Thank You For Grace

On the occasion of the 100th birth anniversary of my grandmother Grace, we give thanks to God for her positive influence on our lives.

I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (http://www.youtube.com/editor)

With God I Saw My Father

B Ganesan was how my father was known. Once he met my mother Susheela Pandian, and told her that he would be there for her, if she should need him. She was close to her forties and unmarried. She couldn't find a suitable Christian to marry her, when this Hindu coworker boldly asserted to her that he would be there for her. She believed him and decided to marry him. For her sake B Ganesan left his Hindu family and joined her Christian family. In November of 1970, he stepped into a church with her and married her after he converted to the Christian faith with the new name George Godfrey.

In February of 1972 George and Susheela had a son whom they named Samuel. I happen to be that Samuel. My father, though a Hindu, never practised his faith at home. He privately worshipped his Hindu God Murugan throughout his life. While I was a baby he purportedly sacrificed my first hair to his Hindu God. Since then he never told me to worship any God, whether Hindu or Christian. As a child I had a dream in which I saw a train of fire raging across the sky, and to that fire I cried out in English, a language that was not my native tongue, "I will serve you!" Soon after that dream I sat at the entrance of my home yearning to see Jesus. "I want to see Jesus, I want to see Him now!" I said. And my father said to me, "You will see Him some day."

My father never offered me any religious instruction or guidance. I grew up largely ignorant of God. But crucially he placed me in a Christian school when I was eleven and placed me in another one when I was fifteen. From these schools I gained certain rudiments of Christianity. My mother who was a Christian introduced me to her church and to the Christian fellowship she actively participated in at her office. I was not drawn to these, but I was drawn to an English-speaking church in the neighbourhood, which I regularly attended. But even attendance at this church did not lead to any real enlightenment concerning Jesus Christ and the Christian life.

For years I played the role of a wayward son not particularly inclined to my father. I despised my father, as I found him rough and uncouth. He also seemed to be a particularly uncaring man, appearing nearly always to be dissatisfied and angry with me. My father and I rarely spoke to each other as the years progressed, and seldom communicated anything pleasant. I imagined that he thought little of me. And I in turn thought little of him. I found him unlikeable and wished that I had another father, someone I could admire and like. I was ashamed to been seen next to him and avoided him often. I never took pleasure in introducing him to someone as my father. And tragically this was how our relationship was most of the time.

Yet my father proved to be a decisive influence on me. While I was a child, he denigrated me in front of my friend for my lack of proficiency in the English language. It was then that I decided to disprove him by learning to speak English in a way that would surprise him and many others in the years to come. When as a teenager I insisted on studying English as a main subject, he was enraged by my choice and cursed me that I would be a good-for-nothing all my life. He even told me to mark his words. So it was not easy for me to like my father.

It was only after I met God in my early thirties that I became aware of the man whom I had never happily acknowledged as my earthly father. God stirred in me an inexplicable love for the man whom I had greatly disdained, and also caused my heart to be repentant for the way I had treated him. Just before my father passed away, God instilled a great urge in me to apologise to my father and seek his forgiveness. I lay flat before my father, and kissed his feet in repentance. I asked him to forgive me. Before I left him for a final time I embraced and kissed him and asked for his blessing. And my father gave me his blessing.

Today, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death, I remember my father with gratitude. He may not have always shown himself to be a loving or caring man. Very often he revealed himself to be the opposite. But with God I was able to see my father in a way that I could have never seen him before. I saw a man who loved me and cared for me in his own flawed way. I saw a father who wept for his child when he nearly lost his eye. I saw a man who cared for me in small yet memorable ways. I saw a man who never really asked me to be anything but myself. I saw a father whom I had never seen before. With God I saw my father. And today my eyes well with tears again, this time in gratitude to God for enabling me to see my father and to love him like a son before he passed away from this world. Thank you Father for showing me my father.

Samuel Godfrey George
    09 August 2014
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Remembering My Father - 16 July 2014

Today I remember my father, B. Ganesan (aka George Godfrey) who passed away 10 years ago. This is his birth anniversary day. For many years while he lived, he and I did not get along very well. But before his death, God inspired me to visit my father. A few days before his last birthday I asked my father to forgive me for all my wrongs against him. He forgave me and blessed me. For these great acts I have only God to thank. He placed love in my heart for my father and enabled me to express it before it was too late. I praise God for His merciful consideration.

When I was a young boy, I briefly lost vision in my left eye, following an accident. In the first hospital where I was examined, a doctor announced to my father that I would never regain my vision and that I would see the world with only one eye. A few moments later, my father broke down and wept bitterly lamenting over my fate. That was the first time I had seen him cry, and I was totally shocked by his reaction. It was only years later that I realized that his strange reaction revealed the depth of his love for me.

Dear Father, rest in peace. May God grant you everlasting joy and may we meet again some day. Thank you BG for being my dad.

SGG
 

Remembering George Godfrey

My mother and I give thanks to God for my father.

Count Your Blessings

As my father lay unconscious in August 2004, my mother sang "Count Your Blessings", and my father responded by tapping his fingers in tune with the song. Six years later I celebrate this memory on the anniversary of his death.

Samuel Godfrey George counts his blessings.

My Father

Samuel Godfrey George on his father:

I knew you well enough not to know you;
Our destinies were joined, yet we walked apart.
Our words were hard, and our thoughts distant;
Yet there were moments that stayed.
Can I forget your tears when I was in pain?
Can I forget your comfort when I grieved?
Now time has run out for you have left.
I remain shaken, while you rest from your labour.

God In Sam - My New Computer Is Born

My new computer is already born in my heart. Once I labelled a certain phase in my work, "God and Sam". In that name I now see a detachment. My new computer will herald a new era of oneness between me and my God. That is why I have christened it "God In Sam". I have not bought it yet. I don't even have the means to buy it as of now. But I know that this computer is on its way into my life. God will surely bring it into reality. I know this. And I thank God in advance for it.

Samuel Godfrey George, 09 June 2014

The Voice Goes On

It is June in 2014. After seven breathless years of God-serving and nearly 3000 videos on YouTube, my voice has ceased to speak publicly for God, and my video camera has taken its longest break yet. It is my hope that my voice will speak again, and when it does it will not be the same any more.

Before my computer, Sam's Notebook, ceased to function totally, I had a dream. I was in a church, a familiar church, attempting to read the words of the hymn, "Abide With Me." But for many reasons I couldn't read the hymn. And many of these reasons had little to do with me. The hymn book didn't seem right. Then the microphone failed. Then I moved to the other side of the aisle for some strange reason. Later I wanted to return to the side where I was originally, and there was a man blocking my way. When I arrived at this side, it seemed all right for me to read. But when I started to read the lights went out. And then they came back again. So I tried once more. But the hymn book again failed me. So I decided to recite the words from memory. But I couldn't get past the first few lines, as my my memory failed me. Finally I decided to abandon the reading of the hymn and decided to speak about it. All the while the congregation seemed to wait patiently for me. And that really surprised me. So I started off this new approach with a few jokes and the audience smiled appreciatively. Wow, I still had my audience after all that time of waiting and experimenting! And they were waiting for me.

This makes me confident that those who want to hear my voice will wait for me. I don't know when I will start broadcasting video messages again. But according to the aforementioned dream, I will broadcast again but in a different manner. This is a promise from God to me. And I don't doubt it.

Thank You Mother

A parent is a great gift. A mother is a special gift. Happy Mother's Day to all mothers.

Remembering My Birth

My mother Hannah and my aunt Mary Helen remember the time when I was born on this day many days ago.

A birthday presentation of Samuel Godfrey George

42 Times Blessed

The birthday message of Samuel Godfrey George, 2014

As A Year Ends

My Birthday Prayer

Thy Will Be Done O Lord

Samuel Godfrey George conveys his birthday wish on the occasion of his 42nd birthday on 05 February 2014

Mary Helen Indra's Wish

At 82 my aunt Mary Helen Indra wishes for a few more years so that she may glorify her Lord Jesus more.

A Prayer For Mary

A prayer to thank God for the long life He has granted my aunt Mary Helen Indra

Happy Birthday Mary

My aunt Mary Helen Indra has completed 82 years of life.

After Christmas Morning Service

St. John's Church, Hyderabad, after the Christmas morning service, which I attended.

Santa Baby

Little Anjana who played Santa for all of us on Christmas Day spends a moment with me.

For Our Sons - Children's Day, 2013

You cannot experience the joy of parenthood without also experiencing its pain.