Have you Ever Hugged a Policeman?

I have; on the last weekend evening. He probably must be a bit older than my son.  I have not had such an encounter with any policeman like this before. I have noticed many policemen who stop two wheeler riders and look for defaults to show of writing a bill and take money and never write bill or hand it over; or talk about a heavy fine for a silly matter and bargain for a bribe to let go off the fine; I have seen cops, taking away apples and pomegranates filling into their plastic carry bags for penalizing the poor men and women sitting’ illegally’ on the road side of Thirumangalam - Ambattur road in Chennai; or taking even a twenty rupees note from an auto rickshaw driver who pause before the hospital on the Poonamalee High road a few meters away from the Kilpauk traffic police station.

I dare not to list any more for I may ultimately forget talking about this strange policeman whom I met for the first time on a Friday evening in Nellore RTC bus stand, on my way back from work, heading towards our ‘temporary’ home in Chennai.  He was indifferently different, decent and calm without much emotional expressions on his face!

It was a very quick to respond time. And I noticed him quite cool for more than an hour and a half when we had to travel together. Before he could leave me, I opened my mobile phone and asked him to dial his number, gave him a ring and then saved it. Soon after I jumped into the Thiruppathi-born coloured APSRTC bus where we both got down, I sent him a message on to his mobile. I wished I had taken a picture of him; he had already taken mine. When I checked on WhatsAap,  I could locate him and see his picture! This is what I scribbled on my phone quickly and sent him:  

 "My dear Sir, Hats off to you! I should not wait too long to thank you for your great help. You turned to be an angel to me this evening. I could not reward you more than anything that of a hug. I would ever be grateful to you and to God for you, your parents, and your leaders who trained you up. I have a story to tell of this experience and your timely help. Almighty God bless you, your career and your family. See you soon sometime. Your dear friend, Philipose Vaidyar".

You may be wondering what really happened!  It was about 6:35 pm when reached the bus stand to get back home for the weekend. Bus route number ‘103’, painted with green stripes was obviously to Chennai. I could read the bus board in Tamil as I always loved other languages especially Tamil even many years before I came to Chennai and someone told me, Tamil is supposed to be the mother of all languages!. Usually buses from Nellore to Chennai will have English board as well. The short, bus conductor in strange dark kakhi uniform was around though the bus was almost empty. I asked him, "Does this bus go by 7:00 pm? I knew there was a bus to Chennai by that time. He said, “yes”, and I had enough time to get small parcel for food. I rushed to the restaurant, and ordered a parcel of idlies, the tiffin available any time anywhere the region. It was not because I loved idly all the time. The journey is almost four and half hours and the operators were fond of a regular stoppage where idlies did not seem that safer food next to the maida made chappattis that did prefer either. For me, when I eat, was more important  than what I should eat.  

I had 20 minutes of time unlike last time when I preferred to buy a packet of biscuits and a tetra pack fruit juice. This time I thought a couple of idlis will do good for my stomach though I do not really eat for mouth. As I prefer to eat to live, other than living to eat, it did not matter me much. But guy at the restaurant took much time to deliver it to me but I still had 15 minutes. I was telling him, that I need to go by bus.  Now when I turned back I could see new green LED lights  glowing ‘Chennai’  and it is on the next bus, same green. My bus was gone. But what is there to worry about a bus just missed !? I came running, enquired about the other bus to the conductor I saw earlier in blue dark and light uniform. He coolly said, “the bus left, it was the 6:45 bus!” He tells me, it was his bus that would leave by 7:00 pm.  Why should I worry so much? My cabin sized suitcase, with my lap top, good working though nine years old, enough stuff for a week's travel, and a backpack with full of personal documents and original ID cards were inside the bus!. I ran out to the direction the bus would have gone. 

I did not speak much Telugu, as it was just less than two months in this location. I saw a bike coming out of the bus stand. I stopped him and asked if he could help me follow the bus. He advised me in Telugu to take an auto and follow as I can catch it before it will reach the highway. I found yet another bus of Andhra Pradesh leaving and I thought the police man who was getting inside could help me somehow. Probably by calling the cops on duty at some traffic signal point and stop the bus. The old policeman responded something that I really did not follow. I understood one thing, he sounded helpless and he was asking me how he could help me. If I knew that I would not have run to him.

It was getting late. I knew I cannot waste time now. I saw one more young police man getting into the bus that would leave soon. I decided to run back to the spot. There was yet another policeman with a Walkie-talkie in his back pocket, boarding the 7:00 pm bus. I called him for help:  he was quite calm. I spoke to him in the Tamil I was I heard many people in Nellore follow Tamil. But knowing me he responded in English. But it was very slowly and just few words. I wanted to know what he could do to retrieve my baggage. But I dared not. I was praying within watching carefully his responses.  He came down and checked with the conductor if he could get the phone number of the one who left. I thought the conductor felt it too silly.

I expected the police would take his walkie-talkie and call some police on the way to stop the bus. But he took his mobile phone and whispered something to someone. I was curious to know his strategy but kept watching him. He asked me to follow him. He negotiated with the driver of the Thirupathi bus already began to move. Finally, he asked me get in and he got in too. The bus was full, but the conductor helped sit on the tiny foldable seat near the doorway. The policeman also had got a regular seat in the front. I continued to search on my mobile for contact numbers of the bus depot at Ponneri, where the bus had belong as told by the other conductor.  But it was in vein. The policeman responded to me after my long wait, “We can get the bags. I will ask my friend to collect it from the bus. But it will be after an hour!” My God, one hour ? What all can happen to the bag on the seat?

By the time the policeman asking me details about the bags. The suit case was grey-black, and on the luggage spot just above the seat. The back-pack too was grey in colour and it was left on the second row of the seats on the window side, behind the doorway.  He kept scribbling on his phone. He then said, he will take a picture too for the one who collect the bags to recognize me. In the meantime there arose an argument between the bus operators and a passenger. It seemed that the passenger had requested a concession for which he had to show an ID proof. He had one, issued by the government on some service scheme. But the driver insister that he should have   an Aadhar card. Unlike in Kerala or Tamil Nadu, here the driver was acting more authoritative. They did not bunch even a little and finally the passenger alighted. The conductor asked me to go and sit on that seat. I said I will stand. But the policeman advised me to go over and sit as it would take certainly more than one hour. He told me, “I have asked someone to collect the bags at the toll plaza”. Hesitantly I went behind and sat. A little while the conductor had come and issued me ticket for Rs.95 to Naidupetta and collected the 100 rupee note. The idly packet is swinging from my hand as I was holding to the cross bar in front of me. Everything, because of this idly, I thought. But I was praying as the bus was in full speed on the highway. Almost 45 minutes gone, you won’t know how I could sit in the bus calmly. The policeman is calmly watching the TV behind the driver’s cabin.

There comes the toll plaza. I went up to the front, ready to get out. But the police friend told me, “not this, the next toll plaza”. I had to sit again. It was one hour by now. The second toll plaza had come, and I am there near the policeman. He told me, “the bags are collected but I asked him to stay after the toll plaza on the highway”.

By now I had gained strength to ask him, “Sir, will you have to go all the way back?”

“No, I have to attend a meeting here on the way at Ozli. My duty is there and it still belonged to the Nellore Police station area!”.

 I had gone back to my seat. I had finally decided to call my wife and inform what had happened expecting her too to pray, though I had the faith deep down in my heart that I will not miss the baggage. Ozli was approaching. Now he turned back to me and nodded, no way I could miss noticing him. The bus was approaching a bus stop on the highway. It was a small junction. There in the headlight of the bus I could see a young man holding my grey backpack and the suitcase beside him. Mr. D.S. Vijay Kumar, the police constable had also advised to check the bag for my belongings. The bus stopped and both of us were soon out on the road. I shook the hand of the young man who was holding my bag, quickly opened the front of the hag and pushed the packet of idlies and looked for my hand bag with all my ids in the main section. It is there! “Shall I continue on the same bus?”, I asked him. “Yah, better not to lose time” he suggested.  I had no words of gratitude to express. I flung my arms wide and gave him a tight hug before I could get back on board.

As I was thinking on, seated in the bus, how difficult it would have been if otherwise, the policeman texts me back, “Thank you for providing me a chance to serve”.

Was he not really an angel to me at that point of time send in by the Lord Almighty? How could I meet him on that moment when he was boarding a bus? Was it not a perfect timing ordained by the good Lord? Can I also consider this as a greater reward, as promised by the Lord, “You will be given by the same measure you use; hard pressed and overflowing?

philjy@gmail.com

LEADERS & DEALERS

Are We Leading People—or Dealing With Them?

We have all of it, but we are jumbled! By our very nature, we are already muddled up, and to get it right, we need an inward change.

How?

LEADER and DEALER have the same biology—but there can be a world of difference between the two.

All of us are leaders in some respect, within our circle of influence—at home, at the workplace, or among the communities to which we belong. We may be an opinion leader to someone, even without realizing it.

What I am talking about here is nothing academic or professional. Leadership books and courses will teach us the difference between leadership and management. I am talking about some simple stuff from our daily lives, whether we are leaders, managers, supervisors, parents, or simply people influencing others.

The Myths of Leadership in Our Workplaces Today

Some of us have learned that a leader should:

• Be assertive and strict with people.
• Not talk freely or openly.
• Not smile or laugh, but always look serious.
• Never be humble, or people will take advantage of you.
• Raise your voice rather than speak softly.
• Scare, threaten, and warn people about performance.

But is that leadership?

Or is it simply a way of dealing with people?

People Are Not Resources

Unfortunately, many of us who handle huge funds and resources meant for people do not know how to work with people.

The principles of factories and production units cannot simply be applied to human beings. People have resources, but people are not resources for you.

That is one of the greatest mistakes we have learned from the corporate world.

People have worth. They have skills, experience, struggles, dreams, and values. Each person is different and unique, even when they are expected to do the same work under our leadership.

Don't handle people. Work with them.

Know their strengths and struggles—not to exploit them, but to help them grow and perform the task entrusted to them.

Don't use people for your advantage.

If you lead a team, remember this: people are not tools to accomplish your goals; they are people to be valued while accomplishing those goals together.

That is where leadership begins.

A Leader Can Be a Friend

“At workplaces, don't make any friends,” some say.

“Work with everyone, but don't trust anyone,” they continue.

I disagree.

Everyone may not become a close friend, but be open and offer your friendship to others with clear and appropriate boundaries.

Only insecure and immature people think that friendship and leadership cannot exist together.

Once, I was in a place with a poor network connection and had difficulty booking a train ticket. I called an old colleague in New Delhi for help. He was on his morning walk, but he immediately found a way to help me.

That simple act meant much more to me than the ticket.

That is friendship.

We still keep in touch and share things.

When we experience such friendship, what does it mean to us?

Do the same for others.

Life becomes fulfilling and enriching when people can confide in us, consult us, share their problems, and seek our counsel. We don't need to announce or advertise it. It happens naturally when people know who we are.

Your good friends can come from your workplace too.

If you make friends by being good, you may make some foes as well. But even difficult relationships can become opportunities to show who we are.

A person in need is our neighbour and our brother.

Our Doing Is the Result of Our Being

A tree can bear only the fruit of its kind.

We can put beautiful words about organizational values on the walls and repeat them in every meeting. But plastic flowers do not give fragrance.

We need to plant real trees.

What is rooted inside us will eventually become visible through our lives.

People who have experienced forgiveness can forgive. Those who have experienced grace can show grace. Those who have received truth can speak truth. Those who have experienced joy can bring joy to others.

We cannot manufacture character through a position, a designation, or a leadership workshop.

Our doing is ultimately the result of our being.

People who work only for a position may have the position, but they may never possess the values needed to lead people.

We may work in an organization for 25 or 30 years, but if we have no vision for people, we may eventually be gone and forgotten.

The number of years we work in an organization does not necessarily make us experienced people.

We should not become like a retired police officer who had honour and power only while holding the position.

Position is temporary. Influence is lasting.

Your budget will be spent. Your office will change hands. Your designation will eventually disappear.

But what you invest in people with love, kindness, truth, and grace can continue long after you are gone.

So, What Kind of Leader Are You?

Friends do not necessarily bring us money or influence.

If we are only money-mongers and pursuers of positions, we may have many contacts but very few real friends.

If your colleague has more friends wherever you go, don't be jealous.

Perhaps those friendships are the fruit of their deeds—love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, and generosity.

Perhaps they invested in people when nobody was watching.

Perhaps they led people instead of dealing with them.

So let us ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions:

Do people work with us because they respect us—or because they are afraid of us?

Can people come to us with their problems, or do they hide them from us?

Do we know people's strengths and struggles, or do we know only their performance?

When our position is removed, will people still want to be around us?

And finally:

Are we leading people—or simply dealing with them?

There is only a small difference between a LEADER and a DEALER.

But the difference in the way people experience them can be enormous.

Let us lead people, not deal with them.

 

Know the Tree by its Fruits

We live together and coexist in our communities. How do we recognize each other? Is it necessary that we know each other? We are warned by the Lord not to judge others, but to discern, recognize so that we know whom to fellowship with and pray together. 

We may not be able to alienate ourselves from the community we live. It is impossible. In communities, especially in Church too people exist together. Some are seeds of grain sown by the Lord while some others are seeds of weeds sown by the enemy. Jesus cautioned his disciples with this parable in Mathew 13:24-30 and further explained it in verses 36-43. 




15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Help Chumpaguda People Drink Water

Champaguda Drinking Water Project

Konda Dora people long for water

Champaguda village, tucked away on the Arakku Valley in the Eastern Ghat, has 200 households with nearly 700 people trying to make a living with the nature, with too little amenities. Most of the facilities of a modern world have not yet reached these villages that are about 3000 ft above the mean sea level. People who come to Arakku valley, a famous tourist hilltop location in Andhra Pradesh for its scenic beauty, never see the native people who live on these hills. 

Arakku is 120 km away by railway and 150 km away by road from Vizag or Visakhapatnam. Both these routes are unique, different and photogenic. Champaguda is ten kilometers away from Arakku and to reach there, there are no buses. There is an anganwadi with about 25 children and a transit primary school with 1-3 standards housing about 40 children. Anyone who likes to study beyond that has to walk 10 kilometers. The nearest village is Nandiguda, two kilometers away. The native people here are predominantly Konda Dora and the others are Valmeeki and Kotia tribes.  There is an estimated population of 2 lakh Konda Doras in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

People work in their own farms and cultivate mainly paddy along with other vegetables and cereals. Literacy is 4% for the general people above 30 years and for people below 30 years, literacy is more than 50%. People are animists and worship spirits.

Water for Living and Living Water

For drinking and for agriculture, the Konda people here depend on natural water source- There is a small spring that the villages have been depending up on which is 1.5 km away. With the severe drought situation, the spring has literally died out, leaving the people’s plight severe during this summer.

How to get some water for their survival

There are four spring-points about 1.5 km away from the village.  We need to dig holes here and make concrete tanks to capture and store water which can be taken to the village through pipes by gravity. We have planned for making and 3 or 4 tanks of 3x6 feet base and 5 feet height with a cost of about Rs.2,00,000 (Details are available how we arrived at this basic cost).

f you are partner with this, we can complete this at the earliest to sustain the people and their life through this drinking water project.

  PARTNER WITH US

That the Chumpaguda village water project will be completed and they will get water to the village.

ü  That more of the Konda people in other villages can be helped for a better living.

ü  That the literacy work will grow and all the Konda dora will become literate in their own heart language.

Contact us for more details or on how you can get involved in the transformation of the Konda Dora people.

Email:

Mobile:

Konda Doras on the hill Need Water !

Kondas on the Sullippokkan Hill

Philipose Vaidyar

Konda or Konda Dora is a native tribe who live in Andhra Pradesh and surrounding parts of neighbouring states.  Konda Dora people are mainly seen in the Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and East Godavari districts. 

Konda Dora people are animists and worship spirits of their ancestors.

They are also well populated in the Arakku valley. Let’s go over to one of their most difficult settlements on the Sullippokkan hill.

Sullippokkan village is 80 kilometers away from Vizag or Vishakapatanam. There are good roads, winding through the Arakku hills and valleys. But to reach Sullippokkan, we need to trek at least an hour through the steep hill.

The terrain is tough and the single foot path is too difficult to climb.

There are about 40 families living on this hill.  To have living here, everything had to be carried as head-loads. There was no electricity here or a well to draw water from. Open wells dug in the past had no water. A rig cannot climb up here to dig a tube well.

However, the Konda Dora people do a little farming here- paddy and tobacco- depending on rain and the thin stream that passes nearby. They also tend cattle and goats. 

There is no shop here to buy anything. To buy some salt or a match box, they need to climb down the hill.

There is a small stream uphill but it cannot reach the village. It dries off in the summer. The only way out seemed to be building a bund here to store water to last through the summer.

Viji, my friend and guide to this village, had been helping them to build a bund to store more water. Electricity lines had come to the village by now and they could pump it to a tank in the village. But more often the lines lack current. 

Their plight during this summer is still to be known.  The Khonda Dora people on Sullippokkan village need water, living and sustaining water.

philjy@gmail.com 

How Biblical is our Preaching Today ?

Some people use their sermons to preach the Bible, while others use Bible to preach their sermons!

Philipose Vaidyar

“We have more preachers today than practitioners” and “preachers should walk the talk and talk the walk” are not the points for this discussion; nor is this an academic exercise on good Biblical preaching.  Textual, Topical and Expository sermons have its own importance and place in Biblical preaching according to the relevance of the situations but we should be aware of the danger sides of textual and topical messages with too many references.  More often we wonder why the preacher turns to different books and verses, without completing exposition on the scripture portion already selected and read out. I would like to bring into our attention on the subject from my observations on sermons over several these past years and what preachers do with their sermon time. (We would mean here ‘preaching’, ‘sermon’, and ‘message’ for Biblical Preaching and would use these three words interchangeably in this discussion). 

1.      Study before preaching: Any sermon should be the byproduct of a serious Bible study or exposition. There is a great difference between Bible study and a sermon. Books are available on ‘How to Study Bible’, ‘Inductive Bible Study’,‘Biblical Interpretation’, ‘Hermeneutics’ etc. There are also books available on Biblical preaching. Buy such a handbook and learn to do it yourself instead of buying sermon outlines and ready-made messages of preachers or teachers.

2.      Express, not impress: Biblical preaching is not to impress but to express. It is not to show off ones’ knowledge on Bible verses or skills in quoting, rather to express the message of God from the Word of God, which should have relevance to the hearers.

3.      Do not just inform, help people change: Biblical Sermons should not serve just knowledge and information, but lead into Application by the listeners.  A message with information, observations and interpretations does not do any good to the listeners if it fails to lead people to applying it to their personal lives. It should not be like fireworks but like firing. Fire-works brings joy to the one who light it and others who watch would appreciate for that moment but has no lasting result on anyone. Firing should hit the target and bring the desired result. Even if you miss a firing, don’t shoot without a bullet even for practice. It should not just produce light, sound and smoke. Let the message be packed with applications, drawn from the contemporary meaning of the Biblical text. If you the preacher could not apply it for yourself and did not know its implications and applications, your hearers don’t either. We often hear a lot of messages without knowing for sure what the preacher suggests us to do. Biblical preaching should lead to transformation, change in attitudes, character and conduct.  

    

4.      Rule of a book, a news paper and a letter! Bible is unique and is different from other literature; but one should not take it as if it is not a literature at all. Bible’s content has historical accounts, narratives, correspondence/letters, poems, prophesies so and so forth. Do not take any verse from anywhere and use it to serve our purpose.  In most of the sermons we hear, preachers use scores of Bible references, more often each one bringing a new point even though it is taken from the cross reference aid.

None of us read a book taking different sentences from different pages. When we read a daily newspaper, we don’t pull out sentences from different articles or news items. When I read mails or letters, I do not try to make sense out of different mails from different senders or of different dates. A mail should be studied fully to understand the message and we may refer other relevant mails if needed. Similar sentences (verses) used by different authors should not be put together without knowing the context just to make a sermon on a theme. I am surprised often, why a preacher start with a verse and go around several books of the Bible for the second, third and fourth points. At times, a passage is read, started off with a verse and soon left for other portions of the Bible. Here the preacher uses Bible verses to preach his message rather than expounding on the portion selected.  

Is it necessary that every message should have eighteen cross-references? A small unit of text/ a paragraph to a chapter of the Bible (depending on the literary form) is more than enough to preach a great sermon with many points and applications.

5.      Too many verses often spoil the sermon

Cross-references and comparisons are good and can enhance the message, provided it is suitable and you have already expounded enough of the text  you had already selected. If you have selected a narrative or a parable, stay there and complete the observation, interpretations/ implications and applications. I have heard many preachers taking off their sermon- whichever portion is it from to several Characters and heroes like Moses, Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham and so forth, making all those massages similar. Hearers who often appreciate nice sermon of a preacher fail to recollect the message of the sermon.

6.      The Purpose and Message of the Sermon

Many a time, several preachers seemed to be unclear on what they want to achieve, or what they want people to do in response to their message. The intent of the message should be clear first to the preacher. If the preacher cannot phrase the message in a sentence or two precisely (the proposition) and the desired response, he would leave the hearers only in a mental satisfaction of listening to a sermon if not leaving them in a full confusion. They may not complain as a Sunday sermon has a ritual role at least.

7.      Quality matters more than the Quantity:

Some of them can preach only if they have 45 minutes or an hour depending on the tradition or culture of their denomination. If the preacher has done his homework and is thorough with his sermon and its message, he can preach it for 45 minutes or even in 10 minutes. If All India Radio can air national news in 10 minutes, a preacher can do more without complaints of time if he is clear about the message he wants to deliver.  

8.      Too many illustrations and stories: Some preachers share more stories and illustrations often irrelevantly and dilute the message. Stories stay better in the mind of people and if they do not know why the illustration/ story were used, you have not achieved the purpose. Stories or illustrations are said to be windows to the Word, like windows to a room. Too many widows and too many light will divert the purpose of the room.  

9.      Personal family Stories. Personal stories are good but better for personal sharing times. Some have the habit of taking illustrations always from their life where their family members are the characters. “When our daughter was very small she used to …” “When we were newly married we were living in a small apartment where we used to have a vegetable seller…” all these are good for personal testimony time not always for a sermon. And if you have the habit of taking your family story every time you preach, remember they are hearing you more than listening to. Use your learning or experience wisely to tell the concept if your goal is to help the audience understand your point better.

10.  Forgetting the Context. Many preachers often forget the context. ‘Who said/wrote to whom in what circumstance with what effect’, is more important to understand the original meaning of the verse or portion before one can understand the contemporary meaning of the text to apply to our context. Every Biblical passage/ writing has an original speaker/writer and original recipient(s). Bible is God’s Word for us and the Spirit of God will speak to us through it today. But we should not forget that it has a historical context and historical readers from where we move on to the contemporary meaning and message for us so that we can take the message for our situation or apply it to our context today.  Moreover, every verse has its own context. Meaning of a word can be understood from the context of the other words of the same verse (sentence) and the meaning of a verse should be understood in the context of the paragraph, chapter, and the book and in the wider context of the whole Bible.

Conclusion

Read the Word, meditate and study it to apply it relevantly and personally so that it will transform us and can transform others.  Inductive or Expository preaching needs homework but is powerful and can impact us and our hearers. As a humble learner, invest your time, be creative, and not just imitate. Avoid shortcuts and don't just borrow sermons !