Ephesians Chapter 1

Ephesians Chapter 2

Ephesians Chapter 2

Update on Emma's School

Dear Prayer Partners and supporters of the ministry of the Lord in India,

Greetings to you all again in Jesus Name..

www.tgcministries.in

As you are all aware of the fact that the Ministry of our Emma's Tuition Home for Poor children has been a blessing to the kids there in KVP Colony which is a slum colony..

Brothers and sisters, due to the heavy rains, the walls are collapsed where we used to gather to help the children..After that, no one was willing to give us the room because they are all non and antichristians..But thank the Lord that we are praying and planning to make this ministry more effective and strong ..So, we are praying and seeking for a piece of land where we can build a small Room and continue our activities , helping the children spiritually and physically..

By the grace of God, a man by name Sreenivas reddy is willing to sale 60 yards place to us on instalment basis..

The initial amount would be 1100 USD ..

and monthly would be 75 USD..I guess so...

Once we finish the deal by paying 1100, then, he will give us the clarity of monthly amount..Buut it wont be more than 75 USD..( i guess)..

This is the big opportunity we are offered..Because we cant pay the full amount( approximately 4000 USD) at onetime and get a land for our children ministry..

Please Pray about it.. Before this man changes his heart, we need to do somethings to happen.. I believe God is in it and He will make it possible..

I hope , you all will join as I also trying to raise some money here in India..

Please reply me and you are appreciated for all your efforts,

Hoping your reply,

yours Brother in the Lord,

Pastor Kota Samuel

Marriages

I have had enough friends go through the pain of divorce that I just want to share some observations. I'm not Mr. Marriage Expert so don't give me the "Who do you think you are?" bit. I admit to you now... I am no one. I am no expert on marriage. I only share observations that we might learn and grow. Please comment below where you disagree.

America's divorce rate is over 50%. Hey, it happens to the best of us.

It usually seems to go like this:

Two people find each other and get together. Often the relationship is not godly. In fact its sinful. So two sinners come together and end up getting married.

That's how it was for Victoria and I.

We lived together a few years. Had a baby. Bought a house. Raised him for a few years. Then finally got married.

Now when two sinful people form a relationship built on premarital sex and the LAST conversation is about how to pass the other off to their church so the priest or pastor will marry you, you should know that increases your odds for trouble right?

They say if you live together before you are married, that hurts your chance by another 10%.

I don't remember all the stats but by time Victoria and I were standing at the altar, the statistics gave us a less than 10% chance of making it!

WOW! That scared us! But we also didn't care because we were determined to make it.

I said on facebook I have noticed some common denominators to a relationship crashing and burning.

It seems to go like this...

Young couple falls in love and gets married. At this point the two who were once single and pretty self-absorbed are now in love with another and have decided to take care of that person for life. They are now self-absorbed together as one.

They are enjoying the love and bliss of their young love.

Then one day you realize you are going to be a FAMILY! Enter babies!!!!!

This is a dramatic event in a marriage. Now you go from a married couple to a family! The birth of a child is supposed to be the transformation of the parents. The parents realize life is no longer about me. I am now RESPONSIBLE for this little life! Wow!

(Caution... you may be offended soon.... I calls'em like I sees'em though)

So Mom is nurturing this young baby and so in love with it! It's also a very tiring job! So Mom grabs sleep when she can!

Now Dad's enjoy this time but their real job is later with kids. Moms nurture and Dads discipline. So he is just helping when and where he can and loving on this baby right now.

After a bit though... things change. Tired parents may sometimes snap at each other. They may disagree a bit on how to care for the baby. Who's going to do the dishes? Did you get this or that? Why not? You know... that kind of stuff.

Now slowly the bedroom slows down if you catch my drift.

After all it's not single 20 somethings anymore.

Well ladies. I'm going to keep it real. That's a problem for most men. Our brains are wired differently. A man would tend to be more "With out no us first, there is no family." I think a Mom would tend to be "Our job is to care for these children. We must put ourselves in second place now."

Mom's are so incredibly self-sacrificing! They give so much of themselves to everyone else! They are worn down to a nub!

So men shouldn't be surprised to hear a "Not tonight honey... I'm beat!"

So we have a man who is still in I love myself mode and a woman who is in full-blown Mommy mode.

Now what's coming next may sound childish, but it is what it is.....

You see that man loves YOU ladies! He wants his special time with YOU back!

Men in America today are just big toddlers with 70 ounce sippy cups and their team jersey is their onesie. Momma momma.... I want my momma! (Ladies, you ever feel like your husbands Mother?)

He begins to get fussy and throw temper tantrums.

Sex is his pacifier. He gets resentful when you wont give him his pacifier.

Ladies... This often goes unnoticed as a little thing because your are not paying attention to those things. It's not YOUR focus anymore.

But here dangerous seeds are planted in your garden. Here the seed of anger, resentment and frustration begin to germinate.

If left alone they will soon be a wild tangle of sin and will destroy your home.

You see as this sin and lust builds in a man, he becomes like a lion. As the hunger grows the lion begins to look at prey. Soon he follows prey. Before long... the hungry lion will go catch and lie with his prey!

To make matters worse.... There are women out there stalking HIM!

I call them sharks.

They have babies of their own. They are looking for a man to help provide for their needs. From money to love to help around the house. A man is a valuable thing. (Not that you would ever let us know that! LOL)

Sharks stalking your man. Your man a hungry lion stalking easy prey.

And you are changing a poopy diaper while all of this happens.

Skip the ugly details of how it all goes down hill and....

Next thing you know.... it's over.

Now whose fault is it?

She says "His! The idiot couldn't be a real man and keep it at home!"

He says "Hers.. If she never neglected our relationship we would still be perfectly happy."

I think the real problem is this: All sin is selfishness.

I think the COUPLE does come before the kids. The relationship has to be kept strong before the parents can raise the kids.

CONCLUSION #1: Always put your relationship first. That means serving each other out of LOVE and self-sacrifice on both sides. Committing to set aside alone time just for the two of you. Like date nights.

CONCLUSION #2: If you want to understand what real love is, you have to understand and know God and what Christ Jesus did for you. This is the greatest act of love. The giving of His life for you His enemy. If He would give His life for you His enemy, what act of loving sacrifice can you deny your spouse?

If you marry an unbeliever, don't be surprised if he or she is not capable of living a godly life. DUH! Right? I mean CHRISTIANS can't even do it right... why would people who never have their heart and mind renewed be able to do it as God intended?

Like I said, I'm sure Victoria and I are FAR from perfect spouses.

You have to chase after Christ! You have to pray for your marriage. You have to BOTH be on board and committed to always making it work and doing your very best to do the right thing for each other and the family as a whole.

Finally I think you have to be reading your Bible daily. Yep... daily! The human heart is desperately sinful. It fills the mind with wrong motives. You must overwhelm these seeds of sin with the heart and mind of God as expressed in the Bible.

God's word is weed and feed for your garden. It will help kill the bad seeds and fertilize the good seeds.

Like the old billboard says "Know God, Know Peace.... No God, No Peace"

LORD HELP US! I pray for our marriages. I pray for broken marriages. I pray for the MEN of America! LORD please help us to be men and not overgrown toddlers!!!!!

(Please comment below.... I want us to share a conversation on how we can make our marriages stronger. When they do fail, it's sad, but it's going to be OK... You do your best to forgive and seek the Lord and pray for the other person and figure out what you can do better next time)

Update from Samuel 9/17/10

Precious Bro Jason in the Lord,

Its been a long gap since the day Emma's home room is collapsed..

Though I was upset in my heart, but I got to take it. Unless God's
dealings, nothing can happen here.. We dont know the mysterious plans
of God.. And its been a hard time here to find a room tentatively to
keep running the Tuition home.. Though I was there on sunday evening,
but its been a hard. Parents are hesitatting now to send them..

Enemy seeks an opportunity to destroy the work God there.. but we are
prayerfully challenged to work for the glory of God more effectively..
And pray that the Lord would continue to help the children not to be
deviated from the Truth that is inserted in their minds.. As they
grow, may the Word works in their hearts and lives..

And there are places available for us to buy.. But where is the money..?
A Huge amount of money....? (This is our struggle)


Bro Jason,we are all small people and infact, we are
insignificant. And we trust God for His works.. Pray for it more..
And I believe on Friday morning , I will be surely available to you on online..

Pray for my journey tonight to Hyderabad..
Regards to all who are with you and give me the update of your ministry..
We love you and we pray for you and we miss you..

Hoping your reply,
yours Brother in Him,
Pastor Kota Samuel

Phone update from Samuel

I spoke with Samuel by phone today. Yahoo Messenger has had many problems in India and it's not a reliable way for us to chat right now. Plus his internet cafe has some virus issues, so that seems to hamper our efforts too.

We chat via google talk and email though and are still working on a solution for the kids of Emma's school since it collapsed. People in the village are watching to see what happens. They wonder if we will just go away, or if we will find a solution.

They have stopped sending their children though until we have a place.

SO, that having been said, I'm looking for some support and donations to help acquire new land where we can build our own small school.

$4,000 is the short term goal to get the land with a long term goal of about $10,000 to establish the new school.

This would be an amazing blessing to the village!!!

So, in my promise to always be completely transparent with all funds for Emma's school, here's where the money is going right now.

I have established and account at the First National Bank of Hutchinson. I will place all donations there until we have the $4,000 to acquire land. (This according to Samuel's request.) Since there is no school, there is nothing to support. These kids are waiting on God to bring education and Bible studies back to their village.

If you would like to help, you can either mail a check to me or donate securely online.

Thank you for all of your love and care for these little ones in India!

Emma's School Has Collapsed

Here's the news from Samuel I received over the weekend.

"Dear Bro Jason, on saturday morning, the supporting wall of our
Emma's home where we gather was collapsed with a loud voice. It was
arround 5 am in the morning.
A girl by name Mahabubi called to us and informed to us. Ohhhhh,it
was collapsed.. . but thank God, we were not there when this damage is caused..
So, me and vinod went to the place and removed fans, Tube lights.
Power was cut ..

We have brought mats , and other things from there... The pictures are taken..
Wait for another 6 hours to see these photos..
Ohhh, it has been heavily raining since a week...and the walls wet
with and become soft..

So Bro, yesterday ( sunday), we were there, but parents did not
send the children to us..It was watery and wet.. I am just praying
and thinking what to be done..
we thought it does not happen now, but happened.. Right now, no
houses are available even for rent in that locality..Pray for God's
direction.

Please tell our Family members about this Sad News..
Hoping GOd will revive this work for His glory..amen.
I will be here tonight to chat with you if you are available.( if rain stops).
in Hyderabad, yesterday, 2 houses were collapsed, and parents died,
but children survived.. so sad tragedy.. This is what we have in our
state.,.

Covetting your Prayers,
yours Brother in Praying for direction,
Pastor Kota Samuel