Wake up

This morning on the radio i heard a song that - ironically, considering the purpose and title of this post - i woke up to.

Its called Wake Up Sid. Its from a hindi movie about a young guy named Sid, who's going through his life just 'chilling' and with no purpose. Thus, life's passing him by.

The song is the title song and encompasses tif life message of so many before us. Wake up, every moment says, wake up, make tomorrow better, wake up and make your life so awesome you inspire your friends to do the same.

Isn't that evangelization? Isn't that EXACTLY how you're supposed to live the Gospel?

Wake up. There's a glorious life in Jesus waiting for you.

Breathlessly.

Eagerly.

Is it any wonder that youth who live in the Lord - those who've 'woken up' - stay joyful even beyond the 30's and those who don't settle into mediocrity because the temporary joys of instant gratification start to fade once you bid goodbye to the tweens?

Rescue mission - 25th December.

It's here.

The moment that split time, that tore a gaping hole in the very fabric of human intelligence, that ripped to shreds what we thought of as sanity and intellect.

The moment that fulfilled 3,000 years of prophecy by giants of humanity, that ended 2,000 years of waiting.

The moment that won the war, so that no more little battles would scare us.

The moment that every man, woman and child on the planet owes their life to.

The greatest rescue mission in the history of the planet begins tonight!

Jesus - welcome back!

The storm has passed

He did it. Jesus did it. I won! He truly is the God of mystery and wonder. How else can anyone explain this?

My very presence in Dubai is now the biggest witness to His love and wonders I can possibly give.

Don't know what i'm talking about? Ask.

A storm and a Saviour

I find it quite intriguing that in the 3 weeks after ACYC, when my spiritual life has been at an all time high and my submission to my God due to His wondrous works in my life has been paramount, satan has upped his efforts.

The more I come closer to Jesus, the more I daily surrender and see his Majesty at work due to it, the more I leave claim to worldly pleasures and wants, the more satan has begun to throw adversities towards me.

And then yesterday, he deals his biggest blow: I discover I will most probably need to leave Dubai on the 20th for Karachi, and won't be able to enter until 24th June i.e. 6 months later. Its not a labour ban, its an entry ban. And unless I can find some legal way of lifting it, I must stay in Karachi for the coming months.

What does this mean morally and in other ways:
1. I miss my godchild's Baptism
2. I miss the Family Fest where I was the person handling its first Youth Kiosk in 10 years
3. I miss World Youth Day Dubai 2010, which for the first time is taking place in Dubai instead of Fujairah
4. I may either work for IQPC at home in Karachi through our virtual network or not work for them at all
5. I will not be able to join SFC, spend time with my new friends from ACYC etc

And despite all the above, wherein the evil one must be thinking I'd be devastated: I'm not. I have a smile on my face.

Why? Because He lives in me. ALL of the above are worldly. But His presence in me surpasses all that. So what if I am confined to Karachi for 6 months? I'm confined with Him. And no other company would I prefer more.

I was thinking to myself the other day, I wish there was some way I could evangelise the youth of Karachi, however there didn't seem any way I could do this. You never know, maybe this happened so that I may go to Karachi and spread the news of A Younger Jesus to them.

Time and time again - no pun intended - God shows me his bare wrist without a watch! :)

Jesus Culture - Holding nothing back

This song has been on repeat on my mp3 player for the last 10 days, and doesn't show signs of stopping.

God-less Parents

This is a topic that really riles me up. Something more and more
Christians are taking for granted. In the West parents do it out of
obligation, in the East (particularly among Pakistani and Indian
Christians) they do it out of preference.

I'm talking about Godparents.

Even as early as last night, i met some people who didn't even
remember who their children's Godparents were, let alone their own!
And among my own friends and family back home, couples choose their
sisters, brothers, aunts, nieces, cousins, best friends etc as their
children's Godparents simply because of their relationship. It doesn't
matter whether that person knows nothing about Jesus save a novena or
two.

A Godparent, in its simplest explanation, is someone who will take
care of your child in two avenues: security (economical, educational,
physical, moral etc) and spiritual. The first is given a passing
thought during the choice, the second isn't even considered. Sadly.

A younger Jesus would have not been the spiritual powerhouse had He
not been given both the physical AND spiritual nourishment his mother,
father and others among His family's acquaintances gave. Imagine if
Jesus had been nourished instead by an aunt more concerned about what
tunic she'd want to wear at the next Passover. Or a cousin who only
knew how to discuss female anatomy. Or even an uncle whose favourite
pasttime was lewd jokes. And yet, look at the choices of some
'Godparents' today. Some by our own friends!

How do you feel about this?

Lets be impossible!

Just received an email testimony of a beautiful child of God's experience with His ways, this time for World Youth Day, that bastion of a young Jesus, and Hillsong.

It ended with a prayer which brought me to tears of empowerment, and with her permission I'm sharing it here. May it be a prayer for you as well:

"With this email, I pray that you will dream the impossible (and thrilling) dreams that God desires for you. That you will believe in the dreams that capture your heart– however crazy or trivial they seem. And that you will have the faith to be desperate for them to come to reality in God’s time and with his grace."