You Mean a Lot to Me

 You said it….

 

Dear Friends, 

Greetings.

Colleagues at the workplace have a reason to appreciate and support, getting the work done. Once you are gone, they neither appreciate you anymore nor try to enquire about you. That’s quite natural as we continue to move on and get engaged with our work until we can retire. We make a lot of friends on the way, some get stuck for years and lifelong! (Birds of the same feather flock together they say). Though we don’t flock together, we had to fly together at times and we all fly away on various accounts to various directions.  

It was in one of our official gatherings at Hyderabad, you scribbled and pasted it on the sticky

board:

 

 

“Thank you for your frankness” – Anjana. P 

 “Very matured way of handling things” S. Francina

 “A multilingual, versatile, and trustworthy colleague” – Y. Sarala

“You have good writing skills, Keep it up, God bless you” – Mercy. S

“Philipose, Goodman, Appreciate your way of discussing very straightforwardly. All the best, the Lord be with you” – Moses

 “DearBrother, Thanks for your support. My prayer always for U. Pray for us” - Justish

Anandan

“Thank you, Philipose. Your handwriting is great! Really no words to express. Pray for me to be in the control of God alone” - Tabitha

 “God-fearing man” - Anonymous

“You stand for justice and program quality” - Anonymous

 “You are passionate about serving the needy” - Anonymous 

 “Glad to meet you. Good fellowship of Learning together”- Anonymous

 

It was on 12th February 1986, I stepped out after my studies. The Lord called me very specifically while I was just two months on a teaching job. The journey that began in faith continues, trusting God for every move, and pressing on heavenward with a small ministry on this side of eternity. The last 36 years were a great learning and growing experience for me. 

Volumes can be written about it how the Lord led me and sustained me, ministering among the university students, studying theology, working on various communication projects traveling through villages and tribal settlements on the hills of Western Ghat, Eastern Ghat, the Melghat, and the mountains of Almora, Dehra Dun, Jammu & Kashmir, Shimla, Nahan, Udaipur, and Abu Road; spending time with native tribes in Salur, Similiguda, Koraput, Arakku, traveling more than 2,000 kilometers on the leprosy project locations through the districts of Manamadurai, Chengalpet, Villupuram, Vizianagaram, Bankura, Purulia, Champa, Raipur, Raigarh, Bilaspur, and Durg; Working on video documentaries; Working with grass-root level pastors in the districts of Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri; Walking through the lanes and byways of the urban poor in Kanpur, Yamuna Nagar, the fishermen communities and homeless people in Chennai; and the firewood gatherers, tricycle pullers and load men, and tobacco laborers in Kandukur, Prakasam. 

 

I am thankful for every colleague at those workplaces, every student whom I helped to learn, and every co-passenger I journeyed with- be it trekking, traveling, or teaming up to do a task. Of course, some in the learning environment or at the workplace put us down, some encourage us, and some walk alongside to build us up. Seemingly some are taskmasters, rude and rough, and can make our days miserable. But I believe in the sovereignty of God in using each of them to mold us, help us and divert us in the right direction. He opens ways while He also closes another. No regrets that I did not try to please anyone for my personal goals or to climb up the ladder but would like to place on record the contributions of each of my colleagues for making my journey possible and easier.  

 

The above 11 quotes are only from just one of our business meetings at WVI, but there are many hundreds out there whose, smiles, presence, and silence are still sources of encouragement to move on. I am grateful to God and to each one of you for the friendship and encouragement you gave me during the 74 months of working together. I am sure; that each one of you is the witness of God’s grace in my life, that I could deliver my best with all sincerity and transparency, encouraging the timid, supporting the needy, standing with the vulnerable for their best interest, working along with the strong towards the wider goal of fulfilling the task and the mission. Praises are to God alone. Thankfully, I pray that each of us will continue to stand up for real causes beyond the work, job, and profession.

 

In case you are interested to update on me, you may click any of the links below:

What do I do now?

Personal Profile: https://sites.google.com/view/philipose-create

What was my Focus: www.focusonpeople.org  

What do I continue to focus on: https://sites.google.com/view/focusonpeople 

My latest Release: Trekking the Tribal Trail  https://sites.google.com/view/focusonpeople/new-release