One Sunday Morning - Short Story

Sunday Morning

It was a wonderfully breezy cool early Sunday morning.  Mrs. Dawson got up early ready to go to church. She was soaring with happiness that morning.  Life could have never been better.

She kept singing "Thank you for the cross, Lord / Thank you for the price You paid/Bearing all my sin and shame /In love You came / And gave amazing grace…."

Later, early morning, she and her husband got into their black Ford car, and her husband drove through silent empty roads with no traffic.

They were on their way to their church, the Love, Joy, Peace Church.  Mr. Dawson said, "Early Sunday mornings are great, no traffic!"

As Mr. Dawson drove the Ford smoothly through the cool grey clean streets, Mrs. Dawson patted her hair afraid the breeze would ruffle her hair.

 She was dressed beautifully with her hair coiffed and groomed with an aroma of a sweet garden perfume exuding from her.  She browsed through her walnut-brown Hidesign bag looking for her List.

The List was an important appendage to her life with names of people she had to target.  Without it, she felt her world would crumble as she was leading the Mercy Missions Ministry, so she was an extremely busy woman.

This morning she sang gustily again in the car, "God is good to me, using me in a wonderful way, praise you Lord."

Her husband was quite amused at her radiant joy that Sunday morning.

He remarked, "Well, that’s nice to be so happy early in the morning, better than the grumps."

Mrs. Dawson replied, "Life is good, so I got to be happy."

They finally reached the Love, Joy, Peace Church.  As they were walking in, they noted a new girl and smiled at her and she smiled back a little nervously.  They went forward to find a good seat in the front, but the front seats were taken as a famous preacher was visiting the church.  Disappointed, they sat towards the back.

The girl they met at the door walked slowly and sat somewhere in the corner in the back.  Her name was Sheila.  She was a young girl who just moved to the city and was living in a hostel.  As Sheila was new in the city, she had specifically sought out a church as she was homesick and hoped to find some comfort in the church.

Sheila suffered from paranoid fears that sprung deep within her, uncontrollable panic with no reasoning and pounding racing thoughts.  No counseling had helped her.

She had asked God that Sunday, "Do you hear me?  Do you care?"  There was silence from the Heavens.

Soon the church filled up and the worship team took their place on the pulpit.

Distractions Abound

The song leader sang beautifully, his eyes looking heavenward, occasionally lifting up his hands.  He looked a picture of serene holiness.  Suddenly, he looked down and noticed many people not lifting their hands, clapping or singing in a half-hearted way.

Irritation hit him, and he started bellowing at the people, "Worship God, church!   Is that all you got church, did you eat your breakfast this morning? Come on louder, clap your hands, clap your hands!!!!!"  Some people laughed politely and tried clapping..

Some people who had not been lifting up their hands were in deep pain with a lot of troubles.  At the same time, they were silently concentrating on the words of the song in a heart relationship with God.

Some others who were lifting their hands were doing it out of routine habit and their thoughts were far away from worshiping God.  One lady was even wondering what to make for lunch as she sang gustily at the top of her lungs, "Our God is an awesome God!"

Just then, a family trooped in, and some chairs were moved around noisily.  The noisy racket jarred the senses of many people in the church.

Half the people in the church turned back to see who this noisy family was and frowned at them disapprovingly.

After the worship, they all sat down.  Mrs. Dawson got into a mode of distraction.  She stained her eyes towards the left hand front corner of the church as she caught sight of a new lady and was trying to make out who she was, "Who is that lady, someone new, with a hairdo like a bird's nest, must find out who she is," she thought curiously.

Mr. Raj, the church treasurer, sitting a few rows ahead in the front turned back to smile at some people he knew coming in.

A little later, a shill-sounding short man announced the events for the week.  He stood in front and sort of squeaked out all the events.  He then paused and said, "I have a special request, church.  The church's Whatsup is not meant for any other news except the events concerning the church.  Last week, someone sent a message of a kidnapped girl.  I mean, if church members send messages like this, important events in the church will get missed out, please restrict the Whatsup news to church events only!"

A tall new man in the church stood up and said loudly, "I had sent that message last week because this child was kidnapped.  In fact, many churches sent the same messages of this girl on Whatsup and the wonderful miracle was that girl was found because of the high alert!"

"Yes, yes, yes," said the shrill announcer fussily, "but you should send this in your private Whatsup, not on the church Whatsup!"

The tall man looked at everyone and said "Would you say the same thing if it was your child?  Do you realize this child was saved not only because of the prayers, but also the vigilance of everyone looking out for her?"

The announcer glared at the tall man and left the pulpit indignantly.

The church squirmed in discomfort at the embarrassing situation and verbal exchange of words between the two.

The new powerful preacher got up later and preached a heart-warming message about God's incredible love and how that love must be shared between one another.  Everyone felt greatly uplifted at the end of the message.

The Sudden Shift

After one hour, service was over.  The minute service was over a strange shift took place.  People were instantly transported towards a people's consciousness, busy seeking out one another.

They had not met for a week or more and had a lot of catching up to do.  Very few did seek out the lonely and new or quieter people who stood in corners like wallflowers.

The music ministry team congregated together...and did not speak to anyone else.

A new lady, Zarine, stood in the corner.  Many people smiled at her briefly and then hurried past to catch an old friend.  A little later, two girls came up, smiled at her, and gave her a card to fill in for contact information and before Zarine could say "Jack Robinson", they disappeared.  They took the card with them.

The pastor of the church came up and spoke a few kind words to Zarine and went off.

Zarine retreated to a corner.  She watched the people in the church quietly.  They were rushing around busily and talking to one another.  As she watched a group of 4 women talking, she heard cacophonous noise that sounded like clacking hens, talking like tins and laughing like tinkling bells with artificial joy.

Ram, a new boy also stood in the corner and smiled nervously around.  He looked like a sweet thin rag doll, small in stature with hair spiked up and enormous glasses.  Mr. George, leader of the men's ministry spotted him. He patted him warmly and said, "Wonderful to have you here my boy, wonderful, what is your name?"

"Ram," he replied.

"How are you Ram this morning?"

Ram lit up; he particularly felt he needed to talk to someone that morning as he was having a hard time at work so he answered," Not too good, sir, some difficulties in work…."

Mr. George interrupted quickly, "I'll catch you later, I just have some work to do!".  Mr George hurriedly made his way up to Mr. Sinha, an important CEO of a company.  "I can't have Ram waste the time talking about his problems at work, I need to talk to Mr. Sinha before he leaves the church," he mumbled to himself.

Ram felt snubbed and was embarrassed.  He shrugged his shoulders and decided to go home, but just then Jordan, another young man came up.  Jordan had a look of warmth and he really spoke with Ram with sincerity, so Ram started to feel better and the smoke in his heart subsided.

Geeta, carrying her 3-month old baby came to church.  Geeta had come to the church a year ago.  No one seemed to know her much.  They vaguely remembered a new lady coming to the church and after her pregnancy, she could not come much as she had severe bouts of morning sickness.  "Oh, how sweet" cooed the ladies seeing the new baby.

Mrs. Joye recognized Geeta.  "Nice to see you Geeta, I was just going to call you on the phone yesterday, I was just thinking about you."

"You should have, Mrs. Joye" replied Geeta a little tiredly.  Geeta had been hearing this from Mrs. Joye whenever she met her the few times that she had attended the church.  Geeta stopped believing it.

Just then, another lady Mary came running up.  "Hi Geeta, how are you?  What a sweet baby!"  I wanted to ask you something.  My husband and I started a ministry for orphan children, started six months back.  We are building a new better unit for the girls.  Can you donate some money for the new orphanage we have started?

Mary had a piece of paper with the donation amounts written on it.  On top was a donation of Rs. 1000.  Geeta felt anything less would be inappropriate, she happened to have Rs.1000 note in her bag and pulled it out and gave it to Mary.

"Thanks" gushed Mary.   "So lovely to see you, and how are you and the baby", and before Geeta could reply, Mary spotted Mrs. Dawson and rushed to her.  Mrs. Dawson would definitely give a generous amount for the orphanage.

Geeta did not understand why she suddenly felt hurt.  She tried to talk herself out of her hurt.  "No one meant any harm!  Stop feeling so bad," she chided herself.

In the meantime, Mrs. Dawson was gliding along the church as she needed to catch the crucial key people before they left the church.  She had important tasks to accomplish to meet targets on her List.

Going Home

Zarine continued to watch every one merrily chatting and felt very out of it.  She decided to go home; anyway, she had to warm up her lunch and eat it.  She felt weary and defeated inside as she walked out slowly from the church, oblivious to all the people.

 As she stepped out of the door, she nearly bumped into another girl who was also going out.  "Oh sorry," she gasped, "I didn't see you!"  She looked into the face of a girl with the saddest brown eyes she had ever seen.  Zarine was shocked.

"What's your name?" she asked her, wondering how anyone could look so sad.

The girl replied, "My name is Sheila".

"Are you going home, Sheila?" Zarine asked.  Zarine did not know why she was being so probing but something made her feel Sheila was broken and lonely and really needed help.

"Not home, I live in a hostel, yes, I was going back," replied Sheila.

"If that is the case, why don't you join me for lunch if you wish?" suggested Zarine.

Sheila looked surprised and then a little fearful.

"Don't worry" replied Zarine, "I live close by, just if you feel okay with it".

Sheila looked into Zarine's kind eyes and felt safe.  She felt there was depth and love in this young lady, unlike many of the people she had met that morning.

Sheila agreed and said, "Okay, I will, what is your name?"

"Zarine", replied Zarine.

The Breakthrough – Beauty Out of Ashes

The two went together by bike to Zarine's tiny, clean well-furnished pretty apartment.  Zarine changed her clothes and insisted Shiela wear something comfortable, and gave her a T-shirt and cotton skirt to wear to feel fresh and relaxed.

Zarine headed straight for the kitchen, lunch was ready, and she just had to warm it up.  She came back to the drawing room and flipped on the TV in the drawing room for Sheila to watch.  In the news, the horrific story of a 5-year-old child brutally raped was flashing.  When Zarine heard this, she turned white, and bowed her head, after a while, she said softly, "Lets pray for the little children to be delivered by such evil people, and also for the tide of evil in this nation to be stopped, may God send more angels to intervene and also help people turn to God as never before."

Sheila was uncomfortable.  She never saw anyone praying over the news even though it was a disturbing evil event.  She said, "Will that really make a difference?  God knows it all, He can stop it if He wants, what can our little prayers do?"

Zarine replied, "Have you heard of the dark ages?  People lived prayer-less lives at that time.  There is a commandment to pray for the people of the nation" she then quoted, 1 Timothy 2: 1:2"I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity."

Zarine continued:  "We also need to pray for the intervention of God's angels to deliver little children from evil. The tide of evil will be reduced through our prayers, for more angelic intervention in worldly affairs to bring eternal change for God's Kingdom.  If we do not, more evil will overtake the nation.  If we did not need to pray, the Bible would not be commanding us to pray for our nation and governments and to pray without ceasing.  Our prayers will make a difference.

Sheila asked slowly, "Do you really think that will make a difference?"

Zarine replied, Definitely, see history and the people that prayed and the differences that happened in those nations, Sheila, it is recorded in history.".

Sheila said wonderingly.  "It seems you know a lot, Zarine."

Zarine replied, "Not really, but I depend on God for everything.  Come let us pray!"

They joined hands and started praying.  They both were praying for the protection of little children and God's intervention in the nation, on the leaders and government and the people of the nation.

Sheila suddenly felt some off her soul start to lift and something snapped and she saw a dark ominous shadow leave her.  She gasped in shock.  She then felt a deep peace surround her like never before.  She could not help shouting, "Something just left me, a dark shadow!"

"What happened?" asked Zarine in wonder.

Sheila exclaimed, "For years, I had a fear that something horrible was going to happen.  I used to feel it all the time.  I was so frightened and no one understood how I was feeling.  They call it a panic disorder in medical terms.  Today, I saw this black shadow leave me and for the first time in my life, I feel so light and so much peace inside!" Sheila started weeping with joy.

Zarine held her and then quietly said after a while.  "I think I know what we should do from now on".

"What?" asked Sheila.

Zarine replied, "From now on, we will be prayer warriors, intercede for one another, intercede for the church and intercede for the nation and nations and governments as the Spirit of God leads us, not through programmed prayer."

Sheila nodded her head, she understood for years she wanted someone to pray for her, but no one was able to really help her because perhaps they were not spiritually tuned in and did not understand what she was trying to say.

Zarine continued, "I think we should be praying for one another and genuinely care and carry prayer burdens for people we may not meet everyday, or speak to regularly."

"How can that be?" wondered Sheila.

As you continue to talk, walk, and obey God, He will speak more to you and direct you.  You can go to another level and fast and pray.  Fasting breaks chains and opens locked doors and set's people free.  It is very powerful, it can bring revival in a mighty way!" replied Zarine.

They thoughtfully ate their lunch together and drank some ginger tea a little later, sharing their lives and situations.

As Sheila was ready to go, they both made a solemn pact; they would go to church early the next Sunday and spend time praying for the people in the church and even fasting as the Spirit led them to pray and fast for nations.

Ultimately, Zarine and Sheila started to experience this new wonderful way of life of intercessory prayer, which was exciting, refreshing and challenging, and it started to spread like fire to other people in the church.  People started to come out of their cozy club comfort zones and came into a new relationship with God.

The church was revolutionized in a year!  Mrs. Dawson was the first to experience this awakening.

This only started because prayer was revived in a Spirit-led way when two girls took a decision to pray and fast for others.  Because of that obedience, they experienced beauty out of ashes.

© Rita Farhat Kurian

Under His Wings - Poem

Under His Wings

When we call unto God each day

Deep peace overflows us on our way

Jesus walks our pathway

Fighting off  vile spirits keeping them a-bay 

He delivers us from all harm

Clothing us in His supernatural calm

Shielded in Heavenly armor, watched over

Powerful angels guard us as they hover

We are insulated from evil under His Wings

Delivered from demonic ropes and strings

While fiendish arrows fly in the midnight sky

We are swaddled from sudden death's cry

Under His wings blanketed, cocooned and safe

Under His wings, we transition to a delightful place!

Psalm 91:4:  He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings

you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

 ©  Rita Farhat Kurian

The Church on the Hill - Short Story....

The Story of the Church 

Small Beginnings

In a great city, there lived a man, Salim.  He was kind, simple-hearted and good.  He worked as a chef in a restaurant and a highly prized chef.

His wife, Maya, just like her name was a kind loving lady, and they had two daughters, around 12 and 14, Tina and Piyal.

Salim was a man who prayed much.  He and family would sometimes visit known people or neighbors who were sick or going through some crisis and would pray for them.  When Salim visited them, he laid his hands over them  and they got healed.  Salim was now invited to people's homes when they were sick, to be prayed for.  Salim firmly would declare that Christ is the healer and he was simply an instrument.  Because Salim was such a pure instrument, God was indeed using him greatly.  Finally, he was asked to share messages in different churches..

One summer's evening, three men came over to his house.  They looked big and powerful with crisp white shirts and black suits.

"Good evening, Salim, may we speak with you?" they asked him politely.

"Sure," stammered Salim, wondering why such important men would come to his little rickety house.  As Maya made them tea and set out cheese straws, they spoke briefly.  They said that they were on the board of trustees of an old grey-stoned church in the city that was falling apart.  Only ten members were attending and the pews were empty.  The church had a seating capacity of 500 members in the 1970s.  Over time, the members had dwindled down, and their present pastor was immigrating to the United States.  They now requested Salim if he would oversee the church as a pastor.

Salim was shocked, "Me!" he exclaimed, "I've have never even been to Bible college!"

"It does not matter anymore, we see many people in the Bible did not go to Bible College but God did use them.  You study your Bible well and that is important, perhaps even better than many who attend seminaries," replied Mr. Mukherjee, one of the men.

"Let me pray about it," said Salim, still in a daze, "I mean, I don't know if I can handle a church, even if it's ten people."

"Think and pray," said Mr. Sinha, "We will call you tomorrow."

That night Salim and his wife tossed and turned, they prayed, but were not getting peace.  Finally, Maya said, "I think God is giving you an opportunity to help the people in a greater way, which is a great honor, take it Salim, He will surely equip you for His calling."

Salim accepted the appointment of a pastor.  The board of trustees was right.  After Salim started preaching, the ten members in the church were excited about coming to church as church was alive, the Spirit of God was there, they could feel it.  The church started overflowing with other new people.  The board of trustees was delighted.

Wealthy men of the city started attending the church.  Salim's schedule was extremely busy.  He was preaching, and got many invitations to speak around the country, so he was often travelling much.  They hired a lady, Violent Singh as a secretary, who was a wonderful prayer warrior.  She efficiently took care of the paper work and organized all the prayer meetings and appointments.

One Sunday morning, it was evident to all that the church had outgrown its seating capacity.  A meeting was held and it was decided that they would build a new church!   They decided to build it on a hill as it would be in the city on the hill, and it sounded grand!

It was an exciting day when they started planning the new church building.  Many rich church members contributed towards the building.  They bought land, hired a great architect and chalked out all the ground plans.  Finally after one year, a beautiful church was built on a slight slope of a hill, with the workings of a five-star hotel with air-conditioning, gleaming vitrified floorings, maroon satin curtains, velvety maroon-padded pews and little golden lights all over lighting up the church.  They called it Church on the Hill.

Salim was now Pastor Salim; he got a beautiful glass office with an updated shinny black computer and a leather swiveling rotating chair.  It was exotic.  He had another tiny room for an assistant with another computer.  The church board decided that Violent Singh, who was the then secretary in the church would not be able to handle the modern highly advanced computer and so they informed her they were hiring someone else who was computer savvy.  They hired a younger woman who was technically advanced in all spheres.  Violent Singh stepped down without a word.  She remained in the church and continued praying much for the church, but she was very silent, but nobody seemed to notice that.

Pastor Salim finally got invitations to different countries to speak at shared conferences and seminars.  His life now was much travel and zooming up and down the country and even nations, so an assistant pastor was appointed, Zack Patel, a young dynamite speaker.  Zack's messages were stirring and inspiring and the "crowd" loved it.  They also enjoyed the very talented music ministry and powerful worship in the church.  In large, the church was doing well and growing and all were happy.

As the church grew, no one seemed to notice little territorial spirits that started seeping into the church.  A spirit of groupism, oneism with loveism for their own little groups insidiously moved in.

In the meantime in the outside world, millions of people walked without God, hated God, hated church, murdered, robbed, raped and unbelievable sins of lust flourished.

In the sanctuary of the church, Christians blissfully never prayed for the world events let alone others.  People mainly prayed for their own needs and wants, and a little for nations and governments but more out of formalism and duty rather than spiritual burdens.

In the midst of this happiness within the church, one Sunday morning, it was announced that Violent Singh was very sick with typhoid.  Mr. Joshi who was giving the announcements said, "Please keep Violet Singh in your prayers as she has typhoid."

No one remembered to pray for her.  Most of the new people did not even know who Violet Singh was.  The scavenger of Time was eating out everyone's schedules, so they had no time to pray for people with real needs.

Christmas Eve

One cold Christmas Eve evening, in Church on the Hill, Pastor Salim was preaching a powerful message on love.  He was saying, "We need to care for each other, uphold each other, and love our neighbors as ourselves," there were many "amens!" shouted out from the audience, Pastor Salim continued, "Besides loving, we must love the helpless, the needy, the captives and…." He was then rudely interrupted by a cry, a man walked forward unsteadily saying loudly, "Yes, help me church, help me," he was sobbing and drunk.  The church members looked scandalized and looked at Pastor Salim, who quietly told the ushers in the front to take him to the back.

As they led the poor drunk to the back, he kept protesting, "I don’t want to do anything, I just heard the beautiful music, I want to know God, I just want to know God," he was crying and some people looked disgusted to see a man crying and sobbing.

"Useless drunk!" hissed a mother to her son, who was watching wide-eyed.

However, in the back, the drunk still kept crying and finally Pastor Salim wrote a tiny note to an usher "Take him out, he is filthy, he will dirty the pews."

The ushers forcefully pushed him out and two ushers made sure he could not reenter.  One of the ushers was Gopi.  As he was strong and burly, he was able to keep out the drunk and as Gopi watched the drunk stumbling out into the dark night, sobbing he felt a twinge of guilt.

The service continued as if nothing had happened.  Noone spoke about the incident.  It was best forgotten because it made everyone uncomfortable.  Even Pastor Salim seemed uncomfortable as he added to his message, "Sometimes, some people are so far gone you cannot help them."

At this statement, his wife, Maya was startled and said softly to herself, "This is not the old Salim I know, I am beginning to feel frightened…"

That night, Gopi, the usher could not sleep.  He tossed and turned and then again got up at dawn to look for the drunk near the church, but did not find him.  Gopi was confused and afraid and turned to his Bible for comfort.  Something was wrong, what was happening?

The Vision

Pastor Salim then went for a long trip to abroad.  During his trip, he contracted strange fevers and chills, which he kept suppressing with medications.  On the plane back, he suddenly started shivering violently and spiked high fevers.  He was put on emergency medicines in the plane.  When he arrived back home, he was quickly admitted in a hospital and the doctor declared he had caught the HIN1 virus from someone.  He had to be isolated from his family for a while.

"The prognosis is grim," declared Dr. Genden, "His fever spikes high.  It was untreated for a while so he is at a danger point, he is beginning to have paresis of his vocal folds and unable to speak!"  Then the inevitable happened, Pastor Salim slipped into a coma and was dying.  His family surrounded his bedside, and the church was notified that he was dying and all were praying for him.

In his coma, Pastor Salim had the strangest and longest dream.

Pastor Salim saw a huge angel, glowing bright and in his dream, he fell down on his face, afraid.  "Salim" called the angel, "are you ready to come with me?"

"No" pleaded Salim, "I need more time, I am not ready."

"You are not ready for one reason only Salim," said the angel.

"What is it that I did not do?" asked Salim, "I will do it; I know I did not have time for anyone."

"That was there, but there is something even more serious you omitted to do," replied the angel gravely.

"What?" cried Salim, "I will do it."

The angel replied, "You cut the Golden Cord."

"What is that?" asked Salim.

The angel replied, "On the human natural level, life is connected at birth to the umbilical cord and on the spiritual level, the Golden Cord is the connection of a spiritual life to God.  You were living out of connection with the God.  The Golden Cord is our communion line in your spirit life to Christ.  When you commune with Him and obey Him, it connects you constantly to God's might throne all the time.  If our communion is cut, then the Golden Cord is severed and disconnected."

"I am Salim, I have done much for God's kingdom!" replied Salim.  "I do believe I have been having that "Golden Cord Connection" all these years, otherwise I would not be serving God."

The angel replied, "It does not matter to what heights you have risen or what you have done.  One can be the most famous pastor in the world, have a big ministry for orphans or are an evangelist, but if you do not have  a daily conversation with God, and obey what He shares with you, then Golden Cord is severed."

"What do you mean, communion with obedience?" asked Salim.

The angel replied, "It is a live wire of communication with Christ deep within us, internal spiritual life out of which overflows the fruit of life.  When we have a rich internal connection with God, fruits will follow, but not before." The angel paused.

Salim listened and asked softly, "Tell me more."

The angel continued, "We talk to the Lord, and we listen to what He speaks back to us and obey that, step by step.  When you obey the first step, He will do a new thing, and then a new thing.  In fact, you will walk in a new realm that even demons fear to tread.  That communion is always is so deep within you no demon can fabricate or speak or deceive you, because demons speak in the air to your soul.  They speak through projections and external images and suggestions and those Christians under demonic influence fall prey to that easily.  When you listen deeply inside to God, that is the Golden Cord, this is connecting you to Christ and to Heaven. This goes far beyond morning prayers and morning devotions."

Salim was perplexed in his dream and answered the angel, "I have been serving God, so many people have become closer to God because of my preaching"

The angel replied, "You have lived in your thoughts and your plans for the last three years, you read your Bible, studied, preached, and shared the Word, but your thought life was disconnected from God.  The Golden Cord is now disconnected, and you cannot hear God now much, even when He speaks.  You are more connected with your plans, other church leaders and their plans and speaking in conferences and seminars, but apart from your daily prayers, morning devotions, and studying the Word, you do not actually speak to God or hear Him speaking back to you.  You do not want to wait on Him anymore to hear His instructions and you are no longer spiritually sensitized!"

"What did He want me to do which I did not," replied Salim in wonder.

"Simple continue in the Golden Cord communion all the time for of it springs forth springs of real living water and all the blessings possible.  You need to teach that to the people as well as all people need The Golden Cord.  It is the live wire connection with Christ, which is within each believer.  Internal spiritual life is ignored, this is the cause of all the evil that is arising within people in themselves.  Human cannot even love or have grace for others if their Golden Cord is severed."

Salim replied brokenly in his dream, "I am sorry, I did not realize all this."

The angel continued, "Remember, Jesus did that for everyone, when He came down on Earth.  He touched people on a personal level when they needed it.  He did it different for each individual!"

The angel continued, "I will show you one whose Golden Cord is strong and he is greater than many pastors and leaders in God's Kingdom."

Salim suddenly saw a place with a patch of very green grass and a stream flowing nearby.  He then saw a young man sitting and talking earnestly to Christ in prayer, his face was glowing.

Suddenly Salim noticed the man was none other than Gopi, the usher.

"Gopi, the usher, greater than us all?" he asked sharply, "How come Gopi?   He is a very ordinary young man, just very helpful, no great preacher or leader."

The Angel replied, "God is looking for those who worship Him in spirit and in truth and did good for others out of love; in the end, only this will matter, nothing else."

Salim started crying.  He was still seeing the vision, but the doctors and nurses around saw him turning and moaning and crying and gave him a shot of Levophed as his heart rate was slowing down and he was getting into a septic shock.  His family gathered around him praying.  His face was ashen gray.  He was slipping away from life.  Pastor Zack Patel who was present started praying for him hurriedly.

The angel said, "Salim, Christ has compassion on you, He wants to give you another chance," and the angel disappeared and the vision was over.

When he said that, Salim awoke from his dream/vision, opened his eyes and saw glorious Light in the room.  It seemed no one saw it.  It was warm, embracing and hung over Salim.  Salim felt a warm power go through his body and strength coming back.  He started breathing evenly, and his skin changed color, his temperature dropped and his heart rate increased.  All in the room gave a cry of surprise at the sudden change in vital signs.   Salim was on his road to healing!  Salim called out with joy, "Jesus healed me!"

Cast Off

Within weeks, Salim was able to come back to church.  However, he could not bring himself to share about the dream yet either with his family or with the church.  It was so deep, intense and still raw.  He wanted to do things differently, to keep communing with Christ, and listening back to what He said and obey it, practicing The Golden Cord as the angel said.

However, something strange happened; Salim's voice had become very soft. At times, he could speak in a whisper.  Dr. Genden promised it would take months before his voice returned to normal.  So, when Salim tried to preach, it was a little hoarse whisper so for the first few services, and Salim had Zack Patel repeat what he said.

One evening, Mr. Mukherjee, of the board of trustees knocked on Salim's door saying he wanted to speak.  As he sat down, he got to the point and said, "I need to request you Salim to let Zack Patel take over the preaching, since you really cannot do it now."

Salim was stupefied and then quietly replied, "It will take a few months to get back my normal voice."

"I understand, Salim, but the people are very happy with Zack Patel too, so take a break, for a while, maybe you can handle some department in the church like the mission funds, which is really beyond our capacity, we need someone there, later we will see where you can place you back again to preach."

Salim looked at Mr. Mukherjee evenly and said, "I think you forget Mr. Mukherjee, it is because of me that this church grew, and now you are dropping me like an old shoe when my times are bad!"

Mr. Mukerjee replied tersely, "You are speaking in arrogance, nothing was because of you, this church is not yours, you were appointed by us; maybe God has finished using you here as the head pastor!"

His cruel words cut like a knife and Salim remembered the angel's words, "Because the Golden Cord is disconnected, the people have learned the way of indifference, the church members do not really care for each other."

With that Salim replied, "Do what you think best, Mr. Mukherjee," and Mr. Mukherjee left coldly.  Salim told his wife and children he needed some more time to recover.  He did not go to church and they did not question him.  Salim could not bring himself to come to the church.  His heart was broken and no one in the church came to visit or find out what happened to him.

"Strange," thought Salim, "humans are strange, one minute they love and adore you, and when you are down, they pretend you do not exist."

He finally did share with Maya about the angel and later his two daughters who listened in wonder.  They were fascinated.  They started praying about what to do next.  The next days were a blur, but finally all the family started getting peace.  Salim soon got his voice back.

Healing on Broken Wings

One Sunday evening as they were taking a family walk, they passed a fellowship, which seemed warm and inviting, the doors were open and sweet music floated out that evening from the church. They decided to walk in.

The man preaching called himself Jon. who shared warmly from his heart and his message was healing and strengthening.  A little later, a young man stood up and Jon introduced him as Vinod saying, "This is a man who lost his life and found it again."

Vinod spoke, telling the people how he came from a wealthy family.  He started drinking with friends at the age of 18, after which he became a hardcore alcoholic.  His family and friends wanted nothing to do with him.  Finally, he could do nothing, and would often fall at the roadside unconscious.  He was in a pit of despair and one night and cried to God.  As he stumbled along, he passed a grand glowing church, which sparkled like a Christmas tree and he heard beautiful music and felt a ring of comfort surround him.  "These were the people of God, they could help me," he thought.  As he entered the church, he was so drunk that he stumbled to the front calling out to the church in general for help.   With that, some people caught him and threw him out.  They did not allow him to come back though he kept telling them he only wanted to know God.  With that, he fell down somewhere in a gutter and was unconsciousness.  The next morning, he found himself in Jon's home in his spare room.  Jon finally placed him in an alcoholic rehabilitation home and the church paid for his recovery.  When he stabilized, they helped him get a simple job and he closely attended their daily Bible studies, which was like a mini Bible College, with many other people attending.  The Word of God brought healing to Vinod and now he joyfully shared he now is a new man.

Salim and his family hung their heads in shame at this man's story.  They knew this was the same man who came to Salim's church.  The whole family suddenly recognized him even with his good clothes and clean-shaven face.

After Vinod sat down after sharing, Salim felt a strong stirring in his heart to get up.  Salim walked up the aisle and faced the people with tears in his eyes saying, "Church, what Vinod said was true, and I am ashamed to say I was that pastor who threw him out that night, will you forgive me Vinod?"

The church gave a gasp of horror, and Vinod stared at Salim. Vinod did not remember him as he had been too inebriated to remember anything that night, but Vinod was filled with God's love, and replied, "God has forgiven me of much of the evil and harm I have caused others and the pain I caused my family and friends; how can I not forgive you?"

Salim went to him and they both hugged each other.  It was an emotional moment for the church.

Jon said solemnly, "It takes a great man to openly confess when he is wrong, we welcome you great Pastor Salim, I had no idea you are the pastor of the Church on the Hill."

"I was" replied Salim, "I am no longer there."

Salim and his family started attending Jon's church, which was called El Shaddai Church. They were waiting on God to show them what to do and it was a waiting prayerful time for all the family.

One morning, a lady came up to them and the family cried out aloud together, "Violet Singh!", but they were ashamed to look her in the eye because she has been so sick, and no one had visited her nor had any idea what had happened to her.  Now, she was attending El Shaddai Church!

Violent Singh said, "I let go of the past and look ahead, and now I think we all should do that."

The family was grateful for her kind graciousness.  She later told them that she was so ill and dying, and no one in the church came.  The hospital took care of her, and when she was strong enough, she went home, and then through her own prayers for herself, she was able to get back to health and feet.

Wings of an Eagle

In time, Pastor Salim started a little fellowship, which grew into a church eventually.  He found his greatest joy in the simplicity of life among the simple ordinary people, and delighting in seeing their lives transform as they were prayed for.

He importantly taught each church member practicing "The Golden Cord" a live wire internal spiritual connection with us and Christ.  This brought streams of living water into a person's life.  With each person is renewed in internal spiritual life, we become mighty vessels in God's hands and a nation is moved mightily…and all this can start with strong communion with God!

Pastor Salim was now back to the beginning of his walk with the Lord, which was the sweetest and the best and progressed uphill day by day to a new level to walk in a higher realm simply because of The Golden Cord connection with God.

© Rita Farhat Kurian

The Moral of the Snake - Poem

The Moral of the Snake

One day, Jaya saw a green snake

Glistening on the grass half awake

She exclaimed "Pretty" let me take you home!"

She took the snake in as Jaya often felt alone

Her friends did warn her not to take in a snake

Saying, "A snake is a snake, it know only to take

Jaya never listened, just happy someone was with her

Soon in time, the snake took over

The palace doors were locked and Jaya's music died

She sat alone with no real friends and often cried

The snake snuffed out the very meaning of life

Now, Jaya tried to throw the snake out

But the snake entwined into her soul like a knife

She could not throw her out, no matter what she did

The snake stuck on, and Jaya lost her grit

After many  years, Jaya became very ill

And the snake never let anyone in

One night, when Jaya was very weak

The snake gave her a venomous bite
 Jaya died without a fight

People know Jaya's life went for a bad swing

When Jaya first let the snake in

The snake kept all the people a-bay

Most of her close friends were thrown away

In death ,a deeper mystery shrouds Jaya today

People realize everything went wrong

When that snake came to stay

If you know it's a snake, never let it in

Or it will stick close to you, skin to skin

And soon keep you in a caged prison

Because if evil  lives in your home too long

In time, it will become a tradition!
By then, it's too late to quell its derision
In time, life fades away as in a vision.

Old Proverb:  A cow drinks water and it turns to milk

A snake drinks water

And it turns to poison 

© Rita Farhat Kurian