mobile: y/n?

A free phone.
(Thanks to Cherry's faithful ol' 3310)
A free sim card.
(Thanks to Sanjay switching over to Hutch)
Turning into the zillionth mobile phone user in India: y/n?
Do I need one? Friends say yes. Parents say think. I say no.
It's useful when you're in-charge of something, or organising something.

Do I need one at the moment?
No, the phone in the PG's enough. I love it when they call out "____, phone for you". When you have a mobile, you know the call is always for you; there's no suspense.

Am I anti-mobile?
How can I be! Even I'm dependent on it. Don't know where the Acappella team would have landed withouth Phani's 9886621480; the journalism Dept. fest organised by our class - In Print
- without Sawadees take- the-phone-for-the-day- and -you-better-pay-me-later offer, and various such instances.

So am I going mobile in Jan?
(Think, man, think...Use the yorr caamon senses)

It's amazing what we can accomplish
when you don't care who gets the
credit.

Blessed Eve.

What a blessed evening it was! God used the Life4orce band to minister all the glory and praise due to the almighty. Unlike last time, I was able to involve myself and worship.

This is how the arrangement was :
Vinay (Worship leader & Bass)
Binny (Acoustic Guitar)
Cherian (Guitar)
George (Drums).

The songs were around 12 starting from Life4orce original " Jesus and me" to ending with a bash with "You have turned...". the sounds system was a amazing. Good supervising Vinay!

Cherry spoke from the word of God too, based on John chapter 15:4,5 - "Bearing Fruit". It was a nice way of informally, at same time maintaining the seriousness, preaching. The sermon was loaded with stories and real life experiences. He played some amazing solos in between the songs along with singing parts. His face brightened up when the fast songs came.

Vinay once again led a blessed praise and worship, and this time, he spent a considerable amount of time getting the crowd to feel part of the whole thing and to keep them on their feet. He made them turn around and wave hands , especially in "You have turned my mourning into Dancing". He was able to bring them back to the solemness of worshipping God in the later part of the worship as well.

Binny, stood as a true "Band Architect" (his post in the band!) and I felt he had stepped back a little , which balanced the whole team . Though a great worship leader himself, he humbly stood by managing the the guitar and singing important parts, you need lots of humility for that . 'Praise and worship's led by him couple of years ago were my first experiences in being part of it and played a part in bringing me closer to the almighty.

Vinay had a surprise for me on Saturday evening when we met for practice : An electronic rhythm pad instead of the Acoustic Drum kit we had planned for. He said that the the guy at the rentals said that his wife had lent it to someone without his knowledge ! Sounded like a hilarious reason. Trusted in God and gave it a try. Haven't used it on a stage before. It sounded good (they say, except or the missing beats due to a "beaten up " Roland SPD11 ). The other one would've been better but looked like God wanted us to try this one out. We tried the next afternoon to get hold of one but His plans were different. Anyways, it was a blessed pleasant evening. Praise to the heavens,yeah?

Guys (my life4orce bandmates and good friends), it was wonderful. I enjoyed it and hope to do many more. When do we start working on our songs? I'd like to start learning the Life4orce songs and their instrumentation. An album in 2005 is a desire, Insha Allah. Pray and WORK HARD towards it , yeah?
JESUS INSPIRES.

On the other side of the encourager.

It's a different story when you go through an experience which you saw you friend going through. It's altogether a life changing moment.
When your friend is in trouble, surely,you feel the pain. Not the way, they feel it, but just a part of it. It's important to feel it, if you are a true friend. What do we do then? We offer all the encouragement and support we can. Shower them with promising words and great quotes. When you finally see them smiling, you feel great - you could bring a smile on their face.

But when you go through it? Yikes! All hell has broken loose, there's no redemption anymore, it's the end of the world, or even my life... how do I move on?.....etc, etc. Isn't it? That's when you find your friends going, "O come on, things will go away, don't be sad (What????), we all go through this (thanks a lot!), We are there (where ?).... " (Just the thing you'd been doing). Now, you wish they weren't showering all those positive thoughts on you. All you would want to, is sit by your friend. Pour your heart out, and expect the friend (that true friend), to listen. Just listen. It might be boring. But listen. Well, aren't I being selfish here? That's my point. I am. Being on the side of problems, is a different story. It's easy to sit and just make yourself feel good by encouraging that person. But that need not be exactly what your friend wants, though you might feel good doing so.

So when we go through a problem ourselves, we get to understand how the other person feels, deep inside. We learn how to react, how to sit quiet and how to just be there. It is a very humbling experience. Very humbling. You come face to face with the 'you' which you didn't know about might get surprised and feel ashamed. But it changes you . And changes you for the better.

Life's troubles are welcome learning experiences, minus the tuition fees. How am I taking it?