Holi Hai! NYC Bhangra

Holi was a lovely cultural experience. NYC Bhangra and Time Warner Cable put on a great party at the Dag Hammarskjold Park on 47th. There were hundreds of people there. I was there from the very beginning when they first began coloring, and DJ Ricky was setting up while the dancers practiced.

It was a nice day. Cloudy, but in the fifties which is more than we can ask for at this point because it has been so cold. Finally, some spring-ish weather.

They had tables with Henna, face painting, food and colors (of course). Very sweet young women would walk by with plates of colors and swipe your cheeks. As more people arrived, however, colors went flying in the air. Some people climbed trees, some were on others’ shoulders once the music started. They did a Bhangra dancing lesson; the DJ played some Bollywood favs like Om Shanti Om, Mashallah, etc. People were pumped. It was great because there was no alcohol, and it was a family environment. Little kids with painted faces were clapping on their parents shoulders and sprinkling color onto those below.

I ended up with blue, turquoise, green, yellow, pink, purple, orange and red in my hair. My part was mostly pink and orange. Somehow, my collar bone and chest ended up green. How that happened is still a mystery.

I met some really nice people, and everything was very well done. Monty, the host, was hilarious.
The lines for food were so long they eventually ran out of khanna. There were so many people there that there wasn’t much space for dance, but everything is possible, believe me. They did make an effort to make sure colors were only sprinkled on people and not the park floor (because they would be cleaning up), and everyone was very respectful when it came to putting colors on others–so, it was a great day.

I missed Prateek who was unable to make it, but there is always next year (grin). Maybe, next year it will be warmer. It is the perfect festivity for white t-shirt and white shorts.

I had a fab time. I always end up explaining to people that I am not Indian when they ask me what city my family is from. When I tell them I am not Hindustani, they look at my suspiciously, not believing me and still prodding, insisting my grandfather is Indian, and I am not telling.

Hahaha. Always a funny moment. I shrug. Suit yourself. I always tell the truth, but in the end, perhaps the heart speaks louder than words. 😉
Enjoy the pics.

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New York: NAD Health Summit-FLUSHING, Queens

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Kaidi and I went to one of the NAD Health Summit nights.

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Korean guy I decided was date worthy because he is a makeup artist. (Just kidding; though it would be convenient, I kid you not)

We got so much food at this Chinese place, that we had to take it home in boxes. Honest mistake. But it was so funny when they’d keep bringing food, and our eyes would get bigger.

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All of the meat on one side for KK, and the veggie stuff for me.

I don’t do chopsticks, I do it a la Americana…

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The snowy Sheraton–this was on Sabbath, when I went by myself.

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Just a subway ride away…

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Good Friday

The spotless Son of God hung upon the cross, His flesh lacerated with stripes; those hands so often reached out in blessing, nailed to the wooden bars; those feet so tireless on ministries of love, spiked to the tree; that royal head pierced by the crown of thorns; those quivering lips shaped to the cry of woe. And all that He endured–the blood drops that flowed from His head, His hands, His feet, the agony that racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His Father’s face–speaks to each child of humanity, declaring, It is for thee that the Son of God consents to bear this burden of guilt; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates of Paradise. He who stilled the angry waves and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils tremble and disease flee, who opened blind eyes and called forth the dead to life,–offers Himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, and this from love to thee. The Desire of Ages, 755, Ellen G. White

Purposes veiled in mystery

God’s purposes are often veiled in mystery; they are incomprehensible to finite minds; but He who sees the end from the beginning knows better than we. What we need is to cleanse us from earthliness, to perfect our Christian character, that the robe of Christ’s righteousness shall be put upon us…. Faith, patience, forbearance, heavenly-mindedness, trust in your wise heavenly Father, are the perfect blossoms which mature amidst clouds and disappointments and bereavements….

The order of providence in relation to His people is advancement, progression. Continual advancement is the way of holiness, rising higher and higher in the knowledge and love of God…. God is unchangeable—the same yesterday, today, and forever. Faith must be exercised in all our prayers, for it has not lost its power, nor humble obedience its reward.

—Letter 1, March 29, 1883, to J. N. Andrews, our first missionary, who was dying of tuberculosis in Switzerland.

Lunatic, Liar or Lord; Remembering Good Friday

By: Gabriela Yareliz
This is probably my most important post of the week. It is a special week, but really, what makes it special should be remembered every day and every hour.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”-C.S. Lewis

“Every other person who is at the heart of any religion has had his or her beginning either in fancy or in fact. But nevertheless, there is a beginning. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem was a moment preceded by eternity. His being neither originated in time nor came about by the will of humanity. The Author of time, who lived in the eternal, was made incarnate in time that we might live with the eternal in view. In that sense, the message of Christ was not the introduction of a religion, but an introduction to truth about reality as God alone knows it. To deny Jesus’ message while pursuing spirituality is to conjure an imaginary religion in an attempt to see heaven while sight is confined to the earth. That is precisely what Jesus challenged when he said, “I have come that [you] may have life” (John 10:10). His life spells living. Your life or my life, apart from Him, spells death.” ― Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods

“Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness.” Mother Teresa

“Like Jesus we belong to the world, living not for ourselves but for others. The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Mother Teresa

This Easter, as we remember how God became flesh and gave Himself for humanity, let us not only make the sacrifice our own. Let us make the commitment to pour ourselves out for humanity.

Gandhi said: “To live the gospel is the most effective way; most effective in the beginning, in the middle and in the end. …Not just preach but live the life according to the light…. If, therefore, you go on serving people and ask them also to serve, they would understand. But you quote instead John 3:16 and ask them to believe it and that has no appeal to me, and I am sure people will not understand it… the Gospel will be more powerful when practiced and preached.”

Live out the gospel.
And remember: “There are no unique postures and times and limitations that restrict our access to God. My relationship with God is intimate and personal. The Christian does not go to the temple to worship. The Christian takes the temple with him or her. Jesus lifts us beyond the building and pays the human body the highest compliment by making it His dwelling place, the place where He meets with us. Even today He would overturn the tables of those who make it a marketplace for their own lust, greed and wealth.”
― Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods

Share the love poured out and the message of His sacrifice in your daily living.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16, 17

He did it so that each who decides to accept His sacrifice may be saved. All are called, not all accept.

The world is evil, our disobedience and sin separates us from God–but in Christ we find a Savior; reconciliation with divine power.

The victory of good over evil has been won. Every day, however, this battle is fought for our souls in our hearts.
What will we choose?

Blessed be Him who has not turned away my prayer

Psalm 66 by King David

Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!
2 Sing out the honor of His name;
Make His praise glorious.
3 Say to God,
“How awesome are Your works!
Through the greatness of Your power
Your enemies shall submit themselves to You.
4 All the earth shall worship You
And sing praises to You;
They shall sing praises to Your name.” Selah

5 Come and see the works of God;
He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.
6 He turned the sea into dry land;
They went through the river on foot.
There we will rejoice in Him.
7 He rules by His power forever;
His eyes observe the nations;
Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8 Oh, bless our God, you peoples!
And make the voice of His praise to be heard,
9 Who keeps our soul among the living,
And does not allow our feet to be moved.
10 For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
11 You brought us into the net;
You laid affliction on our backs.
12 You have caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water;
But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.

13 I will go into Your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay You my vows,
14 Which my lips have uttered
And my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals,
With the sweet aroma of rams;
I will offer bulls with goats. Selah

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
And I will declare what He has done for my soul.
17 I cried to Him with my mouth,
And He was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.
19 But certainly God has heard me;
He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,
Who has not turned away my prayer,
Nor His mercy from me!