1 Samuel 8:3 "...His sons did not walk in his ways- they turned toward dishonest gain, took bribes and perverted justice." Reading from 1 Samuel 8:3, how Samuels son did not walk in his ways… I pray for Nathaniel that he will indeed always walk in the ways of the Lord. This is my inheritance, that I will lay up for him, that I will bring him up in the ways of the Lord. The inheritance does not just happen but is carefully prepared for the son or daughter. It is not the residue of life, but the repository of a lifetime, handed over with care. May this be the inheritance I hand over, a life surrendered to Him.

PSALM 91

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

The words dwell and abide in the English are synonymous, but when the root words are examined, they are found to be different. Dwell is "yashab" which means sit, or stay, or have one's abode. Abide is "loon", which means tarry the night, or pass the night. Our temporary placements come from the perceptions of our permanent dwelling. Therefore, David is able to say, Lord.. is my refuge and fortress, ... in whom I trust. Trust comes from our appreciation of our permanent residence, an unwavering conviction of our belonging to and being possessed. All the other machinations of war that oppress are not fought individually, but viewed from this safe haven of permanence. We tend to get caught up fighting wars and machinations of oppression, abandoning our post of refuge. Because we have made the Lord, our refuge, says verse 9, ... no harm will come to you. All of us face battles of various kinds. Let us fight them aware of our position and permanence.

The character changes

The character of this blogpost is undergoing a change. From being a post that focussed on manalihospital, it is now moving to a personal blog of Dr. Philip Alexander. This change is because now manalihospital.com has a new look and the provision for an internal blog on the website, which will be updated and kept current. This site will now only express the individual thoughts and ponderings of Dr. Philip. I hope you will continue to subscribe to this and stay connected. I hope to continue to blog with more regularity and provide thoughts and insights from the goings on at the hospital, from a personal perspective. Please visit our website www.manalihospital.com and subscribe to the newsletter and blogposts there to stay current with doings and goings on at the hospital. Thank you for all your support to us. Dr. Philip Alexander

Merry Christmas to all

Christmas is the time when God communicated with man on man’s terms. He came as a baby. Our new baby underscores this lesson as we interact with him daily. God did not Twitter at us, nor did he post a Facebook post. He came to be with us. Emmanuel. Only those whose hearts were open to the baby saw Him for who He was. The rest of Bethlehem slept through the first Christmas. For as many as received Him, the Bible says, received what He came to give.

Wishing you all a blessed christmas, full of all that he came to us for.

Thoughts from Oswald Chambers

Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His showroom. He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He likes.

The abandonment of intent releases us from the captivity of productivity. Our lives are often measured by productivity. A lack of productivity is looked down upon. God is not really after productivity. That is a by product of character. He is after our character. Hence the forge, the fire, and the rod and staff. May His blows land well.

Thoughts

"My thoughts are not your thoughts". Isaiah the prophet speaks succint words on God's behalf to a world that did not pay heed, Despite a thousand years of the earth spinning on its axis, these words still dispel into the ether today, hardly heeded. (Isaiah 55:8).

Thoughts are the demonstration of the soul, the vignette of actions yet to be completed. We pay so much attention to our clothes, our job, our families, our bank balance. How much attention do we really pay to our thoughts.

The danger of not heeding Isaiah's warning is evidenced starkly in lives and stories of institutions gone awry, where a step sideways embarks them on a course that eventually heads tangentially away from a founding principle. Leaving them stranded on a desert island with no alternative recourse and wondering quizically how they got there in the first place. Like a set of rail tracks these thoughts carry our lives forward. All our industry remorselessly drives us headlong into the mist of our unclear destinations, unless we examine our thoughts.

All our sophistication and intelligent developement deludes us that thoughts originate in our minds. Jesus had raised a query when he asked the scribes and the Pharisees, the intelligentsia of that generation, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" (Math 9:4). He was uncovering the key to the crucible of our mind, our heart attitude. In a way, our thoughts are a helpless mare, led by the bit and bridle of our attitudes, which actually originate from our heart condition. Guard your heart above all things, is another injunction that often falls by the wayside unheeded.

What do we do with all these injunctions. The key to all these was summed up by a very wise king, Solomon, who wrote that the the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In all our accounting, planning, deliberating, dreaming and industry, let us seek hard after our giver of Life, the Lord, our God. This is our only compass, lodestar of a charted course that has any guarantee of avoiding shipwreck, sailing between the Scylla and Charibdis of good intention and horrific disaster.

Mission Masala Library starts in Manali

Mission Masala library was inaugurated today by Ms Beulah, Principal of Daystar School, opening about four thousand books to the people of manali, making them available to borrow and read at leisure. This is thanks to Masala Ministries from Canada and Pastor Raj Sandhu and his team who donated these books to us. Thanks guys, for putting books in the hands of people half a world away.