Alongside

Once again what Pele, the great footballer called as the "beautiful game" is here, the greatest spectacle on Terra-firma, fans madly rooting for their  countries and going crazy about Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar. Excitement, triumph and  tears will be witnessed.  Sleeplessness nights before the small screen has commenced. But have you ever wondered what goes on in the minds of these superstar-gladiator like footballers? Their struggles, pain and the tremendous amount of pressure of expectations to win, perform or perish; How do they respond when they come face to face with tremendous pressure?  What gives them the inner strength to overcome that kind of pressure?  What is the ultimate Prize?  Is it winning the world cup or is there something more to life than that? Is there a greater purpose to life? To find out...... Watch Six amazing footballers talk about their life, how they overcame pressure and how they won the ultima...

A question which many of us mere mortals constantly struggle with? A question that has the propensity to make ordinary well-meaning people to compete, cut down, indulge in power play and dirty politics ultimately culminating in divisions, conflicts and destruction. This is not a question limited to the so called dog eat dog secular world of corporate, professional or political arena. This is very much a reality and a part and parcel of the Christian world. In fact the question, “Who is the greatest?” was asked by none other than the disciples of Jesus. We read that in Luke 9:46 and Mathew 18:1. This was not the first time that question was raised, many centuries ago Aaron and Miriam had asked a similar sounding question to Moses in Numbers 12:1, where they ask, “Is Moses the only one that God Speaks through? Hasn’t He spoken through us?” and if you go back in time to the roots and try to trace the origin of this question we will end up in Isaiah 14:12-17 which records the fa...

There is this memorable scene in the “Lord of the Rings” movie where at one point Gollum, the little hideous looking fellow bites off the ring from Frodo and as he looks into it, he gets enamored with it, his facial expression changes and he completely turns into someone else, jumping around on the ledge with ecstasy and ultimately plummets to his death with the ring, it is a powerful scene where the director, Peter Jackson brings out the power of the ring, wielding tremendous influence on the person who wears it. The simple, innocuous chair has similar effect on people, chairs come in all sizes and shapes- there are revolving chairs, push back chairs, ergonomically designed chairs, plush leather upholstered chairs etc. The higher the pedestal, power and prominence the chair carries; the greater the attraction for people to occupy it. Chairs have this magnetic propensity that, it is irresistible for mortal human beings to keep away from the temptation of sitting on it by hoo...

Motivation is key to life, it is the fire that keeps us going, it pushes us to attempt the impossible, take on unbelievable risks, endure tremendous amount of pain and hardships and in the end achieve amazing results. The success of any movement or entity is intrinsically woven to the fabric of a few highly motivated individuals. In today’s world we come across a lot of people demotivated, struck in the rut, frustrated and gradually slipping into depression, desperately looking around for motivation from external sources like monetary benefits, position, perks and privileges etc. But these are temporary motivators; genuine motivation is internally generated. The ability to be self-motivated or to be energized internally is a key life skill. But the million dollar question is how do I energize internally? How do I keep my passion burning and strong? How do I overcome the blues?  To get to the answer we have to go to the very core of our being, “Our Heart”. Take a moment to...

As an old adage goes, “the only person who wants change is a baby with a wet diaper”. Let us face it, most of us don’t like change, we love our comfort zones, we like our routines, most of us given the option would rather follow the well-trodden path than take the trouble of pioneering or exploring a new one and for some of us even a slight change in our routines might put us off. History is replete with stories of companies or organisations who failed to innovate or change, ultimately losing out in the race and becoming redundant or dead. If change is so allergic for us then imagine the prospect of “ leading ” change; that is not a great place to be in. But whether we like it or not, if one is convinced about the need for change and if our very survival or growth hinges on it, then we have no other option other than to dive in and lead it. I had the God given privilege of helping lead change in our movement few years’ back- one was a change initiative in our organisati...

  Ø Change agents are catalysts; they initiate the change but does not control it. They fade out pretty fast.   Ø Change agents are averse to status quo and mediocrity; they will challenge it.   Ø Change agents are happy-go risk takers. They love taking bold steps.    Ø Change agents understands and analyses the current reality well. They are pretty good at sniffing out the stink before it hits the roof.   Ø Change agents foresees the future in bright light. They always see light at the end of the tunnel.   Ø Change agents rallies and mobilises people to their cause. They maximise the gift of the gab.   Ø Change agents discuss ideas not people.       Ø Change agents die hard, they do not give up till they see the perceived change.   Ø Change agents don’t stake claim or credit for the change. You won’t find them in the credit rolls.   Ø Change agents own-up a...

This is something that I heard from a youngster recently, “I attend that church because they have awesome worship, man it is a happening place and it’s cool”. This is not a one-off statement, alarmingly it has become the norm of our times. People look for churches where they can feel recharged, refreshed and leave on a high after the worship service, so they engage in church-shopping or church-hopping because the recharged batteries tend to get empty pretty soon, the euphoria seems to wear off in no time and like a junkie we are looking for a new and better high. In fact I came across a church advert tagline that went, “come in for refreshing worship”. Well is there anything wrong in this kind of worship-entertainment, the feel good, feel recharged, with upbeat music, the latest digital instruments, multimedia and laser- Fresnel lights and even fog machines to create smoke effect on the stage kind of worship? Pretty much a duplicate of a rock music concert or a live stage show!! ...