I Love 20-20!!!

How I cherish the memories of India winning the 20-20 world cup 2007 in South Africa. No Bollywood script writer would have written such a thrilling final between the arch rivals India & Pakistan. What more would have any cricket lover expected than a nail-biting finish to the slam bang 20-20 world cup in 2007. India entered the previous world cup as 'Under Dogs' not having any high hopes but ended up wining the world cup as they cruised to win one match after another though it was truly a battle right through to the end. Now, they enter this world cup as 'Defending Champions' with having high pressure of performing well right through out the tournament.

Yesterday, Netherlands beat England which sent shock waves to the Cricketing Fraternity. This is what 20 20 is all about. It gives minnows a chance to be World Champions as opposed the 50 50 matches where it is the reign of 'Kangaroos' most of the time. 20 20 is all about set backs and scintillating victories; set backs to the so called Giants and victories to the babes in Cricket.

I must admit that Cricket is a fantastic game but all in all it is too lengthy. Giving respect to the game it has always been, the X- Generation doesn't have patience nor time to appreciate its class. It's all about providing entertainment to the crowds. After all every game is for crowds without them there is no game at all. How I remember skipping the classes in the school just to play and watch this game, though I don't advice any kid to emulate what I did in my childhood, I cannot take away the beauty and charm this game has always possessed, and of course 20 20 added more beauty to it. India being one of the 'Common Wealth' countries, it inherited the Game from its Masters. Who would have ever expected that 'Cricket' would have one day become such an important part of life in the Sub- Continent; even to the extent that it would beat its Masters at some point.

I must confess that though one must not love anything or anyone more than Jesus; it has always have been challenging for me to put Cricket aside even today. May nothing become ever more precious than loving & serving Jesus Christ our Lord but He has also given us some thing to enjoy within its own limits. Enjoy watching 20 20 world cup in England!!

Who am I??

In the film 'Bourne Ultimatum' Jason Bourne; the hero forgets who he was; and the through out the film it was his mission to find out who he was and that too from the most complex clues.

Even when I was a child; this question used to pop in my mind very often. Especially when I wore new cloths or new shoes. I first used to look at the cloths that I wore and get fascinated by them and then the next thought would be like 'these cloths on what??!!' or ' are these shoes for my foot; oh gosh!!'. I used to look at my hands and used to look at them on and on trying to figure out what they actually were; the material it was made from; but I couldn't find an answer why those hands are linked to me or my mind?? and why am I saying to myself these are my hands; 'what is this so called feeling of being connected with 'me or my self'; what is this thing called 'me' or in other words 'what am I' or 'Who am I?'.

I think it is a serious question to ask ourselves, though it is a childlike one. Who are we? One might reply we are humans; of course we are; but when I ask who you are; don't just say you are a human; of course you are but think deep about who you are and how blessed you are to be born as a human and how different you are from other creatures and finally realise that you are created in the image and the likeness of God and you have a living soul. This soul is not mind as you would think but it is more than that. Just ponder on these thoughts and give me a reply when you can. I will be looking forward to that.

Don't harden your heart

What is heart? Is it a bodily part or the source of all emoti -

onal feelings? what does it mean when you say 'I am touched' or 'it's mind boggling'?!! Apart from being a bodily organ, it is the source of all emotional feelings; good and bad.

It is a warning to those who trust in the Lord that we must not harden our hearts which means that we must not give up the spiritual habits regardless of our feelings. The spiritual habits are just like bad habits or good habits that we nurture or enjoy. The only difference I have noticed between nurturing a bad habit and a good one is that it is easy to get swept away by the bad one; it pulls you off to its side and the effort from your side to be consistent may be minimal but to nurture a good one; one needs to be consistent and it is a hard work in a sense until you do it automatically without any extra burden or effort. And the spiritual habits are only two. One is to read the Word and the other is to pray to God. Not that our reading and praying is so beautiful that the Lord should answer our prayers but it is with the help from Him do we do these things; this is when we will easily get swept into the fold of keeping our spiritual habits with joy. But when you stop doing these things just because you are tired or had a bad day at office or a spat with a guy or a sin that you shouldn't have committed or your love is broken and the list goes on..When we stop praying and reading the Word; the very life to spirituality gets chocked; our hearts will get slowly hardened. It is a process and it doesn't happen over a night but the process continues and we cannot stop it until we throw ourselves at the feet of Christ. This is when preaching becomes boring, praying becomes the most undesired action. How is your heart to day? Is it hard or soft enough to cry to God?