<p>There was no rain for several weeks in a village. The village priest, calling upon all people to pray more intensely invited them on a Sunday, to meet at the church campus. He asked them to come with visible signs of their faith. People came in large numbers. Some came with their rosaries, with Bibles, prayer books, with holy medals and pictures. But there in the crowd was a little boy with an umbrella in hand. <br /><br />The priest, deeply impressed, invited the boy to tell the crowd why he came with an umbrella. The boy, with unshakeable child-like faith said I came with the umbrella because I don't want to get wet in the rain as we pray for rain. It rained heavily that day as the crowd prayed.<br /><br />Faith is an absolute trust in the god of all possibilities. Faith does not end with hope it crosses its threshold. Faith is to be sure of the things we hope for and the conviction of things we cannot see. Faith does not come easily to one who is inflated with pride over his or her own abilities and strength. Faith comes to those who realize their frailty and inadequateness. <br /><br />Our highest intelligence and strongest abilities cannot match the awesome power of god and that is why we need to look beyond our human capacities in perfect dependence upon god. We cannot stop a heavy downpour nor create rain, or, arrest a Tsunami. We cannot restructure the constellations, re-arrange the planets, or, stop the earth from rotating. These are gentle reminders that there is someone beyond us upon whom we can depend.<br /><br />When the disciples answered the call to discipleship with Jesus, they never expected to get better fishing nets and boats and a booming business. They just asked for two things; Lord, teach us to pray and lord increase our faith. These were the two things they saw that Jesus possessed; zeal for prayer and an unshakeable faith in the heavenly father. The disciples could see very clearly how faith and prayer in the life of Jesus helped him relate with the sinner and saint. They saw how he could celebrate life joyfully and embrace suffering in resilience. They saw how he conquered fear and forgive others. They saw how he turned impossibilities to possibilities. <br /><br />Faith opens up for us a world of possibilities. The best prayer we could ever make is, lord, teach us to pray. And if we pray for rain, let us keep an umbrella at hand. That is faith.</p>
<p>There was no rain for several weeks in a village. The village priest, calling upon all people to pray more intensely invited them on a Sunday, to meet at the church campus. He asked them to come with visible signs of their faith. People came in large numbers. Some came with their rosaries, with Bibles, prayer books, with holy medals and pictures. But there in the crowd was a little boy with an umbrella in hand. <br /><br />The priest, deeply impressed, invited the boy to tell the crowd why he came with an umbrella. The boy, with unshakeable child-like faith said I came with the umbrella because I don't want to get wet in the rain as we pray for rain. It rained heavily that day as the crowd prayed.<br /><br />Faith is an absolute trust in the god of all possibilities. Faith does not end with hope it crosses its threshold. Faith is to be sure of the things we hope for and the conviction of things we cannot see. Faith does not come easily to one who is inflated with pride over his or her own abilities and strength. Faith comes to those who realize their frailty and inadequateness. <br /><br />Our highest intelligence and strongest abilities cannot match the awesome power of god and that is why we need to look beyond our human capacities in perfect dependence upon god. We cannot stop a heavy downpour nor create rain, or, arrest a Tsunami. We cannot restructure the constellations, re-arrange the planets, or, stop the earth from rotating. These are gentle reminders that there is someone beyond us upon whom we can depend.<br /><br />When the disciples answered the call to discipleship with Jesus, they never expected to get better fishing nets and boats and a booming business. They just asked for two things; Lord, teach us to pray and lord increase our faith. These were the two things they saw that Jesus possessed; zeal for prayer and an unshakeable faith in the heavenly father. The disciples could see very clearly how faith and prayer in the life of Jesus helped him relate with the sinner and saint. They saw how he could celebrate life joyfully and embrace suffering in resilience. They saw how he conquered fear and forgive others. They saw how he turned impossibilities to possibilities. <br /><br />Faith opens up for us a world of possibilities. The best prayer we could ever make is, lord, teach us to pray. And if we pray for rain, let us keep an umbrella at hand. That is faith.</p>