A Tear Stained Letter-3 Max’s Response

Dear Eric,

            Thank you for your handwritten letters. They remind me of my childhood days when we used to read the letters from our grandparents at Christmas. I am pleased to read them. I like the idea of being productive by eliminating the distractions of social media! Kudos on your progress, man! Hope you, Dana, Steven, and Trevor are all good. I’m sorry about my delayed response to your letters. We were away for an early vacation and our phones and laptops were submitted.  

            With regard to your first letter, you have many genuine questions. All of those questions do not come from mood alteration. They are in fact existential questions which are quite sobering. Let me address all those questions now:

Coincidences are God planned incidents.

Veeta was on her second interview for the day when I met her. She happened to be sitting next to me on the bus and for a minute I thought I was on the wrong bus and she reassured me I was on the right one and we started talking for the next half an hour or so until my stop arrived. That was an interview I was going to where I came across this person.

Mr Khanna was an 85 year old retired auditor who happened to sit next to me during one of my long waits at an airport. What started out as a conversation to hand the newspaper over took multiple turns into the past and I could see his eyes shine as he was telling me stories of the days in which he could jump and run.

These are two of the people who have crossed paths with me in two of my journeys that I was reminded of today.

I did not know why certain things happened, why I went for that interview if God knew this job wasn’t fit for me. Why did I go till the last round of the interview if I’m not going to get that job. Why this? Why that? Basically a lot of whys!!

That’s when I got a tiny answer today, a mom with two kids was traveling in the bus i took today and I helped the mom, maybe that was why I had to be on the bus today. I randomly smiled at a lady (who definitely thought it was creepy) and perhaps that’s why God wanted me to go that way today.

A lot of things that seemed like coincidences are actually God working behind the scenes for the good of all who love Him and who he cares for.

So it’s okay to not be called back after every interview. It’s okay if we had to go the hospital multiple times for a lot of tests. It’s okay to get low marks.

God is in control. He knows what is best for us.

When God takes the drivers seat

In our Uber/Ola trending world, how would you feel if your driver could not read the google map and drop you off at the right location?

Not so calm, especially if that is delaying you to your very important meeting that you absolutely must reach on time and since you left home extra early you thought you could save a few pennies by booking the pool/share.

I have felt so helpless that I have no clue where I am nor how to reach my next destination, all I could do was trust my driver to take me to my right destination how much ever time it takes.

If I can give up so much of trust to a man who was matched to me through the wonders of technology to safely(sometimes not so safely) still drop me at my destination, why can’t I let God take the drivers seat in my life?

I used to think that proper study of situations and scenarios would help me list out the pros and cons and help me in my decision making. I have hated waiting for things from my food to my results to my flights. God has never ceased to surprise me in any of these areas now that I look back.

I learned to relinquish and eventually let go of the drivers seat of my life when God asked me- “Why are you downcast,O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?”

Psalm 42:5a

And he answered to my cries“ Put your hope in God”

Now I enjoy the views, the scenery, the rain, the sunshine, the mountains and the valleys as my father in heaven is behind the wheels.

Serve and not be Served.

A week before the Crucifixion of Our Lord, the wife of Zebedee, approached Jesus asking for a favour – to grant her sons to sit, one at His right and the other at His left when He comes in glory (Mathew 20:21). Our Lord knew that everyone had been impressed with the wild popularity and the adulation of the crowds and had assumed that it was only a matter of time before Jesus became the Lord of Jerusalem and drove out the Roman soldiers.

But Jesus knew what would happen in the space of only a few days. “You do not know what you are asking,” He told them. “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?” The Apostles failed to perceive what leadership meant in the Kingdom of God. Leadership in the world is all about prestige and pride. But in the Body of Christ, it is all about self-sacrifice. It is all about surrender and submission. It is all about setting one’s own interests aside for the sake of others. It is all about laying down one’s own life so that others may live. Jesus explained that unlike when the Gentiles rule with tyranny, here it would be “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be the slave of all“ (Mark 10.42-44).

We see our Lord opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, strengthening the legs of the lame, opening the minds of the unbelieving, and forgiving the pollution of sinners. Do we not see Him most clearly, as a Servant, when He bent down, at the Last Mystical Supper, to wash the feet of His disciples? And do we not hear Him call us to the same service?

As He has become our Suffering Servant by ascending the Way of the Cross, so also must we become His servants, and the servants of our fellow man.

Serving our fellowman requires that we point man to paradise; it requires that we give up our own demands for prestige, for power and influence, from getting in our way. Let us show kindness to one another. Let us be gracious and merciful. Let us treat each other with the greatest respect and honor. Let us be patient with eccentricities and limitations. Let the world know that our fellowship is bound together with cords of love, forgiveness and grace. We can achieve this only when we allow the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts to attain the level of humility our Lord reflected.

“.. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

–Matthew 20:28

Through Trial and Errors!

We sometimes go through seasons of trials in our life. We introspect trying to understand what we did to deserve it. The truth is, God takes us through certain trials, to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). He shakes up our world when he sees us getting complacent with our lives.

Getting a job in a Hollywood-based animation company was a dream come true for me. When I had completed 3 years in the industry, this dream-company filed for bankruptcy. Although a new management took over the company, I wasn’t very hopeful. I decided to step out and start a company of my own.

With just three years worth of savings and a dream to make it big, I set out on an entrepreneurial adventure with a friend of mine. But things did not go the way we planned. I used most of my savings and my health took a hit because of the crazy hours I was putting in. The business did not work out for me; it left me broke and sick. I had to exit the company that I helped build. I felt like a monumental failure at the age of 28.

Now that I had lost everything, I decided to try something different with life. I changed my field of work. Through three years of freelancing I finally found my real calling in life. What I considered as a failure God used it to direct me to my purpose (Romans 8:28).

As I look back, I’ve realised that my greatest gain during this season of trial when I learned to surrender my life to God. I realised how badly I needed Him, and how badly I still need Him every step of my way. As you read this, you too may be going through a rough patch in your life. Do not give up. Pray to God to give you His strength to carry on, so that His purpose may be fulfilled in your life. Keep Him at the center of every aspect of your life and He will not let you down.

Written by Avish John Thomas, a freelance graphic designer and an illustrator from Hyderabad.