To make us precious, He was pierced
To make us whole, He was stripped
To make us beautiful, He was beaten
To make us shine, He took the shame
To make us blessed, He became cursed
To deliver us from bondage, He was bound
To make us sound, He was spat upon
To make us worthy, He wore the crown of thorns
To make us full, He emptied Himself
To give us abundant life, He gave His life
To make us bold, He gave His blood
To make us friends of God, He became foe
He gave up His all, so that we may become His all
He took the fall, so we may not fall
To turn around is to let His love abound
To be like Him, to ever follow Him
- Poem by Mariyosh
It was wonderful watching the way India bat and chase the decent total put on board by the South Africa Team, in the T20 World Cup match yesterday. Though not a big die-hard fan of Cricket, I could not resist the urge to write about that one moment. Yes, that moment when in the very last Over, not choosing to strike the winning shot, the Indian Captain MS Dhoni consciously gave away that moment of glory to his teammate Virat Kohli. “Ah! What a man!” was my only expression. Dhoni had scored NO runs (in this match) but had won ALL hearts. What a beautiful quality and value that Dhoni was emulating! To the interviewer Harsha Bhogle who commented on this act of Dhoni he replied, “He (Kohli) deserved it”.
And to Halley’s surprise, Newton had discovered the explanation of planetary motion five years earlier! Halley encourages Newton to publish all his works into a book, but it were as though that they fell into deaf ears. Halley approaches the Royal Society on this matter only to know that it is in heavy debts due to the poor sale of a previous publication, ‘History of Fish’. So much so that even Halley was paid his salary not in money but in-kind, copies of that book! He persuades the Royal Society, subdues the rivalry between Hooke & Newton, encourages Newton to work on the book, edits it and publishes it by his own efforts, but in Newton’s name. If not for Halley this world would not have had the greatest scientific discoveries through The Principia and much of Newton’s major discoveries would have largely remained unknown. In the Scientific world when academic publications are considered the pinnacle of one’s success, here is a man, a Scientist who not caring about his name or fame, takes all the pain, to publish another person’s works!
Unfortunately, these are only exceptions and not the norm of any society or time. Reading from the book ‘Bonhoeffer-Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy’ this morning I found in one of the pages the author writes about this incident in Bonhoeffer’s life when as a 22-year-old young man he goes to Barcelona to take up his first ministry assignment as Assistant Pastor. As incharge of the Sunday School his first class had only one girl! Hardworking Bonhoeffer could turn that into thirty within two weeks time. In the absence of the Pastor Olbricht, Bonhoeffer was scheduled to preach on Sundays. The author Eric Metaxas writes, “On Easter, with Olbricht away, Bonhoeffer preached again and the next week too. Each time he challenged his hearers and somehow won them over, It soon happened that whenever Bonhoeffer was scheduled to preach, the congregation grew noticeably. Olbricht noticed and promptly discontinued announcing the preaching schedule!”
As a child and school boy I have enjoyed playing pranks at school and at home on this day, the April Fool’s day. As all do, I wanted to fool as many as possible on this day and to be cautious to not be fooled by anyone! Is it that with the growth of my wisdom teeth went away the pranks? Hmmm.. Can’t say! They did eventually go away, but what shall I credit that too??
“He is such an entertainment” were the only words that came out of my mind as I sat looking at this little boy who was self-amused and served as an amusement to the onlookers and the passengers at the Varanasi Airport. 
