joyancejames

Author: joyanceshalomjames

  • The best policy

    “Teach him if you can that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar found. In school, teacher, it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat.” This comes from the famous letter of Abraham Lincoln to his son’s teacher. Whether he actually wrote it or not is debatable but this letter withstood the changes in times and seasons and still inspires and speaks wisdom to us centuries after it was inked.

    I was probably 13 years old, when I first came face to face with the rampant corruption prevalent amongst my peers; it came as a rude shock to my protected upbringing. It was my final, end of the year exam in Sanskrit (a torture I wouldn’t even curse my worst nemesis with, it befuddled me as much as it did my class mates, I’d prefer being schooled in Koine Greek than punish my grey matter with this), I was staring at an unfinished paper and a teacher walked up to me with an answer sheet of a good student. The well meaning teacher wanted to help a hapless student (read professional courtesy, since my mummy was the high school English teacher in the same school) but little did he know that his offer of corruption of the young mind would be turned down.

    I’ve come a long way since the day I first refused to cheat in the exam. My resolve to maintain my integrity became stronger over the years. Refusing to help and be helped in the exams hasn’t come without it’s complications, I’ve lost a few friends in the moment of truth only to regain them later, I’ve been labeled tags people make for those who stand out in the crowd.

    People tend to associate corruption with those in power especially politicians and their kind, but what about the seemingly innocuous corruption such as this! I’m a strong proponent of the belief that corruption begins at home. The impressionable young minds are exposed to the duplicity in the lifestyles of their parents, small, seemingly harmless lies to avoid phone calls, half truths to get a leave from work and so on. These little compromises are readily accepted as a way of life, in school this gives way to copying in exams and proxy attendance. Who is to say what compromise will be deemed small and harmless in adulthood!

    It is the tiny, little pebbles inside your shoes rather than a rent in the sole of your walking shoes that will cause you the greatest discomfort. In life too these small compromises which initially are passed on as acceptable later give rise to major compromises leading to a life in the grey zone as a result of thinning of the veil between the right and wrong. Israel’s wisest king had some wisdom to pass down on honesty and integrity; in the book of Proverbs he wrote: “honesty will keep you safe, but everyone who is crooked will suddenly fall”, “honesty guides the good people; dishonesty destroys the treacherous people”, “God cares about honesty in your workplace; your business is his business”.

    I was never in the top of my class, neither in my school days nor in my undergraduate college days, but my unprecedented high score in my MS Orthopaedics final exams is a testament to the fact that God honors those who walk in integrity.

    Its very easy to be just a mediocre and get drowned in the crowd, but only those who stand up against the wave rise up above the rest.

    The best policy-honesty!honesty

  • The ass who spoke!

    How can I ever forget the day my life turned around, the day I experienced what none of my kind could ever have imagined or ever will. Before I continue, I’ll just give a prelude to my narrative.

    My master, Balaam or so they call him, is a revered seer. We live on the banks of the river Euphrates, in a small town called Pethor. Although my master is a very influential man, at this period of time, we didn’t have much, because if he did, he’d ride a camel rather than an ass! Not belittling my kind, we may come cheap but we’re as sturdy and reliable as it can be, my family has faithfully served my master and the generation before him.

    The last few days we’d few royal emissaries from our king. There was this huge train of people travelling in the desert for many years and even without a well trained army or structure they had annihilated entire tribes around us. Our king wanted my master to curse them. My master had a gift, those he blessed would prosper and those he cursed would wither away and this was what the king intended to exploit. My master had refused the offer the first time but the second time I felt he would budge because the offer was too enticing for his prideful heart to resist, and very well he did give in.

    We started early morning on that day, had to cover a long distance to the palace. I could see the excitement and anticipation in my master’s demeanor; he even forgot to pray before we took off for the journey. Even I was excited to undertake this journey to the royal castle after a very long time. The servants behind us carried the supplies for the way. Around midday, we passed through the vineyards of the royal noblemen, on the outskirts of the walled citadel. We were passing through a narrow path when I suddenly saw a man who looked unlike anyone I’d seen before, brandishing a sword as if to attack us. I veered away into the ditch, my master almost fell off. Instead of thanking me, he hit me to bring me back on the path.

    It happened a second time, to avoid the unearthly man with the sword I ran into a fence and hurt my master, only to be beaten by him. It was then that I realized that maybe his pride has blinded him from the danger ahead of him which I could see, what I could not digest was God had allowed me to envision the danger but had kept it hidden from my master.

    The third time, there was no way to escape the swordsman and I sat down in order not to run into danger. This time my master lost it completely and rained down a flurry of blows on my back! As I groaned and prayed that he could see the motive behind my action, the unthinkable happened, I spoke and my master could comprehend! I spoke in the human tongue! Balaam saw the cleared picture and repented.

    Never imagined that God would use an ass to speak sense to a prophet who had lost his way! It is hard to believe that that His children whom God created in His likeness and image, fail to listen and recognize His voice. God in His great mercy does not give up on them; He pursues them with tenacity and perseverance that is unparalled and doesn’t hesitate to use even a dumb ass like myself for His glory.

    And yes, He cares for those He chooses for His purposes, He cared enough to save me from my master’s wrath and the angle’s sword.

    I thought I was the lone history-maker, there would be no other, but one of my kind rode on to Jerusalem around the turn of the millennia and for some reason, people spread out clothes and leaves before him. Hope he’d narrate his story too, that would be one heck of an adventure.donkey

  • An ode to the resident/intern

    “Will you bring to Him that which didn’t cost you dear? Tis not a sacrifice that which cost you nothing”- Joyance Shalom James. There will be days which will be tough and nights which may be tougher. You may have to labor through the day and then watchman through the night. But remember that He who began the good work in you will bring it to completion for His glory, though the process is painful the end product is a vessel of honor for His glory.You may miss your bed and skip a meal or two, but remember this is your calling and He qualifies the called and not vice versa! At times you may feel at the end of your rope but remember with less of you there is more for God and His rule.You may work with tough-to-handle people but remember that he’s making a tougher you. Respect authority cause it’s God who’s kept them there. If He can toy with a Pharaoh’s heart for His glory then He can certainly use someone in your life for His purpose. The ship which has never braved a storm is the one which has never left the harbor.Be humble cause He gives grace to the humble and pride goes before the fall.Seek Him first, put Him before all else and all things shall be added unto you. Pray continually as you strive to be His hands and feet to the least of these. Wear your smile as you cloth yourselves with Christ, God loves your smile and they’ll love it too.May they see your Maker in you.God bless.

  • The rapids!

    Here comes life lessons inspired by the rafting along the Ganges river in Rishikesh. The decision to go for the approximately 14 km long rafting in the Ganges had to brave lot of apprehension and fear from my best-half Shalom Philip, before her final half-hearted approval. We started on the calm waters, before proceeding to the rapids. The rapids with their increasing grades of severity along with their equally creative names are at first a horrifying experience for the newbies.

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    Brave-hearts: Smile before the scream!
    rafting 1
    In action: not so calm waters

    After a couple of rapids we realized that it required all of us in the raft to keep the raft afloat in the rapids and we needed to balance the weight. Panicking and freezing we realized were the most counter productive things one could do in a rapid, when we need to row all the more harder. Once we got the hang of it, we began to enjoy the rapids and much to my surprise, Shalom not only craved for rapids more than me but also scoffed at the less severe ones which could barely rock the raft at their best. Next we knew, we were eagerly waiting to get over with the calmer intervening waters and for the rapids to give us the adrenaline rush.

    Life is so much like the raft on the river: rapids interspersed with calmer waters in between. The calm waters allow us to catch our breath, enjoy the scenic beauty around, socialize with co-rafters and wait for the on coming rapids with anticipation. The rapids give us a much needed jolt to break our reverie, break the monotony of the life and bring a new perspective. Once used to the calm-rapid-calm-rapid routine, nothing can exchange the experience the rapid offers.

    God feeds the birds but He doesn’t put it in their nests, they need to exercise their wings for it. All birds are born with wings but they need to be thrown out of their nests in order to fly, sometimes we too need to be thrown out of our comfort zones to discover our full potentials. In a similar vein we need to exercise and flex our muscles in the much needed rapids of our lives to thrive and live a much fuller life.

    It is not during the day that the light-house shines the brightest to guide the ships, sometimes darkness is essential to shine the brightest and fulfill the purpose. But for Goliath, David would have never known what he was capable of. We too need challenges bigger than our fears, rapids fiercer than our imaginations to push us beyond the limits we have placed on ourselves, to realize and unearth our truest selves, to become what God created us to be.

    Brace yourself for the adventure, embrace your challenges, love the rapids, don’t just live, you were meant to thrive!

    rafting 2
    On the beach- much needed break!

     

  • Prayers that move God

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    “It’s been said that faith may move mountains, but prayer moves God”- Joni Eareckson Tada

    Desperate prayers

    We live in desperate times and desperate times need desperate prayers. One classical example of heights defying desperation to see God move is seen in the gospels in the story of 4 friends who lower a crippled man from a hole-in-the-roof in front of Jesus in a room flooded with people that they couldn’t enter. Sure enough this desperate attempt to reach him moved Jesus who honored their faith. He still honors spiritual desperadoes. Matthew 5 says that blessed are we when we are at the end of our rope, with less of us there is more for God and His rule.

    Bold prayers

    Impossibility and scarcity don’t figure in God’s dictionary, abundance and omnipotence define Him. He specializes in the impossible, especially when we feel out of our league, that’s His league and the field is set for Him to move. Bold prayers honor God because they honor His omnipotence and highlight our dependence on Him.

    “When logic is screaming ‘no’, faith is silently whispering ‘yes’. Nothing honors God more than a big dream that is way beyond our ability to accomplish. Why? Because there’s no way we can take credit for it. And nothing is better for our spiritual development than a big dream because it keeps us on our knees in raw dependence on God.” – Mark Batterson The Circle Maker  

     United prayers

    Quoting Jesus in Matthew 18, “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action.”

    Few things bring more joy to a father’s heart than to see his children play and grow together in harmony. Father in heaven is moved when His children pray together, couples kneel together, and unity in prayer is an image of the unity in the trinity. United, harmonized prayers make way for the supernatural move of God. When we are united in prayer, we are in essence fulfilling the prayer of Jesus in John 17, “I pray for them all to be joined together as one even as you and I, Father, are joined together as one. I pray for them to become one with us so that the world will recognize that you sent me.”

    Persistent prayers

    Jesus shared the story of a persistent widow in the gospel of Luke. This lady was fighting her battle for justice and because of her persistent knocking on the unjust judge’s doors; he relented and granted her justice. Her determination and relentlessness make her the epitome of persistence. Perseverance and persistence quotient (PQ) was what Paul meant when he encouraged us to pray without ceasing. Hallmark of a persistent pray-er is to refuse to be quite or to quit.

     

    Desperate, bold, united and persistent prayers move you to move the God who honors your prayers.

  • What is love?

    Type “love” in the Google search and it comes up with more than 200 million results in less than a second. Ironically, while being surrounded by this ocean of love definitions most of our hearts’ search engines are still seeking and searching.

    Love began in the Garden of Eden, when God made man in His own image and He still chose to love mankind after they broke His heart. Then He gave us Jesus and set a universal standard of love. His agape love (from ancient Greek, the unselfish, unconditional love of God) is set for all eternity as the highest form of love towards which all men must endeavor and which we must emulate.

    “You hold the weight of the world
    Still I don’t slip through your hands
    Your love is bigger
    Than just an ocean built by man

    I fall again and again
    But You whisper, “You’re still mine”
    You feel the pain of the world
    But You never push mine aside”

    Reach by Peter Furler

    Love finds the way when everyone else gives excuses; it sees the gold in the garbage.

    “Nothing can separate
    Even if I run away
    Your love never fails
    I know I still make mistakes
    You have new mercy for me everyday
    Cause your love never fails

    You stay the same through the ages
    Your love never changes
    There may be pain in the night
    But joy comes in the morning”

    Your Love never fails by Newsboys

    CQ: cuteness quotient overloaded!

    As for me my heart is overwhelmed by love, the love from God poured out into my heart. He gave Jesus to save me for eternity; he gave me Shalom Philip, my best half to give me a taste of heaven on this side of eternity.

    Every man & woman is a lover, in the sense we love somebody or something. May we strive to achieve the excellence of love demonstrated by God. May we see the best in our loves, as the One who first loved us. May we be so sold out and passionate, cause there remains: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13 AMP).

    When hemmed in by things bigger and taller than me, I’ll cling on to the one I love.

  • Make room!

    Nazareth’s loss was Bethlehem’s gain, the palace’s loss was the manger’s gain, Herod’s loss was the shepherd’s gain, Mary’s first born, God’s only son, became human and made His home among us (John 1), He alone is the reason for this season. He came and lived and His own did not know Him. The sheep and the shepherds and the wise men from far celebrated His birth but the sleeping town of Bethlehem missed it!

    Reminds me of a song from the yesteryears,

    “Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
    For God became a man
    And stepped into your world today
    Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
    As a city with no room for its King”

    While you were sleeping – Casting Crowns

    We celebrate a “X-mas” without the Christ, what have we missed? Will we go down in history as a people with no room for our King? In the busyness of the celebration have we missed the Christ in the Christ-mas?

    “Is there room in your heart
    For God to write His story?
    You can come as you are
    But it may set you apart
    When you make room in your heart
    And trade your dreams for His glory”

    Make room – Mark Hall & Matt Maher 2017

    Let me include an open letter to Mr Santa Claus which I had written 3 years ago which I now want to restate.

    Dear Mr Santa Claus,

    The Christmas was never meant to be yours and you’ve enjoyed undeserved fame for too long. You are just a figment of a child’s imagination while Jesus traded the heavens for the place in our hearts, so please back off and let Jesus reign this day!

    Regards.

    Jesus’ birth, the first Christmas restored faith, brought hope in a hopeless and demonstrated an unconditional love to a people struggling for an identity under the Roman tyranny. Today as we celebrate His birth, He still promises to bring hope into our hopelessness and love into our love starved world; do we have room for Him?

    Behold, He stands at the door and knocks, is there room?

    Make room, have a blessed Christmas!

  • Made for me (Joy & Peace version)

    JOHN0057Made for me Toby Mac released in 2012, this is my rendition of the song, edited for and dedicated to my beautiful best half Shalom Philip.

     

    She was 26 when she came on the scene

    I saw her down the hall & felt that I was in a dream

    See she’s from God’s own land which had this brother smiling

    Little did I know that I’d be singing-testifying?

    I love sunrise but she likes sunsets

    I’m always running late & she is always on time

    But I like k-love and she likes YouTube

    But something tells me we are gonna be okay

     

    Cause she was made for me

    You gave her to me

    I said I’d hold on loose but I so wanna squeeze you

    Just right for me and for the life of me

    I can’t believe I get to call her mine

    And she was made for me, made for me x 2

     

    Next chapter we got hitched

    2000 miles yet apart

    Still grateful to in the same time zone

    I thank God everyday I’m blessed in a crazy way

    Oh my! give her 10 on 10

    This thing we got is cool like shake

    I love sunrise but she likes sunsets

    I’m always running late & she is always on time

    Well I like T Mac and she like Furtick

    So we meet in the middle with Planetshakers

     

    She is a flower You are the rain

    She gets more beautiful with every passing day

    She is my flower and You are the sun

    She gets more beautiful because of how You love

    How You love

    I get to call her mine x 2 oh mine

     

    She likes slow dates & I like fast dates

    She’s into art, I’m into books

    She made straight As

    Well I’m 6’1’’ & she’s 5’3’’

    But tall & short always been a beautiful blend

    Cause she was made for me

    You gave her to me

    I said I’d hold on loose but I so wanna squeeze you

    Just right for me and for the life of me

    I can’t believe I get to call her mine

    And she was made for me, made for me

  • Work in progress!

    I am a work in progress (WIP). I am a sinner saved by grace who still needs saving everyday when I fall under my cross. I am far from perfect but the One who has made me and is still making me is perfect and so I strive for perfection. I am adopted into His family to be called His son, chosen because He chose the foolish things of the world to put to naught the wise. God is not finished with me yet.

    Work in progress is a painful and painstaking experience. It involves being broken in order to be made, being chipped at continuously in order to be smoothened. Work in progress is a life-long project, when a part of me is done and ready, he starts with something else. He is always at work. As my favorite author, Max Lucado said, “God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus. ”

    Like all WIPs, I’m ugly at times, not a pretty sight, probably even an eye sore at times. Like all WIPs I can be an obstacle for someone or something, so much so that they have to take a detour to avoid me.

    WIP call for perseverance and patience to wait for the finished work.

    God loves me with my flaws and follies and idiosyncrasies. He sees the beauty in my ashes, the fragrance in my swamp, the design and pattern in my chaos and He will have the final say. To love a work in progress it requires an agape-unconditional love, which my Abba epitomizes. His love finds the way when everyone else gives excuses; it sees the gold in the garbage.

    He is the grand Weaver, the Architect, and the Director who calls the shots, the potter at the wheel, and the Maker, He has the blueprint. He is not limited by time so He has seen the finished work and He assures that it’s beautiful. Of this I am confident that He who began a good work will bring it to conclusion.  God wrote the best-seller on my life even before I was born, now it’s up to me to live that life and leave my mark. So I am up and about my task.

    He wrote your story too, what are you doing about it?

    JOHN0360
    With my God-sent angel to remind me of His agape love

  • Life in the 2nd gear!

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    Up-hill!

    Slow and unhurried, life in the 2nd gear is best described by the word, “despacito” (people understand more easily, courtesy Luis Fonsi), Spanish for slowly. This writing came out of my first hill driving experience, a drive with my beautiful best-half, Shalom to Morni hills, an hour drive into the hills from Panchkula in Haryana.

    The hills are where you realize the 4th or the 5th gear are not gonna take you anywhere.

    Hills are where cruise control doesn’t work.

    Hills can’t afford slacking off, demand alertness and dexterity and hard-work not to forget the motion-sickness for the sensitive. The constant paranoia of a land-slide on seeing huge rocks and the fear of going off the road into the valley is unsettling, adding to the misery. Life on the hill terrain is a constant pendulum change of gears from 1st-2nd to 3rd and never beyond that. The feet engage in tap dancing with the accelerator, clutch and the brake (unless you’re driving on hill assist on an automatic transmission vehicle).

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    Contrast it with a 4/6 lane highway drive, life is cruising  at speeds faster than the fastest cheetah all the while allowing luxuries of popping a pop-corn, taking a blink-small nap, tapping or grooving into the latest single or even stealing a kiss if you’re flanked by somebody as beautiful as my best-half! Cruise control is the ultimate luxury on a high speed highway. Life is easy, life is fast and life is good.

    But this is for all who’ve experienced the hilly terrain and for those who drive geared vehicle or at least have driven one, life on the hilly territory is hard-work offering little or no opportunity for the drive to admire or appreciate the beautiful landscape. But there’s good-news for all of us on the upward journey, beautiful, breathtaking sights await us at the top and it’s just a matter of time and distance. The top-of-the-world view and the feeling make us forget the arduous and nauseous journey (if at all it was one in the first place). Not to forget the down-hill drive this doesn’t require accelerator, thank God for gravity!

    At times the 2nd gear gives us the power and the control which the 5th gear can’t offer. Enjoy the way on the way, all through the way. Remember He is sovereign period.

    Ain’t no mountain high, no valley too low, when you’ve the grace and the favor of the Lord and a beautiful company beside you!  

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    Wanna join me for the next hill drive?

    Wait, gotta ask my wife!

    Joyance Shalom James