the sanguine's cravings

Staying on Course....

2009-03-17T11:04:00.000+08:00

I was cleaning up the kitchen the other day, partly because I take joy in having some of the domestic duties in our home, partly because I don’t want my wife to have to all the dirty work, and partly because I am feeling guilty, even before I have done anything. I get this feeling quite often, and it is part of a little emotional gymnastics routine I go through before I leave home to go on a domestic or international trip.

It goes like this…I know that I have to leave at a certain time (sometimes very early in the morning). So the day before, I begin to go through an emotional funk of knowing that I am going to be away from my family for a few days, needing to get my stuff packed, my tickets printed, all the bills paid, and all errands done. Then I am hit with the realization that I want to spend time with my kids instead of packing a bag. It becomes harder and harder to leave, so I try to plan in advance; more time with my family, more time playing with the kids on the floor, getting ahead of my domestic chores by starting them a few days earlier, etc. So standing at the sink the other day, watching some ants crawl all over spilled sugar bits while running the plates under the faucet, I was reminded of this verse from Deuteronomy 5:32-33.

“So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”

So this was God’s word to me that day…DO NOT DEVIATE! After many years of life like this, it would be easy for me to become complacent and apathetic. I could rest on years gone by, great events and wonderful altar calls, and amazing stories of the miraculous from the mission field. But the moment that I did that, it would begin to die. The whole thing would derail, because the command from God to the people of Israel was simply to stay on course. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy. Just walking straight without deviation from the path. And the promise was that God Himself would bless them with a place of their own, a home dedicated to their relationship with Him, if they would but stay the course.

It is easy to deviate. Lots of people have good ideas, and they often want you to be involved (or they ask you to “partner” in their good idea, which can sometimes mean they want you to do all the work while they get all the credit). As the years go by, energy levels deplete, joints hurt, bedtime keeps inching earlier and earlier toward 7 PM, and there is more opportunity to do MORE but LESS time to do everything that you need to do. We become distracted by all the things that just have to be done, and those things become tyrants, taking us away from the main things. Jesus Christ, our family, our community, and serving God and others; these are the things we must NEVER deviate from.

I am called. Called to be a husband, a father, and a minister. While I will have innumerable opportunities to become involved in all sorts of other efforts, programs, and good ideas, I must never deviate from these. No matter what I have to say no to, or how much fun I might miss out on, or how I will have to adjust my life in order to stay on the path God has given me to walk, the effort and the sacrifices are worth it.

What is it in your life that you must never deviate from? Have you veered off the path? What will it take to get back on track, to stay the course and be faithful?

two things...

2009-02-03T07:15:00.000+08:00

two things that can stop you right on your tracks....defeat and victory.

defeat can discourage you and hinder you to continue while victory satisfies you and tends to make you relax.

"blessed is the man who perseveres..." - James 1:12

i got bumped

2008-12-17T01:02:00.000+08:00

oh yes...i got bumped and i didn't even know it!

but not in a violent way. i got bumped up to first-class seat.

i checked in at the SFO airport for my flight going to Florida, so i printed my boarding passes at the NWA check-in counter, one for the SFO to Detroit leg and the other one for the Detroit to Florida. i said my goodbyes to the people i love and went inside my gate to wait for my boarding time.

and so when time came to board, the ground stewardess started calling out for boarding. they called in those who were flying with children, then the business-class passengers followed by those who were flying first-class. when all these IMPORTANT people have gone in, they called out for general boarding.

i went inside the plane and started to look for the seat number printed on my boarding pass, it was 4B. then it suddenly struck me that it was in front of the plane....oh boy, it's the first-class cabin. yes, i got bumped up to first class cabin. then i looked at my other boarding pass (Detroit-Florida) and it also said "first-class cabin".

i've flown first-class before on Thai Airways during one of my trips to Thailand, but it was only a 3.5hour-flight. this one staring at me is a good 8hour-flight. 4hours and 52min from SFO to Detroit and another 2hours and 56min flight to Florida.

and so, i got all the perks and privileges and benefits of flying first-class!

God is good!

no easy way to do it...

2008-12-16T05:25:00.000+08:00

...and so i hugged her tight, kissed her on the cheek and said goodbye... that was my sister. then i did the same to my dad and thanked him for being there. i hugged my mom longer and tighter and felt like almost crying when she reminded me to take care of myself like she's always done, while my favorite 5-year-old niece, Bridget was embracing my leg like a leech would a flesh. we did not want to separate ways just yet. that was the scene at the San Francisco International Airport when i left California for my flight to Florida the other day. my bags were heavy but my emotion was heavier as i made my way to the escalator that would take me to the gate entrance of the airport. i just said goodbye, for the moment, to the people i love dearly.

i should be good at goodbyes by now because I've done it countless of times but I guess one will never get the hang of bidding goodbyes especially to people you love. goodbyes are always sad because the distance is there and the absence is painful when you miss people. but such is my life...distance has made this family closer and even if we're not physically together, the love will always make us FEEL closer than we really are.

....will miss my wifey and kiddies

2008-12-04T13:13:00.000+08:00

....leaving for the US in about 11 hours.

i will be visiting my parents in California, then will travel to Florida for the Book of Hope Global Congress.

i will come back right before Christmas.

why do i do this?

2008-11-23T18:22:00.000+08:00

i got my 2009 Starbucks planner today, and quite frankly i am not impressed with its look and design. it is very simple compared to its predecessors of the last years. although they come in tree different colors (black, red and blue), it's not leather bound, and it doesn't have the traditional Starbucks coupon inside...in short, it looks like just a plain planner/journal that you can get off the shelves in any bookstore.

i was not excited getting the stickers for the planner, but because i love coffee a lot and Starbucks is one of my favorite places to get coffee from, i got the required number of stickers in no time.

and so, i have my planner. and as my practice, i know i will be using it for the first few months of the year and eventually letting it sit on my table beginning the middle till the end of the year...until i am ready again to collect stickers in november 2009 for the 2010 Starbucks planner....what a vicious cycle.

haayyy...such is life!

when was the last time you thanked God?

2008-11-21T16:31:00.000+08:00

I was driving home today when I passed a man wearing a shirt that has these words on it:

Being taken for granted?
Just imagine how God feels.

Quite frankly, I do feel taken for granted sometimes. I'm not a high-maintenance person and I don't demand a lot of attention, but because I'm so lax I feel like people breeze over me easily. However, one big difference between the Big God and myself is I haven't done anything extremely sacrificial like He has, so he deserves more attention that i do.

Everyone likes a little acknowledgment every now and again. I say thank you all the time to strangers who hold the door open or salespeople who help me find what I need, but I forget that God is the one who gave me the means to walk through doors and blessed me with the money to buy stuff.

So, this one's for you God, my friend. A few minutes to let You know I've noticed Your work throughout my day today:

Thanks for easing up the traffic on the way to where I was heading this morning. I really appreciate it, especially since this is the season when traffic is horrid.

I appreciate you helping me making a very good pot of coffee this morning. Mmm it wasn't too watered down and it wasn't too strong. Perrrfecctt-oo!

I know you’ve placed me in my current job and thank you for that. I love the work environment and family-feel atmosphere at Book of Hope.

Thanks for allowing me to enjoy life in its gadgetry but never letting me drown into its savvy-ness.

Thank you for giving me a wonderful family – wonderful wife, wonderful kids wonderful parents and wonderful siblings…. very nice of you.

And you know what? You did an absolutely great job with my day today! I can't wait to see what you have in store tomorrow

What are you thankful for this week?

how NOT to ask a Christian girl out

2008-11-16T17:16:00.000+08:00

this is for you guys who are contemplating and even planning to ask a girl out from your church, or even from other church. i got this in my email, so i'm sharing this with you single men.

How NOT to ask a Christian girl out.

1. During a Prayer Request
When she's sharing her prayer request and mentions that lately she's been feeling lonely - pointing to yourself and saying "Booyah! God answers prayers!" isn't the right way to ask a Christian girl out.

2. Creating a Small Group for just you and her
Christians often meet during the week in what's called "small group" where they do Bible study or just hang out. But making a small group with a limit of 2 people is not the right way to ask a Christian girl out.

3. Using Bible Pick Up Lines
"I'm missing a rib, and I think you're it." "I think you're a part of my Purpose Driven Life" and "Now I know why Solomon has 700 wives, because he never met you" are not acceptable ways to ask a Christian girl out.

4. Praying together
and then saying "let's hold hands" is not an acceptable way to ask a Christian girl out.

5. Becoming a praise leader
and then during church service dedicating a song to her while singing "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye - is not an acceptable way to ask a ....in fact, just not acceptable.

6. Doing a skit on a book from the Bible
although most Christians seem to love doing skits - picking Song of Songs as the book of choice, is not an acceptable way to ask a Christian girl out.

7. Using Ecclesiastes 4:11
Look it up you lazy.

8. Getting set up
"So...I think we have a common friend."
"Who?"
"Jesus."
is not acceptable way to ask a Christian girl out.

Got to blog soon...

2008-11-12T19:36:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since i've blogged. My work, family and ministry keep me sooo busy these days.

I know i got to write soon, lest i lose what's left of what i thought is my littlest contribution to the literary world...my own idea.

poverty and hardwork...

2008-10-17T12:24:00.000+08:00

The last couple of days saw some of us drooling over the hundreds of millions and billions of dollars of money owned by the reported 40 wealthiest people in the Philippines. This, inspite of the current economic meltdown being experienced globally. Some of these billionaires earned their money through hard work and even have some of the most inspired rags-to-riches story. Take the case of Henry Sy, who started peddling at an early age… now the richest man in the country with $3.1 Billion net worth. Another poor-man-turned-billionaire is Senate president Manny Villar with a whopping net worth of $940 million.

On the other side of the fence, however, are millions of Filipinos still living in poverty, a big percentage of which will die as paupers.

My question is, do we have a solution to poverty?

The most prevalent idea being perpetuated by mass media and other traditional establishments with regards to how poverty could be solved is the notion that it’s all up to the individual’s hard work and perseverance. Nasa sipag at tiyaga lang ‘yan. Kayod lang nang kayod. Mag-trabaho lang nang mag-trabaho. Dadating din ang asenso.

To reinforce this idea, it’s not seldom that we are made witnesses to countless life stories of individuals who rose from poverty rags-to-riches style. Just this weekend, over ABS-CBN, we are made audience to TV biographies of the country’s business tycoons and how they achieved their status through “hard work” and how they return to the poor their riches through humanitarian efforts and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) projects.

This, however, is the reality: anumang sipag at tiyaga ang gawin ng malawak na sektor ng manggagawa, karamihan sa kanila ay hindi talaga aasenso. Not in a prevailing order that thrives on the cycle of inequality that it perpetuates. The success stories we are being made to witness and admire are mere exceptions rather than the norm. Surely, if it’s all up to sipag at tiyaga, then most of our employees, workers and farmers, whom we pride to be hard-working, should be experiencing economic security. Don’t you ever wonder why such is not the case? After all, who benefits the most from the hard work of workers? We are simply being made to pin our hopes and be content with the way things are done and not strive or fight for something better.

Indeed, when it is not coupled with genuine reforms and changes in the core orientation of our economies and in how our governments are run, mere sipag at tiyaga will never be enough to lift the vast majority Filipinos, and even the rest of the world’s poor, out of poverty.

Let me give you a quote I got on a blogsite about poverty.

“Poverty, whether it’s in the Philippines or in other countries, is simple. It is the result of contradictions. It’s the result of two contradictory interests: the interests of capitalists, and the interests of workers. Because capitalist profit and worker wages come from the same “value”, the contradiction is on how should this “value” be divided. And because it is the capitalist side who has political power in their side as of present, most of this “value” goes to them. This is poverty.”

broken glasses...

2008-09-26T12:01:00.000+08:00

So as I was going to the refrigerator in our kitchen to get some water, I saw that someone had dropped something made of glass from a height of sufficient magnitude to cause a force greater than the structural integrity of the glass object at the point where it collided with the ground (haba ng explanation ‘no?... in short, sa ilalim ng lamesa).

It appeared to have been a coffee mug, or some very muddy looking chocolate drink. Either way, having stepped on broken glass in bare feet before, I felt the need to clean it up, because stepping on broken glass sucks. I later found out that one of my kids (Kaiel, the twins or Danae) was the culprit.

So I strolled over to where my wife Alice was, and informed her of the predicament. She was very convincing when she told me that I should take care of it because the kids are in the room studying. So, after debating with myself if I should do it or not, I meandered back to the kitchen, past my wife, and laid down some paper towels to soak up the coffee,. I had learned later on, that it was in fact a spilled coffee in a mug that I had unintentionally left unfinished, that one of my kids had accidentally dropped while trying to clean up the table (I know..it’s my fault, so no judging, ok?).

Then I set about the work of cleaning up the broken glass, because I know how difficult it is (I was a bit of a clumsy child, often broke things), and I know that my kids like to walk barefoot, and I don’t want them stepping on shattered and broken glasses and wounding them, as a result. I’d like to save them from that ordeal.

Now I know what you're thinking: "This is the lamest hero story every. You cleaned up glass, congratulations." But that's not what this is about. I often have some random thoughts while I do chores, and this one came to me while I was down wiping the floor with a wet paper towel to pick up the little pieces.

See, that's the thing about cleaning up broken glass, it gets everywhere, and there's always the little pieces that you couldn't see, but as soon as you step on it, it's there. Sure, there are the big pieces, the large chunks, that with a little care and almost less effort, you can easily pick up and throw away. It's the little ones, the tiny slivers that hide in corners only to be blown out into the open by the gust from an open door, that are dangerous.

You have to take a lot of care, and focus, and time to pick them all up.

First you've got to sweep, get all the pieces you can see. Then you take a wet cloth and wipe up the tiny pieces, then you dry it all up and pick up the pieces you missed. Then you use the damp cloth again, and repeat until you're sure it's all gone.

Then, you've got to check your hands, knees, shoes, all your bits for pieces that just stuck on there. And after all that, there's still gonna be some pieces that you missed. Glass is just so much work to get rid of. But you've got to do it, because it's dangerous and causes pain.

The thought I had was just how much like sin it was. It's just so easy to find and pick out the big sins, the most obvious ones, and stop those and make sure you don't do them. But what about the little ones, the ones that hide?

Sure, it's pretty easy to tell that you've committed adultery, or murder, or better yet, easy to avoid them. But what about lusting? What about wandering into those sites you shouldn't, with all the XXX's? What about anger, or hatred? What about irritating that guy in class or at work just because he did it to you, first?

How hard is it to overcome those sins? How hard is it to not see your friend's new gadget, and want it, too? How hard is it to admit to yourself that you did have some desire for that guy on the corner? How tempting it is to just give in to your desires? (I have just given a message on this to our Youth and Young Adults Group at our church).

Sin is just so hard to get rid of. But you've got to do it, because it's dangerous and causes pain.

We really do have to get down into the dirt, the floor, the corners of ourselves, the parts you don't want to see, to get it out. And yes, the glass is sharp, and you could get cut (coffee, as it turns out, is not good at all for cuts).

The thing is, no matter how hard we try, we can never get it all. Just like the glass, there's always gonna be that one piece that eludes you, that comes back to cut open your foot, or make a nice new gash in your hand.

That's where God comes in. He takes all the glass, all those little sharp splinters, the little blades of pain in your life, and turns them all into safety glass, painless, rounded, dull. Even the little tiny one hiding in the corner. He sent his Son to walk through the glass, through the sin and the pain, and change it all. The glass lost its sharpness, it cannot cut us any longer, if we just accept Him.

My life has a lot of broken glasses in it, just like everyone else. But therein lies the beauty of it. There is only one sinless tale, but that sinless tale is the key to living a life free of broken pieces and shattered glasses in our life…it can be fixed

What has God shown you recently about the slivers of sin in your life?

through the eyes of a child...(very funny)

2008-09-19T09:20:00.000+08:00

A child was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible.

This is amazing and brought tears of laughter to my eyes.

I wonder how often we take for granted that children understand what we are teaching???

The Bible Through the eyes of a child:

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas.

The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that.

Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.

Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad Apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.

Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments.

These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.

Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more:

Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn.

(I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans.

Jesus also had twelve opossums.

The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards, applied Chiropractice to the lame and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Republicans and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again.

He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

to live right...

2008-09-15T11:08:00.000+08:00

Me and my friend and co-minister Joey Reyes have this running play of words between us. We would always use the statement “..to fulfill all righteousness” whenever we need to do something right that seemingly is against the world standard. Like when we need to stop for a red light even when the streets are free of other vehicles and we can just zoom past the light, we’d wait till the light turns green “..to fulfill all righteousness”. These were the same words that Jesus used when He was going to be baptized by John the Baptist. Of course, He used it in a different context, that’s why we call it play of words. It’s a different type of “righteousness” that Jesus was talking about than what Joey and myself would use it to mean.

What is righteousness anyway? It’s not a word we hear much anymore. I guess the simplest definition would be that righteousness means living right, or being morally upright. Of course, this implies a lot of things. Mostly, it implies that there is some true and right standard for us to live by. Where does this standard come from? …from God. The whole concept of right and wrong comes from Him. True righteousness is living God’s way. Sadly, many have rejected God and His standards, but that doesn’t make them go away.

Does righteous living have any value? Many would argue that we should make our own rules – that we are not bound by "old fashioned" ways of thinking when living in this modern age. Some say the Ten Commandments and the Bible are outdated.

I agree that in this world of selfishness, pride, rebellion, humanism, and materialism there doesn’t seem to be a place for the teachings of the Bible. Today we have the Gospel according to Oprah and all the modern gurus with their feel good theologies. They have developed "designer religions" which do away with the concept of sin, hell and repentance. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 16:25 NIV)

Call me crazy, but I think I am just going to hang in there with the standards God set up. It makes sense to me that the One who made me knows what is best for me. I have observed that those who choose to go God’s way – The Bible’s way -- have a peace and joy that those who follow the modern philosophies will not have. God has made some promises to those who choose to walk His way. Here are just a few.

"The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine." (Proverbs 4:18 MSG)

"The steps of a [good] man are directed and established by the Lord when He delights in his way [and He busies Himself with his every step]. Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord grasps his hand in support and upholds him." (Psalms 37:23-24 AMP)

"And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever." (Isaiah 32:17 AMP)

"But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides." (Matthew 6:33 AMP)

There is no substitute or replacement for the righteousness of God.

you can't Google God....

2008-09-09T20:02:00.000+08:00

I got this image on the net and it made me laugh, but it made me think as well.

I love the internet. I think it's the greatest invention ever and I can't imagine modern life without it. What I love most about it is that I have almost instant access to anything I want. Any question that crosses my mind can be answered with a little "clickety-clack" on the keyboard. What movie is showing where? Clickthecity.com indulges me. Who is getting traded this season in the NBA? Yahoo news gives me the answer in 1.2 seconds. Who is Hillary Hahn? Oh, thank you Wikipedia. What does 'agrestic' mean again? Merriam-Webster.com to the rescue. What's the next project that Harisson Ford is working on? My answer and much more on Imdb.com.

From dumb questions to important ones, we can find almost all the answers on the web. But I think we’re getting so used to this way of life, that we don't know how to pray and listen to God any more. We tend to liken God to the internet. We want instant responses and nothing enigmatic and vague. We don't want to have to think about it or figure things out for ourselves. We want everything to be clear-cut and laid out in a concise, easy to read format.

But God is not the internet. I mean, he's more AWESOME (borrowing Ptr. Jerry’s statement) than the internet, and He doesn't just work the same way. And as silly as it is to forget that, we do forget. Sometimes God does give clear answers in a short amount of time. But sometimes, he makes us wait. It's not to drive us crazy, even though that's what it feels like. Some things just make more sense with time. We are complex individuals with lots and lots of layers, and I'm pretty sure God knows that a quick-fix answer in the peak of our troubles is not really going to help us. He's not the friend that just says, "It's okay" no matter what we are going through. God cares for us much more deeply than that; He doesn't do quick-fixes and blanket responses. He has specific words for each of us, but it can take time for us to be ready to hear them.

God speaks the truth to us and His promises are true. But timing is very important to Him. Are we asking God for instant answers or are we willing to wait a little longer?

God has a ready answer for our different situations, but you can’t Google God’s answers.

should i or should i not?

2008-09-09T06:40:00.000+08:00

HEALER

You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease

I trust in you
I trust in you

I believe
You're my healer
I believe
You are all I need
I believe
You're my portion
I believe
You're more than enough for me
Jesus, you're all I need

Nothing is impossible for you
Nothing is impossible
Nothing is impossible for you
You hold my world in your hands

In light of the recent scandal, and the controversy that the composer of the above song faked his terminal sickness and lied to everyone, I am faced with a question. Should I use this song in worship at my church?

It is my strong belief that the person who wrote this song is human and I don’t believe he is perfect. I do believe that he has a problem and I do think that his situation will probably give ammunition to people waiting around to slander Christians and poke their fun. I’ve concluded that that is OK - Christianity will forever be faced with such things.

The one thing I’m not OK with is the fact that some people might become disillusioned and turn away from Christ.

So back to my question, should Ior should i not use this song in chuch worship? Well, it’s a simple song, simple chord progressions (a big plus for me) and it’s simple enough for a congregation of people who might not all be musically inclined to learn.

The next thing would be the lyrics, do I agree with the lyrics? Does God heal? Yes. Does He walk through the storm and fire with us? Yes. Do I trust Him? Yes. Do I believe He is all I need? Yes. Is it true that I believe that nothing is impossible for Him? Yes.

So far it seems that I agree with this song. I can see how it can give God glory and I can see how easy it is for the congregation to follow along with it and so I conclude that this song will be used in worship.

It is sad to have someone deceive so many, it's sad to see that many will be affected. However, I cannot deny the truth in the words of the song and I cannot deny that God can use it for good.

How do you feel about singing or listening to this song?

Havaianas Vs. Spartan - Sosyal Vs. Baduy

2008-08-03T16:30:00.000+08:00

Pangalan: Havaianas

Lugar na pinanggalingan: São Paulo , Brazil

Pagbigkas:
ah-vai-YAH-nas (Brazilian Portuguese)
hah-vee-ah-naz (American English)
OMG! hah-va-yaH-naZz! (Filipino)

Materyal na ginamit:Malupit na goma (high-quality rubber).

Presyo:Depende.. Ganito na lang, 1 pares ng Havaianas = 100 pares ng Spartan.

Mga nagsusuot:Mga konyotik at mga mayayaman (na noong una ay nababaduyan sa mga naka-de sipit na tsinelas at sasabihing, "Yuck! So baduy naman nila, naka-slippers lang.")

Malulupit na katangian at kakayahan:
- Masarap isuot.
- Shock-absorbent
- Malambot ngunit matibay
- Makukuha sa sandamakmak na kulay, disenyo at burloloy
- Maaaring isuot sa loob ng Starbucks
- Mainam na pang-japorms
- Mainam i-terno sa I-Pod at Caramel Macchiato
- Mapipilitan kang maglinis ng mga kuko mo sa paa
- Maaari ka nang mag-dikwatro sa loob ng mga pampublikong lugar at sasakyan
- Magiging 'fashionable' ka kapag ikaw ay nagkukuyakoy

Olats na mga katangian:
Mahal!
Mahal!
Mahal!

Pangalan: Spartan

Lugar na Pinanggalingan: Metro Manila , Philippines

Pagbigkas:
spar-tan (American English),
is-par-tan (Filipino).

Materyal na ginamit:Pipitsuging goma (Low-quality rubber).

Presyo:Wala pang 50 pesos.
Isang pares ng Spartan = 20 piraso ng pan de coco.

Mga nagsusuot:ang masa (gaya-gaya lang ang mga sosyal at pasyonista)

Malulupit na katangian at kakayahan:
- Maaring ipampatay sa ipis
- Maaring ipampalo sa mga batang suwail at damuho
- Pwedeng ipanglusong sa baha at putikan
- Pwedeng ipamalengke
- Mainam gamitin sa tumbang-preso
- Mainam gawing 'shield' kapag naglalaro ng espa-espadahan
- Mainam isuot sa siko bilang proteksyon habang naglalaro ng piko
- Mainam na pambato sa picha o shuttlecock na sumabit sa puno
- Mainam na pangkulob sa pumuputok na watusi
- Kapag ginupit-gupit nang pahugis 'cube,' e maaari mo nang gawing pamato sa larong Bingo na
kadalasang makikita sa mga lamay ng patay.

Olats na mga katangian:
- Madaling magkawalaan kapag hinubad dahil halos pare-pareho lang ang itsura
- Masakit isuot kapag may mga balahibo ang mga daliri mo sa paa
- Minsan kapag ipinambato mo ito sa picha o shuttlecock na nakasabit sa puno, e nadadamay pati yung tsinelas

the times of your life...

2008-07-11T19:49:00.000+08:00

if you will be given 86,400 pesos everyday, with the condition that you have to spend the whole amount in 24hours so you can have another 86,400 pesos the next day...how and to where will you spend it.

you cannot give it away, you cannot gamble with it, you can only give so much to charity, you cannot deposit it in a bank or put it in a business venture and you cannot keep it for yourself.

i was asked this question the other day, but i also asked a question...why 86,400 and not 50,000 or 100,000? because there are 86,400 seconds in one day. you are basically given a peso to spend every second.

which brings us really to the actual life-question... how and to where are we going to spend the time given us everyday? how do we manage our time if there seems not enough time for us to do everything we want to do?

are we spending our time wisely or are we just taking our time "easy"?

if you knew that you only have today to live, would you spend today the way you spent yesterday? or would you try to make up for what you have missed doing yesterday or the other day or last week or last month?

somebody was asked the same question. he said that if he knew he'd only live until the setting of the sun and he was trimming his garden when he found out about it..he'd continue trimming his garden and do about his normal business for the day. he has lived his life right and fruitful everyday, he said, that he has no reason to change the way he has lived just to accommodate death today.

how wonderful it would be, if all of us would live our lives right before God everyday of our lives, that we may never have to worry about changing our life schedule when death would stare us in the face. we never have to chase after yesterday's "misses and lapses" because we always shoot for the goal daily. we never have to regret not having shown our love to our loved ones because we live love daily. we never have to pay for lost time in the past because we owed no one a wise-spent time of everyday.

like everything else, we all have our own expiration dates. the question is, will we be consumed before we expire or will we expire before we can be consumed?

i'm walking on sunshine

2008-07-04T20:01:00.001+08:00

there are a lot of things in life to complain about: traffic, the almost endless increases of fuel prices, typhoons and floods, the rain, the humidity, slow internet connection, not getting what you want, countless things to do, people that don't agree with you, waking up earlier than usual, headache… and the list goes on. there’s just too many things you can think that you want to whine about.

but there are MORE things in life to be grateful for-- like nice people who give out random acts of kindness just because they feel like it, people who smile and take time to talk, vacations, good friends, BUILDING new friendships that may even extend until a lifetime, freebies, family, discovering/learning new things, adventures, good food, good coffee, iced tea, people who love you, hot and cold shower, enjoying the hot sun or the rain, the greens, nice songs, internet, good books, good health...in short, LIFE, in general.

i am right now, in a very happy point in my life. i think the song "Walking on Sunshine" is very suitable for my disposition in life at present. and it feels really really good to be happy about everything--good or bad.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
– Philippians 4:12-13

i'm walking on sunshine

2008-07-04T20:01:00.000+08:00

...nung nasa kolehiyo na ako

2008-07-04T09:13:00.000+08:00

... nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, akala ko isang hakbang na lang ang tagumpay ko

... nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, nalaman ko na importante pala ang baon na pera para makarating ako sa eskwelahan

... nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, matipid ako, kasi hindi masyadong malaki ang alawans ko, pero pagdating sa gimikan magastos ako

... nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, di ako natatakot sa mundo. natuto ako magpunta kung saan-saan, umuuwi ako ng halos hatinggabi na galling sa mga gimikan

... nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, sanay ako mag lakad ng malayo dahil yun lang ginagawa namin ng mga kaibigan ko pag meron break-- mag ikot sa kung saan saan.

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, natuto ako ng mga bisyo, natutunan ko ang uminom at manigarilyo at tumikim ng mga hindi dapat tikman

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, nalaman ko ang pagkakaiba ng kagandahan at kapangitan ng kapaligiran

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, nagkagusto ako sa proffesor ko sa English,pero syempre hanggang gusto lang, di ko sya kayang ligawan e

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, natutunan ko ang dumiskarte sa exam para pumasa --- oo na, cheating ang tawag dun

... nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, nakapunta kami ng barkada ko sa Baguio ng 4 na araw na hindi alam ng mga magulang ko, ang sabi ko sa Novaliches lang kami -- oo na, lying ang tawag dun

... nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, tambayan namin ang Greenhills at Makati Avenue tuwing biyernes at sabado ng gabi

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, sikat ang Goodah at mga gin tonic na drinks

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, number one sa mga music charts ang mga kanta ni Madonna, Cindy Lauper, Spandau Ballet, at Tears for Fears

... nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, ipinalabas ang isang pelikula na pinilahan ng maraming tao sa sinehan, ang title ng pelikula ay "Raiders of the Lost Ark (Indiana Jones)"

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, natuto akong magdrive ng kotse at pinangarap ko magkaroon ng BMW

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, sinubukan kong magtrabaho sa fastfood chain kasi marami akong kaibigan nagtrabaho sa Mcdonald’s, ako nagtrabaho sa Dunkin Donuts

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, nakilala ko ang isang pagkaganda-gandang babae, pangalan nya Alice

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, seven pesos per liter pa lang ang gasolina

… nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, kinilala ko si Kristo bilang Diyos at tagapagligtas

... nung nasa kolehiyo na ako, marami akong pangarap pero di ko alam kung san ako patungo pag nakatapos ako

pero lahat ng yan ay nung nasa kolehiyo na ako.

...nung bata pa ako

2008-07-03T09:39:00.000+08:00

... nung bata pa ako, wala ako ibang alam gawin kundi mag laro.
... nung bata pa ako, wala akong ibang iniisip kundi anong baon ko sa umaga na hinanda ng Mama, ko, anong mangyayari sa school, anong oras ako makakauwi, at sino makakalaro ko pag-uwi ko
... nung bata pa ako di ko kailangan ang perang baon dahil nga may baon naman akong tinapay at gatas o kaya tsokoleyt drink
... nung bata pa ako, kahit pag may baon naman akong pera, bumibili ako ng nutri-bun sa school at pag may natira ibinibili ko ng yema o kaya pulburon panghimagas
… nung bata pa ako, may crush na ko, pero syempre mas marami nagkaka-crush sakin, cute daw kasi ako (nung bata pa ako)
… nung bata pa ako,muntik ko na masunog ang bahay namin, kasi hinahanap ko yung holen ko sa ilalim ng kama namin..syempre dahil bata pa nga ako, kandila ginamit ko imbes na flashlight
… nung bata pa ako, mahilig ako umakyat sa mga puno ng bayabas, santol at mangga (marami pa kasing puno noon)
… nung bata pa ako, gustong-gusto kong sumama sa lahat ng pinupuntahan ng Mama ko, sa palengke, sa tindahan, sa simbahan, sa ospital at kahit na sa kapitbahay lang
… nung bata pa ako, mahilig akong magbasa ng komiks at manood ng mga cartoons sa TV
… nung bata pa ako, pinakasikat na robot si Voltes V
… nung bata pa ako, wala akong mga “Little Tykes” at “Tonka” na mga laruan..kuntento na ako sa mga laruang gawa sa lata at kahoy.
… nung bata pa ako, gusto kong maging piloto o kaya engineer, kasi sabi nila malaki daw ang sweldo pag yun ang tinapos mo sa kolehiyo
… nung bata pa ako, ilang beses akong nahulog mula sa itaas ng hagdan naming hanggang sa ibaba, dahil sa kalikutan ko…buti nga buhay pa ko.
… nung bata pa ako, nakagat ako ng alaga naming aso sa leeg, sangkatutak na indyeksyon ang inabot ko dahil dun
… nung bata pa ako, naglalakad lang ako papasok sa eskwelahan hindi dahil wala akong pamasahe, kundi dahil malapit lang ang bahay naming sa skul ko..mga 20 minutes na lakaran.
… nung bata pa ako gusting gusto ko ang chocovim na chocolate drink, di pa kasi uso noon ang nestle o selecta na drink.
… nung bata pa ako, wala akong ibang iniisip kundi sarili ko
… nung bata pa ako, wala akong ibang responsibilidad kundi ang sarili ko

pero lahat ng yun ay nung bata pa ako.

marriage equals witness

2008-05-08T17:53:00.000+08:00

"why do you think that people get married? because we need a witness to our lives… there’s billions of people in our planet… what does any one life really mean?? but in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything… the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things… all of it, all the time, everyday… you’re saying your life will not go unnoticed because i will notice it… your life will not go unwitnessed, because i will be your witness…"

it's a line from the movie "Shall We Dance?" spoken by Richard Gere's wife.

i think it's probably one of the best lines i've ever heard from a movie about the purpose of marriage.

just one of those days...

2008-05-06T11:14:00.000+08:00

i have been feeling a little gloomy this past two days...i guess, i started my week on the wrong foot - the really hot weather, mind games, mood-swings(?), traffic and a lot more.

it just wasn't really what i call a good week-start.

but one grande caramel machiatto made it all better..

ahhh...i thank God for Starbucks.

life's fleeting moments

2008-04-29T11:09:00.000+08:00

There are moments in our lives that we call “life’s fleeting moments”. It is that one moment when you feel like you are on a natural high. Never mind the past and the future. What is important is the “NOW” not the “LATER”. It is that one single rush of emotion when you feel like you are ready to explode because of that tingling within you that is so joyful…and then you savor it like you savor the taste and aroma of a good cup of coffee. You touch it with your lips and taste it with your tongue like you don’t want its sweet-bitter taste to fade.

I grasp to life’s fleeting moments like this. An example of moments like these are when I am all of a sudden hit by a pang of natural high as I let the windows down as I drive outside the city. That one moment when I feel that I am the most blessed person in the world, feeling a wave of emotions washing over me when everything else has gone haywire but I am still able to stand and go on with life. But try as I might to hold on to natural high moments like these, they trickle so fast that no matter how tight my grip is and how desperate I am to stop time, I always end up frustrated, because everything in this life comes to end.

I have always imagined how stellar it would be if memories were stored in bottles. The good ones will be preserved in them so that whenever we feel like it, all we have to do is open the bottle and re-live the moment. Lets face it. No matter how much we try to hold onto memories, they become blurry as days, months, or years pass. Then when we try to look back, we always end up upset because all we can remember are just bits and pieces-remnants, of what used to be a clear vision inside our heads. The puzzle pieces will never ever be complete again. But the greatest thing is that although life’s fleeting moments pass by as fast as they came into our lives, we are able to say that we were happy even for just that single moment. And we continue to look forward to the next time we will feel “infinite” and that, for me, is another reason to look forward to when we say our “goodnights” and sleep to tomorrow.

I'm 78% Filipino

2008-04-25T21:07:00.000+08:00

[x] You have sung on karaoke
[x] You have bought clothes from ukay-ukay
[x] You have eaten pancit
[x] You have danced a traditional Pinoy dance in front of people
[x] You have been to a free concert
[x] You have never worn contact lenses
[x] You can speak tagalog fluently
[x] You have bought AutoloadMax/E-Load
[x] You like to eat Sky Flakes
[x] You have put oil in your hair
[x] You have washed your/other people's clothes in a palanggana
11/11

[ ] You know the pinoy ako dance steps
[x] You have been to Divisoria
[x] You have been to Quiapo
[x] You have been to Baclaran
[x] You have ridden on a public Jeepney
[ ] You have been to mass at Baclaran Church
[x] You have drunk taho
[x] You have eaten halo-halo
[x] You have hung-out outside a sari-sari store and enjoyed it
[x] You have Jay-Walked
8/10

[x] You have eaten sorbetes
[x] You have eaten lechon
[ ] You love watching Pinoy Novelas
[ ] You have almost been attacked by a monster
[x] You have gone to the province by bus
[x] You have slept on a banig
[ ] You have faked your age
[x] You have swum in a public pool
[x] You have peed in a pool
[x] You have been to a PARLOR and gotten something done
7/10

[ ] You have been obsessed with a pure pinoy actor/actress
[x] You have been to a public basketball game
[x] You have eaten ISAW/DUGO
[x] You have/had bulate stomach when u were young
[ ] You own a Magic Sing
[x] You have played Patintero
[x] You have played sipa
[ ] You have bought a dog/cat from the divisoria
[x] You have played Bingo
6/9

[x] You have been to Pasay
[x] You have taken a road trip by car
[ ] You have thought of using someone for their money
[ ]You have used someone for their money
[x] You have owned/own a black and white phone before
[x] You have slept at around 5am or so
[ ] You have gone a week without bathing
[x] You have gotten drunk
[x] You respect your elders
[x] You like to gimmick
7/10

Now add the numbers up and multiply by 2. Then
title your post as "I'm _% Filipino!"

Freedom is sweet...

2008-04-01T06:12:00.000+08:00

as i took my first sip of coffee after a doctor-imposed coffee-less week, i blurted out...."FREEDOM IS SWEET AND LIFE IS GOOD!"

ahhh, i am on a natural high.

i want my freedom

2008-03-28T17:50:00.000+08:00

i have been "slightly" sick ever since i got back from the States two weeks ago. well, i actually got "slightly" sick when i was still in the States, a few days before i left for Manila. i thought it's just the climate, and that as soon as i got back to the Philippines and got acclimatized again to Manila's tropic temparature, i'd get back to my healthy self. but it didn't happen. i even lost my voice a week after i was back.

so i went to see a doctor early this week. he found my throat infected and swollen, so i got prescribed with 2 types of antibiotics, pills for cough, pills for nasal congestion and an oral antiseptic for throat inflammation. the doctor also gave me a list of food not recommended for consumption. i am forbidden to eat anything sweet, drink anything that's iced, take anything salty and a lot more. now i can take that. what i cannot accept is that i am not allowed to drink coffee for one week, because he said coffee aggravates the irritation of the throat.

when he said that, i felt like he just told me i'm dying. call me an addict, but i actually bargained with him about the coffee prohibition. but he said that if i want to get well i should follow his prescription.

this is no exaggeration...but when i got home, i actually took all my coffee varieties (i got a lot from the States) aside and just stared at them for about 5 minutes with a heavy heart. then i got all my 4 coffee machines together..yes four coffee machines for different purposes. my ever-reliable programmable 3D drip coffee maker, my single cup coffee french press, my "old" new manual espresso maker that my brother-in-law gave me, and my new Philips Senseo coffee-pod maker machine that Ptr Eric from LA gave me. i said my temporary goodbye speech to them with a promise that i'll see them again soon.

i am now into my fifth day of coffee-less life and i am waiting for the day when i will celebrate my freedom and redemption from the oppression of my enemy doctor. the first days were a lot difficult, i sufferred from upset stomach to severe headache. but the succeeding days were not easy either. it's like life is being sucked out of me. i just couldn't get used to a life without that one that gives you strength and natural high.

sa madaling salita....maawa na kayoooooo....gusto ko na ng kappppeeeeee!!!!

I Am Great

2008-03-17T20:07:00.000+08:00

I try to balance my life in the best way I know how. I am all the roles I play and I am so much more than all these roles. I am great. But before you tell me how arrogant I am, let me tell you why I am great.

I am a son. I'm not a perfect son. I can be stubborn sometimes and definitely a lousy son especially when I was a lot younger. But I know, understand, and practice the core values that my parents taught me. I bring those values with me wherever I go. I enjoy spending time with my parents whenever I can. I don't tell them everything but I tell them the most important things. I tell them about my goals, fears, and dreams which are totally different from theirs. I'm grateful to them for all the blessings and direction they have given me all these years. To be grateful is great.

I am a husband. I have been a husband to my wife for many years and our marriage, although not perfect, is one designed by God. One of my friends said that a great marriage is not just marked by the number of years a couple has been together. It is about reaching level upon level of a relationship God himself has designed. I enjoy doing things with my wife as much as I enjoy sharing my victories with her. To enjoy and share things with your loved one is great.

I am a father. They told me that fatherhood is both pain and happiness. So far, it’s all been happiness and I am enjoying it like heaven. The pain is when I have to leave them for days when I am traveling. I play with my kids every moment I can and we have conversation about past, present and future. We enjoy going on a trip and just take a long drive wherever the car will take us. There is no barrier between us because we try to break it by way of showing our love for each other. To be able to relate to them in their level is great.

I am a teacher and a pastor. I try to teach whoever asks me to teach about anything that I know very well. I'd like to teach students in the university someday. But right now, I do things the best I could because I know that teaching is not confined inside a classroom but goes beyond the boundaries , and we teach best by our actions and the examples we set. Teaching is sharing. Teaching is learning at the same time. To teach is great.

I am a student. I'm currently reading a lot because I want to be able learn new things about anything under the sun. I encounter moments where I find myself feeling lazy to do research but I strive to fight laziness. In those moments where I act and move, I learn more. To learn is great.

I am a friend. I give quality time to my old friends and I also welcome interesting persons whom I meet along the way. I always try to spend great times with the people I am friends with. When I open myself to them, I find them opening themselves to me. To remove boundaries is great.

I am a writer. I write when I want to, when I feel I have to, and when I need to. I write whatever whenever. I write shallow things. I write deep realizations. I write insights, ideas, and thoughts. I write on paper. I write on air. I write on paper that I stick on walls. When I appreciate my own writings, they come to life. I am my own fan. To appreciate one's work is great.

I am a dreamer. I dream of doing great exploits for my Lord and King. I dream about giving my children the best things in life. I dream about taking my wife on an extended vacation in Paris and London. I dream in the night and I remember my dreams in the morning. I dream in the morning and I think about these dreams at night. I dream of small dreams and I dream of great ones. To dream is great.

I am a singer. I sing with music during my own quiet time. I sing with music surrounded by other song enthusiasts. My energy together with theirs fills the room. I am not the best singer but I give my best when I sing because I know that my song reaches my God in the heavens. Mostly when I am alone, I am the song and I am the singer. My being able to sing is one gift from God that I am very grateful for. To be able to use my God-given talent for His glory is great.

My greatness comes from various aspects of my life and yet my greatness is more than all of them, because my greatness is conditioned by God’s greatness in my life. I am its unifying whole.

And these, my friends are the reasons why I am great.

happy man....soon.

2008-03-10T09:17:00.000+08:00

inspite of wonderful times spent with friends and relatives here in US, i am still a lonely man.

i miss my family so much. borrowing a line from PChad, "i am 1/6" over here...missing the other 5 to make me whole, my lovely wife and 4 wonderful kids.

but i am coming soon my beloved...i am coming soon.

first day away from home

2008-02-16T15:52:00.000+08:00

after 26 hours of no sleep on the plane en route to Florida, i arrived safe, tired and hungry in Fort Lauderdale International Airport at 5:35pm Friday (Saturday in Manila). it was a comfortable flight but a very long one. i was expecting that i will be traveling alone and lonely as i normally would, but unexpectedly got to travel with some friends i bumped in the airport.

for my flight from Manila to Japan to Minneapolis I was on the same flight with Bill Snider, AP-Media Director and a friend of Book of Hope's and Ptr. Rey Calusay, PGCAG General Superintendent and a friend of ICS's. we had a chance to share about life and ministry and family and other things.

for my flight from Japan to Minneapolis to Florida, i was on the same flight with Esther Budiyano, our Book of Hope Indonesia National Coordinator and a good friend.

after long hours of flight and long-overs we finally got to Florida and was met at the airport by Ty, Cina, Grammie and Grampie (Cina's parents). we were immediately taken to a nice restaurant near the place we will be staying. I had Asian Glazed Salmon Steak and a Raspnerry Iced Tea. to say the least, it was a very good dinner with friends.

after eating we went directly to the Book of Hope's office building called the Forum, where the whole 3rd floor was converted to look like a hotel...well, it actually looks better than some of the hotels i've stayed in the past.

after taking a nice hot shower i hit the bed and was sleeping like a log. woke up around 7:30am.

today is Saturday morning here and we're just going to be touring the city the whole day. i've seen most part of the city before but it's going to be fun doing it again today.

i just woke up, so i'm still incoherent. but i'm just glad i'm here, ready and willing to do what God has asked me to do.

the choice that we make

2008-02-08T08:14:00.000+08:00

I had to make a choice between two airlines – Cathay Pacific and Northwest, going to the US. I definitely would love to fly Cathay, for a good number of reasons. One, they have really nice planes, with individual in-flight screens even in economy class. For an almost a day’s flight, you need your screen to while away your time. It’s also a good occasion to catch the movies you missed in the theaters. Two, they serve really good food. And I mean, good food. Hot and fresh and delicious. Three, although I’m not sure, their seats seem wider than most airlines have.

The problem is, the fare is way too expensive to be within my budget. So, I have to make a choice. I am flying Northwest. Not that it’s a bad airline, but choosing between the two, I’d always choose Cathay but I had to settle for Norhtwest. I can’t say I had no choice, because I did. I just had to decide which choice to make.

We make decisions everyday. We make choices-- some are easy to make and some are difficult. It could be as easy as choosing an airline or it could be as difficult as choosing between life and death. Each choice we make has a consequence. We ALWAYS give up something in return for the choice we make-- great or small. We sacrifice something to get what we want and we never win both ways. We never can. On rare occasions, we do win on both occasions, but sometimes WHILE WE WIN, SOMEONE ELSE or SOMETHING ELSE is sacrificed for the choice we made. I first learned about the concept of "trade-off" from my class in college. That's what trade-off is all about-- when we choose something, we give up something else.

It seems pretty trivial but when you apply it to the concept of life, it gets frustrating. Why can't we just win both ways so that everyone's happy and nobody loses? But that's life, I guess. We need to make choices and sometimes in the process of making choices, we hurt people along the way. I'm sure it is not our intention to hurt them. Sometimes hurting someone is inevitable. Sometimes we just need to set our priorities straight and priority no.1 always loses over no.2.

That's why the phrase "I have no choice" is not acceptable. We all have choices and it's just that we can never win both ways. One way or the other you have to sacrifice something. One of the saddest realities of life: WE CANNOT HAVE IT ALL.

Forty one and still counting and growing...

2008-02-07T08:17:00.000+08:00

In a few days' time, i will be celebrating my 41st year of existence. they said that i should have stopped counting my years when i turned 35. but when you have so much to thank God for in the years that He has blessed you with, you just wouldn't stop counting because you know that there's still so much ahead that God has for you.

there’s an old cliché that goes “life begins at 40”. i guess it does when you don’t want to remember the years that came before you reached 40. but when the years that passed were years of bliss and harvest, then we can all say that life began the moment we decided to live it fully. biologically, we all grow old each year, each day, each hour... it's inevitable that we grow older in time.

a lot of people have been afraid of growing old. maybe because growing old leads to other health complications or maybe because we link it to inescapable death (which can actually strike at any point in our lives) or maybe because it leads to "looking old" which others dread so much. but I think that what we should actually fear is not growing old. i think more than that, we should be fearful of not growing up.

we might have different views about growing up. i think, as most things, growing up exists in a continuum with two extreme ends. there's Peter Pan who will always remain the boy who never grows up. and then there are others who are too serious in life who consider themselves all grown-up for being square about everything. for me, those who can balance enjoying life and still be matured enough to face the responsibilities that life holds for them are those who have truly grown. as always, it is a matter of balancing. and I for one, have to keep on telling myself that.

even if I’ve grown older, there's still a child in me that keeps on coming out. i still don't consider myself all grown-up... maybe because I still haven't truly balanced everything in my life. i still have my own questions about where I want to be, who I am, and how I can contribute something to society in my lifetime.

but I think that we all grow up, in one way or another... maybe not in the same pace as to how we grow old. sometimes we grow up slowly but other times, we experience "growth spurts" as well. if biology and time make us grow old, i think our experiences and our reactions to them are what make us grow up. it is no wonder that we could be stagnant for a year and even grow so much more in just a month or sometimes even a weekend.

i guess this is why I love experiencing new things. discovering life's beauty is a way of growing up along with discovering pain and fear. i don't have a perfect life but I have a happy one. :)

life is all good, it is just a matter of how we live it. :)

the terminal

2008-01-28T09:48:00.000+08:00

waiting for your flight inside the gate of an airport could be boring or exciting, depending on how you use your time. when in singapore airport, i'd normally have looong layover inside, like more than 4 hours...not that i choose my flights that way. i guess that when you make Singapore as a passing thru port, they make sure that you spend more time inside the airport or enough time to be outside and tour the city. the reason for this is because they want you to spend your money in their country, inside the airport or in the city. that's good tourism.

Changi Airport contains hosts of shopping stores, that you can almost find it a shopping paradise. the last time i was here, there were only the Terminal 1 and 2. now they've opened the Terminal 3. all of which are "punta-able" by the skytrain inside the airport. if you've been here you know that the two terminals are big enough, a few hours is not enough to see all...and still, they opened another terminal.

this is one airport you would want to spend time inside, sometimes not even wanting to leave yet even if your flight is boarding already. they make it this way so that people will want to stay and spend. it has nice food and coffee shops too....and oh, did i tell you that it has free wireless internet too?

well, i guess that's what a developed country is all about. being able to provide comfort and niceties to visitors.

i wish the time would come when we would also like to spend longer time inside our own NAIA airport, instead of always hurrying to come out of it as soon as our plane lands in Manila.

the airline crew is now calling our flight number for boarding...i wish i could stay behind longer.

bye for now, singapore...i'll see you on Thursday.

life isn't perfect, but it is good.

2008-01-24T17:42:00.000+08:00

life could be a never-ending search for perfection....this i learned

sometime ago i discovered that no matter how hard we try to make things better for us, we at times fall flat on our faces with failure riding our backs....we just have to learn that life isn't perfect...i have learned to stop looking for perfection, and the moment i did, i have learned that what i have with me is the closest thing to it.

sarap ng tagalog

2008-01-18T07:43:00.000+08:00

tagalog ang blog ko ngayon..baka kasi mabasa ng kausap kong mga banyaga sa isang mainitang pag-uusap patungkol sa kinabukasan ng mga kabataan sa lugar kung saan mahirap maabot ng isang natural at simpleng pamamaraan.

paminsan-minsan habang nag-uusap, sumusulat ako dito..hahaha.

ang sarap talagang mag-tagalog kapag isang linggo ka ng nagsasalita ng wikang banyaga, mula paggising hanggang pagtulog.

magkokomento ka lang tungkol sa bulaklak o lamok, iinglisin mo pa. imbis na sabihin mong "ang laki ng mga lamok dito", sasabihin mo pang "can you believe how big the mosquitoes here are?"...naks! ang hirap talaga.

simula ng pagmumog mo hanggang paghilik, ingles mga kaibigan. imbes na "glug glug glug", dapat "gargle gargle gargle".

sandali muna..ako na ang magsasalita sa usapan namin...ingles na naman, hay!

pagkalipas ng dalawampung minuto......

haba ng sinabi ko, puro ingles...hahaha...akala nila nagsusulat ako ng mga pinag-uusapan. pero nagsusulat ako ng mga gusto kong sabihin...hahaha.

hindi sa kawalan ng galang...nasabik lang ako sa ating sariling wika, kaya ako nagsusulat.

sige na, mga kalahi...akin na sila muling haharapin.

bye for now guys...este...paalam panandali mga kaibigan.

our home

2008-01-16T17:44:00.000+08:00

thailand is fast becoming my second home. i've lost count on the number of times i've gone here, i've almost never have to adjust to their culture as it has almost become my second nature to act the way a thai person does.

i have fallen in love with thailand, because the people are so nice, friendly and very respectful...at least the people i have met. this could be attributed to their style of governance, which is monarchy. they have so much love and respect for their king...who is by the way the longest reigning king in the world, 60 years in throne...that it has become their nature to be respectful of others.

food is great and cheap, and their iced coffee is one drink you'd never want to pass up on.

everytime - and i really mean everytime - somebody would come up to me, he'd always talk to me in thai, because i look like thai. filipino facial features are very similar to thai features. this happens to me not only here in thailand, but in indonesia, cambodia and malaysia as well.

thailand is a lovely country (Phuket, so far is the best for me), but nothing beats home. home is where friends and family are.

i am travelling to asia in the next three weeks. and after several days of having been out, i would have had taken at least 10 different plane rides, gone in and out of 4 different countries, and checked in and out of 7 different hotels.

sounds glamorous? not at all, because there's nothing like home. i would rather be home with my family than be travelling crazy like this.

but this is God's call for me for now. i know He has called me to minister not only within the confines of my church but also outside and into the unchartered territories, so i can affect the destiny and lives of many people. i am totally submitted to God's purpose in my life right now. no matter how insignificant i think the things that I do for God, He has always reminded me that it is not the role that i play that is important but it is the purpose that i serve.

so wherever He takes me...thailand, malaysia, singapore or even to Payatas...i am so grateful that He has seen me useful for His kingdom. at the end of all our journeys, He'll take us where we will not want to go anywhere else - home.

things to do

2008-01-05T17:25:00.000+08:00

i never believed in New Year's resolution, because i thought that it's only an excuse for the things you failed to do the previous year. it could become a vicious cycle if you're not really serious about "correcting" the "defects" you got yourself into.

but i do believe in to-do-list. it does put a positive pressure on you because the list will contain the things you want to accomplish the year you decide to do them. (actually, a to-do-list could also be good excuse for not believing in resolutions.)

i am listing mine, but this is more a wish-list than a to-do-list.

1. start hitting the gym again
2. eat healthy and live healthy (this means less carbo more protein, less meat more fruits and veggies for me)
3. read some more
4. drink more tea than coffee (whoa! am i really saying this?...this is one wish i hope not to fulfill, but will try still)
5. landscape our small front yard
6. manage my finances (or the lack thereof) better
7. sleep earlier and get up earlier in the morning
8. retire old clothings that have remained inside my closet for the longest time
9. study the Word some more
10. write some more

so there...i am putting pressure on myself by writing this down and letting everybody know what i hope to accomplish. the more witnesses you have, the more effort you exert.

and hey..this is my first official blog for 2008. so, i better get down on it.

Christmas greeting

2007-12-24T16:14:00.000+08:00

to everybody who will get the chance to open this post, to all who have been both my online and real friends...let me say this to you:

Merry, merry Christmas....may not only the spirit of Christmas be felt by each one, but the real Spirit of Christ, every waking day of our lives!!!

life is a bliss

2007-12-11T17:50:00.000+08:00

last week, after a day of partying with dear friends and families, I got possessed by a spirit of such deep gratitude.

it may seem like shameless exaggeration to say that I’ve had a blissfully happy life. but it’s true. so happy I don’t even want to stop thinking about it. it’s been like a happy dream.

life isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty pretty good. and I feel that deep down inner contentment when you know that even if you haven’t got everything, you’ve got what matters; good times, good friends, family, a great church community, an amazing story that is this life, and the glorious suffering that has brought me to where I am, with the people I’m with right now.

here I am journeying through a garden of flowers called family and friends, sprouted from seeds I planted years ago, gathering them by the arm-load, inhaling their sweet scent, dreaming of how this young garden is going to grow even bigger and more beautiful throughout the next few years.

some experiences are golden in retrospect, while other experiences are golden as they happen.

it’s been a glorious years of struggle, and searching, and at times suffering... absolutely glorious. if I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing.

and even when the going gets tough, you’ll always find a source of free happiness to tide you over in the meantime, such as the company of great people, sunshine, running barefoot on freshly rained-on grass, and laughters as only the children could have.

a long time coming

2007-12-09T15:34:00.000+08:00

lately, i've just been enjoying opening and reading friends' blogs...getting excited with new places, new relationships (paging chris and claire) and even new macs (glad for you jess).

my trips in and out of the country this month and last month have taken most of my time and i haven't had the opportunity to tinker on my keyboards until today. but still, i don't have a lot of time to do this...been busy the whole week and even the weekend because of different activities coming up this month. i guess, december is the busiest month for almost everybody. what with several parties to attend and many shopping-days schedules due to the rush of the season.

i am planning to write something more sensible than this one, but i guess it will have to wait.

geesh...season's rush and season's joy. but i'm enjoying both.

and come to think of it...this is actually my first official blog using my macbook, bought last month. now, that tells you that this is reallllly long-time coming.

what a difference

2007-11-12T04:03:00.000+08:00

i woke up this morning to a different surrounding, different smell, different sound, and to a different feeling. i woke up this morning having a different mind-set, a different schedule and a different breakfast. i woke up this morning in a different city and a different country, because this morning i woke up once again in Bangkok, where everything is different from where i come from.

for the next ten days, i'll be waking up with different situations, because i will be waking up in three different countries, where there'll be more differences than what were different in the two previous different countries.

what will not make a difference though, is that I will have the same God in all these different waking days i will be in these different encounters i will have with different people in these different couuntries.

my God is the same..and what difference it does make.

if only i could

2007-11-08T11:18:00.000+08:00

if i could do anything, anything at all with my life (time and resources permitting), i would go back to school.

what would i study? um, languages. french, italian, german, romanian (it's actually a rather pretty language. seriously!)... and i'm not talking about one of those crash-course, either. i mean the hard-core university bachelor's degree programs, where i'm thrust into understanding the language because my prof speaks nothing but said language, my books are all in said language, and my fellow classmates and i are not allowed to speak a word of english during a three-hour lecture. that kind of learn-a-language thing. and then, in the summers, i would go to the countries where my language(s) are mother tongues and embarrass myself trying to chat with locals.

wouldn't that be exciting?

but, if only i could...

38 Questions - Taggeb by Jen

2007-11-07T05:25:00.000+08:00

Lahat na sumagot..yung iba seryosong sagot, yung iba emote-ic na sagot, yung iba puro kalokohang sagot, at yung iba basta makasagot. Kaya heto, sasagot na din ako....haay, haba!

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Kaiel - sabi ng mommy nya sakin, "feeling mo ikaw si Sergio", sabi naman nya sa mommy nya "feeling mo naman ikaw si Marimar". OF course, you'd know what we were watching last night.

2. What were you doing at 0800? sitting on our sofa, drinking hot delicious freshly-brewed columbian coffee

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? checking on the MacBook specs on the net

4. What happened to you in 2006? Hmmm..tagal na yun. Turned one year older, got sick, read more books, started my blogspot account, travelled, met new friends...dami eh.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? Pwede pa siguro 'to!

6. How many beverages did you have today? 1 mug of coffee, 1 glass of water and half-glass of orange-pineapple juice

7. What color is your hairbrush? blue, pero hindi sakin yun e

8. What was the last thing you paid for? gasoline...grabe, ang mahal na talaga

9. Where were you last night? depende what time, but the last place i was, sa bahay of course

10. What color is your front door? brown if you're talking about the wooden door, but then we have a screen door which is silver in color.

11. Where do you keep your change? either inside my car or on top of our TV rack where i also keep my car keys

12. What’s the weather like today? Weather we like it or not, it's a bit gloomy outside

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Mango!!! Cheese!!! Ube!!! Macapuno!!!

14. What excites you? Going out with family and friends...Coffee...New gadgets

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Not yet

16. Are you over the age of 25? Yup, but Joshua, Moses, Joseph and even Paul were over 25 when they did great exploits for God. Hindi naman ako defensive, nagpapaliwanag lang.

17. Do you talk a lot? When I'm with friends.

18. Do you watch the O.C.? Di ko alam yun eh..

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Yes, a friend from Indonesia who is an excellent guitar player.

20. Do you make up your own words? Oo, preo walang gumagamit e

21. Are you a jealous person? No

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Alex

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Kerby

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Ty Silva

25. What does the last text message you received say? From Ty Silva: 18th Nov Sunday 10:30am. Option to speak in Chris Pak's church in KL, Malaysia. Same time as Hossanna service. Yes or No?

26. Do you chew on your straw? No.

27. Do you have curly hair? No

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? Pantry...i need another cup of coffee

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Yung naniningil ng tubig sa village namin.

30. What was the last thing you ate? meatloaf...yun yung breakfast ko this morning.

31. Will you get married in the future? Hindi na siguro...ang alam ko kasi masama pag dalawa ang asawa e.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? Haven't watched in a while

33. Is there anyone you like right now? A lot, i have lots of nice friends

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? i think 3 days ago

35. Are you currently depressed? No. It will take a lot of beating before i get depressed.

36. Did you cry today. No, and i dont usually cry.

37. Why did you answer and post this? I havent been blogging lately, because i am so busy. I just thought this could break my bloggin hybernation.

38. 5 people you tag next? E lahat na yata sumagot na e.

others may be better

2007-10-16T18:55:00.000+08:00

i hate it when people think too highly of themselves because they think they are smarter than other people. when they overstep their "authority" and do not put limitations to their boundaries.

they think they are untouchables when the truth is, they are the most insecure people around.

philippians 2:3 - "do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

to love something more

2007-10-13T10:06:00.000+08:00

"Alam mo,” someone told me sometime ago. “You’ve got to learn to love something more. And I love photography.”

quite frankly, he has never struck me as a sensible man, for I never found it good practice to trust a man who trusts his camera more than his own eyes. but then again, on evenings of morose conversation, he always made more sense than I would ever hope to.

something more – he had said. and he kept it at that, because I knew what he had meant, and apparently, that was all I needed to know.

and sometimes I envy his eye for detail, the way he understands color and light, shadow and texture. and how I – trapped to the confines of my semantics and syntax – can only hope to grapple with my love for words and phrases. then, for a brief yet singular moment, I understood his romance with photography.

“You’ve got to learn to love something more,” he had said. “For that something will never leave you.”

to love something more – a phrase that would, quite simply, cut deep into the lot of us. and maybe, if I had heeded that line earlier, I would’ve never have had to pick the pieces of myself along the trashbins and garbage bags of what used to be. i've loved until my soul tore, and if I could stitch the ether back together, I would’ve loved differently. differently, in a sense that I wouldn’t love less. never less. just differently.

to love something more – more than your friends, or your family. to love something more, because you cannot love in any other way. because you love this something or someone with every single nerve in your body, with every shred of your finite existence. with the absolute everything of your entire self.

to love something in that way is nothing short of spectacular, I would like myself to believe – though I admit that it may just be my romantic self getting into the way of my writing.

“Love isn’t messed” someone said, “It’s just the absence of it that is.” and at a time when my friends and I were talking about how the trick to a successful relationship is giving less, sometimes the world jades you enough to forget that it isn’t --

-- because there isn’t any trick to a successful relationship.

in looking around us, one can’t help but realize that the world is a lonely place: filled with people who need people who need people. and with six billion people in the world, it’s an almost unnerving oddity to realize how so many people can be lonely. to be without love. and yet, to need it so badly.

perhaps, we are all looking in the wrong places. looking back at all this, one realizes that to love is indeed human, though it need not always be towards another human in return. to love something more – is a concept that borders on passion. the passion to love something utterly, sincerely, unceasingly in knowing that given the time, the effort and the care… that something will love you back.

and so as one sits behind his keyboard and talks about love, one cannot help but admit that, yes--

i love to write… and honestly, I hope it loves me back.

are you grateful or boastful? - another reflection

2007-09-24T19:02:00.000+08:00

Gratitude is the Key to a Rewarding Life
Ptr. Rodel Lacson

The story is told of two old friends who bumped into each other on the street one day. One of them looked sad, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, "What has the world done to you, my old friend?"
The sad friend said, "Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, my uncle died and left me one hundred thousand pesos."
"That’s a lot of money."
"But, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me two hundred fifty thousand free and clear."
"Sounds like you’ve been blessed...."
"You don’t understand!" he interrupted. "Last week my great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost half a million."
Now he was really confused. "Then, why do you look so glum?"
"Because this week... I got nothing!"

That’s the trouble with receiving something on a regular basis. Even if it is a gift, we eventually come to expect it. This is the “entitlement mindset” that has permeated our society at almost every level. We have been blessed to live and as a result we become complacent and many times we are completely unwilling to give thanks to anyone for anything.

Gratitude is the key to a rewarding life. One billionaire said that without gratitude, you'll never be rich, no matter how much money you have.

I think we've all known people whose success in life is held back by a sense of entitlement. Their attitude is: "The government owes me; my parents owe me; the company owes me." We've probably all known children who, after being deluged with extravagant gifts on Christmas Day, look up from the piles of wrapping paper and say, "Is this all?"

A lack of gratitude—and the sense of entitlement that often comes along with it—drains the life out of a person, and ruins their chances for happiness.

Eph. 5:19,20 tells Christians to "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ALWAYS giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

And I Thes. 5:16-18 says, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

Paul’s main subject here is PRAISE, THANKSGIVING. Notice the other important words in these passages; ALWAYS, CONTINUALLY, and IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. It sounds as if Paul is talking about a church service here, especially in Eph. "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart..." But he isn’t. He is talking about a continual attitude for Christians - an attitude of the heart. How we are to be to each other. But how, you may wonder, can we have this attitude continually, especially "in all circumstances?" I believe the answer lies in our perspective of thanksgiving. To be thankful in all circumstances, we need a proper perspective of our circumstances and of our God. Only then we will be able to give thanks to the Lord always.

I believe there are at least three attitudes that steal away our gratitude. Three things that keep us from being thankful.

One is our pride. This is the attitude that says, "Nobody ever gave me anything, I worked hard for everything I have." For years you studied hard and now it is finally paying off. With this kind of attitude, we feel that we have no one to thank but ourselves.

Another attitude that keeps us from being thankful is a critical spirit or constant complaining. Instead of being grateful, this person will always find something to complain about.

One psychologist writes, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I have come to realize that they have problems because they complain.” Complaining doesn’t change anything or make situations better. It amplifies frustration, spreads discontent and discord, and can invoke an invitation for the devil to cause havoc with our lives. Complaining makes us miserable. Psalm 77:3 says, “I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed.”

Complaining is the archenemy of thanksgiving. The two cannot co-exist in the same heart. And so I challenge you to try to quit complaining for a whole month. Just try it. When you feel tempted to complain, instead of filing your complaint, file a praise. It will change your life. Philippians 2:13 says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”

A third attitude that keeps us from being grateful is carelessness or indifference. Someone once said that if the stars only came out once a year, we would stay out all night to watch them. But they are there every night and we have grown accustomed to them.

The Israelites grumbled because they had no food so God miraculously sent manna to cover the ground each day. Then they started to grumble because it was the same thing every day.

They had a miracle - straight from God every day but were no longer satisfied. Because of pride, carelessness or a critical spirit we will never be truly thankful for all that God has given us.

You know, I really love my wife. She is a very special lady. She’s truly a blessing to my life. One thing that is really special is that each evening she stands in our kitchen and thanks God for our sink full of dirty dishes.

No, she doesn’t do that! Who does? But we should. A sink full of dirty dishes usually means that we have been blessed by God with daily food & water.

Do you realize that two thirds of the world goes to bed hungry every night?

Our prayers are often very general. We say, "Thank you God for all your blessings" but what blessings are we really thankful for? Count your blessings...name them one by one...count your blessings see what God has done.

THE BENEFITS OF A GRATEFUL SPIRIT

Now why do you think being a thankful person is so important? Well I think it is because gratefulness is good for us. There are a many ways being a grateful person can benefit you.

For one, being a grateful person can INCREASE YOUR PERSONAL HAPPINESS. Most of us think that our happiness is determined by our circumstances. If I asked you, on a scale of one to ten how happy you are right now, you might say, “Well, I’m about a 2 on the happiness meter because of my circumstances.”

We’ve been taught that our happiness is somehow dependent on how well things go for us. But really our happiness is determined by attitude. It is really in how we see things. The apostle Paul wrote these words from prison (yes prison). "Rejoice in the Lord always," he wrote, "and again I say it rejoice." (Philippians 4:4). Paul was happy despite being in prison and how, he learned to thank God in everything he did. It was really his perspective on life.

Happiness is really determined by our perspective in life not by circumstances. If we learn to be grateful people despite circumstances that will greatly improve our happiness.

Being a grateful person can also IMPROVE YOUR WITNESS FOR CHRIST. Having a noticeable countenance of thankfulness and joy will certainly make us better witnesses for Christ. What is sad is that most Christians are sometimes the most negative, sour people in the world. Mean spirited and ungrateful people. We act like we have been baptized in vinegar not in the Holy Spirit. It is no wonder people don’t want to have anything to do with us.

But when we are thankful, joyful, upbeat people, we attract the lost with our spirit of gratitude because the world is so dark and depressing and ungrateful. Have you looked at this world lately? People are so discouraged? Yet if we can learn to be different, upbeat and thankful, we will attract them. We have something they don’t. 1 Peter 2:12 reads, "Live such good lives among the pagans that they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." Living a life of thankfulness will attract the lost.

Being a grateful person will also ENHANCE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS. There is one thing I notice about some married couples. After awhile many of them become ungrateful and unappreciative of their spouses. Over time they take each other for granted.

Somebody described the first few years in a marriage this way. The husband seeing the wife has a cold, says, "You don’t look good. You should go to the hospital. I have already arranged it. I know the food is bad there, but we are going to have meals catered in." The second year he says, "You don’t look so good. I have called the doctor. Go and lay down. I will take care of the kids. The doctor will be right over." The third year he says, "You know you are not looking so well. When you are done feeding the kids and cleaning up the kitchen, you ought to go lay down." The fourth year he says, "Would you quit walking around here barking like a seal, you’re going to give me your cold?" The longer we become familiar; the less thankful we are for each other.

Wives, just think about how much your marriage would improve if you told your husband how much you appreciate him once and awhile. Kids, think about how much better things would go for you in the home if you told mom and dad once and awhile how grateful you are for the money they spend on you and the stuff they get you? And the things they do for you?Just imagine how much better our church relationships would be if we expressed our thanks for each other from time to time. Instead of picking at each other’s faults so much, what if we just stopped and became grateful for each other.

Do you know how the apostle Paul began most of his letters in the Bible? To the church in Rome he wrote. “First, I thank my God for all of you.” (Romans 1:8) To the church in Corinth. “I always thank God for you (1 Corinthians 1:4).To the church in Ephesus, “I have not stopped giving thanks for you; remembering you in my prayers.” (Ephesians 1:16). To the church in Philippi, “I thank my God every time I remember you.” (Philippians 1:3). To the church in Colossi, “I always thank God when I pray for you.” (Colossians 1:3). Paul made sure that he let people in the churches know that he was thankful for them. Imagine how much better our church and our relationships would be if we expressed our thanks for each other.

I’ll tell you another way having a grateful heart will benefit you. It will SOLIDIFY YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. Someone once said that God lives in two places. He lives in heaven and in a humble, grateful heart. Hebrews 12:25 says, “Let us please God by serving him with thankful hearts.”

You know what I have found to be true in my life? I have found that I have an overwhelming need to give thanks. There is a desire within me to give thanks to something for what I have. There is something inside of each of us that needs to give thanks to God. When I spend time giving thanks to God for all I have, I just feel close to him, don’t you? I think that is exactly why, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” It is God’s plan, his will for us to give thanks to him. He made us for that.

Gratitude is the key to a rewarding life. If you want to live right...if you want to feel good about life...then practice being grateful. Abandon the attitude of entitlement—that the world owes me an easy ride—and recognize and enjoy the gifts you have already been given.

If God never did anything else for me—if he never answered another prayer or never sent another blessing my way—I could not pay him back, even in a thousand lifetimes, for all that he has already done for me.

rain and shine...

2007-09-17T18:23:00.000+08:00

the weather looked cozy today.

i have always appreciated rain because it makes me look forward to sunshine. this morning it took me quite a while to get out of bed. a part of me was tempted to snuggle under the fuzzy flannel blanket and curl under the sheets for a long while. it required me to exert double effort to drag myself to shower.

when i got outside the gray skies loomed ahead as rain threatened to pour. i rubbed my arms to keep me warm and smiled…

because even if the day looked gloomy, deep in my heart i still believed that today was a brand new day and everything will be just fine even if the sun won't shine untill tomorrow.

spirit filled, spirit skilled - something to reflect upon

2007-09-17T17:52:00.000+08:00

Mighty in Spirit - The Faith and Courage of DAVID
Ptr. Rodel Lacson

What do you do in the heat of the battle, when your world seems to be coming apart at all ends? Are you overwhelmed by your circumstances and want to give up? Or do you stand firm in the faith that God has given you and refuse to buckle under pressure?

David, the future king of Israel, had every reason to quit and walk away, but he refused to do so. He remained true to his calling even though he spent years wondering if he would ever experience the goodness and fulfillment of God’s blessings.

There was a time in David’s life when death stalked him at every turn. Still, he held firm to his faith in God, and the Lord rewarded his obedience and called him “a man after His own heart” (Acts 13:22). But how did he come to this point, especially when his life was marked by heartache, disappointment, and feelings of extreme loneliness? What molded the heart of David so that his life, even with its flaws, became a symbol of godly devotion?

For one thing, David’s heart was undivided before the Lord. (I Chronicles 12:33) Regardless of the trouble he faced, he decided as a young man to follow God with a whole heart and not to compromise his devotion to the Lord. It was David’s faith and love for God that proved to be a leading characteristic of his life. In Psalm 23, David wrote: “Even though I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me…” (v.4)

In Psalm 18:2-3 he writes, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God is my rock in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies….He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.” (v.19) God delighted in David just as He delights in you.

As a young boy, David spent many hours alone taking care of his father’s sheep. These were not wasted moments. Many of the psalms we now read, memorize and enjoy were written by David during this period of his life. This is when God chose to train his young king. Spirit filled and Spirit skilled. Only the Lord has the ability to take a low-end job and use it to prepare one of His servants for a position in life like none other.

Are you weary from waiting on God? Maybe you feel as though you are in a dead-end job, and you want to quit. However, before you do this, ask God to make His direction clear to you. When faced with a decision, David often “inquired of the Lord.” He wanted to know God’s mind so that he could do the Lord’s will. Is this a desire of your heart? Do you want to please God or are you seeking only to please yourself? If it is the latter, you will experience much heartache and strife. But if you are seeking to please God, even though your pathway darkens at times, you can be sure God will lead you into His blessings.

Be patient and faithful in your waiting on God. He has something good in mind for you. David could never have assumed his role as king of Israel had he not learned to wait for God’s perfect timing. Even though God directed the prophet Samuel to anoint David as the future king, his reign would not begin immediately. It was years before David took the throne. Even after his victory in battle over the Philistine giant, Goliath, David was met with a stark, cold reality: God was not ready to remove Saul from the throne yet. In fact, Saul, whom David helped in battle, became his dire enemy.

In the end, Saul had devoted years that should have been spent ruling Israel searching for David with the goal of killing him. Saul knew that his self-promoting actions had caused God to withdraw His anointing. God had chosen another to take his place, and David was God’s man.

David never lost sight of his perspective of God. He may have become discouraged, but he never doubted God’s goodness toward him. When you find yourself wondering what God is doing in your life, ask Him to help you regain your perspective.

God has not forgotten you. He is in the process of bringing something beautiful to pass in your life. He knows exactly what it takes to make you into the godly man or woman that He has in mind.

Even though David loved God greatly, he was not perfect. He was a warrior, and was a man easily drawn aside by his passions. Still, he was unflappable in his desire to know and please God. He was a man who was “mighty in spirit” because he did not waiver in his love. Would you like to know David’s God? You can. David’s closeness to the Lord came as a result of his heart’s desire to spend time alone with the Lord. This is where spiritual greatness is born – in the presence of God.

David's commitment to God was based on who God was and not on what he could receive from the Lord. He believed God had a plan for his life, and he was determined to see it become a reality.

team night out

2007-09-16T17:11:00.000+08:00

we had a wonderful dinner fellowship last night...the worship team, that is. it has been a while since we've had a night/day-out like this. several chickens got killed tonight. after our regular team practice that ended about 8:15pm, we went to liberty center along shaw boulevard and feasted on chickens and other dishes at max's restaurant. it was all pure fun and eating fellowship.

we also celebrated(?) the addition of two more members to the team. william for bonggos and joyce who plays the violin.

after dinner, we hang out for a while in the atrium as the Retrospect band was playing. we listened to them play their kind of songs and watched the people dance the night away to the beat of their songs. well...ok, we laughed...laughed, not made fun of...while watching some people dance like they were out of this world.

but we had fun and good fellowship. that's what's important.

let's do this more often, guys.

a lovely respite

2007-09-09T04:45:00.000+08:00

after travelling alone in a different country, i am now taking a short trip with my family in-country. a short weekend vacation is what i need right now, and Baguio seems to be the most logical choice. away and far from the bustling city of Manila, we are enjoying the cool weather and blissfull atmosphere not of the city of Baguio but of the its mountains. well, we'd sometimes go down to the city to get something but most of the time we are confined inside our own paradise. this is a spur of the moment thing and we did not actually plan for this.

but i love it when our "non-plans" come together.

home, sweet home

2007-09-06T17:54:00.000+08:00

after 17 long days that included 6 plane changes, 4 bus trips, 3 van journeys, and at least 8 hotel check-ins, i am finally back home.

it has been a tiring (sometimes lonely but very productive trip. the three weeks i spent in Thailand (Phuket, Chonburi, Bangkok, Udon-Thani, Nong Khai, Uthai Thani) were full of experiences that are worth sharing. but i am still very tired and i just want to do nothing now but spend time with my family whom i missed so much.

i promise to write something about the trip the moment i am back to my normal Manila self.

in the meantime, i am singing..."Manila, Manila, simply no place like Manila..."

the pitfalls of travel

2007-08-25T10:50:00.000+08:00

twelve more days of loneliness and seemingly endless days of ministry and i'll be back. thailand is a lovely country. the beaches in phuket are beautiful. the streets in chonburi are clean. the city of bangkok is very modern. but when you've been here quite a few times already, you'd definitely want to live in your own country, our beloved philippines.

i miss my family. i miss my church. i miss my friends. i miss my worship team. i miss my car. i miss the noise in manila. i miss the malls. i miss everything in, about, from and around manila.

but if it's any encouragement to me, i know i am doing the Lord's work. and so, i persevere and i press on.

but i am coming home soon.

this too shall pass

2007-08-14T17:16:00.000+08:00

i am stressed, frustrated and disappointed. it's like there's this never ending tunnel. i can see the light towards its end but it's taking me too long to get there.

my expectations were never met and my hope was crushed.

when will it come? i remain hopeful and trusting in God.

the best things when it rains

2007-08-08T10:37:00.000+08:00

it is really raining cats and dogs now...heavy downpour starting last night as i was writing my last entry about rain making me senti, until early this morning resulted to the suspension of classes in the metro.

as i am sitting here inside my office, looking outside the window at the heavy rain, i start to wonder what could be best during times like these. i am putting my own wish list for rainy days.

1. champorado with dried fish on the side
2. reaaally hot goto
3. playing board games
4. chicharon baboy dipped in vinegar na maraming sili
5. watching action films on DVD inside the house
6. reading a good book - John Grisham-ish type of book
7. playing acoustic guitar (kahit di ako masyadong marunong)
8. sharing good stories with family members
9. and of course...a reallly good cup of hot caramel machiatto

ahhh.. i love these things when it rains....can you name yours?

rain makes me senti

2007-08-07T18:37:00.000+08:00

it is raining outside. i feel like a little boy inside wanting to jump and down and yell. i wish i could go outside and shower in the rain, splashing my feet into puddles just like what i used to do when i was a lot younger, and just stop time for even just a while.

but no, i’m here inside with the airconditioning on. my two feet are cold and my eyes are tired from the day. all i can do right now is listen to the heavy downpour and savor the moment because tomorrow, i know i could be cursing the skies for the rain. i don’t really like the feeling of getting wet when i am all dressed up.

so let me have this moment for even just a while. it’s raining, God’s way of blessing the world.

durian and coffee is durian coffee

2007-07-30T16:21:00.000+08:00

coffee makes me high and coffee gets me going...i like all kinds of coffee. i love caramel machiato, i like cafe latte, i desire capuccino, i drool over cuban coffee and i salivate over fraps. but of all things to have, i am actually having durian coffee now. yes, durian coffee and i am loving it.

this is the second time i am having this but this is the first time i am actually liking this. it has a distinct taste but without the distinct smell of the fruit. and surprisingly, no after-taste.

coffee never fails to make me high. i can never stress enough how much i love coffee because caffeine is my drug, regardless if it is a regular coffee or durian coffee. as i sip my almost empty cup of durian coffee, enjoying the froth that touches my lips, i watched as people talked and laughed about anything, i played with my cup wondering if i can still have one more then i cupped its sides with my hand. it stayed there and i felt the warmth and dampness of the cup while a drop trickled quickly to the surface of the table where i set the cup. lovely, i thought.

i've been here in this coffee shop in Davao for almost two hours now and people are still talking. i realized that a lot of topics are being covered here from cooking up another gimik, planning a wedding, to building a house.

i could sit inside this coffee shop forever because time seems to stop each time i'm drinking coffee...ok, durian coffee..listening to soft music and just watching people come and go.

great conversations are present in places like this everyday. people who have time to give and forget about being chased away by time are definitely my people. being able to stop and talk a while and just do nothing is just what everyone needs in a topsy-turvey world we live in.

because when you're with friends, or alone, as in my case right now, i belive, time does not exist. (unless you have coffee-to-go because you're such in a hurry.)

but then, i still have to work tomorrow. i am thinking, i should have another cup of durian coffee before i go back to the hotel.

anyone wants to try this out?

3 cups of coffee and almost a pitcher of iced tea later...

2007-07-26T18:38:00.000+08:00

i feel light-headed and woozy. i can't think clearly. i can't concentrate on what i am doing.

i think i am suffering from caffeine overdose...if ever it does happen.

happiness is a journey, not a destination

2007-07-18T20:05:00.000+08:00

a lot of times we convince ourselves that life will be better after we’ve accomplished the things that we’ve planned to do…when we have a good job after graduation and when we are already earning a good living for ourselves, then we get disappointed because it doesn’t always happen that way…when we get married, have a baby, then another, then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. after that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. we will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

we tell ourselves that our life will be complete when we have built a big and beautiful house, when we get a nicer car, when we are able to go on a nice vacation, or when we retire.

the truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. if not now, when? our lives will always be filled with challenges. it's best to admit this to ourselves and decide to be happy anyway.

so, treasure every moment that we have and treasure it more because we shared it with someone special, special enough to spend our time with. it must begin now and not a second later because time waits for no one.

so, stop waiting until your car or home is paid off or until you get a new car or home…until you lose 10 lbs. or until you gain 10 lbs….until you get married or until you have kids…until summer or until the rainy season.

there is no better time to be happy than right now. happiness is a journey, not a destination.

so, work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching.

attitudes

2007-07-16T17:48:00.000+08:00

Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life.The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it. I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

- Charles Swindoll

transformers...again

2007-07-15T19:23:00.000+08:00

i know this will sound pathetic...but we watched Transformers for the second time.

oh yes, we did go to see it again at Gateway this evening with my family and the BOH Nomad team from the US. after a very warm fellowship-experience with ICS' Crosslinc this afternoon (thanks guys for the warm welcome), we went to Gateway with one specific goal in mind...that is to see Transformers. i couldn't get enough of it, i think i could watch it 10 more times and i'd still get the same awe i had the first time i saw it.

it's already on its second week but getting the tickets for the movie is still not easy. we were supposed to get the 7pm screening but there were only 6 seats available so we had to get the next available screening time which was 7:35pm. but we didn't mind waiting a few more minutes. we would have gotten the 9:10pm screening if it were the only available time. we were so resolved to watch the movie tonight we didn't mind the sacrifice we had to make.

as Sam Witwicky so clearly stated, "no sacrifice, no victory"

and hey...i am ready for my third screening anytime. any takers?

transformers...finally!!

2007-07-09T16:40:00.000+08:00

i finally was able to see Transformers last Sunday night with Alice. and as everybody was saying, it is a great movie...no, "great" is an understatement, "awesome" would be a most fitting description.

after waiting for more than a week and being left out during friends' discussions about the film, Alice and I decided to be "transformed" just like everybody else. you know how it is when friends talk about something you have not seen. the tendency would be to somehow be carried away by their exaggerations and over-reactions about how the movie impressed them or touched them or excited them or even bored them. but man, they are nothing compared to actually watching this unbelievable film.

it is awesome how those cars transform before our eyes. i couldn't believe how they (the film makers) could make such a detailed transformations of those machines in a very impressive display of techy-mechanical stuff. but more than this showcase of holywood savy, i agree with most of my friends' observations that this robot-film showed more heart than any other human-oriented films we have seen in the past.

i won't say anything more about the film. my words will not give justice to it.

for those who have not seen it yet, don't pass up this chance to see an awesome movie and be transformed.

scent memories

2007-07-02T18:33:00.000+08:00

tonight, i find myself wandering back to memory lane. why? because i smelled something.

have you ever had the experience of somehow being pulled back to the past whenever you start to literally smell something familiar...when you start to smell something nice and different, like some cologne a friend or a loved one used to wear? i feel that. sometimes i walk down the street or inside a mall and pass by some random stranger and smell something familiar. then i start remembering high school memories when i used to wear the same Johnson’s baby cologne scent...yes,i did wear that cologne.

there would be times when my mind would wander back during my even younger years when me and my cousins were playing street games, the moment i smell a particular scent of a flower.

i’d remember my youth days when i still didn't care and my life was still in reckless abandon. i'd remember friends. i'd remember the heartaches, the joy, the laughters, the fun talks.

scents really do trigger memory flashbacks. i’m not good at letting go of the past. maybe it’s because i had such a great time while living it.

Now I am "B-" in Lakbayan

2007-07-01T16:59:00.000+08:00

I updated my Lakbayan map...now I am "B-"

My Lakbayan grade is B-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

stay connected

2007-06-26T09:41:00.000+08:00

this post is dedicated to all those who have been separated from some of their friends and loved ones by any form of distance.

when we miss those we love who are far from us, we first tend to look back at our past. whatever happened to us in the past, when we miss someone, we choose to remember only the good things. remembrance of not so long ago, reconstructed memories and faded photographs were the sources of our nostalgia...today, digital photos and old e-mails in our inboxes can also give us the same effect.

and then after reading old letters/e-mails or looking at photos (both digital and otherwise), we'd decide to go online, to write an e-mail, to chat in our YM, or to make a phone call (roaming, long distance, etc). we'd do all these just to ask our loved ones this beautiful question: HOW ARE YOU?, which turn even more beautiful when we truly wait for their response...and we'd sympathize with them when they say that life sucks or we'd be happy for them when they are.

with all the things that we could do now, we were made to believe that TECHNOLOGY has kept us connected. but sometimes it also works the other way around. sometimes we think that we could write that e-mail much later since it could be sent with one click anyway or we'd think that we could call later on because we don't want to disturb them if they're busy adjusting to new life. until one day, we'd realize that they weren't too busy...we were!

there was this foreign commercial on television. everyone was texting and looking at his/her cellphone while walking down the street, while having a dinner date, while watching a theater performance, while at work, and the list went on. the commercial was striking because it spent a long time building up these images of people using their cellphones that one would think it was a telecommunications company's ad. and then in the middle of all these, a voice-over could be heard: the world has grown smaller but not necessarily closer.

it was a Close-up commercial.

but whether it was Colgate, Close-up, or Happee, my point of sharing this particular ad is not because of the toothpaste. it's because of the striking line: the world has grown smaller but not necessarily closer.

has it? i'll let you think about that one.

in the meantime, when most of your friends are far away or planning to live far away, the world actually becomes bigger than how it seemed before and the reality is that staying closer requires much effort. technology helps a lot this way. but in the end, it's the way you use technology that matters.

so make that friendly e-mail and tell your friend how you've been or better yet, ask him/her how he/she has been. you're both probably dying to hear from each other. make that call and tell your special someone you miss him/her even if you've just talked a few hours back because you probably discussed how yesterday was but today's a different day. compose that text message and reply to your close friends' messages that slipped your mind more than once because you were too busy with other things.

or you could let go of your cellphones for a while and spend time with the ones around you at the moment: your siblings, your parents, your friends nearby, your next-door neighbor, your officemates and your boss who are also human... the list of persons varies depending on how you're living life right now.

the world didn't just grow on its own into a busy place... it's the people trying to be busy most of the time. and it's time for us to lessen that busy-busy-busy mode. as the old line goes... stop for a while to smell the flowers.

in my case, I'd just pause and... gaze at trees because I find them SPECTACULAR.

my name as defined

2007-06-23T16:29:00.000+08:00

rodel --
[noun]:

A human transformer (Robot in disguise)

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

hmmm...this could be the reason why i sometimes act weird...kaya pala minsan feeling ko ako si megatron...then the other day ang tingin ko dun sa muntik ng bumangga sa kotse ko ay mga decepticons.

now my true identity has been revealed...let's transform!!!!

moments to share

2007-06-20T20:30:00.000+08:00

at the end of the day, you realize that there are very few people in this world with whom you can share it all - moments of calm, moments of revelations, embarrassing moments when you just want to crawl underneath the ground and die, lukewarm moments, intimate moments, moments of euphoria, moments of disdain, moments when you feel the whole world is against you, moments when you're swimming upstream, moments you never want to let go, moments that come out and seek you, moments you want to keep in your pocket forever, and moments you blow into the air to re-create on a better day.

even though the moments cannot hang on, you're lucky if the people do...and they're there the next day fabricating new moments to weave into your story. i'm blessed to have found a few people i can share such moments with in my life.

have you?

i got a "c+" in Lakbayan

2007-06-20T06:29:00.001+08:00

this is cool...i never thought that i've been to a lot of places already...my aim is to get a "b", at least.

My Lakbayan grade is C+!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out atLakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

i got a "c+" in Lakbayan

2007-06-20T06:29:00.000+08:00

My Lakbayan grade is C+!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out atLakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

se7en

2007-06-19T05:45:00.000+08:00

se7en! tagged by christian

I don't usually do this but it's fun knowing a little something about your friends.

Instructions: Each player starts with 7 random habits/facts about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. as a kid, i was using pacifier until i was in kindergaten. during recess, i would sneak out and put that oh-so-wonderful pacifier inside my mouth.
2. i almost burned our house when i was about 7 years old. i was looking for my marbles under our bed using candle instead of flashlight. the candle burnt the bed and a quarter of our house.
3. i love reading books: fiction and non-fiction, documentary, self-help books.
4. i'd like to go on a back-packing tour in Europe someday with my family.
5. it was my dream to be a talk show host in the likes of David Letterman, Conan O'brien and Edu Manzano, when i was younger
6. Sinigang and Kare-kare are my all-time favorite dishes.
7. I think my handwriting is so bad that i took up computer science in college.

There you go, some boring stuff about me you wouldn't even bother reading. really.

I hereby tag:
-Jhoanna
-Chad
-Pau
-Pette
-Claud
-Chester
-Raech
-YOU - if you read this!

sleepless in bangkok

2007-06-11T14:35:00.000+08:00

a few hours from now i am off to Bangkok, Thailand. the last time i was there was when they had their coup last September of last year. i hope they won't have one again this time.

i remember that the time their military was taking over their government, we were at a night market trying to shop fro some pasalubong. their coup was so quiet we only came to know about it an hour after we came back to our hotel. the moment i got to my room i turned on the tv for some whiling away of time, but there was nothing being aired except the Thailand king's exploits. so i decided to go online to check my mails. then i saw that the coup was all over internet.

we were in the middle of a historic event in Thailand, and we didn't even know it. some of my american friends asked me if i don't get jittery about the whole thing knowing that we could be in Thailand longer than we expected because of the instability in the city. i jokingly told them "no, i don't. we get this almost every week in the Philippines." but come to think of it, coups have almost become a part of our society. when we don't like what our government is doing we troop to the streets and shout "resign". well, somehow someway, you'd get used to it.

tonight, i will be in Bangkok again and will be there till Friday. i hope there won't be any hitches this time.

difference between rich and poor countries

2007-06-06T09:34:00.000+08:00

i got this email from a blogger i know. i wish i knew who wrote it to give proper credit but i googled and didn't find the author.

read on...

*start of email*
The difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the age of the country:

This can be shown by countries like

India

Egypt

, that are more than 2000 years old, but are poor. On the other hand,

Canada

, Australia & New Zealand, that 150 years ago were inexpressive, today are developed countries, and are rich. The difference between poor &
rich countries does not reside in the available natural resources.

Japan

has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second world economy. The country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw material from the whole world and exporting manufactured products. Another example is

Switzerland

, which does not plant cocoa but has the best chocolate of the world. In its little territory they raise animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year. Not enough,
they produce dairy products of the best quality. It is a small country that transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the world's strongest, safest place.

Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts in poor countries
show that there is no significant intellectual difference. Race or skin color are also not important: immigrants labeled lazy in their countries of origin are the productive power in rich European countries.

What is the difference then?

The difference is the attitude of the people, framed along the years by the education & the culture. On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich & developed countries, we find that the great majority follow the following principles in their lives:

1. Ethics, as a basic principle.
2. Integrity.
3. Responsibility.
4. Respect to the laws & rules.
5. Respect to the rights of other citizens.
6. Work loving.
7. Strive for saving & investment.
8. Will of super action.
9. Punctuality.

In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in their daily life. We are not poor because we lack natural resources or because nature was cruel to us. We are poor because we lack the correct attitude. We lack the will to comply with and teach these functional principles of rich & developed societies. If you do not forward this message nothing will happen to you. Your pet will not die, you will not be fired, you will not have bad luck for seven years, and also you will not get sick, but those may happen because of your laziness, your love for intrigue and politics, your indifference to saving for the future, your stubborn attitude.

* end of email *

there is truth to this. example of not following rules and regulations? driving. driving in Manila is like driving in the "jungle" of the world of driving. everyday that i drive my kids to school, go to my office and go on gimmicks at times, i experience nerve-whacking and head-splitting situations on the road. the other day my wife and my kids went to Greenhills to do some shopping for my 15 year-old daughter's clothing requirements....believe me, when you have a teener just like i do, you'd encounter terms we never used before, like clothing requirements.... jeepney drivers were honking their horns out, impatient with each other because of the traffic jam a car caused that clogged the road. and at some point between home and Greenhhills, this jeepney stopped in the middle of the road -- RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF IT to let a passenger go down. what kind of road/driving etiquette is that? and then they have the right to get angry when cars at their back honk their horns out!

friends and relatives who come from the

U.S.

for vacation would shake their heads in disbelief of how drivers in manila drive. they are also amazed by how cars can overtake each other and squeeze in between jeepneys, trucks, and ordinary cars yet get through them all unscratched. i guess if you want a training ground for driving, you can start by training in Manila because if you live a day after driving-- safe and unscratched, you deserve a gold medal and you can drive almost anywhere in the world! hey, you even deserve an international driving license! i am amazed by this too but i, myself, who have lived in the city for years now since still cannot believe how crazy it is out there in the streets.

so i guess for all of us who still find it in our hearts to care for our country, and at least dream that we can be great again (noong high school tayo marami tayo nito...dreams), let's start the changes within ourselves...

terima kasih

2007-06-06T01:00:00.001+08:00

"terima kasih" and "salamat detang", were the first words that greeted me when i landed in Bali, Indonesia last week. "thank you" and "welcome" as we would say them in english.

it was a trip i expected it to be, fun-filled and adventure-esq. i spent 6 productive days in Bali going in schools and villages in very remote areas in the mountains, ministering and being ministered unto. this trip was far from the vacation i wished it would be but it was nevertheless an experience.
Bali is known as a tourists' haven with all of its beautiful beaches and resorts combined with its rich culture and of course spicy food. i liked what i saw in Bali. architecture-wise, most establishments and houses resemble that of a Buddhist temple, as 95% of residents in the island are Hindus. there are many poor people but they live in concrete houses and not in shanties.
i've been to other parts of Indonesia but this is the first time i went to Bali. meals are almost always spicy in Indonesia but i never thought that it could still get spicier in Bali. i like spicy food but having spicy food everyday is like killing-me-softly. even fried eggs in the morning for breakfast would have diced chili on top. fried rice is colored red because of chili. even spring rolls for snacks would have chili on its side. believe me, spend three straight days eating local Balinese food and you'd worship the owner of McDonald's for putting up burger stores all over the world. i think the only thing that's not spicy in Bali is water and "teh botol". it is a popular Indonesian drink. Teh botol literally means 'bottled tea'. It is a sweetened jasmine tea and it is usually served cold. in indonesian culture it has been a widely popular fashion to drink this beverage standing on one foot.
i enjoyed going to the schools to minister to the children during the day and going to the villages in the night. the villages are so far away from the city we had to travel three hours by car and walk 2 hours just to get to the village. it was very very tiring but it was all worth the exhaustion. there was a time that we had to spent the night in the very first hotel in Bali...yes, the FIRST hotel. very very old and dilapidated it's just like checking into a haunted house. we were the only guests that night. well..., we had bats for company. did you see "Batman Begins"? when the young Bruce Wayne fell into a well and there were bats swarming all over him? well, when we got to the hotel, there were scores of bats flying all over us. ohh, and did i tell you that the hotel is fronting the beach? well, some sort of a beach. i was just waiting for the mermaids to come out and i would say we're in a movie already.
but looking into the eyes of the children and seeing their need for God made all the dangerous treks worthwhile.

"terima kasih", this is what i have to say to God for allowing me to minister to the children of Indonesia.

next stop...bangkok, thailand. "sawasdee krap"!

to leave or not to leave...

2007-05-25T11:48:00.000+08:00

i did my check-in procedure via Singapore Airlines' website earlier this morning...this is the first time i did it online, i would normally check in when i get to the airport. not only was i able to check in early for my flight tomorrow, but i also was able to pick my desired seat using the site's seating map of the plane. i travel a lot, and when you do you'd want to be seated as comfortably as you could be. during long flights...more than 3hours...you would not want to take the window seats because the longer the flight is, the more chances that you'd want stand to stretch or to use the restroom. and when you do try to get up from your seat more than once, you'd definitely irritate the other passengers blocking your way. i only take the window seats when the flight is less than 3 hours, and in most cases, i still don't.

anyhow, in Singapore Airlines website you get to see the available seats and where exactly they are located....isn't that cool? so i got to pick where i want to get seated.

i am leaving tomorrow for Bali, Indonesia for a series of ministry meetings. i will be spending time with our Book of Hope/GodMan Indonesian travelling team, travelling with them (that's why they're called travelling team) to different parts in Bali where they are doing the GodMan ministry. being the Asia Pacific head for media and technology for Book of Hope it is my responsibility to make sure that our different AP teams for The GodMan ministry understand their role in the ministry. i will try to get as much information from them while i am there. flying back to Manila next week, i still have to go to Singapore for another strategic meeting for the region.

i expect to get very busy (again) in the next few days...i hope i get time to shop :-)

spicy meals await me...

moments and expectations

2007-05-23T20:02:00.000+08:00

there are those moments when you're all happy, expectant, and excited about something but everything gets twisted and you end up sad. then you realize that your little bursts of happiness have been there all this time to cover up for the sadness that was actually building up inside. and it's the kind of sadness that you wish you wouldn't have to go through but at the back of your head, you know it's also the kind of sadness that makes you grow more as a person.

and then you tell yourself that in time, everything will just fall into place.

that's when we get it wrong. things will not fall into place until someone does something. more often than not, that someone is you.

from the very start, we were wrong to expect too much i guess. expecting too much leads to disappointments. hope, on the other hand, is different. we hope and we remain happy.

aren't the hopeful ones the happiest persons around? ahh yes.

my expectations end here. i am now hoping

i wish...

2007-05-22T09:45:00.000+08:00

busy, busy, busy!

i haven't had the chance to enjoy the summer..it is now starting to rain.

i haven't had the chance to see Spiderman 3...i think they're starting to shoot the 4th part already.

Shrek 3 is now showing, i haven't seen it yet too...

when can i have free time?

tic, tac, tic, tac...when time isn't mine

2007-04-24T09:05:00.000+08:00

didn't have anything to blog lately...not that nothing's happening to me, it's just that nothing special has happened to me lately.

i've been trying to squeeze my schedules so i can have more time for leisure. summer is almost halfway and i haven't had the chance to hit the beach or the pool. there were invitations but there was just no time for it. i promised myself, though, that before the summer officially ends i'll definitely go and do what normal people do during summer...duh...take a trip somewhere and take a dip wherever it is peaceful and away from the city. hmm, Vigan is not a bad idea. although i've been there a couple of times before, i've not gone there on summer time. i'd like to go there again.

first week of May we're going up to Baguio for our annual staff retreat and planning. it's not pure vacation but it'll be good to "cool" down in the Pines City, away from the heat of Manila.

i worked up some good sweat playing badminton the other day. i went with some friends and we met up in the court in Quezon City. while resting after a few games with friends, a couple of chinese senior citizens went up to me and asked me if i could play with them, they need one person. so i agreed thinking that i would be doing "old" people a good thing. the first few hits and volleys were ok...i guess, we're still sizing each other up. but as the game progresses i noticed that these "old" chinese people, 60+ years old are good at playing the game. and i mean really good. and they're fast for their age. one time, i was trying to impress them so i kept smashing the shuttlecock but the other "old" man kept swinging it back to me, until finally i forced him to commit an error. but that did not happen until i had my tongue out catching my breath. to my surprise my teammate suddenly blurted "not bad for a 70-year old guy". my goodness! i was hitting against a 70-year old guy, a grandfather, and he didn't play like one. i actually thought he was only 45, as his real age doesn't betray him. after knowing they're that old i felt embarrassed to feel tired because they're not showing any sign of it. we won alright, but it was a close game. it was a good sweat.

it was a different feeling when i played in a tournament and i was playing against Paolo Bediones. we were orange team and they were red team. it so happened that in a crossover i was pitted against Paolo. our team captain told me i'd be playing against Paolo and told he'll introduce me first to him. then i saw him walked towards us, smiling. looking very friendly.

team captain: "Paolo, Rodel. Rodel, Paolo" (we shook hands...)
Paolo: "i think we've met before" (he's trying hard to be extra nice. i would remember that if ever!)
Rodel(keeping my cool): "no, not yet..." (laughs a little)
Paolo: "oh sorry sorry"
Rodel: "it's ok!" (laughs...)

and so after some niceties, we started the game. he was good and he hit some good shots. but the thing was, my teammates who were supposed to be cheering for me (we were teammates, remember) instead were cheering for Paolo whenever he hits a good shot. i tell you, they were so starstruck. and so i lost. but that was also a good sweat.

i had played against another Paolo before, Paolo Ballesteros, but it was another story.

by the way, i can't wait for the season 3 of Prison Break...the suspense is killing me.

could be better

2007-04-19T11:08:00.000+08:00

i am having a bad day.

i got into an unnecessary discussion so early. i am needing information i can't get immediately. i can't force somebody to do what i needed her to do for me. i can't get someone to do what he is supposed to do because i can't get things to him. i feel terribly down and tired. i need to respond to important emails but i need more info at hand before i can do that. i have so many responsibilities i feel like escaping.

i am confused and i am incoherent.

it is so burning hot

2007-04-17T09:09:00.000+08:00

i hate the weather..it is so burning hot, hot, hot!!! the weather temperature is so high somebody could die of heat stroke...seriously.

last night our whole family just couldn't stand the heat inside the house we went outside and stayed there for quite a while. a few seconds later, my tito and my tita (they live right next to our house) also went outside to cool down. 3 minutes later, some of our neighbors joined us and we almost had a mini-party going on just outside our homes. the men talked about the recent Pacquiao-Solis fight, the ladies discussed fashion stuff while the children played and shouted their lungs out. it was almost 96 degrees Fahrenheit outside but the friendliness among neighbors is warmer.

around 9pm, everybody retired inside and i went inside the room, turned on the airconditioner and watched DVD until i fell asleep.

i am now in my office and i love it here...i love the people i work with and i love the free airconditioner.

i need excitement

2007-04-11T10:02:00.000+08:00

lately i've been waking up feeling like i have to drag both my feet and command my body to do things i needed to do, and not what i wanted to do... you know, like what a master does to its robotic slave.

i am a morning person. i would always greet the day with so much excitement...i never bother myself thinking about the problems i had and still have coming from the past day's adventures and misadventures. i am a sanguine, remember?

but the past few days have not been the same. i would wake up feeling the weight of my body pulling me back to bed. breakfast doesn't excite me anymore (who'd get excited if you're having mcdonald's almost everyday in more than a week). work isn't as attractive anymore. people aren't as accommodating anymore.

i miss the feeling of being giddy – the excitement of expecting something really exciting. something that would turn my tummy into knots, and something that would give me reason to wake up with a smile every morning.

maybe an iBook? :-)

loooong break...yahoooo!!!...har har har!!!

2007-04-04T11:36:00.000+08:00

today is the last day of work, yippeee!...i am so wanting to take a break and just while away my time without giving any thoughts on work, meetings, reports and others. i am looking forward to spending time with my loved ones, and maybe take a short trip somewhere. malls will be closed on some days during the break and metro manila will be traffic-free for a while. ahh, it will be nice to just drive around and enjoy the stress-free roads in the metro. i think i am gonna do that.

yesterday i met with two of my friends whom i haven't seen in a while..7 months to be exact. the last time we saw each other was august 2 of last year. and to be nostalgic about it, we met where we last met. we rendezvous in the parking lot of Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati and we had lunch at the hotel's restaurant, Tin Hau. food was good, as usual, and we feasted on dimsum, beef, seafood, frog legs and a lot more in the buffet table. we had a good conversation catching up on a lot of things...from family to business to sports to technology to cars to scooters to guns and to pets. we spent a good 2 hours just chatting and eating until it was time to go. parting ways we scheduled another get-together sometime in May at 20/20 Restaurant in Bellevue Hotel in Alabang...i'm sure it will be another good time for us friends.

ooopps...i need to get DVD films today before i go home. it will be a long weekend, and i could use some of the time to watch movies at home...i hope they will have the complete season 2 of "Prison Break" soon.

of growin' up and growin' old

2007-04-03T10:41:00.000+08:00

there’s an old cliché that goes “life begins at 40”. i guess it does when you don’t want to remember the years that came before you reached 40. but when the years that passed were years of bliss and harvest, then we can all say that life began the moment we decided to live it fully. biologically, we all grow old each year, each day, each hour... it's inevitable that we grow older in time.

a lot of people have been afraid of growing old. maybe because growing old leads to other health complications or maybe because we link it to inescapable death (which can actually strike at any point in our lives) or maybe because it leads to "looking old" which others dread so much. but I think that what we should actually fear is not growing old. i think more than that, we should be fearful of not growing up.

we might have different views about growing up. i think, as most things, growing up exists in a continuum with two extreme ends. there's Peter Pan who will always remain the boy who never grows up. and then there are others who are too serious in life who consider themselves all grown-up for being square about everything. for me, those who can balance enjoying life and still be matured enough to face the responsibilities that life holds for them are those who have truly grown. as always, it is a matter of balancing. and i for one, have to keep on telling myself that.

even if i’ve grown older, there's still a child in me that keeps on coming out. i still don't consider myself all grown-up... maybe because i still haven't truly balanced everything in my life. i still have my own questions about where i want to be, who i am, and how i can contribute something to society in my lifetime.

but i think that we all grow up, in one way or another... maybe not in the same pace as to how we grow old. sometimes we grow up slowly but other times, we experience "growth spurts" as well. if biology and time make us grow old, i think our experiences and our reactions to them are what make us grow up. it is no wonder that we could be stagnant for a year and even grow so much more in just a month or sometimes even a weekend.

i guess this is why i love experiencing new things. discovering life's beauty is a way of growing up along with discovering pain and fear. i don't have a perfect life but i have a happy one. :) i'm not all grown-up but i think i'm on my way there... smelling the flowers and jumping over thorns... enjoying the sunshine in the morning and basking in the moonlight at night.

life is all good, it is just a matter of how we live it. :)

"Prison Break" is awesome

2007-03-30T12:58:00.000+08:00

this is something that everyone must plan to do, watch both seasons of "Prison Break"....this is an awesooommmee series...i've never been so interested in a series like i have been now.

i've seen "24" and i've watched "Grey's Anatomy", but Prison Break makes the other shows lame in terms of suspense and action. the lead character Michael Scofield played by Wentworth Miller is a well-thought of character.. Prison Break is so unreal, every episode has simply blown me away...you'll never get enough of it, you'll want more.

watch it and you'll know i am telling the truth.

moments to share

2007-03-27T13:49:00.000+08:00

to live is life

2007-03-23T13:29:00.000+08:00

other than being frighteningly behind at work, and still not getting enough sleep, life is pretty good at the moment... oh, and i need more time at hand so i can get out and play badminton.

trying my best

2007-03-22T22:40:00.000+08:00

everyday is a challenge to be the best i can...i hope to be always up to it.

"300" and 15 years later

2007-03-21T16:36:00.000+08:00

i went to see the film "300" the other night, and i'd say that it was one of the best movies i've seen in the league of "Lord of the Rings", "Gladiator" and "Braveheart"....the scenes were gruesome, alright, but not without sense as these were necessary to depict how intense the fightings were, not only for cinematic purposes, but also for reality's sake as these, i believe, were how the battles raged during the Greek-Persian wars.

it made me think how David's "30 mighty men" fought against the armies that tried to invade the nation Israel in the old testament times...the Bible talked about how one man killed eight hundred men with his spear, how another fought with his sword swinging until his hands froze because of unending swings..."300" could fail in comparison...Samson killed one thousand men in one encounter using a lion's bone.

for all its worth, i enjoyed watching the film.

but what made me enjoy it more was watching it with a 15-year old young lady...yes, you read it right, i dated a 15-year old girl...looking at Danae sitting beside me inside a moviehouse made me think of the first time i dated her pretty mother...the first movie i watched with Alice was "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"...it was a long time ago...and now i am dating my pretty Danae...i wish i'd be the only man she'll ever date and watch a movie with....but i know, someday she's going to meet a man she likes...much like what her mom did...as i was staring at Danae i saw how time flew so fast...seemed like just yesterday when she was still climbing all over me, lapping at me like a dog and telling me how much she loves me...when she would lay her head on my shoulder and fell asleep while i sing for her...how time flies...now, she's a grown-up young lady...ready to take on the world...independent and so free.

oh well...i guess i should start dating her more often, cause sooner or later it is going to be an awkward scene looking at one old man inside a moviehouse with a very beautiful and reeaaaly grown-up woman in tow.

home sweet home

2007-03-20T13:56:00.000+08:00

in the last month and a half that i was not blogging, i have been traveling...i must say that this was one of those times that i did not miss going online...not because there wasn't any access but because there just wasn't any time to log on...by the time i got back to the hotel in the evenings, it's either i was too dead tired to go online or there were reports to do and plans to make for the next day. so, just imagine how many emails i got when i opened my mail after weeks of internet hibernation....you guessed it right, i got quite a lot....in fact, there were so many that i was able to eat my dinner and came back with my laptop still humming away receiving all the mails, junk mails included. i must admit though, that there was a wicked intention on my part not to open my mails if ever there had been a chance for me to open it when i was away....i just wanted to get the feeling of not having to worry about compelling myself to answer the mails when i receive them...and it was liberating, you know....that you can still live an email-less life in this techy world.

i went to Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Tacloban, Batangas and Dipolog City in the last 5 weeks, in that order...spending a week in each place...i actually missed two important days because of my schedule....i spent Valentines Day in Nueva Ecija but i am not complaining...how does the cliche go?...."Everyday can be a Valentine as long as you have love in your heart."....it's just funny to think that there I was in Nueva Ecija, not feeling Valentine-ish, while others are literally squeezing themselves among the crowd in Eastwood.

i also spent my birthday aboard the plane going to Tacloban....at least i got to spend it with more than 100 passengers in attendance...it could have been a big party, except that they didn't know it was my birthday. but the day before that, i had some friends coming over the house with food and drinks to celebrate my birthday with me...well, they knew i'd be flying the next day so they kinda organized this little party at our house...we had dinuguan, puto, pancit canton, inihaw na bangus, fruit salad and endless supply of coffee, thanks to them (Arlan, Bles, Pette, Philip, Nats, and Remy).

taxi-ing on Tacloban City airport runway was also quite an experience...just a few flights before mine was a plane that overshot its landing on the runway....when we got to the airport, the plane was still there undergoing maintenance works...you see, the Tacloban airport runway is so short that you have to be very precise and accurate when you land the plane, as its pilot...the plane has to land exactly at the beginning of the runway, lest it overshoots...so the moment the plane lands, the brakes have to be applied immediately and you'd instantly feel your body going against the thrust of the plane...the runway is so short that the landing takes no more than 3 minutes before the plane comes to complete stop.

going to Dipolog city was another experience...i didn't know that a lot of people are going there that PAL flights are always fully-booked....i had to re-book twice because going back to Manila was always full and only the business class will have available seats...because of the exorbitant fee they charge for business class passengers i had to take PAL going to Dipolog and Cebu Pacific going back to Manila...it was my first time to fly Cebu Pacific because i've heard so many horrific stories about the airline...not to mention that it has overtaken PAL's reputation as the "always-late-flight" airline...but this time they have redeemed themselves....not only did they leave on time, but their service was "good enough"....i've flown different airlines, PAL, Japan Airlines, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific, American Airlines and a host of US domestic flights...i'd say, save for the absence of inflight magazines and food, maybe because they're always on promo mode, they can become competitive.

in Dipolog, our staff there brought me to what used to be Jose Rizal's incarceration place in Dapitan....this is where the Spaniards had Rizal thrown when they arrested him for rebellion so he won't be a threat to the Spanish government...this is also the place where he supposedly met Josephine Bracken, fell in love with her and married her....the place is big and nice that i had to tell my friends that if this is the kind of jail where any prisoner will be held then all prisoners will be happy to be jailed...it has a lagoon in the middle and an ampi-theater where he supposedly teaches the people who would visit him....he has a comfortable "house" inside the fenced prison and a clinic where he checks on patients who come for consultation.

all in all, my travels were fruitful and productive...it's good to be home now.

rest can become scarce...

2007-02-05T10:29:00.000+08:00

i really wish i could write on a daily basis, but i just can't...i've been sickly the past weeks and my resistance is at its lowest...this started when i got really sick before the year ended and it's been on and off since then... i'm feeling feverish at night, i have coughs, i've been nursing my cold for days now.

i've been taking vitamins but i know i'm not taking enough rest...i always sleep late and wake up very early...it is because i've been working my butt out, which isn't good...i know...but i have no choice..at least for the time being...i am so wanting to take a vacation so i can rest...i envied my couple-friends who just got back from Phuket, Thailand for a hideaway vacation...man, i needed that...not necessarily in Thailand, because I am going there anyway on April, but not on vacation but for work...somewhere near and cheaper will do, as long as i can rest and just be refreshed.

aahh...when rest and vacation become just a dream, then we're in trouble.

when 24 hours isn't enough

2007-01-25T10:43:00.000+08:00

i need more than 24 hours a day...again i have been busy these past few days drafting documents, writing emails, doing personal errands, and so many more...and as if these are not enough, i started doing storybooks for weddings that could earn me a few pesos...i said a few pesos because when you begin to equate the number of hours you spend doing it plus the "damage" it does to your brain thinking how the layout should look plus the electricity you use at home and the depreciation you factor in by using your computer against the supposedly additional income, it may not be worth doing it...but i'm enjoying it so far, so what the heck.

today i'm off to Batangas for another conference...got to finalize an agreement we inked with another organization...tonight will be the official signing of the agreement...tomorrow morning we'll trek the upscale side of the Taal Volcano, if the local government would allow us...afternoon i'll be speaking in a session for about two hours and then back to Manila by evening.

next week is going to be a busy busy week again as we will be hosting another event we call Hope Celebration at the Holiday Inn...we'll have businessmen and supporters coming from all over the Philippines and some guests coming from our international office in Florida...then Asia travels are next...haaay!

i so want to go on vacation.

i want to go on trips

2007-01-18T21:25:00.000+08:00

there are times when i dread my schedules of travel...when i hate the times that i have to make trips that would take me away from home, because travels could sometimes get in the way of your own schedules...when you have to accept the "if-you're-not-on-road-driving-then-you're-on-the-air-flying" situation.

but right now is not one of those times...now is a time that i want to travel...not in a few years...not next month...not next week...and not tomorrow.

i want to travel now...pack my bags...get in the car and on the road...get a ticket, and fly off somewhere...it sounds deliriously enticing but i want to go backpacking in Europe or Asia...i want to go on spontaneous roadtrips– sightseeing and taking pictures of every beautiful place i see...i want to dance under the moonlight and bathe in the warm sunshine at an exotic beach somewhere in the Carribean... i want to feel the breeze on my face as i roll down the window while cruising a highway of some foreign land...i want to do that now.

but then...it's late in the night...i have to get some sleep because i have work tomorrow...maybe i'll take a trip somewhere in my dreams.

next month and in the coming weeks after that , i'll be doing some real trips in country and in Asia...i wonder if those will be times i'd love or dread.

sickbay

2007-01-15T21:53:00.000+08:00

it was a kind of experience i would never dream of...especially on holidays.

Christmas season always is a special season for me...it is when i get to spend a lot of time with my family without having to think about work...as always, we painted the town red again last Christmas with parties and dinner invitations from left to right...everyday was going-out day for us...Eastwood, Baywalk, Tiendesitas, malls, restaurants, Intramuros, Greenhills, and yes even Luneta Park.

everything was going on as planned until the ever kill-joy virus hit us...it first hit Kaiel on Dec 28...he was running a very high fever for two days so we had to rush him to Medical City...we were so concerned about the Dengue virus...his blood had to be tested for platelets count and we had to spent the night inside a room in the ER...when the results came out, he tested negative.

the very next day, it was my turn to catch the virus...while Kaiel was still recovering, i came down with a flu...my body ached so much i couldn't get myself to walk, so i was in bed most of the time...thinking i could recover quickly i refused to be confined to the hospital....and while i was in this situation, Mitchi caught it too...so at this time there were 3 people who were sick at the same time...but what made it worse was that it was Dec 31st already...we literally had to greet the new year in bed.

you think we're done?...first week of January, Alice experienced severe headache and vomitted continuously...we had to rush her to Medical City...she was confined for three days...she had x-ray, blood test, x-ray again, blood test again, until we lost count of the several procedures done on her...parking fee was exorbitant at Medical City...you don't get a discount even if you are a patient at their hospital....40 pesos for the first 3hours, 10 pesos succeeding hours...that's more than 200pesos a day...the hospital was full and we had to wait 13 hours before we got transferred from the ER to the transition room...and another 16hours before we were finally checked into our room...Medical City is so big, but the rooms were not enough to accomodate all the patients during that time...the staff told me that this was the first time they had that many patients, and they too were surprised...looked like a lot got sick after the holidays...hmm, interesting..

it was also during the time that i was sick that my laptop crashed.. i lost not only 40 percent of my files, but also contact to the world...imagine this...you're sick, you're in bed, it's the holidays, everybody was out, everybody was partying, your laptop crashed, you have nothing to do at all...could somebody die because of that?... i think i was ready to die then...everything just sucks.
but in all of these, God is still good...i may not have been able to enjoy the noise of the holidays, but i was able to enjoy the silence of life...i have a wonderful family and i have a good God.

on a sidenote: watch Blood Diamond...it is one great movie!...i saw Leonardo Di Caprio in Titanic, i didn't like him there, although women would swear he was very good looking...but we, men, didn't care...i saw him in Departed, i thought he could act...now i saw him in Blood Diamond, i'd say he's a stellar performer.

last year, this year, the "work", the hospital...oh come on!!!

2007-01-11T00:19:00.000+08:00

this is my first entry for the year 2007 and i am doing this inside a room in a hospital.

so many things have happened since my last entry and a lot of things have changed.. i got sick before the year ended and had to struggle on my bed greeting the new year when it struck 12 the last day of the year..my laptop crashed and i had to be a hermit living in stone age for quite some time.

i can't write sensibly today because i am out of time trying to catch up on literally dozens of email messages that i have to respond to...and i am only using an airborne access here in the hospital.

i promise, as soon as i am able to finish this thing called "work", i will write in details what transpired between my last entry of last year and this entry...for now, i have to work.

i feel lazy

2006-12-19T10:08:00.000+08:00

i feel so lazy today...i have so many things to do but my adrenaline is nowhere to be found.

i guess this has something to do with the season...it always feels good to just bum around, stay at home and just do nothing at all.

there's a plan to go for-the-boys tonight...clean fun and lots of food, i'm not sure though if i could come because i have prior appointment before they set that one up.

tomorrow is our last day at the office...we're going out...food and coffee, for sure.

on thursday morning i am emceeing at a wedding ceremony...friday night i got invited to a Christmas musical presentation....and then saturday...after that it's the 24th...need i tell you what's happening then?

it's the holiday rush, and i am lazy to the bone.

christmas parties

2006-12-13T10:47:00.000+08:00

now that december is almost halfway and the year is nearing its end, christmas parties are all over...there is not a weekend (and weekday too) that there is not a party happening...be it company parties, family parties, school parties, just-friends party, reunion parties and what have you.

i myself had two christmas parties i've already attended and a lot more to go to in the coming days...in fact starting tomorrow, thursday until saturday, my nights are full...they are happening in hotels, big restaurants, rented lawn, some open spaces, ballrooms.

i remember my younger days when our christmas parties were held inside classrooms...and when we would be a bigger group, we would just be shoved inside a cafeteria with lanterns hanging all over the place and a big "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" accordion-like cardboard pasted on the wall...those are hilarious times when you think about them now...everybody, i mean just about everybody would be wearing their nicest and newest clothes, bringing anything for exchange gifts...and then we would have spaghetti, sandwich (or nutri-bun, remember that?), hotdogs, fried chicken and anything everybody could bring.

now, as we have grown, parties have become more elaborated and more grand than it used to be...they are now being held inside big venues, auditoriums, tent cities, and almost everyplace where people could congregate...lechon is almost always an ingredient to big celebrations, wines are flowing, lobsters and seafood decorate the tables, chocolate cakes, pizzas, variety of pastas, these and more make for great food and happy people...prizes have become more expensive...home appliances like television sets, dvd players, washing machines, electric fans are given away...even latest gadgets --- latest cellphones, mp3 players, ipods, pda's and laptops flood the area as raffle prizes....from grocery items to cars...yes, some companies raffle away cars and hundreds of thousands of pesos in cash...parties have become a wishing-venue for people who have needs of anything from physical to material things.

but i am thankful that there are still people who do parties for relationship's sake and not so much for the material favor that they bring...i am content with just having to listen to friends tell stories of their lives and just while away the time in the company of people close to me...those who have influenced my thinking, my character, my attitude and my life in general...having food would be great, but it should neither limit us nor motivate us for such...barbeque, pancit bihon, leche flan or majablanca, and puto would definitely do...how about gifts?...well, they are not a requirement...and frankly i would be very glad to receive some...but in all honesty, the gift of friendship is one great gift one could give to another.

let christmas parties bring us joy and fun and gladness....but let the reason why we do christmas parties be the center of it all...that's Jesus.

what's special for you?

2006-12-08T10:28:00.000+08:00

i received an email from my boss asking me to list down the two most special things for me about Christmas.

i thought about it for a while...i was tempted to say the birth of Jesus and His abounding love for us, but this we all know already, so i listed two more.

1. how families make this event a time to come together, literally and relationally. it always makes me feel good to just see people celebrate the season (not just dec25,but the whole month) with so much anticipation. the whole atmosphere of the Christmas season makes for a special feeling for me.

2. the long period of no-work and no-school because i get to spend a lot of time with my family. it is only during this time that we can really take off and just go anywhere we want on evenings without worrying about getting up very early the next day. but more than all of these favorable situations, it is really the time i get to spend with my family that makes it so special.

so there...how about you...want to think about the two most special things for you about Christmas?

of travels and triumphs...

2006-12-07T14:25:00.000+08:00

i just got back from a supposedly 3-day convention in Caliraya Recreation Center in Laguna. i said "supposedly" because i was only there for two days...we were supposed to go back to Manila only today but we had to last night because there's another meeting happening today that necessitated our going home earlier...Caliraya is such a nice resort...i've gone there i think 4 times already...it's huge and has great amenities like water skiing and kayaking, coz there's a big man-made lake...it has two tennis courts, a basketball court, a swimming pool, kids playground, an earth-ball court, a horse-riding area, a pond where you can fish all you want as long as you pay the fish you catch, and many more...one thing about this convention though, was that the sessions are all cramped next to each other that we did not get enough time to just enjoy the facilities in the place...the sessions are all important but the program is too tight...i mean, what's the point of having the convention held in a place like Caliraya when you would not have the chance to enjoy the place...why pay for something you won't even have the chance to use...a hotel in Manila would have sufficed...but then, i don't have the right to complain...i didn't pay for the registration fee with my own money.

going home last night i suddenly remembered that i only needed one Starbucks sticker to complete my booklet for the most-coveted planner in the whole world...well, ok...in the Philippines, at least in Manila...so i went to Starbucks and went directly to the counter, proudly dangling my booklet in front of the barista...i smiled at her and told her i that i only needed one sticker and i will have my planner...after smiling back at me and taking my order she promptly got the leather-Starbucks-spiral-planner from the shelf and handed it to me...and as if receiving an award from a prestigious award-giving body, my hand reached out to my trophy, allowing a whisper to come out of my lips...Thank You...was all i could muster to say...after 21 cups of cofee....after so many caramel macchiatos, christmas blends, colombias, sumatras, peppermint mochas, tazo teas, toffee lattes, white chocolate mochas...now i have it in my hands...i barely heard the other barista calling out "one venti-pepermint-mocha for sir Rodel"...i love it when they call out the customer's name followed by the coffee ordered...but it was sweeter last night because i had my coffee in one hand and i had my planner in the other...."at last i got it", i told myself triumphantly as i walked back to my car.

i just love it when my plans come together...

early Christmas

2006-12-04T11:10:00.000+08:00

our office just had our very early Christmas party last Friday, December 1st at GUMBO Restaurant in Mall of Asia...it has been my 7th annual Christmas party with Book of Hope, and I'm still counting...it was a blast...food was great and plenty...but as usual i did not get to eat a lot because i was the emcee for the evening...i have always been, i think, for as long as i can remember...not because i am good but because others would rather just enjoy the party instead of having to stand and talk almost the whole time...isn't that unfair?

after the party we watched the fireworks that the MOA is doing on Fridays and Saturdays...it lasted for about 20 minutes...and boy, did they do a good job...it was like New Year's Eve on the 1st of December... everybody, kids and adults included, enjoyed the elaborated fireworks...afterwards, the kids went ice-skating while the adults played cheerleaders.

it is always a joy to spend time with friends and co-workers outside the work environment...when everyone would just have fun and exchange great talks without having to think about the work and meetings everybody would attend to the next working day.

i love the people i work with...and i always feel that i belong...they're my second family.

on a side note...i'm off to Caliraya Rssort tomorrow for a three-day convention.

Pacquiao, crime and traffic

2006-11-20T10:53:00.000+08:00

Pacquiao won and he won convincingly...he demolished Erik "El Terible" Morales in three rounds...if you watched the fight you'd agree with me when i say that he didn't look the "El Terible" anymore after the fight...he definitely looked like "El Tuliro".

this is another witness to the world that Filipinos can be great again...a world boxing icon in Pacquiao...a world pool champion in Alcano...hip-hop dance champions in Philippine All-Star...singing sensations...world-class artists...the list goes on....our nation can still rise up again from obscurity to greatness.

i wish that Pacquiao fights everyday...not only for the honor he brings to the country, but also for the other "significant" things he does when he fights....yesterday was almost zero-crime, yes zero crime rate...Manila and the whole Philippines was the safest place in the world yesterday...you could never find a safer place anywhere in the world than here...you could actually wear your most expensive piece of jewelry and literally have thousands of pesos in your hands while walking on the streets, and still come out alive...yesterday's traffic was the lightest...it took me only five minutes to drive from our church in Mandaluyong to our relatives' place in Pasig...the Formula One race could actually be held here...very few cars were on the road...buses were almost without passengers...traffic officers were conspicuously absent from the streets...who would need them anyway if there are no traffic violators.

and if only for these...i'd wish for more Pacquiaos.

believing is appreciating

2006-11-17T12:37:00.000+08:00

there are times when i just feel like writing for myself and just expressing what i feel, think and see without any care for others…but there are also times when i want to write with an intention for others to read what i write and just elicit any form of reaction, violent or otherwise…but whatever my intention would be, i always try to make sure that what i write are real…they may be my own life experiences…situations….other people’s experiences…plain observations…helpful information…no matter what they may be, they just have to be real.

funny, but sometimes…well…ok…more often than sometimes…i find myself appreciating my own writings, my own creation…i remember that i used to record my own speaking engagements…and hearing them myself, alone, has given me goosebumps as i sometimes could not believe that it was me delivering that kind of a rhetoric…don’t get me wrong…my writings, my speeches, my creations are far from being flawless…they are not…they are absolutely flawed…it’s just that i appreciate my own creation because i appreciate and believe in myself…in what God has done through me…i appreciate their flaws, my own flaws…. i appreciate my own attempts to be honest along with my failure of presenting truth in its barest form… i appreciate what my creation lack… what could be added, and what they actually have….i appreciate the varying lengths of my pieces….i appreciate the ending… the beginning… and the body in all their forms.

do i sometimes feel scared of being criticized?...of course i do…everyone else does, i guess…but would that hinder us from doing what we believe we want and need to do?...it is in criticism that we learn…and as long as we live, there will be criticism…and as long as we live we never stop learning.

i am quoting what i’ve written in my previous post…

a real man will make mistakes...the man who never makes mistakes never does anything...i would rather make a hundred mistakes and accomplish something than to make no mistakes and accomplish nothing.

it is always good to do it right the first time...but the greatest mistake you can make is to be constantly fearful that you will make one.

so, let us continue creating beautiful works…let others constructively criticize them…only then do we learn more…never mind the statistics of having one great hit amidst a dozen failures…hey, Thomas Edison tried a thousand times before he got one right…we should be even thankful if the ratio remained at 1:12.

remember that we lose more than we win, but we win more when we try more…as long as we're breathing, we each have a random chance of hitting that bull's eye.

question is…did i write this for myself or do i want others to read this?...that one, i have to write about.

caffeine...oh, caffeine

2006-11-16T11:20:00.000+08:00

if you missed your morning coffee and now you have a headache and difficulty concentrating, you can blame it on caffeine withdrawal...in general, the more caffeine consumed, the more severe withdrawal symptoms are likely to be, but do you know that as little as one standard cup of coffee a day can produce caffeine addiction...caffeine is the world's most commonly used stimulant, and it's cheap and readily available so people can maintain their use of caffeine quite easily and become addicted to it...and because this is true, i have been an addict for years.

i hate how coffee turns into addiction...how it keeps me up all night at times...how it burns and makes my heart beat fast.

especially the way it makes me crave for its rich and sweet promises of grains, aroma and taste...moments later, it puts me into a melancholic mood of coldness...before i realize it, it has consumed me before i should have consumed it...leaving me empty...hollow...bitter.

but then again...i crave for another cup...and another.

now tell me...am i a caffeine addict?