what am I...that He is mindful of me?

itz mozi1, Chowdary2 Enoch Moses Nagabyrava the fist begotten of Nagabhairava Sudhakar Rao2 and Esther, who indeed prove that marriages are made in heaven.

It was 07:16:06 AM on the tenth day of the first month of the eighty-third year in the last century of the past millennium as the anuradha nakshatra (a star according to the Indian astrology) was shining in the skies high, a young couple at Davangere, a city in South India became the proud parents of a baby boy. Enoch3 & Moses4 were the two biblical characters who inspired them so much that they decided to christen the new born as Enoch Moses Nagabyrava, Nagabyrava being the family name.

This boy grew up & after 22 years as he scribbles few words, he feels that his parents are the only humans because of whose inspiration & support he is what he is today; but, above all human support & encouragement, he wholly believes that he cannot do anything without God by his side & he can do all things through Him who strengthens him.

I have a wonderful brother Pauly who always plays pranks on me, which irritate me very much…but, he is the perfect brother. Phebe, is my sweet sister and she is the one who keeps the home lively.

Folks say I am short tempered, but they also say I am kind. I sometimes feel that I am lazy & not time conscious. But I am working on it & exercising to keep myself involved & active always. I love music (though I can’t play well). Reading books, cooking are some of my hobbies. Chatting, discussing & arguing on some issues are the ways I spend my time when I am bored. I am good in debating, giving seminars, writing essays & reports. I feel I am talented in teaching & giving expository talks & explanations. My friends stand as testimonials for my creativity & also would witness that I do things differently.

I wasn’t that very religious guy, at least in lifestyle before I met Jesus, who is the lover of my soul, my good friend and the one on whom I can always count upon.

My dad was a person who was not much interested in things about God. He was a Hindu, who was not much keen into his religion. But, at one occasion when he was depressed in life, He found a new hope in Jesus, which he was craving for. He also found the source which gives forgiveness from sin and its consequence. He loved Jesus from then on and wholly followed him5. Now He serves the Lord along with my mum, who is a lady on her knees. It is a great blessing for me to be their son. Oh! What a heritage I have!!

My maternal grandpa Mr. Bethina Krishna Rao was a man with the quest for truth and reality. He was in the Hindu6 Satsang7 and studied the Vedas8 to find the truth. At the end of deep and thorough study, he and his friends came to a conclusion that there is only one God, and they called Him Eko Narayana ( the one God, who was a Spirit) and started worshipping Him. He found that Idol worship is not advocated by the Vedas and hence stopped worshipping the idols. It was at this stage, as he was thirsting to know who Eko Narayana was, how can we approach Him?, Did He ever reveal Himself to mankind?, He found that it was in Jesus that the one God revealed himself to mankind and that Jesus fulfilled all the criterion to be the Purusha prajapathi9 (the atonement sacrifice according to Vedas) for the remission of sins. Jesus became the Lord of his life.

It was in a very confused state of mind that Jesus drew me unto Him. In Him, I found forgiveness, peace, happiness, joy and eternal life. It was June 30, 1999.10 From then on, Jesus had leaded me through.

The world today is in danger. Fear exists in every one. Folks are restless and tensed. Jesus said “Come unto me all you who are stressed and bugged up, all you who are not able to enjoy your living, all who are restless…I will give you rest.” He also said, “Peace I give to you, my peace I give to you. The peace that the world offers is pseudo, but my peace I give to you.”

Ages back the sages in India prayed,

“Asathoma Sathgamaya,

Thamasoma Jyothirgamaya,

Mruthyorma Amrithangamaya,

OM shanthi shanthi shanthi yee”11

This means “Lord, lead us from untruth to truth, darkness into light, from death to eternal life, let there be peace”. God answered this prayer by revealing Himself as Jesus, who emphatically said, I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the light of the world.

In Him are the answers for life’s questions. He answers to the question of our origin, explains the purpose of our living, gives meaning to our life and shows way to the final destiny. What more do you need? Today, He beckons us to know Him and experience Him. He forgives us from our sins and gives us eternal life.
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1. It is the name with which I am called at home.

2. A name shared in common to identify the members of a caste in Andhra Pradesh, a state in India, as distinguished from the titles of other castes. A caste is social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank, profession, or wealth.

3. Enoch, dedicated; disciplined. After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch "walked withGod three hundred years" (Gen. 5:22-24), when he was translated without tastingdeath. He wasthe "seventh from Adam" (Jude 1:14). He is spoken of in the catalogue of Old Testament worthies in the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:5). When he was translated, only Adam, so far as recorded, had as yet died a natural death, and Noah was not yet born. Mention is made of Enoch's prophesying in Jude 1:14.

4. Moses, taken out; drawn forth. The Hebrew prophet and chosen leader who led the Israelites from Egypt across the Red sea on a journey known as the Exodus to Canaan, the prmised land. Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. It is written of him that he was the meekest man on earth. We also find him on the mount of transfiguration.

5. This happened to him on 19th October 1977.

6. A follower of a religion called as Hinduism which is a diverse body of religion, philosophy, and cultural practice native to and predominant in India, characterized by a belief in reincarnation and a supreme being of many forms and natures, by the view that opposing theories are aspects of one eternal truth, and by a desire for liberation from earthly evils.

7. A retreat which lasts for years, wherein many Hindu scholars and philosophers discuss about issues relating to religion and life.

8. The oldest and most authoritative Hindu sacred texts, composed in Sanskrit and gathered into four collections. Traditionallly, they are believed to comprise the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads.

9. The one who pays a compensation for the wrong doings of all in the world. The act of atoning for sin or wrong doing (especially appeasing a deity).

10. This experience is called being born again.

11. Such lines of prayers are called as Slokas, a distich of Sanskrit verse consisting of two sixteen-syllable lines of two eight-syllable padas each.