Saturday is Carecell Day

Saturdays has become Carecell Day for our youth. I am so blessed to have such dedicated and faithful leaders who are responding to the call of ministering to the youth. Currently we have 4 Carecells: Footsteps (composed of high school & college students), Voice-box (composed of college and working youth), Coffee Break (composed of young professionals) and our recently started Carecell, The Burke Plaza Carecell which is composed of young professionals from a real estate company in that building. Today (5th meeting) we celebrated Kenneth's birthday. She (yes, she's a girl) is the one who asked us to come to Burke. I was glad that there were new faces in the group. We had a great time of fellowship over food and the Word. After that, it was time to visit the Coffee Break Carecell that met at Quickchef, a new resto in Masangkay. Again it was a blessing meeting with them. I'm happy that this group has finally gelled and bonded. I believe we have crossed-over from being lesson/teaching-centered to becoming a Carecell that is bonded by relationships. Lord, bless these communities more...

Psalm 103 ... Gotta paste everything!

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-

3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-

18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.

21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.

22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.

Day in the Life: Clean-up Day

I'm feeling better now. Thank God! Thursday was really an encourager for me because of ...

• My class with Doc Mac - It helped me see my problem as it is, not as a giant but a manageable challenge. I'm really blessed by this professor.
• Chapel service - The speaker this week was great. Dr. Ayo is a Nigerian professor who ministered in the Philippines for more than 20 years but is now teaching in the States. He preached about the subject of holiness. Holiness means Humility, Obedience, Love for God , Integrity, N (Long-suffering?), Endurance, Self-denial & Separation from the world unto God.
  
• My counseling session with Ma'am Zonia - It helped me unload. We will be meeting regularly now.
  
• Midweek service at Word for the World - Visiting their Thursday service was part of my requirement for Field Education but it has encouraged me personally.
• Dinner with Netty and Richard & Neri - After service we went to Alexa in dela Costa Street for a time of couples fellowship with Carecell-mates Richard and Neri. Food is nice and free Wifi.

Praise God! I'm on my way! :)

Momentary Feeling of Purposelessness

I'm at school right now waiting for the next class. Our leadership class dismissed an hour earlier. So I did as I planned visit the bank to make some transactions.

I'm still in this state of "momentary feeling of purposelessness". I don't like the feeling. For one, I'm not smiling. For someone who has been coined to be rarely smile, this one I consciously notice. My prayer: "Lord, restore the joy of my salvation." John Piper in his study of Psalm 51 said it's the lost of that joy in the presence of the Lord followers of the Lord get distracted and do stupid things. How do you bounce back from this feeling? I have gone through worse breakdowns and I could see this is not the max of it.

Just stay put and put a tight grip...

Mom is feeling better. They will go to the doctor for another check-up.

It's weird I'm in this state of lack of direction again. I'm thinking for something to be thankful about. Of course there always is. My work is ok, my school is ok, my ministry in BFGFC is ok. It's the typical me--the smallest flaw ticks me off. I need to tell myself its not the end of the world.

I'm thankful that last night I was able to chat with a good friend and colleague and ministry who is experiencing the same thing or even worse than me. It's good that someone understands and someone to be encouraged with.

This too shall pass as all the problems and challenges I went through. I always say that when we're in the middle of the storm it sucks, and that's the worst time to make any judgment calls and decisions. The most we have to do is to stay put, put a tight grip on the Rock until the storm passes.

As I told my friend, I don't want to be the type of leader who just go through his leadership position without impacting the place where the Lord has put me. I just can't accept that. But in my situation I'm in, I could easily blame external factors. But I will choose not to do that.

See, even as I write this I'm feeling better. I should do this often.

But I already know what's the problem (with me), and the answer is so simple, yet because of our stubbornness it looks as if it's the hardest thing to do. I'm hear myself saying "what I don't want to do, I do. And what I need to do I do not do."

Lord, just hit me one more time.

But I Have No Other Hope

Be silent now and leave me alone.
Let me speak, and I will face the consequences.
Yes I will take my life in my hands
and say what I really think.
God might kill me, but I have no other hope.
I am going to argue my case with him.
But this is what will save me--I am not godless.
If I were, I could not stand before him.

Job 13:13-16 (NLT)

Urgent Prayer Request

I'm a bit stressed right now. For four days now, my mom's experiencing bad headache due to high blood pressure. Just now she was b-p'ed by my dad: 150/80. I've seen her experiencing the pain and it just breaks my heart. Please include us in your prayers. God is our healer.

Day in The Life: Ice Fell from the Sky

It's the weirdest day today. After lunch I was watching The Happening by M. Night Shyamalan on my laptop. Too bad the story should have been good for a thriller but I just couldn't stand the bad dialogues typical of a Shyamalan movie (The Signs also suffered from bad dialogues). Anyway, still I was creeped out by the movie.

After watching, it began to rain really hard outside as if there's a really bad typhoon again. Then suddenly I heard hitting noises on our roof as if rocks were falling on it. So I looked outside my window and I was shocked when it was raining hail! The hail that were falling were twice the size of a marble. I was kinda creeped out of this meteorological display after watching the movie that address the issue of global warming.

Kinda sleepy now. It's great to be back and hopefully in full effect.