The Journey 93: Transformation in my personal life
Tuesday, April 3
Read: Mathew 22: 15-23
Have you ever felt that you could not fight the difficult circumstances that you are in?. Have you ever thought that life is getting too tough to move forward in life?. Then listen to the true story of an Indian woman who rose from being an agricultural labourer in the state of Andhra Pradesh to the CEO of a recruiting company in United States. Her name is Anil Jyothi Reddy and a newspaper editor Kavitha Shanmugham brought out her story in the “The Telegraph” dated March 25th, 2012. As a young child, since her family was poor, she was put in an orphanage. Though not an orphan she underwent the deepest pain in her life. But she decided to overcome her pain and sorrow through sheer determination. She started attending government school and also taking career development courses. But her dream to move forward in life got another jolt when her family married her off at the age of 16 to her cousin who was jobless. After the birth of her two children, Jyothi became an agricultural labourer. Later she joined a central government scheme of creating awareness among the youths and thus landed a volunteer job and soon she started teaching. She had to travel two hours to reach her school and because she has no money she started selling saris to have some money for travel. One day one of her relative from US came to visit her and that is when she decided to pursue the American dream. She learnt computers, and managed to get an American visa finally came to US in 2000, after leaving her two daughter in a missionary hostel. She started working in gas stations and cleaning bathrooms in US and later she finally landed a job in New Jersey for $400 salary. One day an Indian offered here a job in a recruiting firm in South Carolina for $1000 a month. Jyothi moved on and slowly she started learning the essentials of her trade. Finally with her saving she opened her own office in Phoenix in 2001, and today in 2012, her annual earning runs to $ 5 million. A woman who chose to rise above circumstances and the one who decided to give a fitting reply to all the negative forces and in life. This is what I believe is what change and transformation is all about. This week we are meditating on the theme “ Transformation in our Personal Life”. The portion that we have chosen for our mediation is a passage where the Pharisees and the Herodians try to trap Jesus. Jesus is moving on in his journey to the cross and as he moves forward, he encounters more and more groups of people who are vehemently opposing everything that he does and he says. It comes to the point now that they have decided that the only solution to the whole problem is to get rid of Jesus. It is in such a context that they ask Jesus whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Ceaser. Pharisees were a group of people who was against the taxation system while the Herodians were the ones who wanted to the tax system. Jesus knew that whatever be the answer whether yes or no will land him in trouble. But he does not get cowed down, on the contrary he rises above the hostile environment and circumstances by telling them “Give unto Ceaser what is Ceaser’s and unto God what is God’s. A fitting reply that leaves both the group speechless. Both the group tried to pull him down, but here is Jesus Christ firm in his resolve and in his commitment to move forward in his ministry, to the death on the cross. Let us this day therefore look unto Jesus so that we are also not individuals whose life is marred by hostile people and circumstances on the contrary ask God to give us the strength to rise above the circumstance and make a mark for ourselves and also in the process become a witness for others, thus bringing glory to our Lord.