Random Thoughts

While having lunch in a restaurant yesterday, a man sitting nearby approached me and asked, "Can I borrow your salt?"
He just wanted the salt dispenser which was kept on my table, but the way he asked it made me think about what Jesus said once,
"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other." (Mark 9:50)

The second part says, " Have salt in yourselves..." and the man asked me, "can I borrow your salt?" Funny, but something to ponder about.

So do I have enough salt to give? Salt brings flavor to so many dishes and can I give flavor to people around me? The flavor of Christ!
Can others experience Christ through my talking, my dealing and my day to day living???
Many people do not accept our testimony because we are not living out "Christ"; we are still living the old life. Not as the Apostle Paul said, " I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

God help me too, to have salt and also not loose it's saltiness.

In 1974 Dr. Henry Heimlich first described an emergency technique for expelling foreign material blocking the trachea. This technique, now called the Heimlich maneuver or abdominal thrusts, is simple enough that it can be performed immediately by anyone trained in the maneuver. The Heimlich maneuver is a standard part of all first aid courses.

The theory behind the Heimlich maneuver is that by compressing the abdomen below the level of the diaphragm, air is forced under pressure out of the lungs dislodging the obstruction in the trachea and bringing the foreign material back up into the mouth.

Strangely sometimes we hardly do the things we study in text books. Maybe it's because we don't get a chance to do it.

I studied the theory part of this 20 years ago, but never had the chance to do it until today (6/4/08) when a chinese boy aged 3 was rushed into our clinic at around 4 pm. The child had swallowed a coin and was choking. The father who brought the child was panicking and I was seized by the urgency of the situation. I asked for an ambulance to be called, then remembered the maneuver described above and just went on to try it. Plop..came out the coin from the windpipe of the child after I gave a couple of abdominal thrusts. All glory to God. A few more minutes would have been detrimental for the child.

God has given us many talents and sometimes we may not use it for many years because of certain circumstances in our life, but if we are willing to be channels for the Lord to perform through us, He will use us at the right time.

If God wants someone to be born into the world and live, no one can stop it.
It's very evident from the info. that I write below.

The world's youngest gestational age baby, born at 21 weeks and six days (just over 5 months) was 4 months in neonatal intensive care. Amillia Sonja Taylor was born on 24 Oct. 2006 at Baptist Children's Hospital in Miami, USA. She weighed 284 grammes and measured 24 centimetres in length, slightly longer than a ballpoint pen.

Doctor's describe her as a miracle baby and it is considered a new world record as no baby born before 23 weeks has previously survived. American Association of Pediatrics indicates that babies born less than 23 weeks of age and 400 grammes in weight are not considered viable.

If God decides on something, it's done and it's great that He uses us as channels for His purposes even though we are, as the Bible says, "just a breath."

Recently I had been called to preach in a church in Dubai, UAE. (a church where I had never been and where I knew no one except the pastor who called me) As usual the night before the event, I was at the feet of the Lord asking for God's counsel regarding the message and also for getting His leading for praying for specific needs of the people in the congregation, that the Lord revealed.

Among other things, the still small voice said, "Pray for Roshan."
Many a times, I am wary of calling out names of people in the congregation, but still I obey the Lord's leading.

So, here I was in a church with a congregation of around 50 people. After the worship, the pastor introduced me and said "Dr. Johnson will be speaking in English and the message will be translated into Malayalam(a local language of South India) by (guess who)....Roshan.

"Bull's eye"...I said in my heart and as I went up on the stage, here was Roshan, an upcoming minister, standing next to me, ready to translate. I showed him my small noteslip from the night before on which was written "Pray for Roshan" and he was delighted that the Lord had specifically mentioned his name to me.

May be a small incident, but it had a major impact on the guy and on the congregation that night. Marvellous are the ways of God. Praise the Lord.

For a visa change in the U.A.E. I happened to travel by a small aircraft from Dubai to Kish island. Looking through the window, I could see the vast ocean on my left. It just stretched for miles and miles. The thought that if something went amiss with this small plane sent a fear signal through my system, but then I remembered the promise of Deuteronomy Ch.33:27.
"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms...."

However vast the ocean and however small the aircraft, the unchanging factor was the "everlasting arms."
Neither was I in control of the plane, nor could I have any authority over the sea, but I realized I was in safe hands. The hands that bled for me.
Unchanging promise....Unchanging love......Unchanging Savior....Praise the Lord.

This was another time that God spoke to me regarding a certain matter in my life. I had an important interview coming up and though I had been praying, I had some fears.

A couple of days before the interview, as I was watching the news on TV, as usual there were some commercials being shown and one commercial was about a soft drink and suddenly I realized that God had given me a message through it. The audio in the commercial said, "There's victory beyond your fear."

I know that some of you who are reading this are going through the same situation. You are praying about a certain matter, but you have fears too. Relax. Trust in Jesus. "THERE'S VICTORY BEYOND YOUR FEAR."

Our heart beats about 100,000 times in one day and about 35 million times in a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times.
Our body has about 5.6 liters (6 quarts) of blood. This 5.6 liters of blood circulates through the body three times every minute. In one day, the blood travels a total of 19,000 km (12,000 miles)--that's four times the distance across the US from coast to coast.
The heart pumps about 1 million barrels of blood during an average lifetime--that's enough to fill more than 3 super tankers.

Just place your hand where your heart is and say, "Thank you Jesus that till this day, my heart has been working perfect"

If your heart is diseased, your Creator who made this wonderful organ is also the person who can fix it, so pray, hope and trust that He will restore it to perfection.

Someone asked me the other day....What's the difference between "Ask, seek and knock" in "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7)

Asking is simple as when a child prays. Some prayers are answered by God just by asking.
What does one do when nothing happens when we ask. Jesus said, "seek"
Seek actually means "To try to locate or discover; search for" What's there to serach? Search for things that are hindering your prayers from being answered by God. Something that's not pleasing to God in your life. That may be a stumbling block. Investigate yourself and your relationship with God. Everything's clear, but still no answer.
Now what's to be done? Jesus said "knock". Knock on the doors of heaven. Add fasting to your prayer if prayer alone doesn't work. Fasting can overcome doubts and unbelief that hinders our prayers from being answered.
If one knows the combination, it's easy to open the lock.

One of the costliest cars in the world is the Maserati MC12 Corsa. It costs around 3 Million Dollars.

Very soon there's an auction to be held in the U.A.E for a number plate that's going to cost way higher than the costliest car. The number plate "1" was the star exhibit at a recent supercar show that featured the world's most expensive cars. Number "5" sold for 7 million dollars and they are expecting number "1" to fetch 10 million and already there are 5 people to bid that amount.

And all this when there are people in Asia, Africa and other places who do not have even one full meal.

How inconsiderate can mankind become! Long back the Lord looked upon the wickedness of man and said, " I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth - men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air - for I am grieved that I have made them." (Genesis 6:7)

And the Bible also says, " By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." (2 Peter 3:7)

Faith involves taking risks, but taking unwanted risks in the name of faith can be dangerous and invite problems into our life.

The other day I was out for dinner with my friends. The friend who picked me up that night has a wondeful car and as we travelled to the restaurant, I was surprised by the way he was driving.....overspeeding. Time and again as he accelerated, I kept jamming the imaginary brakes in front of me. (I believe some of you have done that.)

Now, he's a good believer but I think accidents caused by overspeeding doesn't come in God's protection coverage. Believers need self-control, one of the ingredients of the "fruit of the spirit"

There's no point in complaining, "God didn't avert the accident, after one has been overspeeding." We have to respect the traffic laws that are laid down by the govt."

Once a servant of God received the anointing and gift of prophesy while driving his car and he was very happy and asked the Lord, "What must I do now?"

"For a start, said the Lord," Slow down the car."