12 days of the indian christmas!

this is a must-watch, people!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owK5tHjL0aE
enjoy!

lukewarm

Sitting at my computer for the last 6 hours.......
sipping on a cup of coffee gone cold....
.......yuck.......now i know how God feels.

Another year!!...random reflections...and stuff i've learnt!

Wow! It's been another short one!! 2007 is around the corner!!
I spent most of today at the comp! Just browsing, chatting, reading people's blogs, blah blah. I'm enjoying my li'l break from core, but I'm missing it like crazy! I can't remember the last time I came for core! Was it one and a half(?) two (?) months ago???? Wow...I don't think I've ever been away from core this long. I've been thinking about it a lot though...We've hit SO many milestones this year, its INCREDIBLE!God's been super good to us, as a church, as a youth ministry, as leaders, in more ways than we can ever imagine.

If you're wondering where I've been, well, I initially got busy with choir stuff...I thin we had a our best season yet, as a choir...! [and yes, the best is still yet to come] I absolutely LOVED every minute of it. I got opportunities to do two things I really love doing, but I don't do much- singing and photoshop!!hehe. (I helped make some posters for our concert). I'm missing choir SO much now!! ...And now my extended family is here for Christmas! WOO HOO!! :-) My aunt and ungle are here from Bosnia. Arun is here!!! :-) woo hoo! With lotttttts chocolates and brownies and nice smelling shampoos n all hehehehe!!! Joey will be here in the first week of January! House full here, and I'm loving it!

I was reviewing my big hairy audacious goals for the year. (When I say reviewing, I don't mean with a pencil and paper in my hand goin "....done..done..done..."..I mean, I open my cupboard door and there it is...stuck in my cupboard...staring at me...and i'm staring at it..thinking...hmmm....hmmm...thats it! sorry for sounding like Savio!) By way of numbers, i'm nowhere. Somewhere in our BHAG i rememmber seeing something about Neethikutti starting her home group by June/July and having a ten memeber home group by December! I also remeber seeing something about Neethikutti raising 3 leaders by the end of the year; and i ALSO remember something about connecting with 25 peoople......this is where grace really kicks in.

I feel like we did our SWOT just yesterday!!! (Is that because we took 6 weeks to do it???!hehe) and you know what i'm most kicked about? That we managed to address our single largest threat by the end of the year! i LOVE the way things took a turn in those 2 weeks that we decided to focus on parents. God really did something! And i'm absolutley going to love this transition to being a more family friendly youth ministry! I think it's one of the best decissions we've made all year! Kudos, guys!!

I absolutely LOVED the two sermons on Grace. Wow! It's changed my thinking around 180 degrees! Incredible! [It also made me wonder why my parents named me filthy rags! Apparently 'Neethi' means 'righteousness' in telugu...hehe] When tanya summed this sermon up for me a few days before Ajit preached it, i rememeber her telling me about faith and works and healing! That nothing you ever do could make God want to heal you..not your fasting...not your praying...nothing! JUST BELIEVE! That was it...from that day on, i did nothing more! ... i Just believed. And there's been so much freedom in doing that!! SO much freedom! It's been amazing.

Another thing that had greatly impacted my thinking was our Youth Cell Leaders Training session. Short and sweet, but powerful! Bert said something that really hit me hard when we talked about keeping ourselves motivated as leaders. He said "act yourself into feeling"!!! There have been SO SO SO many times when i just haven't "FELT LIKE" doing stuff. I wake up in the morning, i don't "FEEL LIKE" having God time, i don't "FEEL LKE" praying in tongues, i don't "FEEL LIKE" spending time in worship, i dont "FEEL LIKE" going to college, i don't "FEEL LIKE" attending class, i don't "FEEL LIKE" finishing my assignments, i don't "FEEL LIKE" taking this call, i don't "FEEL LIKE" sorting out an issue i have with someone, i don't "FEEL LIKE" having cell, i just don't "FEEL LIKE"!!!!!! I've learned to ACT myself into feeling now. I don't feel like attending class, so i'll attend it! I don't feel like having GOd time, so i have it. I don't feel like praying in tongues, so i start praying in tongues! I don't feel like spending time in personal worship, so i do!..I don't feel like standing or raising my hands during corporate worship, so i do!...and there's a release, right there- in making the choice to do something your body is holding you back from doing. Thats it! Freedom! SOmewhere along the way, you'll feel like doing it. And you'll never want to stop.
What's amazing is this goes against a theory in Psychology that says you can never do anything to make you feel a certain way. It says, if you just smile, you won't feel happy. And if you just frown, you won't feel angry. Your actions can't determine the way you feel. The way you feel has to detemine your actions. Rubbish. Psychologists think they have human beings all sorted out. They aren't even close.

I began my degree with a passion for Psychology. I topped my Pre University with a mind blowing 95% in Psychology, which God was gracious enough to give me. My love for psychology began to grow when i started helping one of my cousins study psychology in PU. Her college had horrible teachers who taught the students trash. SO! 2 weeks before our board exams, we started from scratch..and she did really well in her boards! ......Somewhere between then and my 2nd year of degree, my passion for psych slowly died down. Mum and dad were quite surprised, because they both knew i loved the subject! The day before my exam, i went to mum, weary as ever and said "mama, i just don't feel like studying this subject anymore"...and i remember what mum told me....she said "...how can you say that????? this is like studying a dimension of God and his creation"
...silence...
she didn't say anything more...neither did i.
She managed to rekindle my passion for Psychology in 5 seconds...or less!
I just about managed a distinction in my psychology practicals, again! God's been awe-some. :-)
[I feel like the word 'awesome' takes a whole new meaning when you break it in two. it's used so casually, nowadays...even i tend to use it very very casually...there's incredible depth in it. it's a God word]

I love my mentor. She's INCREDIBLE! I've learnt SO SO much from her over the year. She's been so patient, so kind, so good to me. She treats me like a daughter and i absolutely love her for that. I miss meeting Sheila every tuesday, at Javagreen, our adda! :-) I owe her, big time! She's been so so so supportive, with everything i've done. Allowing myself to be mentored is probably on of the best things i've done my whole life. It's shaped my thinking and impacted my life to such a great extent!c [If any of you on core are still on hold int his area, i'd say get off your backsides ASAP, because this is something that will change your life. I'm NOT kidding]

ALLLLLLL this stuff apart, our core team turned a year old this year. On the 28th of July. If i'm not wrong, i rememebr meeting Akshay sometime early July, and then things kicked off a little later. SO it's been almost one and a half years for us as a core team, and we've grown and shrunk and grown and shrunk and grown and shrunk in SIZE. But as human beings we've grown incredibly!! And we've each personally grown in our walk with God. Which is fantastic.

A month later, in August, Elevate celebrated it's first birthday. August 27th. :-)
I think we have SOOOOOOO much to be grateful to God for. His grace is just overwhelming. When i look back on this year, and everything we as a team have done and achieved, it's not by our strength, or wisdom or any of that!!!!!! We're just KIDS!!! It's HIS GRACE!! It's been God ALLLLLL the way!!!!!!! :-) We have soooooomuch to celebrate!

I'm really looking forward to next year. This year has been AMAZING! and i can't wait to see where God is going to take us...and what He's gonna do with in us and through us. I just can't wait!!!!!! As always, THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
[Quoting Phil Dooley "....the best songs haven't been written yet, the greatest youth ministries haven'e been built...."]
Here's to an amazing year ahead!!!!!!

Cheers!!!!!!And see you machas in Jan! :-) GROUP HUG!!!! Love you alllll!