I Believe There is More

You have been good to me
You have been good to me
You have been gracious
You have been faithful
Meeting my needs

Lord, it's so plain to see
You have been good to me
I have been given so much
I can't even Begin to thank You

And still I believe there is more
I believe there is more I believe
So open my hands to receive
All that Your love has in store
Lord, I believe

Everything I have done
All that I've said and sung
Lifting Your story giving You glory
That's just the beginning
Father, I know there is more
Power to heal and restore
Miracles wonders blessings unnumbered
Love never-ending

Exceeding abundantly
More than our minds can imagine
Love overflowing
You are bestowing
Day after day after day

Becoming 30

I've been catching myself twice now saying I'm past my prime. I just turned 30 last September 11. And two times I spoke in the pulpit I have caught myself saying to the young to serve God while they are young because being 30, it's past the prime age to serve God. It's like I blurt it out of nowhere. It's good that I have this time to really reflect on what I'm saying. I am wondering myself what's in my heart that convinces me to say this. So I look into myself.

When I say that, I feel that I have accomplished something. Like a soldier who has been to the war, talking to the ones who are just going out to war. There is some truth in that, but there's also a hint of pride. I wanted to hear, wow you've been through a lot, I wanted to feel a pat on the back. Is this assessment true? Sometimes I can be hard on myself. And now I'm confused. 

But as I reflect upon this it's nice to hear, but I refuse to believe that. Something inside me refuses to accept this sort of lie--that I'm past my prime. I hear myself criticizing myself, really you are past your prime? How about the next 50 years more? Are you going to live and look at today from the past's perspective? I refuse to accept that. How about the other statement you say and the declaration that you pray over people, that the best days of their life are still to come? Don't you believe that perhaps and more likely God has still something in store for you in the future, that the best days of your life are still ahead of you?

Yes. The best days of my life are still ahead of me. I am not past my prime yet. I remember Caleb that even at the end of his life he said that he can still fight wars and he refused to retire. 

"... just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then." - Joshua 14:10-11

I want to be like that. I refuse to view today from the perspective of past glories and victories. His mercies are NEW every morning. I'm tempted to say 30 is the new 20. But I think it's another deviation from reality. 30 is 30. But  Being 30, I'll celebrate God's faithfulness in the last decade. In the last 10 years (2001-2010):

• I've supported myself out of college and graduated in Architecture.
• I've received my calling as a minister of the gospel.
• God has allowed me to serve Him in many ways, especially through young people.
• I've entered the seminary and finished my M. Div.
• God has blessed me with family who continues to be a constant support in my life.
• God has blessed me with a wonderful wife for whom and to whom I'm so grateful.
• And many, many more. I've been blessed. 

Being 30, I look forward for the new decade, new season, new adventure of my walk with God.

Thank God for helping me put things in perspective. My advice, prepare to become thirty and settle your hang-ups (I feel with so much busyness I've failed to prepare myself about this). Face the truth. Celebrate the past, live in the now, and anticipate the best days that are yet to come.

My prayer is that God, make it more clearer, strip me off the accolades so that I may see myself from Your eyes. Because that's what matters. I cannot satisfy the world's standards because I am not of the world, just as Jesus is. My identity is in Christ.

Philippians 3: 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Balanga & Bilaonan

Yesterday and the day before I was on the field again for Chi Alpha. Last Friday Ptr. Alvin and I visited Bataan Peninsula State University. The local XA has invited us to do a How to Succeed in College seminar for the freshmen students of Mechanical Engineering. 85 students showed up and heard the gospel. They are now going to follow up on them. XA-BPSU has been experiencing growth in the past few months. Before they are meeting as one group and it's one big group, but now they multiplied themselves into 5 small groups, one per school day. The XA president even remarks that she recognizes new faces added to each group that she doesn't know some of them anymore. It's a lesson. Learn to take smart risks. If the risk is worth trying then do it.

By 2PM I was already in the bus station in Balanga, en route to Pangasinan. NLDC XA is holding its first district XA congress in Lubic Bible College. The trip took longer than I expected. I was traveling alone, and felt lonely, conversing with God. And I was reminded that Jesus had moments of aloneness, not loneliness. I arrived at sabatan (intersection in Ilocano) a few more steps to the bible school. I was greeted by voices of young people singing worship songs. Brian, one of the XA leaders was already waiting for me at the gate. We went up to the room where they gathered and the classroom was filled with XA leaders from different campuses worshipping God. I was amazed. No time to meet and greet, I joined the chorus and started worshipping God. How awesome is His presence. I can't keep myself from crying because of what God has showed me. Earlier in Bataan and now in Pangasinan/La-Union. God is moving among the young people, despite of the storms raging elsewhere. After that wonderful worship, I led the session about Envisioning a Culture where Movement of Multiplying Disciples Thrive. I led two more sessions the next day. It was a great time of fellowship with Ptr. Crame and Ptr. Ley and the local XA leaders in the campuses.

It was raining non-stop when I finally boarded the bus back to Manila. Another time to reflect and think where is God in this, where He is leading me. As I read today's devotion, I am reminded to keep my priorities straight, and keep the one thing at the forefront:

"... I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me ... One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Ph 3:12-14

I need a motivation

1AM. I am back again in blogger. Non-commital. Tumblr has been blurred and vague. 

Anyway, I just finished working on the things needed for our major company meeting tomorrow. It seems that now that our boss is back we will get some more work done. I've been thinking and reflecting about how this work fits my future. Going back I came in this ministry company March 2010 shortly after my wedding. The motivation: I need to get a stable job. The proposal: Flexible work week. But as the time pass by there has been an unspoken rule to report daily. My late check-ins are not helping either. My freelance work, booming. Makes me think that I need to trust God more. In fact for the past 3 months I've been recording our financial make-up, God has provided enough to make us survive the month. How He provides is just amazing. So going back to my day job, it feels that like charity. Well in a way it should be. One of my superiors himself have told me that they are not paying me as much as I should be paid. I think someone here needs to give us a vision and a motivation. So what's keeping me to my desk? A few reasons come to mind.