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During our first year in Canada we visited the National Exhibition at the CNE here in Toronto. This event is better known as the ‘EX’, short for exhibition. Its a fun fair and a good place to visit if you have small children because there are plenty of rides and eats. During our visit we came across a box which advertised a contest of some sort, I cannot exactly remember what was at stake but it could have been a motorcycle. Considering that we did not even have a car at that point I cannot figure out why but I put my name, address and phone number on a slip of paper and slipped it in the box. We forgot about it and many months went by. One day we got a call and the lady at the end of the phone told us ‘Congratulations, your name has been picked and you have won a vacation to …..’ I was very excited. I tool down all the details. It seemed we had to go downtown and attend a seminar of some sort. That Sunday I shared this good fortune with my pastor. At that point I was feeling ‘Man, isn’t God blessing us? We have just arrived in the country, I have a great job, we are settling in just fine and now out of the blue I win a contest!! God has his hands on our lives, that’s for sure’ and I think this may have been the tone in which the good news was communicated to the pastor as well. The pastor, also of Indian origin, but having been in the country for longer than me advised me to proceed with caution, mindful not to dampen my enthusiasm.

Fortunately, something clicked and I though ‘Wait a minute’ let me think this through. We got home and I called up the number and asked them a few questions. Pretty soon I realised that I wasn’t going to get anything for free so I told the lady ‘Hey, here’s a proposal, why don’t you give me the cash instead, I don’t really need the vacation’ - needless to say I never heard from them again.

Eleven years later there have been countless number of contests that I have won, without even entering my name in any of them. I can honestly look back to that slip of paper that I had put in the box and trace it back to that. You need to know - agencies collect names and addresses and then sell them to other sales organisations. Be very careful on how you disburse your personal contact information.

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Earlier this month I had an opportunity to visit my friend Elisha Mahabanti in Boston and also got a chance to MC for a ‘Christmas evening’ hosted by the ‘India Centre’. It was a great opportunity to meet a lot of new friends as well to share the story of Christmas in Hindi. Here are some images from the trip:

I stumbled upon this wesbite and am adding it to the resources section - you should check it out and have others check it out as well … enjoy!!
“The notion that Christianity is based on a “leap of faith” rather than an intellectual commitment of mind and soul to God is widespread in today’s culture. Christians are unable to provide a rational defense of their faith, and nonbelievers are convinced that religion is something only for the gullible and weak-minded. At The Skeptical Christian, these problems are addressed head on. Christianity is NOT a worldview for the weak-minded and it is NOT based on a blind leap of faith.

The Skeptical Christian was designed with discussion in mind. Any article on this site can be commented on, and any suggestions, critiques, or alternative perspectives on any of the writings are welcomed and encouraged. Feel free to participate in the discussion of these important topics.”

It snowed on Saturday night and when I say snowed I mean it really snowed… We woke up on Sunday morning totally unprepared for the almost a foot of snow in the driveway. Thankfully I have my sons help me out with the shovelling but at the end of the day it felt as if I had been weightlifting.
Remember all those cutesy pictures of snow on the trees? Well, this is the other side of snow. I still love it though. ;-)

I stumbled upon this site a couple of days ago. If you are a compulsive YouTuber then this is the answer for you. Check it out and add your comments to this post. You be the judge

I found two great websites and want to share them with you. If you are concerned about the message in a movie and whether you should be watching them with your children or not then these sites would be a great point of reference.
Check them out to get a good christian perspective:

This post is written by my friend Philip Thomas. I met him in New York during the Connext 2007 conference. I was very excited to read his perspective on Deepavali and am curious to know your thoughts? Your comments are welcome:

In a couple of days, Hindus all over the world will celebrate Deepavali, the festival of lights. Deepavali (or Diwali, as it is sometimes called) means an Array of Lamps, i.e. rows of diyas (Deep=Lamp, Vali=Array). The story of Deepavali is found in one of the epics of Indian Literature, Ramayana, written by the poet Valmiki. According to the Ramayana, Deepavali commemorates the return of Ram, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and the eldest son of King Dasharath of Ayodhya, from his 14-year exile with Sita (his wife) and Lakshman (his brother) after killing Ravan, a demon king of Lanka (modern-day Sri Lanka). The people of Ayodhya illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and fireworks to celebrate the return of their king. It. is a festival of lights symbolizing the victory of righteousness and the lifting of spiritual darkness. It celebrates the victory of good over evil - and the glory of light.
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You could actually sing those lines to the tune of that famous Tina Turner song ‘What’s love got to do, got to do with it…’ catchy tune and lousy sentiments, I’ll save my comments on that one for another day.
During my school days the greeting ‘Best of luck’ was a staple and we used it like a mantra. It didn’t really matter whether you were a child or an adult - it was used often and with utmost sincerity. Especially around exam times you would hear it a lot ‘Best of luck’, ‘Best of luck’. Actually, my guess is that this happens even today around the world. I never really gave any thought to it and used it at will, after all it was just a phrase. Then during my teenage years I came across Barry McGuire, a rock & roller who had come to know Jesus as his personal Saviour - was born again - and started singing for Christ. An older brother at church gave me an album of his to listen, it was a live recording of his concerts and tucked in it was a song ‘I don’t believe in luck, I believe in Jesus. I don’t believe in chance, I believe in Him.’
It was great song with a great tune and a simple yet powerful message. It made me think, and the more I thought about it and matched it with my own belief, it made total sense.
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