A Selection of the Latest Passages, Pictures, and Compositions by Joseph Cherian
A View From High
Observations and Reflections of Earthly Life From Atop The Beautiful Mount
What If I Were The Greatest?
What if I were the greatest in the history of football for my ability to dribble a ball from one end of the field to the other and send it unstoppably thru the posts? What if my acting talents were so great that none could compare with me in this field, and I had been awarded more of the most coveted honors in the industry than anyone else? What if I, thru my intelligence and innovation, had created the most useful products for the convenience and enhancement of mankind, making me the wealthiest man in history? What if my beauty or brawn were so marvelous that I had won the most desired titles on earth for either of these attributes? What if no man has done more to alleviate the suffering of my fellowman than I had because of my charity? What if no citizen had done more for his country than I had, and I had made mine great thru my sole toil and sacrifice, even being burned or shot to death for doing such good for my country?
Indeed, what if I had attained all that in this life, and in the next, I stood beside a fellow man, unknown and despised in the eyes of the world for his poverty and his disabilities, and we both awaited the words of our Rewarder regarding his judgment of our lives on earth, and he, our Creator, looked at me and turned his glance quickly away to the one beside me, and told him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.’ And then, without the same smile on his face that he had given the other man, he looked at me and said, ‘You have not loved me as much as that man, nevertheless because you did some good on earth, be thou an assistant to him.’ What then would I think of all the greatness I had achieved and that had been bestowed upon me while on earth? Would I, if I could then, cast all my glorious earthly attainments away with disdain, and seek, instead, just one opportunity to befriend this once-despised man, to know him and emulate the qualities that had made him great in the sight of our Creator even while he lived in utter destitution?
‘Don’t pile up treasures on earth, where moth and rust can spoil them and thieves can break in and steal. But keep your treasure in Heaven where there is neither moth nor rust to spoil it and nobody can break in and steal. Mt 6:19-20
JC Cherison
Lyrics and Music by Joseph Cherian
A Sojourner’s Logbook
Notes Taken On The Narrow Path To Paradise
The Sparrow That Died in My Hand
I was walking on the pavement beside the highway near our home. A car was coming, and I saw a brownish object flying toward the grill of the car near the left headlight. There was a soft thud and the object was thrown to the side of the pavement where I was walking. I stopped and turned around to look at it. It was a sparrow, with one of its wings stretched out. I picked it up and held it in my left hand. I think I detected some faint sign of life. As I resumed walking, I stroked its head. I looked at the eyes. They were closed. My mind went to the words of Jesus about the worth of sparrows – two for a farthing. God cares for every sparrow. But while he feeds them, he allows some to suffer a tragic death. Even so humans. I continued stroking the sparrow till I reached home. After asking my wife to take a few pictures of it laying in my hand, I sprinkled some water on it. It was dead. I took it outside the building and placed it among the plants in a narrow plot of soil.
Later, I looked up the verse that mentioned the sparrows. ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.’ It was the will of the Father of all creatures that this sparrow die from its accident. God could have intervened and saved it from hitting the car, or he could have revived it in my hand. But he chose not to.
I was grieved at the sight of the small winged creature – an epitome of nature’s innocence –lying with its eyes closed in my hand. But it was the Father’s will that it be so, and I accepted it without questioning.
I am reminded of another incident many years ago, when I was riding a motorbike down a national highway, on my way home from a town about two hours ride from my place. I saw ahead of me a flock of pigeons on the road, right in the path of my bike. Many times I have seen crows darting off the road just in time to avoid getting hit by a vehicle. Their timing is perfect. Somehow they have the ability to gauge the speed of the oncoming vehicle and the time it would take to reach them, and continue feeding on the food particles on the highway without nervous movements, until a fraction of a second before impact time, when they flit off.
But I didn’t know then that pigeon mentality was different. Their Creator had not installed within them the same uncanny speed-distance gauging meter he had placed in the crows. Thinking they would fly off from the wheel speeding toward them, I did not slow down. While the others managed to escape the wheel, one wasn’t. There was a flutter as the bike hit the dove. I don’t remember turning back to see if lay on the road. I don’t know if it survived or lay dead on the road, to be run over by other wheels. But the incident has remained as one of the sad incidents in my life.
A Sojourner’s Logbook is available to read online in the books section on this website. Print copy is available on Amazon.
Laughter For The Soul
An Anthology of Wholesome Humor
A woman got on a bus holding a baby. The bus driver said ‘That’s the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen.’ Shocked and hurt, the woman put her bus fare down angrily on the fare box and took a seat at the back of the bus. The man seated next to her sensed that she was irritated and asked her what was wrong.
‘The bus driver insulted me,’ she said.
The man sympathized and said ‘Why, he’s a public servant and shouldn’t say things to insult passengers.’
‘You’re right’, she said. ‘I think I’ll go back there and give him a piece of my mind.’
‘That’s a good idea’, the man said. ‘Here, let me hold your monkey.’
Appacha means grandfather in my native language, Malayalam. The name is also used used by many of the older generation to address their father. This website is first for my six grandchildren, and also for everyone who looks to me for counsel and encouragement as they would to a grandfather or father.
