Two things that happened to me on 31 December, 2017 were not very natural.
But for special occasions, carrying a pen in worship service is not my thing. But that's exactly what I did before going to Church. As never before, Gamchiam, the Church's weekly bulletin carried four pages, out of which the last two pages were left blank. May be or may be not it had a purpose. If not human intention, surely divine.
I thought may be the two unnatural happenings are a premonition about something positive waiting to happen.
The preacher based his sermon on Psalms 116 verses 1 to 19. It's mainly about Thanksgiving service. And the main focus, verse 12 that says-
What shall I return to the Lord
for all his goodness to me?
From the vantage point in the Church's balcony, I had no intention to let go of the moment without making use of God's dispensation. I took note of the sermon.
The pastor conveyed the fact that he had driven a distance of 9230 kilometers during the year 2017, which works out to an aggregate distance of about 25 kilometers per day. Standing in the last day of the year without experiencing any mishap in bloody delhi roads, is a great fate ! To put it in another way, God had been with the pastor bountifully. His main focus was, however, the spiritual realm as much as physical.
His was a Psalms 116 based discourse on the goodness of God from the point of view of King David. David felt that God- (i) heard his voice and was gracious, and merciful; (ii) preserved and helped the poor; (iii) dealt bountifully with him; (iv) delivered his soul from death, eyes from tear and feet from a fall; (v) given him many benefits; and (vi) loosened his bonds.
Therefore, King David pledged to repay God's goodness by-
(1) loving Him; (2) calling Him for life/life long; (3) walking before the Lord in the land of the living; (4) taking the cup of salvation and calling upon God's name i.e. Jehovah's; (5) executing vows before the Lord in public; (6) offering sacrifice and thanksgiving; and (7) calling upon the name of the Lord.
Hence the blank pages in gamchiam and my carrying of pen proved useful. Praise the Lord !
Sent from my Mi phone
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