PEC Freshers Program, 18th September, 2018

It's a privilege indeed to get back to your alma mater (PEC - Pondicherry Engineering College) and interact with the freshers who have just begun their journey.

Such a privilege was given to me on September 18, 2018.

First, I thank God Almighty for the oppotunity.
Secondly I thank Prof Dr Elanseralathan and the organizing committee at Pondicherry Engineering College EU.

EU is the Evangelical Union in the college.

Invitation for Freshers Program 2018

As an alumnus, this was something very special to me. Called to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the freshers at PEC.

The morning of Sep 18, 2018 - A Funeral

The day before, there was a demise in the family. My wife's grandmother passed away and grief had gripped the loved ones. It was a tough time for the children and the grandchildren.

Next day is the Freshers Program at PEC and I tell my wife that I cannot miss this program as it is well planned in advance.

But yes, I was disturbed too because the funeral was planned on the date of the program.

I did pray for things to go on smooth.

Left after paying my last respects to the eldest member in the family, who had just gone to be with the Lord.


Lunch and rest at Petra House!

As soon as I landed in Pondy (Chinna Kalapet), I just strolled into Petra House :-)

Peter Anna and Sally Akka are very good family friends, in fact mentors.

They are doing God's work in the area of marriage and parenting.

In spite of their hectic schedule, they had time to host me at their place and I thank God for the time well spent.

Preparation for the evening Freshers Program:

PEC always has excellent students who practice servant leadership, may be a trait learnt by experience from Elan sir, who practices what he preaches.

It was around 3PM when the organizers reached the venue - terrace of Petra House.

They swept the terrace, arranged the chairs, ensured the lighting is appropriate, also had a round of singing practice!

Mughil, Elan Sir's eldest son was roped in to play the keyboard for the evening! 

Such a joy to see Mughil grown up to be an adolescent. I remember him as a baby during my UG days at PEC.

Some hiccups for the evening....awaited us

As with any evangelistic program, hiccups are always expected.

The first year students had already started coming in for the program. More than 50 definitely.

So much so, it started raining heavily and we had to shift all the chairs to the hall at PETRA House.

Shifting was swiftly done by the organizers led by Laxman, current batch MTech student.

Once all the students settled and the program was about to start, the power went off !!

There were only a couple of tube lights and two fans operational (thanks to the inverter) but time was flying.

Laxman (M.Tech) and his team started off with the prayer and singing.

They had to take out the Group Discussion from the agenda planned for the evening.

Opening Prayer by Laxman

Message for the evening

Without much ado, I was invited to share my experience during my time at PEC and also share God's word to the freshers gathered out there.

I started with my experience at PEC. How I landed up in PEC when I had the opportunity to join College of Engineering, Anna University Chennai and also had an admit to REC Jalandhar.

Went on to share my experience as a first year student and how I got introduced to the PEC EU fellowship.

I shared my experiences of being involved in various forums which built many skills required for corporate life.

Since the audience was freshers and they were here in the campus only for 2 weeks in total, I shared only what they could connect with.

I shared about life at Hostel A and B :-) The guys were interested to hear more about hostel experience, which was a very memorable one for me. 

Due to time constraints I quickly jumped on to the share the God's word for the day.

I said, although I have come here as an alumnus, I  am an ambassador for Jesus Christ carrying the good news about reconciliation.

The Bible says in

2 Cor 5:20 "We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors"

I moved on to talk about 2 characters from the Bible. One was a real life character, Zaccheus, the tax collector and the other was a fictional character - The rich fool described by Jesus in a parable (story).

Zaccheus was a tax collector in the area of Jericho. Now Jericho was a very important toll collection center for goods passing east and west. Basically, Zaccheus was a customs officer who used to collect more tax than he was supposed to.

What he was doing was OK with everyone around him although everyone know it was wrong.

It was a way of life. Tax collectors are corrupt and it's OK.

The society accepted the unfair tax collection but in his heart Zaccheus knew he was wrong. 

He wanted to meet Jesus so he went on to climb a sycamore tree.

Jesus, noticed Zaccheus who was on the tree,  looking to catch a glimpse. But what followed, probably Zaccheus did not expect!

Jesus said, "Zaccheus get down  from the tree", I am going to dine with you today. Zaccheus was more than happy to welcome Jesus to his house.

Jesus, Zaccheus, his family and friends are gathered in the dining table.

Zaccheus stood up and declared publicly that he will repay the amount taken illegally from those who payed taxes, four times of what he took initially. Also, he declared he would give half of his wealth to the poor.

Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house." - Luke 19:9

What can we learn from this passage? From this incident?

Why did Zaccheus even come forward to repent? What made him do that?

It is Jesus, my dear brothers and sisters.

Jesus was willing to meet Zaccheus at the point of his need. 

He knows that we humans need a Saviour and that's the reason He died for us on the cross and was raised again. Jesus is the only way to attain salvation.

How is this relevant in a students life?

It could be a very common thing to be addicted to pornography, smoking, drinking, groupism, foul language etc. Believe me I thought that's a way of life and never thought those were sins. But once I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour, I knew what I have been doing is wrong and it was Jesus who helped me come out of all of it. Thank God!

2 Cor 5:17 - Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

This is the ministry of reconciliation!

This is something what I learnt in  PEC EU Fellowship, when we used to meet every Thursday at Elan Sir's house.

I urge you to be a part of the fellowship too for life transformation.

The second character was a fictional one "The Rich Fool"

Luke Chapter 12

vs 16
And Jesus told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’

20“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

We read in the Bible.

Mar 8:36 - For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

So my dear brothers and sisters, you are here in this institution for a purpose.

So make the best use of your time while you are here.

I would like to leave you with few habits that can make you a highly effective person.

I thank God for this opportunity once again.

God bless you all in the 4 years out here in PEC!

With Deiva Prasad and Ratna Prasad - PECEU

With Befy, Tony - Final Years, Ramakrishnan - First Year and Laxman - MTech 

The Boys Gang! - Including Mughil and Ashrayan :-)