recession; bad market; no jobs

But Jesus says there are more jobs and less workers: "Harvest is plenty; but the workers are few".

an old email

i am cleaning my inbox these days, as my stanford account is going to expire. i found this email from Pete:

Pete Sommer wrote:

> Hi Mitul,
> you remain in my thoughts and prayers. I have not yet called the Chackos.

> Remember that when Jesus was abandoned, mocked, denounced, spit upon,
> beaten, and crucified, he was thinking of you. His head turned to look
> at you in love. He thought it was all worth it, in order to save you.

> If this is so, you can never be forgotten by God. His presence is with
> you.
>
> Let me know if you want to meet again.
>
> Pete

Life is not about worrying about what you dont have but rejoicing about what you have

..lets see how Biblical is that...

“Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics.” — Martin Luther King Jr, 1955

I have been a big fan of Gandhi. He once said:"When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

Now thats a different question why Gita and not Bible. The point here is "overwhelming sorrows", "tragedies" is part of everyone's life. Note how people find peace by reading scriptures. Something what Jesus said: "THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE".

Some of his quotes:

"Be the change you want to see in this world"

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test:
Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to Swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away. "

"I do not want a kingdom,salvation,or heaven, what i want is to remove the trouble of the oppressed the poor, and the needy" (I cannot confirm if Gandhi actually said that. This is from http://www.manavsadhna.org/)

Without faith it is impossble to please God

Yesterday was a bit stressful, someone smashed my car door. But as a result i did get more time to spend with God :-) because as i was driving around my car to get it fixed, the Christian radio was on! I was getting worried about loosing work time but then i realized God is everywhere (& sitting right next to you) and there is no waste of time if it is spent in Him! But i was still stressful and i coudnt work when i reached my office and decided to go back home from office and at home there is no Internet :D. Additional worries about my overdue paper also started to attack me. At the end, I didnt have any other option but to read scriptures the entire evening with the hope to find peace and i must say it did work :D So yes yesterday was a good day because a lot of time was spent in understanding how He works in our lives :-)

In the morning while reading scriptures and listening to Christian radio, the Words i had was: "Without faith it is impossible to please God .... They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress: He brought them out of darkness and deepest gloom and broke away their chains (Psalm 104)"

Also i realized when something chaotic happens, you start thanking Him for the all the past days when He was protecting from all kinds of chaos. So once in a while chaos is good for me :D so that i realize more how He has been actively protecting me in the past...



As i am thinking more about "It is impossible to please God without faith", i realize why He keeps Himself unseen in ways that we often doubt in our minds about His existence: so that we have more opportunity to exercise greater faith and hence be more blessed. As Jesus said to His disciple: "Is it because you have seen me that you have believed? How blessed are those who have never seen me and yet have believed!"

He is working in my life

There is no doubt He is working in my life these days, as I see He is constantly reminding me of apostle Paul's: "I have learned to be content with whatever I have, in any and all circumstances". Yes this is what i need in my life asap, something which i think i had lacked a lot in the past. Today I saw a girl walking down the corridor with a smile (which reflected as if true contentment) in her face, with her gaze pointing downwards. When i saw her, i instantly felt she is acting as if her world was just perfect. It was as if He was telling me this is the kind of smile one has to carry to reflect inner contentment! PTL indeed!

My weekend / Jesus's prescription for success

My weekend was quite eventful. We moved to a new apartment, so a lot time was spent in cleaning and moving (good physical exercise ;). I was really amazed by the range of emotions i went through: pretty much everything: from His peace to full-of-anxiety. But i was very glad by the end of the weekend and i felt i was pretty much in His grasp throughout the weekend (i slept pretty much exhausted and woke up clearly renewed by Him). The highlight of the weekend was the Bible class taught by a rice university professor. That was such a blessing. I have been praying to get in touch with a Christian professor (as i might become one) who could give me some tips about balancing between research and other things in life. The professor's message was Jesus's prescription for success: "Mark 9:35: If anyone wants to be first he must be last of all and servant of all". He pulled out stories from his life & experiences to support it .... Then followed another blessing, the worship session in the church: it was such an amazing song (i am trying to find the song online): i felt it was just for me: He cares about me so much :-)...Then we went to the house of the professor for lunch which was again such a blessing. It was a gathering of young rice student believers who gave me a lot of tips about following Jesus. I got a lot of insights into what it means into having "life in abundance" as promised by Jesus. And if Holy Spirit remains in us forever once received. And if we can have joy through Him all the time, no matter what the circumstances are, as Apostle Paul stressed..

I also learnt how important it is to take breaks in between crazy day and medidate/pray/call on Him to regain His peace. I realize again & again that i relate so much to "Blessed are the poor in spirit"...i have called upon Him during my anxious moments by far more than in my peaceful moments...The professor gave me the final tip: make sure i always start the day with Him, then i will see how He guides me rest of the day...

Also i note something profound from Zac poonen's online sermon during the last week: "If a person has spirtual gifts, it dosnt necessarily mean the person is also spiritual": hmm something to remember...

What am i doing in Houston

What i am doing in Houston?

I was supposed to finish my postdoc project at Stanford by Nov 15. But i coudnt, as the project was more complex than we first thought. So it is still going on. I came over to Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, as it has all the expertise in the project. Incidently Stanford didnt have any signifcant expertise (very funny) in my project. Today, 03/07/09, i think it should take may be 1-1/2 months more to finish it up and submit the paper.

Ok, so what next?

Well at this point it seems i am headed to become a professor (in some university, thank God there r so many in the world) or a scientist in some lab. The question is when do i apply for one such job. Well right now i think i would try to acquire couple of more years of postdoc training before i apply for a permanent position. I want to make sure that after i start with a long-term career of a professor/scientist i have enough expertise to understand & do science at a very broad level. Ok, so in a nutshell after i finish my current postdoc, i will do a second postdoc and then after that apply to become a full-time professor/scientist, after couple of years, unless God has some other plans for me =P Keep me in your prayers, that i am led by Him =P

So How is Houston?

Oh man it is working out so nicely to me. God is so helpful! I have got 24/7 access to my lab at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM): something i didnt even have at Stanford after Nov 15. BCM is located in Texas Medical Center (awesome place).
Next door is Luke center: it has a chapel: which always has a pastor during the work hours: meaning during the weekdays: u can just go over to get prayers and share with him your burdens!! so cool! Next door is rice university: which is also amazing. At times, i drop by Christian fellowships of Campus Crusade & chi-alpha: they have AMAZING worship sessions.

There is an amazing park (golf course, houston zoo) outside BCM: i take breaks and sit in the park: and yes believe me i get, as if, glimpses of heaven: i forget all my needs: i feel like spending all my time there. Its a perfect place to pray, meditate, spend time with Him and melt away all worries! The reason all worries melt away is because you feel so good immersed in the nature that you dont feel like wanting anything else (well i have only tried that place couple of times, lets see if i get the same feeling in future also ;-). I didnt plan for all these, they just happened as if all planned out by Him (my friends & i did pray for relief from need worries)!!

Houston Christian radio

As i drive back and forth form lab to home, my time is really really blessed with the Christian radio FM 105.7 (only in houston, but everywhere: http://www.khcb.org/)

Zac Poonen's sermons

I found Zac Poonen's verse-by-verse Bible sermons:
http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/verse_by_verse.php

It is amazing! Zac Poonen rocks! He has a very good reputation as a true preacher and if often invited to Abundant Life Christian Fellowship.

my prayer partner

Few months back God blessed me with a prayer partner: Leslie (guy with girls name ;). Since he is retired, he has enabled me to call anytime to share and get prayers. I am so blessed: Leslie is about 50 yrs old and is a veteran believer. He helps me with stories from his entire life (& also life of his mom) about how the Chirstian faith is so true, faithful, & life saving!

I found Leslie, when i visited Abundant Life Christian Fellowship in December to get prayers for rekindling my faith!

some prayer requests

You may pray for me that i will be truely in His grasp (v. imp, as i note that at times i can be very disobedient & try to take things into my own hands) and clearly see Him in my life. There can be moments in my life where i am like: does God really exist..those r the most terrible moments, as i feel very vulnerable then..these sometimes can happen when things don't go my way or i suspect taking bad decisions despite praying. But do praise the Lord that He is really taking care of me in Houston very well!! For example, it just happened that the funding for my project resumed miraculously for a brief amount of time! My roommate is so caring (he feeds me at times)! People in my lab are helping me a lot! And so far i have always been restored very-well from low-periods!

Ministries

[Last updated: mar 09]

I have been praying about what my ministries in His Kingdom. I got some words of wisdom, hopefully from Him. It seems for me my ministries start with places where i am put into. I guess the idea is what Jesus said to Peter: "Take care of my sheep"..

-Surprisingly, its only recently, i realized my main ministry is my lab!! Yes people around me are usually non-believers. So its really important how i conduct myself in my lab & treat my labmates, keeping in mind that His will is to bring in His Kingdom into our work-places through believers around!

Now it is becoming more and more clear of the need & importance to invest in becoming good friends with labmates and think&care about them and try to become part of their lives. People around can be very stressed out and do seek for friendly attention.

Also people in any research lab usually have the "publish or perish" pressure, which results in a lot of junk publications! Christians are expected to maintain integrity of character in work and follow 1Kings 9:4: "And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee,..."

-Then i realized my home is my 2nd main ministry: i have 2 room-mates: 1 muslim, 1 hindu. One is very stressed out these days with jobsearch. My other roommate is a devout muslim and such a nice guy, that i am learning a lot from him. I think God prompts me a lot to invest in deep friendships with them...

-And my mom, bother, sister, their family in India.

-While driving to work, there is an opportunity to drop by 8-9am, M-F Bible study with homeless in a church for homeless (http://www.lordofthestreets.org/). There is a lot of opportunities out there: like pray for them during & after the Bible study, etc.

-And yes recently i got words of wisdom about facebook ministries (while praying, yeah!). I am working on: "Pray for the World"
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=70687636352&ref=ts
the idea is to regularly pull out issues around the world and post it there, so that people in facebook can jointly pray about them...i am working on it :-)

Another one is a book review of "celebration of disciplines":
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=66244503768&ref=mf
The idea is to share "favorite quotes" from books that i read with others..

While reading "celebration of disciplines", i am becoming very excited about fasting. It does a really good job in presenting the discipline of fasting. At some point when Great Britain was in danger of being attacked by France, the whole country started praying, and the French invasion seemed to have averted. I think one can use facebook to that that!! -- it should be very easy to call people, through facebook, for joint worldwide fasting if some serious world issue comes up!

Facebook evangelism should work out very nicely for people who spend a lot of time on computers (like myself ;).

-As i interact with Christian here, i am realizing how important it is for Christians to go on regular mission trips. Outside US, there are so many places, which need Jesus so much. Hope He would also bless me with mission trips every year.





-Understanding the science behind faith: I noticed that my faith is still very weak. Usually, i have seen, that when something dosnt happen my way, i get distressed and start questioning my faith. It happened again the other day, and i started reasoning if God is real, from a scientific point of view! This came to my mind:
"If there is someone like God who knows everything that is going to happen in future, then it means everything is predetermined. But Bible says that we do have free will & choices to make. Hence how can someone like God exists who knows the future!". Matt from campus crusade, rice u., told me not to loose faith because of it as this is the classical "Compatibilism" issue. He gave me some links to study:
http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Free-Will/Compatibilism/
http://www.theopedia.com/Libertarian_free_will
http://www.geocities.com/freewilltheology/foreknowledge.html
http://www.amazon.com/reader/0830826521?_encoding=UTF8
ref_=sib_dp_pop_toc&page=9#rea
der

Since I am a scientist, i think its useful for me to study these kind of things, so that i could help people in my workplace better understand God from a scientific point of view.