizes faith in God keeping his promises to humanity. Read Romans 15:12-13

The second reminds Christians to "get ready" to receive God. Read Luke 3:4-6

The third candle recalls the angels joyfully singing about the birth of Christ. Read Luke 2:6-15

The fourth reminds Christians that God loves them enough to send his only Son to Earth. Read John 3:16-17

There are many more interpretations of the candles - hope, peace, love and joy or God's people, the Old Testament Prophets, John the Baptist and Mother Mary. Please have a look at references 2-4 for various interpretations, prayers and references from the Bible for each week.

The final central candle, the Christ candle is lit the day before Christmas and symbolises what John 8:12 says, When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (NIV)

References:

1. http://www.catholic.org/clife/advent/advent.php?id=5

2. http://livinghopeomaha.wordpress.com/about-living-hope/bible-stud/the-meaning-of-the-advent-wreath/

3. http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/adventwreath.html

4. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/advent-devotional-guide-preparing-for-the-coming-of-christ/

P.S.:Thank you Navya Varghese for reminding me :)
This post might be updated or further new posts added from time to time. Please check the main blog.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

God is always in control

We always tend to think and worry about what is going to happen in our immediate future. But, it is beyond our understanding how God has written a wonderful story for each of us. All we have to do is have faith and wait for things to fall in place as per HIS plan, the bigger picture. One example I would like to share is about the people you are destined to meet.

For instance, I made three very good lil friends last year, who are located a little far off, physically. I was waiting to receive their email (I gave them my id) once they reached home. And to my surprise, I see I already had their email id 3 years before I met them! How? One fine day, 5 years back, Yahoo! launched their new domain names ymail and rocketmail. So I thought, well why not make one that has just my nickname and I did get the same.. 2 years later I get emails from these friends of mine, wrongly sent to me, more than a couple of times. (The curious part of me kept the email all these years.)

What are the odds of the aforementioned situation being merely a co-incidence? I believe that God has always had all of this planned out :)

This post might be updated from time to time. Please check back at the main URL. x

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Mother Mary

Happy Birthday, Mother Mary :)

For more details, please go through the following link:

http://catholicism.about.com/b/2012/09/08/the-virgin-marys-birthday.htm

Also, in this post, lets take a look at the apparition of Mother Mary at Clearwater, Florida

The first picture clearly indicates the apparition on the glass window, along with the Cross. The second image shows what looks like the face of Jesus on the lower half of the glass of the image where the first image was formed. Please go through the following links for more information.

http://anndavis25.hubpages.com/hub/Virgin-Mary-Apparition-In-Clearwater-Florida

http://www.visionsofjesuschrist.com/weeping13.htm

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The day the sun danced - the true story of Fatima

Have a look at the video below and also read the wikipedia page on the subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_Sun

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Pray about Everything

The four-year-old son of a missionary family in Africa spotted a picture of a little pink dinosaur in a magazine and set his heart on having one.

His mum knew it was impossible (the magazine was three years old), but her son never doubted God would come through for him.

On Christmas Eve, a box packed ten months earlier arrived from home.

At first glance it seemed to contain something special for everyone - except a four-year-old boy.

Then they reached the bottom - and they were stunned.

The lady who sent the box had no way of knowing God would use her to answer a little boy's prayer.

Before taping up the box, at the last minute, she tossed in the one item impossible for his parents to provide - something so insignificant no rational adult would ever have been foolish enough to ask God for...a pink plastic brontosaurus from a fast-food restaurant promotion!

Sometimes we feel foolish bothering God with little things, but we shouldn't.

The Bible says: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

(Philippians 4:6 NIV)

God is interested in every detail of your life; if something is important to you, it's important to Him.

In Bible times two sparrows were sold for a penny (on sale you could buy five for two pennies!) yet Jesus said,

"29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care.³⁰And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. " (Matthew 10:29-30 NIV)

When you learn to trust God in little things, you'll be able to trust Him in big ones.