The Journey 263: Difference between school and life?
Read: James 1: 1-6
While studying in High School I remember studying the lesson about Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe, in the English subject class. It was all about a sailor who gets shipwrecked and is lost in seas and then survives after going through different ordeal both in land and sea. Fox News and the music station K Love broadcast yesterday a news similar to Robinson Crusoe. It was about woman who got lost in Nevada wilderness but survived on sheer power of faith. This is a wonderful testimony about Rita and here husband Albert Chretian who were driving from their home in British Columbia, Canada to Las Vegas for a trade show. In the middle of the journey they wanted to take a stop at a small town and when they directed their GPS to that route, the route that GPS took them was to a remote forest road, a treacherous mountain range which was very unfamiliar to them. Soon the vehicle also got stuck and Mr. Chretian set out on foot after staying three days in the vehicle to get help. He never returned. Rita became desperate but she was one who had a strong faith and one who always had a close walk with the Lord. She started surviving on trail mix, some fruits and she would always pray to the Lord to give her a contented feeling while eating fruits that she a full meal. Finally the rescue team found her after 49 days and airlifted to a nearby hospital. Her husband has still not returned and is presumed to be dead. The first thing Rita Chretian wanted to do once she recovered was to speak to her parish priest, because she wanted to thank both the parish priest and the church helping her grow in her faith journey, which was the source of hope for her, in the time of this ordeal. She attends the First Church of Nazarene where she recalled her ordeal and witnessed to the congregation on how the faith that she was nurtured as a child helped her in one of the strongest battles of life. A battle where everything seemed to be lost, a battle where one is fighting every inch regain hope and life. Rita Chretian stands as a glorious witness where faith is not only tested but what has been taught or nurtured is made experiential in the most difficult circumstances. Maturing in Faith especially in times of deep distress is what helps Christian to have a new perspective about our life and the purpose of God.
We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation today is from James 1: 1-6. In this portion James teaches about two fundamental truths that every Christian needs to hold on life, truths that helps them to make faith living more practical. First he says that whatever be the issues in life and crisis in life, when crisis comes, it has some positive effects and lessons in faith learning. Most of us think crisis as a negative term , but biblically understood crisis is an opportunity to develop the character of endurance in a believer and also an opportunity to trust in the providence and purpose of God. Secondly James says that in all our life struggles we are not alone, there is God with us and it this presence that helps us in our varied life situations and each of this life situations helps us to become more wise in our understanding about life, about God and his purpose. Every individual goes through crisis situation in life when you feel you are battling against hope and you are all alone, and it in such situation just like Rita Chretian depended on God and saw to it that her faith nurturing help her to endure the crisis situations in life. We also need to consciously understand that every crises situation is an opportunity to grow in our Christ like character in us and move to a more mature understanding not only of faith but also of life. Let us think whether we have developed the quality of endurance through the nurturing of our faith.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
While studying in High School I remember studying the lesson about Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe, in the English subject class. It was all about a sailor who gets shipwrecked and is lost in seas and then survives after going through different ordeal both in land and sea. Fox News and the music station K Love broadcast yesterday a news similar to Robinson Crusoe. It was about woman who got lost in Nevada wilderness but survived on sheer power of faith. This is a wonderful testimony about Rita and here husband Albert Chretian who were driving from their home in British Columbia, Canada to Las Vegas for a trade show. In the middle of the journey they wanted to take a stop at a small town and when they directed their GPS to that route, the route that GPS took them was to a remote forest road, a treacherous mountain range which was very unfamiliar to them. Soon the vehicle also got stuck and Mr. Chretian set out on foot after staying three days in the vehicle to get help. He never returned. Rita became desperate but she was one who had a strong faith and one who always had a close walk with the Lord. She started surviving on trail mix, some fruits and she would always pray to the Lord to give her a contented feeling while eating fruits that she a full meal. Finally the rescue team found her after 49 days and airlifted to a nearby hospital. Her husband has still not returned and is presumed to be dead. The first thing Rita Chretian wanted to do once she recovered was to speak to her parish priest, because she wanted to thank both the parish priest and the church helping her grow in her faith journey, which was the source of hope for her, in the time of this ordeal. She attends the First Church of Nazarene where she recalled her ordeal and witnessed to the congregation on how the faith that she was nurtured as a child helped her in one of the strongest battles of life. A battle where everything seemed to be lost, a battle where one is fighting every inch regain hope and life. Rita Chretian stands as a glorious witness where faith is not only tested but what has been taught or nurtured is made experiential in the most difficult circumstances. Maturing in Faith especially in times of deep distress is what helps Christian to have a new perspective about our life and the purpose of God.
We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation today is from James 1: 1-6. In this portion James teaches about two fundamental truths that every Christian needs to hold on life, truths that helps them to make faith living more practical. First he says that whatever be the issues in life and crisis in life, when crisis comes, it has some positive effects and lessons in faith learning. Most of us think crisis as a negative term , but biblically understood crisis is an opportunity to develop the character of endurance in a believer and also an opportunity to trust in the providence and purpose of God. Secondly James says that in all our life struggles we are not alone, there is God with us and it this presence that helps us in our varied life situations and each of this life situations helps us to become more wise in our understanding about life, about God and his purpose. Every individual goes through crisis situation in life when you feel you are battling against hope and you are all alone, and it in such situation just like Rita Chretian depended on God and saw to it that her faith nurturing help her to endure the crisis situations in life. We also need to consciously understand that every crises situation is an opportunity to grow in our Christ like character in us and move to a more mature understanding not only of faith but also of life. Let us think whether we have developed the quality of endurance through the nurturing of our faith.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla