A Season of Giving
Dear Friends,
Greetings again from Chennai, India!
I want to take this moment to affirm the fact that Christmas is a season of giving. God so loved He gave - He gave His only son. Through His redemptive sacrifice we who were far away from God are brought into a powerful intimate relationship as children of God to call Him Abba Father, place ourselves under His authority and allow Him to transform us. So we who were in darkness are now receptors of the light for the world to see the Father and glorify the Father in heaven.
Mary was given a son; the wise men were given a star; the shepherds were given a message; Joseph was given an assurance; Zachariah was given a prophecy; John was given a mandate to be the voice of the one that prepared the way; Israel was given many signs and Christ was incarnated among them. As a result whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Christmas is a season that we remind ourselves that God gave and because He gave we give to one another.
As you think about giving this year, I want y ou to prayerfully consider the opportunity that we have been sharing with you to impact the next generation. So we give them the opportunity of having an environment in which they can grow up, learning to read and write; learning values that reflects the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ; learning to become an agent of love, so that somehow in this world of hatred, insecurity, terror and crime, a group of individuals of the next generation will have an opportunity to be different.
The passion of our next generation training program is to build transformational leaders and to inculcate into them the values from the word of God. So that they come to know these values at an early age, embrace them unconditionally and live them passionately so they will have a world with less corruption and more opportunities.
Recently many of you confronted the tragic incident of Mumbai 26/11 which took many li ves, created tremendous insecurity and caused the Indian people to live out the 9/11 experience of the United states. The challenge of this event was it did not end in a moment or a day but a battle of 59 hours and lives were massacred in 10 different locations in the city of Mumbai. Fire was opened against innocent people and many are still living with the trauma of that event.
I am convinced the only hope of the future is not the gadgets that we have that provide us security. I believe we need to begin with value transformation that leads to a deep conviction in the hearts of the next generation to place themselves under the authority of Christ and embrace His redemptive provision and allow the Holy Spirit to transform them as they get deeply rooted in the Word of God.
I am sure with all of the challenges of economy we all have to cut back on how we spend our money. I want you to pray about this project because it will have eternal value and will help us leave the legacy for the future. It will provide opportunities for the poor to be equipped and trained to make a difference. It will enable communities to experience total transformation.
Last summer I met with Joshua, a high school student, who came to work with a contractor at HBI. He told me that he had come to do part time job to earn so that he will have at least some money to continue his education. While he was working at HBI, he got the information that his father committed suicide because his father didn't think there was a way he could educate his son. Joshua was completely broken. He said my dream to continue my education is now shattered and I don't know what I would do. The pain of losing his father and the future looking bleak, he cried bitterly. We thank God that we could help him to pay his school feels, buy him books and note books so that Joshua could continue his education.
There are millions of children who desire to go to school but they either do not have access to school or not allowed to go to school because they have to earn to help their families. Education can be the first step to give them an opportunity to transform their bleak future to opportunities and open doors for Development.
Friends, every Dollar you give will be multiplied! Praise God for this couple who saw the hope of the future and leaving a legacy to the next generation. Will you join them and in so doing help us to serve the people of India, the church of India and our Lord Jesus Christ in preparing the next generation. We need at least 1000 people who will give $100 each or 100 people who will say I will give $1000. May be you can't do either of this, but say Bobby I want to join you in this effort. Will you generously give in the season of giving?
May I take this moment to wish you all a merry Christmas and a blessed New year.! Thank you for praying and giving to the ministries of HBI and encouraging us with your repeated responses through your emails.
Praying from you and may the Lord bless you.
Your servant in the mission,
Dr. Paul (Bobby) R. Gupta
President
HBI Global Partners
P.O. Box 584
Forest, VA 24551
P.S. Please note my new email address guptabgpt214@aol.com