Reflection - Come Friday

‘Come Friday’

What sustains us when on mission mode

I had taken up an assignment in Mumbai in end-2004 to set up the office for a new business unit I was to head. It involved traveling back and forth by flight from Bangalore every week, initially for six months until the business was up and running. Then the plan was to appoint a manager and I would head back to Bangalore and manage the business from Bangalore.

The fastest and inexpensive way to travel in Mumbai is by suburban (local) railways. At rush hour there is no difference between first and second class of the train. Except perhaps the quality of the deodorant and ‘marginally’ little more space in the former.

Traveling by local train at rush hour meant hanging on to the swaying overhead handlebar until your destination arrived which in my case was around 20-25 minutes from Lower Parel station to Andheri station.

It was on one such swaying ‘overhead handlebar’ moment in the year 1986 (18 years prior to my return to Mumbai for the assignment mentioned earlier), that I had an epiphany.

I must go to another ‘land’. To a different kind of life, even if it meant sacrificing professional growth that the mecca of advertising offered in my field of work.

I did just that. In just a few short months, I got recruited by one of the finest advertising agencies in Bangalore and I moved here as a bachelor.

What a change it was from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai. It was Cubbon Park, not just at Cubbon Park, but all of Bangalore was Cubbon Park.

In 2020, if you can get space to park, you should consider yourself highly favoured. 

Such has been the growth of this city with nearly half of Mumbai’s population, but alas, without Mumbai’s suburban railway network with its 3300 train services on a weekday, zooming in every 4-5 minutes into the station, 22 hours of the day, carrying 6-7 million people every day. 

Cutting back to late 2004-mid 2005, on my return to Mumbai for the six-month assignment, I once again hung on the swaying handlebar of the ‘sandwichbar’ called a train. I counted each day to Friday. Hardest was Monday; nicest was Thursday. The one thought that sustained me: ‘Come Friday’ and I will be winging my way home. 

'Come Friday' became my propeller, my energy pill, my ballast, my tailwind, my booster, my rudder.

What is your ‘Come Friday’ motivational driver that sustains you when you have a mission to accomplish?

Abram was seventy-five years old and childless with Sarai, when the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you”. (Gen 12:1-2).

Abram came to the land of Canaan, and travelled as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” (Gen 12:7)

Over the next hundred years, from Ur, Abram / Abraham travelled 700 miles to the borders of present-day Iraq, another 700 miles into Syria, another 800 down to Egypt by the inland road, and then back into Canaan - what is now Israel.

What sustained Abram on this endless journey and sojourning in foreign lands? What was Abram’s ‘Come Friday’ motivational driver to keep going?

The unquenchable desire to have a child? Someone to carry his legacy forward? Especially if his “offspring” was to possess the Promised Land?

Abram was clearly a man of stature who lived in one of the most prominent Chaldean cities, if not the city of the Chaldees. Most men of stature want to leave a legacy. Abraham was also no pushover, but a man of war too.

“During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. He retrieved all the goods, as well as his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the rest of the people.” Gen 14:15-16

Abraham had to wait 25 years to have his desire satiated fully. Ishmael through Hagar the Egyptian maid of Sarai was a compromise, but God had His purpose there too.

The angel of God told Hagar, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.” (Gen 16:10). One stream of Abram’s offering was through Hagar and they number over a billion.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”

Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. (Gen 17:1-3)

But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless… Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Abraham and Sarah were blessed with Isaac when Abraham was hundred years old.

We know that having the child was super important to Abraham because God too thought so.

“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” (Gen 22:2)

As with every instruction of God, Abraham never hesitated, but did exactly as God commanded, and when he was about to plunge the knife into Isaac, “an angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” (Gen 22:12)

And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. 

"Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Gen 22:15-18)

Abraham lived a total of 175 years. And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people. (Gen 25:7)

The ‘Come Friday’ Motivational driver is akin to our understanding of Faith and Assurance.

“Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

While I could not see five days ahead from Sunday, the day I land back in Mumbai from Bangalore; my life experience told me that Friday would come. 

The thought that Friday would come sustained me for nearly five years of weekend trips. The six-month plan turned into seven years of working in Mumbai with two years with family who moved to Mumbai with me.

Like Abraham was obsessive about having a child with Sarah his wife, I was obsessive about traveling back to Bangalore on Friday, come what may.

Once I left a presentation mid-way to catch my Friday evening flight with consequences to be borne later. On another occasion the suburban railway motormen went on a flash strike for perhaps an hour during the rush hour and people streamed on to the roads from the station to catch some road transport to get to their destination. This caused a humungous traffic jam.

After being stuck in traffic for 30 minutes on a flyover with the margin to my flight departure closing in fast, I paid off the cab, hailed a passing motorbike and told him of my predicament. He wove through the traffic and got me to the airport and I made the gates.

Getting back home on Friday was an all-out mission. I would not allow anything to stand in my way.

In Hebrews 11, we hear of all the great men of God – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and of many more, the prostitute Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

They took God at his Word and went about accomplishing their respective mission.

What is your ‘Come Friday’ Motivational driver that can see you through your mission? 

If you have one, higher the chances that despite all obstacles and hindrances in the way, you will accomplish the mission.

If it is a word from God, it means the mission is really tough. The need to be focused is of utmost importance. Repelling all defeatist thoughts is just as key to stick with the mission. Having got the assurance and having obeyed to the end you cannot but succeed.

God bless you!

Friday, 01 May 2020