The reason why

I wrote this exactly eight days ago (Counting):

From one for two.

To one for one.

Then within two, one must be done.

Now, one is to one.

Two more crazy ones!

The meaning?

I am translating a book. As a requirement for school.

From one chapter for two months.

Then one chapter for a month.

Then within two weeks, a chapter must be done.

Now one week is to one chapter.

And now I am doing the last one!

367 pages of words in a foreign tongue to a language some may not consider as my own.

Eyes hurting, hands trembling, head spinning, my behind losing its sense of feeling.

This is the reason why!

Another legend dies

Paul Newman dies at 83 (read here).

With my love for classic movies, it wouldn't be surprising that I would stumble over his good looks and great acting. I first encountered him in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 

Goodbye Paul Newman! 

Intense

It’s been long since I last cried but I am now crying for you.

I wish you could have my gift of forgetfulness so that you will learn to disregard the pain.

I know I will never truly understand what you are going through and I hope I never will.

I do not know how God will use this but I know He will.

Oh, that you will forget the past and dream what the future will bring.

The lie that you think you have lived, I know God will reclaim.

Do not search for explanations for there are many things we could never fathom.

Remember that it was beyond your control, we make our own decisions.

This will take a very long time, it may never even disappear.

All I can do now is to cry out to God so that you will soon find peace and joy.

To experience the real life

“What can you ever really know of other people's souls - of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands. if there is a God, you are in a sense, alone with Him. You cannot put Him off with speculations about your next door neighbor or memories of what you have read in books. What will all that chatter and hearsay count (will you even remember it?) when the anaesthetic fog which we call 'nature' or 'the real world' fades away and the Presence in which you have always stood becomes palpable, immediate, and unavoidable?"

“The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

- C. S. Lewis - 

*picture from www.wordoftruthjohn1717.blogspot.com

You can!

"If you think you are beaten, you are.

If you think you dare not, you don't.

If you would like to win but think you can't, it's almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost.

For out in the world, you'll find, success begins in the fellow's will. It's all in a state of mind.

Think big and your deeds will grow.

Think small and you'll fall behind.

Think that you can and you will.

It's all in a state of mind.

 

Life's battles won't always go to the strong or fast at hand, but sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can."

- Tony Jacklin (???) -

Counting

From one for two.

To one for one.

Then within two, one must be done.

Now, one is to one.

And Globe’s DSL is sooooooo slow!!!

Give me a break! 

Two more crazy ones!

It's raining again!

It's raining again!

And I am happy.

I love the sound it makes.

Quotes from C.S. Lewis

You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. 

Thirty was so strange for me. I've really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult. 

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way." 

The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. 

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is. 

Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith but they are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the passion of Christ. 

Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.

Eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. 

Strength in weaknesses

I really do not know where I got this perception but it WAS just the way it WAS. That leaders are supposed to be superhumans. That they do not make the same mistakes that we followers do. That they do not fall into temptations that easily. At least I do not hear them speaking that much about their frailties.

 

It was surprising thus to be part a group whose leader talks about her weaknesses and more importantly, about how God continues to abound in grace by giving her the chance to seek His forgiveness and will.

 

It is okay to suffer the pain. It is normal to sometimes doubt God. It is acceptable to be in a valley of waiting. Jesus did weep. He did anguish over the calling He had to face. He became righteously angry. I have learned to appreciate the transparency. I have learned a lot from the declaration of trials and doubts.

 

At the other side, the better one, I celebrated her triumphs and greater intimacies with God. I am slowly acquiring the importance of sharing to others what I feel. For it is in our witness that we can encourage each other. We can identify with each other’s weaknesses and have the courage to hold on to faith in God.

 

What is my point? I wish there are more like her. Transparent and encouraging. 

Learning still

The tendency really was to remain inside. To keep everything within yourself. It seems easier. But no one said that the easy ones are better.

Life has always been about choices. Did I make the right choice?

Variety is fun. It makes the world brighter and interesting. But there is something about consistency that makes you feel warm all over. It is like the discipline of prayer. It makes you constantly in tune with your Maker. If only… 

There are days you want to be selfish. Not to share anything. But then, it might be to your disadvantage. Still…

You wonder. And wonder. And wonder still…

Billy : The early years of Billy Grahan

Watch the trailer - - > here

 

Check out OMFlit at the 29th International Book Fair

4 Reasons to Go Book-Crazy at the Book Fair!

The 29th Manila International Book Fair is finally here... 
And here are four reasons why you shouldn't miss it!

OMF Literature's latest titles at lowest prices!
Save 20% on all books published and imported by OMF Lit

• Gifts of Grace Book 3 and Big Brother by Grace D. Chong
• The Heart of Healing by Ardy Roberto
• Disappointment with God and
  Where is God When It Hurts? by Philip Yancey
• 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue and
  30 Days to Taming You Stress by Deborah Smith Pegues
• Walking with God by John Eldredge
• Go for Gold by John C. Maxwell
• Walking with the Women of the Bible and
  Following God with All Your Heart by Elizabeth George
• A Tale of Two Sons by John MacArthur
• Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris
• The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharias
  
• A wide selection of Bibles, such as 
  The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB) and Backpack Bible (NIV)
• and many more!

Meet the authors!
Book readings, author signing, and live acoustic music at the OMF Lit booth

• "Tito Dok" Luis Gatmaitan reads his children's stories (September 13)
  
• Award-winning Tomo artist Ariel Padilla signs copies of Tomo (September 13)
  
• Ardy Roberto reads from The Heart of Healing (September 13, 2:30pm)
• Grace D. Chong reads from Gifts of Grace Book 3 (September 14, 2:30pm)

Live broadcast!

702 DZAS broadcasts live from the OMF Lit booth on September 14-15! Meet DZAS hosts Carmen Go Vargas, Haydee Sampang, Eric Maliwat, LJ Salceda, and more. 702 DZAS can also be heard via the Internet.

Or visit OMF's webiste at : www.OMFLit.com

Rain, don't go away!

I have been hearing about rain from all over. From family and friends in Mexico, Texas, Florida, Thailand, New Jersey and in many parts of my country. As I type this, I can hear the pattering sounds the rain makes as it falls on the cemented road of my neighborhood. For a minute it sounds like it will get stronger, then a minute after, it has become silent.

I have grown to love the rain. To feel the cool air it brings. To breath the “fresher” air it leaves. To just enjoy the sound it makes. It hasn’t been always like this. I hated the traffic it creates, the mark that splashes of dirty water leaves, or the hassle that managing an umbrella brings.

It has been a year since I changed my mind about the rain. It was basically the realization that I can control my reaction about everything around me. It was the choice to see the beauty and not to focus on the negative side of life.

This also reminded me that it is possible to see in a new light the difficult situations we are going through right now. After a month, a year, ten years, experiences and trials that were so painful and overwhelming would then be seen from a different perspective. It would be easier to recognize the hand of God, who has always turned tragedies into something that can be used for His glory.

Would anyone believe me if I say that I did not feel a single irritation about the rain that left me stranded for an hour? Would anyone believe me if I declare that the accident I had a decade ago changed me for the better instead of the imagined ending of a promising future? I lost an hour because of the rain but I gained 60 minutes of reflection. A year passed me by but I earned patience, joy despite the pain, and the faith to go on in face of the unknown.

Yes, the rain does bring floods and devastation. But I choose to remember that it assuages the thirst of the earth to bring forth new life and leaves a beautiful rainbow in the end.

The rains fall all over the world. 

Wondering

Really wondering...

Thinking....

Hmmm....

Same???

Are we swaying to the same dance?

Are we hearing the same song?

Are we moving to the same rhythm?

= =  = = 

Touching Heaven, Changing Earth (Hillsong)

We will seek Your face Almighty God
Turn and pray for You to heal our land
Father let revival start in us
Then every heart will know Your kingdom come

Lifting up the name of the Lord
In power and in unity
We will see the nations turn
Touching heaven changing earth
Touching heaven changing earth

Never looking back we'll run the race
Giving You our lives we'll gain the prize
We will take the harvest given us
Though we sow in tears, we'll reap in joy

Send revival (send revival)
Send revival (send revival)
Send revival to us

Break out of your cage (A book review on "Wild Goose Chase" by Mark Batterson).

I had to put it down. I had to stop. I had to find the answers to questions that were deeply piercing my heart and mind.

This is what the book Wild Goose Chase has done to me. 

The book’s title is an allusion to the pursuit of the Holy Spirit. To the Celtic Christians, the Holy Spirit is An Geadh-Glas… the Wild Goose. Is it a fruitless pursuit, like looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? No. Is it attainable? It is. And this book is an invitation to this pursuit, which also goes by the name “adventure”.

Wild Goose Chase is the second book written by Mark Batterson, the lead pastor of the National Community Church in Washington, DC. It challenges its readers to go on the chase for the Holy Spirit and see His-Story happen through the lives of six Bible characters who broke out from six of cages and went on to pursue their great adventures for and with God.

   • The cage of responsibility
   • The cage of routine
   • The cage of assumptions
   • The cage of guilt
   • The cage of failure
   • The cage of fear 

Batterson ascribed definitions and adjectives to God which, at first, may seem sacrilegious. But, as he points out, this is only because we have confined our ideas of God within a very limited box. He definitely made use of phrases and ideas that have been heard before from other authors and books. But his gift lies in the way he is able to present these from a different and fresh perspective, skillfully conveying them for the clearer understanding of his readers. 

I especially enjoyed the author’s play of words. And I love the quotes. From the title of the book to the last chapter, the reader’s mind is stimulated to process words that are the opposites and antitheses of each other and yet, upon closer examination, yield enlightening new insights to their disparate meanings. Here are a few examples:

   “To speed up: you must slow down.”  
   “Responsibly irresponsible.” Or “Irresponsibly responsible.”
   “Predictably unpredictable.”

Here are a few of my favorite lines:

   “If you are going to chase the Wild Goose, play offense with your life!”
   “Vision is the cure for sin.”
   “The size of our dreams is a measure of our spiritual maturity. “
   “The healthiest and holiest people are the people who laugh the most!”

I had the same thoughts about his first book (In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day), that is, the words are simple enough to comprehend yet they form concepts and insights that make us intensely reflect. And act. 

This is definitely an action book.

It makes one want to go on a missions trip, to seek a change of scenery, to read the Bible more intensely, and more. For us who grew up in church and who may have lost our awe of God or forgotten to see the stories in the Bible as real, the book is a wake up from stupor. It prods one to see these biblical characters’ tales not just as bland, familiar stories from an old book but as vibrant and passionate lives, which triumphed over the limitations of their world because they chose to follow the Voice of God. 

It is a book that shepherds us towards a journey - from looking within ourselves to finding an adventurous life in God. With each word, with each turning of the page, I had to stop, reflect, and look at my life. It kept pushing me a little farther each time. I couldn’t help but to talk to God, and ask Him to change what is in me until I reached that point where I had to decide if I wanted to join the chase. 

Wild Goose Chase provides its readers with steps on how to break through each cage. The questions at the end of every chapter are, in fact, a summary of its content. I found that, through this format, the ideas became more deeply entrenched in my mind. 

Lest we misguidedly become so passionate about having adventures for adventure’s sake, Batterson cautions the readers to remember that anything and everything is about God. It is all about what Jesus has done, not about what we can do for Him.

This book is not to be read in one sitting. At least I couldn’t. Going through it, I had to face each cage and decide to get out before I could go on to the next one. As Batterson wrote, “Pacing is the key.” So I took my time. And I did finish. 

This book is anything but boring. The stories made me smile, tear up, laugh. I felt pensive, fearful for a while, dreamy, thoughtful, courageous. I found myself becoming talkative with God, more prayerful and increasingly determined. As a result, I have bought in to Mark Batterson and his vivid invitation to chase the Wild Goose.

Do you want to be challenged? Do you want to be able to make a choice? Read this book. And keep your Bible close.

I pray that you, too, will choose to chase the Wild Goose!

Go on... Chase the Wild Goose!

I wrote a few weeks ago that I was so excited. The reason? I was chosen to review Mark Batterson’s new book “Wild Goose Chase.” My review was supposed to be posted on or before its launching date: August 19, 2008.

Since I am halfway around the world, the book’s traveling time took longer. It arrived a week after the target date. But the wait was worth it. The next post is my official and personal review of the book.

To know more about the book, visit www.chasethegoose.com. You can order online at www.amazon.com or at www.barnesandnobles.com. I hope it will soon be available in our local bookstores.

I was supposed to give away a book in my review. By default, Pastor Jesse won because he caught the spirit of adventure way before the book arrived. He mentioned it in his preaching a few weeks ago  (www.ics.org.ph) and did a pre-review in his blog.  Clearly, he deserved to receive it.

I highly recommend the book to those who want to break out from different kinds of cages which could hinder them from pursuing God’s call.

Go on! Buy the book! Chase the Wild Goose! 

 

= = =

 

Summary:

Most of us have no idea where we’re going most of the time. Perfect. 

“Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit–An Geadh-Glas, or ‘the Wild Goose.’ The name hints at mystery. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious, I cannot think of a better description of what it’s like to follow the Spirit through life. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something….

Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure.” --from the introduction.

Author Bio:

Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of Washington , DC ’s National Community Church , widely recognized as one of America ’s most innovative churches. NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the city, as well as in a church-owned coffee house near Union Station. More than seventy percent of NCC’ers are single twentysomethings who live or work on Capitol Hill. Mark is the author of the best-selling In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and a widely read blogger (www.markbatterson.com). He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Lora, and their three children.

Cover art:

 

Better is one day in Your courts

I never thought I would hear those words from you. I can't imagine how you could have considered such an option. Not after all the discussions we had about God and love.

But I saw  that God made a way out for you. I just hope that you learned from what you experienced. 

I did wonder why you were brought back to us. Now I understand.  

= = =

A single day in Your courts

 is better than a thousand anywhere else!

I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God

 than to live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

For the Lord is our sun and our shield

 He gives us grace and glory.

The Lord will withhold no good thing

 from those who do what is right.

O Lord of Heaven's armies

 what joy for those who trust in You.

- Psalm 84:10-12-

Little blessings

It really is a year of changes and challenges. I often feel overwhelmed by things that are happening to me right now. I cannot seem to see the ending though I know it somewhere down the road. I just need to walk a little further.

I am thankful though for blessings. Big blessings. Little blessings. They come as a surprise and just refresh me to go on and look at the bright side of life.

- To read the words "Thank God!" from a colleague who normally complains a lot.

- For a much awaited email from a friend that brings me excitement for my vacation trip.

- For a chat with a friend about peeling away assumptions that hinder our lives.

- For finally learning how to properly address my new boss.

- A text message from a teacher whose actions assure me she cares enough to see me through this test.

- The Christmas song wafting though the mall that brought a smile on my lips.

- The appreciation of a colleague for the peanuts I gave her to alleviate her hunger pangs.

- For the favorite macaroni soup I had for dinner. My feel-good food.

- For just being able to think and write.

Thank God!