Paulson Post

God is the God of surprises. In our walk with God, there is some surprise waiting for us at every turn. In the narrative of John’s birth in the Gospel of Luke (1:5-25) we find many divine surprises. First of all, Zechariah the priest did not expect to find Gabriel, the angel of God as he entered the area where the altar of incense was. The old priest was startled at the sight of the heavenly being right in front of an earthling like him. Secondly, he did not expect the announcement that he is going to become a father. He was old and has accepted the fact that he and his wife will be childless for the rest of their life. The worshippers waiting outside had their surprises too. They were surprised that the priest has taken unusually long time to return. Now, finally when he emerged he was not able to talk to them. He was mute. Then they concluded that the priest might have had a encounter with an angel in the inner court of the temple. That also is a surprise—an angel in the inner ...

Paul Piff, social psychologist has studied how wealth affects attitudes and behaviour. His empirical studies has uncovered that the wealthy are more prone to corruption and very poor in giving. They tend to be more likely to be law-breakers than those who are poorer than them! However, he says that these can be improved, though he doesn’t tell us how. There are exceptions to this rule certainly. The exceptions comes to us in the form of Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates and Narayana Murthi (Infosys) and many others who though rich are engaged in commendable service to humanity and liberal in their giving. I think Paul Piff, has provided a modern scientific commentary to what Jesus said in the first century: ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God’ (Mark 10:25). He meant ‘eye of the needle’ literally. It is not a small gate in the city of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time as some interpreters think. There was no such gat...

Elihu was a patientl listener to the arguments back and forth between Job and his friends. However, it came to a point were he blew his top! ‘Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong’ (Job 32:2-3). It is not an acceptable behaviour in ancient societies for young people to speak in the presence of the elders, leave alone criticise them. Elihu had reserved the most disrespectful, caustic comments about the whole thing. The reason for his frustration is not that the debate between Job and his friends has been the poorest show on earth but they proved themselves to be fools, though they were widely accepted wisemen! He burst out, ‘I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I sa...

‘Hebron’ means ‘league’, ‘confederation’ or by extension ‘friendship.’ This is the place where Patriarch Abraham bought a small patch of land to bury his wife Sara. Later it turned out to be the place where all the patriarchs and matriarchs except Rachel had their resting place. Today there stands the Ibrahami Mosque (as the Muslims calls it) or the Cave of the Patriarchs as the Jews would like to call it. Sibling rivalry begins with names! Abraham was a landless wanderer when his wife died in this area. Though God had promised him the land to his offspring he had none yet. Genesis 23 tells us the story of how patriarch Abraham came to own the place called Hebron. The Hittites who owned the land offered a burial space free but Abraham politely turned their offer down. He wanted the burial cave owned by Ephron the son of Zohar who also was so kind to offer the cave of Macpelah free of cost. However, Abraham had to persuade him with the help of the elders of the Hittites to sell it to ...

We were figuring out our way to lunch. The lunch menu is the Arab speciality Makluth, something similar to the Biryani but much less spicier. However, our group was stopped by a person who said we should take another route avoiding the main road. The Israeli military who entered the Palestinian territory has tear-gassed the street against a bunch of youth who were protesting against the death of a Jordanian on the Allenby bridge the previous day. A wall that separates Bethlehem from Israeli territories. Just a few feet away from Jacir Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem. Here on the streets stones are returned by bullets and tear gas It has become the routine of the day for the Palestinian youth in Bethlehem. They throw stones at the tower built on the walls that separate the Palestinian areas from Israeli areas. The Israelis call it 'security wall' and the Palestinians condemn it as 'separation wall.' You can see them all around. The truth is that only 3% ...

Most parents at least once in life have to answer this question their curious little ones toss at them: ‘Where did I come from?’ The child is too young to understand the complex biological activity that brought the child to this world. Embarrassed and bashful, parents resort to explanations that they might have got from their own parents. A white stork that flew over their roof carrying a little cute baby in a sling hanging from its long beak dropped it through the chimney! They found the cute little baby by the fire-side in the morning! The children are usually happy with that explanation and may watch for storks flying across their rooftops with babies in slings hanging from their long beaks, until they grow up to find out the truth for themselves. The storks don’t carry babies in their beaks nor deliver them to couples longing for children. It is all ...

A few kilo metres from where I live, was a farm opened for visitors. It was an rare patch of pristine countryside in the midst of a booming urban landscape. Among the many attractions there, was the workshop of a potter. In his workshop, the potter displayed making various articles from clay. I had frequented his workshop a number of times. He is very patient as he works with wet clay on his wheels. The patience of the potter and the vulnerability of the clay combined ends up in a beautiful clay object! Whenever, I visited this potter's workshop, I used picture myself as the clay on the wheels and the fingers of the potter as that of my Lord who shapes me. The Lord is like a potter, willing to work with us as long as we are willing to be shaped by his hands. He doesn't give up in the middle of the process if we are willing and vulnerable in his hands. He keeps working on us to bring to fulfilment what he has begun in us. That’s why he is called, ‘the founder and perfecter...