Words by Philip M M (Appachan)

Last Sunday I heard a Message at a CNI Malayalam Church.

It tell what happens after Marriage whether it is After dating or arranged by parents.

There are three Tenses (Past Present and Future)

But it is Not in that order after Marriage. The Vrthaman Kalam comes first. After marriage during honeymoon and for some more time more it is Varthamana Kalam (Always together and talking incessantly.

Then comes the Bhavi Kalam ( Future.)They have to think about the future. Work hard for a house, Cothing, Childrens education and so on.

Then Comes the Bhootha Kalam That is Past (in malayalam it is Devil or Ghost)

When the Husband is coming home Wife will tell the Children There comes the KALAMADAN. When wife comes home the Husband will tell the children " there come the BHADRAKALI. KUTTICHATHANMAR will only laugh at this comments.

Marriage is Designed by God, Desired by God and Demanded by God to be stable stick to one.

When Challenges comes in life Believers are supposed to come to God and get his advice. But If you keep on your Selfishness it will be Bhootha kalam mostly. You can make it Varthamana Kalam if you seeks God's Help and prepared to leave your Selfishness.

The Christmas Invitation

It was the biggest night of the year in a little town called Cornwall. It was the night of the annual Christmas pageant. It's an especially big deal for the children in town -- they get to try out for the roles in the Christmas story. Everybody wants a part.

Which leads us to the problem of Harold. Harold really wanted to be in the play, too, but he was - well, he was kind of a slow and simple kid. The directors were ambivalent - I mean, they knew Harold would be crushed if he didn't have a part, but they were afraid he might mess up the town's magic moment.

Finally, they decided to cast Harold as the innkeeper - the one who turns Mary and Joseph away the night Jesus is to be born. He had only one line - "I'm sorry, we have no room." Well, no one could imagine what that one line was going to do to everyone's Christmas.

The night of the pageant the church was packed, as usual. The Christmas story unfolded according to plan - angels singing, Joseph's dream, and the trip to Bethlehem. Finally, Joseph and Mary arrived at the door of the Bethlehem inn, looking appropriately tired. Joseph knocked on the inn door, and Harold was there to open the door.

Joseph asked his question on cue - "Do you have a room for the night?"

Harold froze. After a long pause, Harold mumbled his line, "I'm sorry – we have no room." And, with a little coaching, he shut the door. The directors heaved a sigh of relief - prematurely. As Mary and Joseph disappeared into the night, the set suddenly started shaking again - and the door opened. Harold was back! And then, in an unrehearsed moment that folks would not soon forget, Harold went running after the young couple, shouting as loud as he could -- "Wait!

Don't go Joseph. Bring Mary back! You can have MY room!"

I think little Harold may have understood the real issue of Christmas better than anyone else there that night. How can you leave Jesus outside? You have to make room for Jesus. And that may be the issue for you this Christmas.

What will you do with this Son of God who came to earth to find you?

Jesus is the One who trades a throne room for a stable, and the praise of angels for human mockery. This is the Creator who gives Himself on a cross!

The Bible gives us the only appropriate response: "The life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Gal. 2:20)

You look at what Jesus did to pay for your sin on that cross, and you say those life-changing words - "For me."

Jesus is at YOUR door this Christmas. Maybe He's been knocking for a long time. Maybe He won't keep knocking much longer. All your life - even the events of the last few months - have been to prepare you for this crossroads moment with Jesus your Savior. Don't leave Him outside any longer. Open the door this Christmas Day. "Jesus, I cannot keep You out any longer. Come on in. You can have my room . . . my life."

Present yourself!

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

One Christmas morning, a 3-year-old girl was caught up in the excitement of gifts and giving. She was picking up, examining, shaking, and guessing what was inside every package. Then, in a burst of inspiration, she picked up a big red bow that had fallen off one present and held it on the top of her head. She looked up at her father with twinkling eyes and beamed a smile as she said, ‘Look at me, Daddy! I’m a present!’

Everyone loves a gift -- including our Father in heaven! In view of all He has done for us, we are to offer ourselves to Him freely, including our bodies. In doing that, we will truly present ourselves to the Lord as a living sacrifice.

This is the season to commemorate God’s greatest gift to mankind -- His Son, Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah. As we contemplate the love that prompted such giving, may our response be one of yielding our lives to Him for His glory.

Let’s echo the words of that little girl, “Look at me, Abba! I’m a present!”

Earth's broken things

"This man welcomes sinners -- and eats with them!" Luke 15:2

"I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you!" Matthew 21:31

Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things.

Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken -- in building their kingdoms. But God is the God of

the broken, the unsuccessful, of those who have failed. Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no 'bruised

reed' which Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty. He can take the life crushed by pain or

sorrow -- and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise. He can lift earth's saddest failure -- up to heaven's glory!

Mary’s Christmas

READ: Luke 1:26-33; 2:4-7

Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. —Luke 2:19

It was anything but an idyllic, silent night on that cool Bethlehem evening when a scared teenager gave birth to the King of kings. Mary endured the pain of her baby’s arrival without the aid of anything more than the carpentry-roughened hands of Joseph, her betrothed. Shepherds may have been serenaded in nearby fields by angels singing praises to the Baby, but all Mary and Joseph heard were the sounds of animals, birth agony, and the first cries of God in baby form. A high-magnitude star shone in the night sky above the outbuilding, but the manger scene was a dreary place for these two out-of-town visitors.

As Joseph laid the infant in Mary’s arms, a combination of wonder, pain, fear, and joy must have coursed through her heart. She knew, because of an angel’s promise, that this tiny bundle was “the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:32). As she peered through the semidarkness into His eyes and then into Joseph’s, she must have wondered how she was going to mother this One whose kingdom would never end.

Mary had much to ponder in her heart on that special night. Now, over 2,000 years later, each of us needs to consider the importance of Jesus’ birth and His subsequent death, resurrection, and promise to return. — Dave Branon

Almighty God became a man
By lowly, humble birth;
And Mary treasured in her heart
This Gift of boundless worth. —Sper

God came to live with us so that we could live with Him.