Once again it’s
Christmastime.
It’s that time of the year when those who
believe in Jesus commemorate the time when God entered into the experiences of
humankind by becoming human in the person of Jesus. His birth was miraculous,
but He lived a normal life with good times and bad times, joys and sorrows as
His lot. It was humiliating enough for God to become human, but Jesus went
further so that the final years of His ministry were full of humiliation and
rejection. Still, we celebrate all this because they are the evidence of how
much God loved us and how much He was willing to do to bring redemption to us.
Read more about this by clicking this link: https://pastorkuru.blogspot.com/2018/12/arrival-on-earth.html
Since Christmas comes at
the end of the year, Roshini and I like to look back on the year, and want to
share with you all the other reasons God gave both of us to be grateful.
This year again we had the
joy of receiving friends from Lucknow visiting us. You could see who they were by clicking this link: https://www.scribd.com/document/395283895/They-came-they-saw-they-conquered-with-love
For our part, we went to Ernakulam to apply for visas to visit
UK and stayed with our friends Miriam and Babu; went to Bangalore and got to see my mother’s only sister, and my mother’s
sister-in-law, and almost all of my first cousins on my father’s side, at Romla
and her late husband Joekuttychayan’s home, who gave me a home right after my
father’s death so that I could start college, and Rita and Renu, whose parents (father’s
younger brother and wife) opened their home to me for a whole year while I was
doing some theological research. Smrithi, whom we looked after while a student
in Lucknow, wasn’t there, but her brother Manu did the honours taking us to see
my aunts and my cousin Shamla, who was recovering after being seriously ill.
After that we went to Madras (no, we
didn’t go to C____) for our visas for the US and stayed with Roshini’s brother
Appu and wife Usha. (If interested, you can see pictures of our travels by clicking this link: https://kururoshini.blogspot.com/2018/04/cochin-bangalore-and-madras.html)
The highlight of the year was
visiting Elishba, Joe, Sophie and Zach
in Sheffield, UK, and Ishaaq, Jess,
Priya, Alisha and Juliet in Seattle. In the US, we also visited Roshini’s sister
Chachy and family (making Roshini the first sibling to visit Chachy) and my
sister Sheila, whom I had not seen since 2000, and Roshini from 1986. (If
interested, you can see pictures of our travels by clicking this link: https://www.scribd.com/document/389933428/Our-Longest-Holiday-Ever)
After we got back from our
international travels, we went first to Mamalassery,
to see Roshini’s sister Dinchechy and family who had been flooded out of their
home during the Kerala Floods, and later on with cousin Satish and wife Rani to
see our older cousin Georchayan and wife Mollykochamma in Mallapally, as Georchayan has been doing poorly.
Apart from getting
opportunities to preach at the services in Christ Church, I also get to speak
at various special functions. I have also continued to keep up with my writing
for Light of Life and Christian Trends and lately for AIM (the
official organ of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, which I used to write
for in earlier years).
The big thing in ministry
is that Roshini and I have started a Bible study at home. The group was 15
people strong, but a few dropped out because of their personal situations. The
average attendance is now 8. We’re studying the Sermon on the Mount.
Just before we were to
travel internationally, we had a bit of a scare, but it turned out to be a
false alarm for Roshini. I have also had a year without any major health
troubles, though for the last few weeks I have been battling a nagging back
pain, waiting for full healing to come.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year full of the grace of our Lord, and the wonders of His love.
Love,
Roshini & Pastor Kuru/Suresh
Achen
