Choose today

The Old testament called out to choose life[1]. Choose life had been the call while the Israelites were under the law. The Israelites were asked to choose life and follow the law. However the entire span of the Biblical history is a testament to the failure of the law to deliver man from the tendency to sin[2]. God’s  recurrent lament is that all have gone astray[3], there is not one who seeks after him. All have each chosen their own way and rebelled like adulterous wives.

Jesus came, split the heavens to offer hope and salvation in the midst of this predicament that man finds himself in. The call however, changes from choose life, to “choose death”. We are now called upon to die[4], so that we might live. We choose to die to ourselves[5], so that Christ can resurrect us and transform us, a spiritual work well beyond the reach of human effort. Our part in the effort is to choose to die.

What does this mean? We have to realize that we carry around in ourselves the death of Christ. What this does mean is that we choose others over ourselves, choose God’s purposes first, and deliberately practice dying, or living in the reality that we have surrendered all rights to ourselves. When such a death happens, a harsh word or an unmet obligation or disappointed expectation will allow us to pause prior to a response. We are dead aren’t we? Then how can we react in anger, or in retaliation? God is the sole owner and possessor of or souls, since He bought us with the blood of Jesus. So what right do I have to rebel? Crucifixion becomes a daily ritual resulting in death in us, but it is the portal to a new life in Him. Our wife is set free, our children are liberated, and our families unshackled from my demands and charter of law. Grace is allowed to enter, by that space that now is a spark gap for mercy rather than for a conflagration. Love becomes a verb, by being allowed a space to swirl in the limbo.

The aim and object is now transformation. Transformation within ourselves and intercession for the transformation[6] of all those whom we hold dear. In dying, truly, are we able to experience a living. It is a daily choice, one that involves our hands being transfixed to a cross, where we choose not to move, not to retaliate, not to raise up in anger or self defence. We are helpless, harmless, vulnerably spread-eagled for all those we hold dear. We are usually able to permit this only for those whom we hold dear. Jesus permitted it for the whole world.

As the reality of our choice to die spreads through our circle of influence, we are able to offer it to a widening audience, and grace is allowed to flow to those beyond our horizons of filial recognition. A people group, a nation, a tribe, a language, a country,…. the world.

Neither do we choose to die for pecuniary gain of some eternal crown, though the crown is very much a promised treasure[7]. If treasure becomes the object, it soon decays and rots the sacrifice. Treasure in heaven is best left in heaven, beyond our greedy grasp or lusting licentiousness.

No wonder Dietriech Bonhoffer was able to write.. “When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die”.  Carrying the cross is not carrying a burden, or living with a fractious family member. Carrying the cross is always having available and accessible the instrument of your own death.

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[1] Deuteronomy 30:19

[2] Romans 8:3

[3] Isaiah 53:6

[4] John 12:24

[5] Luke 9:23

[6] Romans 12:1

[7] Luke 12:33

Play ball

PASSING THE BALL

A team game is a pleasure to watch, as different players pass a ball along, to achieve a goal. Each player puts in his or her part, and the ball passes along, till it goes through a  hoop or a goal with a resounding roar from the onlookers marking its passage.

Patient care is not very different, as the patient passes along in his or her passage through a health care facility, being passed along from department to department, each person contributing in varied ways to the healing that flows from the hospital. The patient recovers and leaves, but there is no resounding roar, only a calm satisfaction in hearts as we know we have done our bit in Gods great pattern of healing.

I stand in the operating theatre as the cases progress,  and wonder and thank God for the team in Manali. For every one who puts their hand to the task of taking care of patients in whatever capacity, direct or indirect.

I am so grateful for every one, and for the team here, by which we work together like a smooth machine, taking care of people who come here, hurt, hurting and in pain.

We truly are a team. I am very thankful and proud of you. Let us continue to play ball. 

Emerge

What dreadful night of the soul do you traverse?

What sharp crags cut your bloody feet and line the dark?

What hounds bay and keen behind your ears?

What smell of dread horror wafts above your soul?

Emerge

Every desperate dark is canvas for a glimmer

A glow can warm the coldest tundra

Hold hope close, and nourish its ray

As you wait for  dawning of another sure day

Emerge

Service

Breaking the silence, heralding the new year, quoting from Oswald Chambers reading from today...

The call of God is not a call to any particular service; my interpretation of it may be because contact with the nature of God has made me realize what I would like to do for Him. The call of God is essentially expressive of His nature; service is the outcome of what is fitted to my nature.

Service is the overflow of superabounding devotion; but, profoundly speaking, there is no call  to that, it is my own little actual bit and is the echo of my identification with the nature of God. Service is the natural part of my life. God gets me into a relationship with Himself whereby I understand His call, then I do things out of sheer love for Him on my own account. To serve God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is expressive of that which is fitted to my nature: God’s call is expressive of His nature; consequently when I receive His nature and hear His call, the voice of the Divine nature sounds in both and the two work together. The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and I serve Him in the ordinary ways of life out of devotion to Him.

Mountains

Mountains are awe inspiring barriers, impenetrable reminder of  the relative insignificance of man.
Psalm 125 talks of Jerusalem being surrounded by mountains, and reinforces the imagery of those trusting in the Lord being surrounded by His presence. In Manali we look up and see mountains around us every day. There are some allegorical  lessons that can hold much solace.

• They are always there. Despite dark thunderclouds obscuring the peaks, or hidden behind fog and cloud, the mountains are always there. When God's tangible presence is hidden by alien circumstance we can always be reassured that He is always there. 
• They may have a cap of snow in winter, and varied hues in the summer, but they really dont change very much at all. God's presence too, may manifest in varied seasons, but He does not change much at all. 
• They surround us, an impenetrable barrier to all. Anyone who wants to approach Manali would have to first deal with the mountains. Similarly, God's presence and protective hedge surrounds his people. 
• They provide shelter and solace to the flora and fauna of the region, dwelling in harmony with all around. 
• They can be a formidable enemy when landslides or inclement weather catches the unwary traveller unprepared. No one approaches a mountain lightly and if they do, it is usually to their own disadvantage. 
• We can look up to the mountains every day and remind ourselves of His constant presence. 

The Lord surrounds His people, both now and forever. 

Lest we forget

LEST WE FORGET (Rudyard Kipling)

God of our fathers, known of old,   

   Lord of our far-flung battle-line,   

Beneath whose awful Hand we hold

   Dominion over palm and pine—

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,   

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;

   The Captains and the Kings depart:   

Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,

   An humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,   

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The last line of this poem is now well entrenched as the line of remembrance for veterans and war heroes, commemorated and remembered annually on veterans day or days of remembrance of war. 

Its original meaning however, was meant to dive much deeper, a gratefulness to God, a line of remembrance for the entire panoply of life. 

All of us have remembrances and memories that may have their edges warped by the passage of time, yet are crystal clear in our minds. Battles fought, dire circumstances that we have been delivered from. 

It is important that we do not forget and that these memories are not relegated to the dusty shelves of unremembered time in our lives. Hence the call, never to forget. 

The Israelites were guilty of this very thing, as they traversed years in the wilderness, saw the glory of the Lord, yet forgot all that He had done for them in the past. They forgot. 

In our lives, let this be a call to remember our individual history as a testament to His faithfulness, lest we too forget. 

Urethroplasty

A patient had injured his perineum with a straddle injury, sustained a rupture urethra, and needed a suprapubic catheter. He has been visiting hospitals for the past three months, where he had radiological imaging but no definite date for surgery. He had a short segment stricture of his urethra. He underwent a repair and urethroplasty and should be fine to be discharged home soon.

Patients who have recourse to medical services have only the issue of having to pay for it. Medical insurance companies help, but this industry is heading towards trouble, with hospitals overcharging and bleeding the system. One can imagine that in ten years time, all bills will be viewed skeptically and soon restrictions placed on treatment, the way it is now in the United States.

What happens to patients who are not insured? The government attempts to meet this need with the Smart card and the RSBY program, a project of the NRHM. This ensures free treatment for those below the poverty line.This program works well, however, one does find many smart card holders riding up to the hospitals in latest vehicles!

What about the poor below poverty line who do not possess a smart card? They are left to fend for themselves. It is not only the economic condition of the patient, but the availability of hospitals willing to undertake for them.

Mission hospitals have long been havens for the poor and disadvantaged. The word mission now has come to mean different things to different people, much maligned and ill treated. However, they still can be places where the focus is still the poor.

How to maintain and run them, is another issue altogether, one fraught with many challenges and battles.

The bottom line however, still remains, the successful treatment and solace brought to the sufferer. We are grateful for all who allow us to do what we do.