Facts about China of today:
1. It is now the world’s third biggest economy next to USA and Japan only. Analysts predict it will top the world economy by 2045 at the rate it is booming.
2. It’s annual GDP has averaged 9.5% the past 2 decades.
3. It’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) last year was $ 69.5 billion and among the word’s top.
4. It is now widely regarded as the factory capital of the world.
Before the 1980’s, China was deeply entrenched in its quagmire of social unrest and political uncertainty brought about by the Cultural Revolution that lasted for about 10 years. It took Deng Xiaoping, China’s enigmatic leader, to challenge the hard-stance communist thinking and infused a controlled capitalism into their country. Received with skepticism, the country started to realize their potential to achieve what any other previous communist countries have not tried. And the results were staggering and mind blowing.
Deng Xiaoping’s heralded quote was – “We can open our door and windows to let the fresh air in while keeping the insects outside.”
What has this got to do with our walk in faith?
We live in crucial and trying times where there are still many people suffering from “spiritual” communism.
Some people are stymied to have another relationship because of devastating past relationships.
Some people are hindered by fears of rejection or failure so they would prefer to just keep their distance.
Some people are caught-up in their traumatic hurts and reject any idea of forgiveness.
Some people are delaying or rejecting conversion, thinking that God can wait, or worse, that God does not care or is just a figment of other people’s imagination.
Some people remains in their comfort zones, undisturbed and unperturbed.
Some people are strongly chained in the bondage of habitual sins.
Some people are holding back their faith growth because of anger and hatred, of pride and prejudice, of self-righteous and selfish living.
Some people have given up on life altogether.
Today is the start of a new year – a symbolic fresh start that we can choose to make the difference in our lives.
We need a “spiritual self-revolution” to start dealing with all the fears, complacencies and indifferences in our hearts.
We need to internalize a radical change of mind-set in order for us to discover our true sense of destiny – our very own purpose in this life.
For some, the light at the end of the tunnel is at hand while others are still groping in the dark, moving slowly in the direction towards the light
Wherever we are now, my suggested battle-cry for us this year is – “I can open myself to love (and possible hurt) again, while keeping safety net based on God’s love.”
Love God with all our mind, strength, heart and spirit.
Love other as we love ourselves.
Below are our doubts and God’s replies:
You say: "It's impossible"
God says: All things are possible
(Luke 18:27)
You say: "I'm too tired"
God says: I will give you rest
(Matthew 11:28-30)
You say: "Nobody really loves me"
God says: I love you
(John 3:1 6 & John 3:34 )
You say: "I can't go on"
God says: My grace is sufficient
(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)
You say: "I can't figure things out"
God says: I will direct your steps
(Proverbs 3:5- 6)
You say: "I can't do it"
God says: You can do all things
(Philippians 4:13)
You say: "I'm not able"
God says: I am able
(II Corinthians 9:8)
You say: "It's not worth it"
God says: It will be worth it
(Roman 8:28 )
You say: "I can't forgive myself"
God says: I Forgive you
(I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)
You say: "I can't manage"
God says: I will supply all your needs
(Philippians 4:19)
You say: "I'm afraid"
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear
(II Timothy 1:7)
You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated"
God says: Cast all your cares on ME
(I Peter 5:7)
You say: "I'm not smart enough"
God says: I give you wisdom
(I Corinthians 1:30)
You say: "I feel all alone"
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you
(Hebrews 13:5)
2007/12/27
The Lord of our Rings
A few days ago, a small diamond stone embedded in the middle of the heart shape figure on our wedding ring was lost. Clueless as to where it have fallen off and certain that finding it will be like looking for the proverbial needle in a mountain-high hay stack, my wife and I can only feel sad about losing that valuable piece of gem we exchanged during our 1999 wedding vows. Add the fact that it was the special wedding gift from my wife’s parent-guardian made our mood a bit gloomy.However, looking beyond the sentimental loss, we started to lighten up as we realize about the trivial riddance of that tangible insignia of our marriage of nearly nine years. It was not that important after all. What it symbolizes, on the other hand, is of outmost significance for us.…our marriage.
Our marriage, by the Lord’s graces, has been blessing us with heart-warming, life-changing, and loving memories.
We still have each other and continue to grow and mature in our relationship.
We support each other, lift each other up and laugh with each other.
We share in each other’s sadness and happiness.
We have weathered the initial marital kinks that inadvertently glued and solidified our resolve to stay together.
We still experience some discords but it has never been near the vicinity of something-to-be-worried-about situations.
We bring out the better person in each of us.
We are both healthy.
We have financial blessings.
We have good families and friends that encourage and support our marriage to work.
And to top it all, the Lord has blessed us so far with two invaluable jewels in Zek and Maia.
Nothing simply can compare to their intrinsic values by any world mint standard.
Priceless.
One diamond commercial TV ads I saw gloats that a diamond is forever.
Well, I do not necessarily subscribe to that point of view.
I recently lost one but the sad feeling hardly lasted a few minutes.
My family, on the other hand, is here to stay with me for my lifetime.
And I have no way to doubt that our Lord will let all His heavenly-ordained moments and memories to simply fade away after my earthly life.
Thank you Lord because my marriage is one of my eternal treasures.
Parental Guidance
Proverbs 22:6 Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their life
The art of rearing a child is this:
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
- taken from Servant of All (Kids)
Being relatively new to the vocation of parenthood, my wife and I are still facing lots of challenges and trials on how to bring up our child Zek who is now a toddler and has a deep-well source of energy and curiosity in himself. So it has helped us a lot to hear stories and sharings of our parents, relatives and friends who are in advance stage in their parental experience. We also bought 2 books - "Discipline without Shouting or Spanking" and "TV-free 365 Activities for Toddlers" as our handy-dandy references if we want to try out fresh ideas. But the greatest challenge by far is how we are going to raise him to become a God-loving Catholic person we all want our children to be.And so looking back at what we have done and what we are still doing, here are some of our own baby-step tips on how we are raising our 3-year old son.
Teach
Even when he was still in her mother's womb, we have been reading Jesus stories to him before we all sleep at night. And this we continue to do so during his first year. It was only after he learned to have fun turning ( I actually mean "tearing") the pages did we stop and keep the book again. But this year, we will try to revive this activity with her new baby sister so both will hear and learn about Jesus at their early age. We just hope he will already outgrow his page-tearing activity by now. We bring him along during the twice a month Sunday masses. We try our best to have our morning and evening prayers. By now, iIt is simply heartwarming to see Zek making the sign of the cross by himself or to hear him instinctively repeating after the Our Father, reciting the last part of Hail Mary and mumbling the Glory Be prayers. We also let him listen to Christian meditation songs during his nap time. Basic virtues we also tackle as situations comes - respectfulness, politeness, helpfulness, sharing and obedience are favorite topics at his present age.
Time
Being an OFW, it is an exceptionally wonderful blessing that my family can stay with me. This precious privilege I appreciate by making sure I spend quality time with them. When I'm in the office, then I earnestly do my job so that at the end of the day, I absolutely have no need to do work at home and just be a 95% father to our son (Yes, 100% is my target but I must admit that I am still struggling to give up 1 to 2 hours weekly when my favorite TV shows are in season). Zek and I have our routine after dinner - playing or "goofing" time, washing time and finally, sleeping time. He knows it by heart and the sparkle in his eyes says how much he loves doing them with me. I sincerely do also. It is the highlight of my everyday.
Tag-Team
My wife and I share the tasks in taking care of Zek because we believe that our child needs us both to guide him. If one of us reprimands his misbehavior, the other one explains to him later so he understands the effects of his wrong behavior and receives assurance that we love him despite his misbehavior.In taking care of him, my wife takes the whole day and the graveyard shift while the mornings will be my turn to clean and wash all the used bottles and to prepare our breakfast so she can sleep a little longer. During weekends, it will be our exclusive father and son bonding time the whole day. We play, watch his favorite DVD shows, go outside for a walk or to the nearby supermarket and do anything we can think of at the spur of the moment.
Trust
And for whatever we are lacking, overlooking or failing to do, we pray and lift them up to the Lord and entrust our Zek and baby Maia to His unfailing care, guidance and protection.
New ideas and approaches are inevitable as Zek and baby Maia grows and their strengths and interests becomes evident but we honestly believe these 4 points will be our main guiding points. And yes, we have already sent inquiry feelers to CFA so Zek can be enrolled by next school year. Excitement abounds.
Our family journey is just beginning and we have a lot to learn and to look forward to. Still, sometimes, we do wonder if we are on the right track in raising our children properly.Curiously, whenever this silly thought occurs, all we have to do is catch a glimpse of Zek or Maia smiling or serenely in their sleep and all anxieties simply go away.
We'll be fine.
Our Lord God will make sure about that.
Our trust is in Him.
The art of rearing a child is this:
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
- taken from Servant of All (Kids)
Being relatively new to the vocation of parenthood, my wife and I are still facing lots of challenges and trials on how to bring up our child Zek who is now a toddler and has a deep-well source of energy and curiosity in himself. So it has helped us a lot to hear stories and sharings of our parents, relatives and friends who are in advance stage in their parental experience. We also bought 2 books - "Discipline without Shouting or Spanking" and "TV-free 365 Activities for Toddlers" as our handy-dandy references if we want to try out fresh ideas. But the greatest challenge by far is how we are going to raise him to become a God-loving Catholic person we all want our children to be.And so looking back at what we have done and what we are still doing, here are some of our own baby-step tips on how we are raising our 3-year old son.
Teach
Even when he was still in her mother's womb, we have been reading Jesus stories to him before we all sleep at night. And this we continue to do so during his first year. It was only after he learned to have fun turning ( I actually mean "tearing") the pages did we stop and keep the book again. But this year, we will try to revive this activity with her new baby sister so both will hear and learn about Jesus at their early age. We just hope he will already outgrow his page-tearing activity by now. We bring him along during the twice a month Sunday masses. We try our best to have our morning and evening prayers. By now, iIt is simply heartwarming to see Zek making the sign of the cross by himself or to hear him instinctively repeating after the Our Father, reciting the last part of Hail Mary and mumbling the Glory Be prayers. We also let him listen to Christian meditation songs during his nap time. Basic virtues we also tackle as situations comes - respectfulness, politeness, helpfulness, sharing and obedience are favorite topics at his present age.
Time
Being an OFW, it is an exceptionally wonderful blessing that my family can stay with me. This precious privilege I appreciate by making sure I spend quality time with them. When I'm in the office, then I earnestly do my job so that at the end of the day, I absolutely have no need to do work at home and just be a 95% father to our son (Yes, 100% is my target but I must admit that I am still struggling to give up 1 to 2 hours weekly when my favorite TV shows are in season). Zek and I have our routine after dinner - playing or "goofing" time, washing time and finally, sleeping time. He knows it by heart and the sparkle in his eyes says how much he loves doing them with me. I sincerely do also. It is the highlight of my everyday.
Tag-Team
My wife and I share the tasks in taking care of Zek because we believe that our child needs us both to guide him. If one of us reprimands his misbehavior, the other one explains to him later so he understands the effects of his wrong behavior and receives assurance that we love him despite his misbehavior.In taking care of him, my wife takes the whole day and the graveyard shift while the mornings will be my turn to clean and wash all the used bottles and to prepare our breakfast so she can sleep a little longer. During weekends, it will be our exclusive father and son bonding time the whole day. We play, watch his favorite DVD shows, go outside for a walk or to the nearby supermarket and do anything we can think of at the spur of the moment.
Trust
And for whatever we are lacking, overlooking or failing to do, we pray and lift them up to the Lord and entrust our Zek and baby Maia to His unfailing care, guidance and protection.
New ideas and approaches are inevitable as Zek and baby Maia grows and their strengths and interests becomes evident but we honestly believe these 4 points will be our main guiding points. And yes, we have already sent inquiry feelers to CFA so Zek can be enrolled by next school year. Excitement abounds.
Our family journey is just beginning and we have a lot to learn and to look forward to. Still, sometimes, we do wonder if we are on the right track in raising our children properly.Curiously, whenever this silly thought occurs, all we have to do is catch a glimpse of Zek or Maia smiling or serenely in their sleep and all anxieties simply go away.
We'll be fine.
Our Lord God will make sure about that.
Our trust is in Him.
When science threatens our faith
A teacher and student discussion in the not so distant future.
”You are a very bright student but your bad attitude is not going to get you anywhere. Why can’t you behave for some minutes.”
”Cmon, mam. Don’t look at me. It was my parents’ idea all along,” handing out his “genetic ID card” to the teacher. “They should have chosen that trait when they were programming me.”
Startled?
You shouldn’t be.
Leaps and bounds in genetic advancements have scientists giggly excited at the thought of tinkering with what we have always known to be natural all in the name of scientific glory. Just recently, science claim that we can not only find out early if a child is to be born with birth defects to induce early termination but we can, in the very near future, even choose in advance the genetic composition that we want for our children.
Excellence in Mathematics, Physics, Economics and the like will be for the picking of the would-be parents who will get all the credits for their children’s success ergo side by side with the blames for every failures. You can virtually choose your own child’s destiny and consequently sees less need for God’s intervention and guidance. Your child can exactly be what you want - not what he/she wants and definitely not what God wants.
Even our beloved Pope has expressed his deep concern towards the wrongful use of advance technology and its effect on our Christian faith.A Zenit article stated:
“the Holy Father said, "This increasing 'advance' of science, and especially its capacity to master nature through technology, has at times been linked to a corresponding 'retreat' of philosophy, of religion, and even of the Christian faith."Indeed, some have seen in the progress of modern science and technology one of the main causes of secularization and materialism: Why invoke God's control over these phenomena when science has shown itself capable of doing the same thing?"
Programmed kids they will be.
Children of science, not ours, not God’s.
Scary thoughts aren’t they?
”You are a very bright student but your bad attitude is not going to get you anywhere. Why can’t you behave for some minutes.”
”Cmon, mam. Don’t look at me. It was my parents’ idea all along,” handing out his “genetic ID card” to the teacher. “They should have chosen that trait when they were programming me.”
Startled?
You shouldn’t be.
Leaps and bounds in genetic advancements have scientists giggly excited at the thought of tinkering with what we have always known to be natural all in the name of scientific glory. Just recently, science claim that we can not only find out early if a child is to be born with birth defects to induce early termination but we can, in the very near future, even choose in advance the genetic composition that we want for our children.
Excellence in Mathematics, Physics, Economics and the like will be for the picking of the would-be parents who will get all the credits for their children’s success ergo side by side with the blames for every failures. You can virtually choose your own child’s destiny and consequently sees less need for God’s intervention and guidance. Your child can exactly be what you want - not what he/she wants and definitely not what God wants.
Even our beloved Pope has expressed his deep concern towards the wrongful use of advance technology and its effect on our Christian faith.A Zenit article stated:
“the Holy Father said, "This increasing 'advance' of science, and especially its capacity to master nature through technology, has at times been linked to a corresponding 'retreat' of philosophy, of religion, and even of the Christian faith."Indeed, some have seen in the progress of modern science and technology one of the main causes of secularization and materialism: Why invoke God's control over these phenomena when science has shown itself capable of doing the same thing?"
Programmed kids they will be.
Children of science, not ours, not God’s.
Scary thoughts aren’t they?
E.R. in real life
Last night I watched the TV drama series “ER” with 2 cases of unwanted pregnancies and the overwhelming opinions of some doctors that abortion is a rightful option of any mother-to-be. It emphasized the medical field’s general belief that a fetus below 3 months has no life yet. It is nothing but a “lump of blood and meat” that can be discarded to give way to the “right” of the mother.
One character portraying a male Christian doctor even used a Genesis passage that God breathe life to Adam as a man and not as a fetus to convince the 15-year old Christian girl that it is OK and to make her feel comfortably blameless in terminating her 7 week fetus. What is worse is that the same doctor gave the girl an abortion method that will appear to be a miscarriage in order that her parents (devout Christians who made known their intention to keep the baby) will never know about the abortion.
The other mother-to-be was another female doctor from the same hospital who got pregnant by (guess who?) the same male doctor. Of course, (and you bet he would!) he supports the idea of abortion even on his very own child in the womb. All for the sake of their convenience and professional careers.(note: sorry for telling you the whole story because, anyway, these TV shows are hard to find in rentable DVDs if there are any at all )
In the end however, the female doctor, while being overcome by her mother’s love and conscience, decided to keep her baby.
The question for us is this: Is this just a fictional story or real life stories trying to pass themselves on as scripts?
For me, they are very real.
Abortion is really an abomination and it happens everyday in hundreds and thousands of cases around the world. The mother and child are both victims here perpetuated by those people who have total disrespect for God and the sanctity of human life.
Twice in the past, I have been given the chance to stand up for a child to be aborted and twice I have failed. The first time was a very passive and almost indifferent reaction from me. And the second one was a slow non-engaging response to convince the father-to-be not to go ahead with their planned abortion. Both situations ended in innocent souls being deprived of their lives even before they were even born.
These experiences continue to haunt me these days especially when reading, hearing or watching abortion cases like last night.Now I can only pray for these 2 mothers and fathers who went ahead with the abortions, the doctor and the “hilot” who facilitated the murders and the coward people like me who did not give these children enough voices to fight for their inalienable and divine right to live.
Please offer a prayer of forgiveness and total healing for us in this regard.
And may God have mercy on our souls.
One character portraying a male Christian doctor even used a Genesis passage that God breathe life to Adam as a man and not as a fetus to convince the 15-year old Christian girl that it is OK and to make her feel comfortably blameless in terminating her 7 week fetus. What is worse is that the same doctor gave the girl an abortion method that will appear to be a miscarriage in order that her parents (devout Christians who made known their intention to keep the baby) will never know about the abortion.
The other mother-to-be was another female doctor from the same hospital who got pregnant by (guess who?) the same male doctor. Of course, (and you bet he would!) he supports the idea of abortion even on his very own child in the womb. All for the sake of their convenience and professional careers.(note: sorry for telling you the whole story because, anyway, these TV shows are hard to find in rentable DVDs if there are any at all )
In the end however, the female doctor, while being overcome by her mother’s love and conscience, decided to keep her baby.
The question for us is this: Is this just a fictional story or real life stories trying to pass themselves on as scripts?
For me, they are very real.
Abortion is really an abomination and it happens everyday in hundreds and thousands of cases around the world. The mother and child are both victims here perpetuated by those people who have total disrespect for God and the sanctity of human life.
Twice in the past, I have been given the chance to stand up for a child to be aborted and twice I have failed. The first time was a very passive and almost indifferent reaction from me. And the second one was a slow non-engaging response to convince the father-to-be not to go ahead with their planned abortion. Both situations ended in innocent souls being deprived of their lives even before they were even born.
These experiences continue to haunt me these days especially when reading, hearing or watching abortion cases like last night.Now I can only pray for these 2 mothers and fathers who went ahead with the abortions, the doctor and the “hilot” who facilitated the murders and the coward people like me who did not give these children enough voices to fight for their inalienable and divine right to live.
Please offer a prayer of forgiveness and total healing for us in this regard.
And may God have mercy on our souls.
Autumn Leaves
Have you ever wondered why autumn leaves fall?
Is it gravity?
Is it the wind?
Is it the withering stage of the leaves?
I never know also until I watched a feature on one US news program.As a true wonder of nature, the secret lies within the tree itself. While autumn nears, the trees sends signals to its branches and twigs to start a certain “separation line” between them and each leaf attached to them. The line is so thin that it is not visible to the naked eyes.
A simple test can prove this. The reporter broke a twig during the summer and let it dry. Amazingly, the dry leaves does not easily fall off the twigs even when being subjected to a relatively strong wind. Why? Because the separation line was not yet activated during the summer.
The tree knows when to discard itself even of its most vital parts when necessary – that is to prepare for the winter.Snows that will be deposited on its branches are heavy enough and the additional weight of leaves with snow can ultimately break the branches and cause the tree to die.
May we learn from the autumn tree – to be able to separate ourselves from the good things in our life, from our comfort zones once the call of God arrives. It is not going to be easy but it is what Jesus tells us to do if we want to follow Him.
“Take up your cross”.
Winter will be cold and heavy but, like the tree, we can always look forward to spring time when God’s blessing will pour out in sheer abundance.
The tree will grow new leaves, flowers and, for some, even fruits.
The morning dew will trickle down its leaves once again.
The gentle breeze will whistle though the rustling leaves once more.
The birds and animals will rest on its wide shade.
The tree will get back its splendor and glory.
Is it gravity?
Is it the wind?
Is it the withering stage of the leaves?
I never know also until I watched a feature on one US news program.As a true wonder of nature, the secret lies within the tree itself. While autumn nears, the trees sends signals to its branches and twigs to start a certain “separation line” between them and each leaf attached to them. The line is so thin that it is not visible to the naked eyes.
A simple test can prove this. The reporter broke a twig during the summer and let it dry. Amazingly, the dry leaves does not easily fall off the twigs even when being subjected to a relatively strong wind. Why? Because the separation line was not yet activated during the summer.
The tree knows when to discard itself even of its most vital parts when necessary – that is to prepare for the winter.Snows that will be deposited on its branches are heavy enough and the additional weight of leaves with snow can ultimately break the branches and cause the tree to die.
May we learn from the autumn tree – to be able to separate ourselves from the good things in our life, from our comfort zones once the call of God arrives. It is not going to be easy but it is what Jesus tells us to do if we want to follow Him.
“Take up your cross”.
Winter will be cold and heavy but, like the tree, we can always look forward to spring time when God’s blessing will pour out in sheer abundance.
The tree will grow new leaves, flowers and, for some, even fruits.
The morning dew will trickle down its leaves once again.
The gentle breeze will whistle though the rustling leaves once more.
The birds and animals will rest on its wide shade.
The tree will get back its splendor and glory.
Truth or Consequence
I remember playing this game during grade school only if one of my childhood “crushes” are playing with the group. The game rules are simple – either you are vowed to tell the truth, among other things, who is your crush or you will opt to do other funny or embarrassing consequences. It was quite a fun game at that.
What I haven’t learned from that game was how not telling the truth can also have serious consequences in my life and other people’s lives.
Looking back at my growing years, I can recall some first-hand experiences of how my dishonesty had deeply harmed others.Still back in grade-school, I spent many afternoon in our neighbor’s soiled backyard playing all common boy games – at times it involves only physical activity like the then-famous “tumbang-preso”, “harangang-taga”, or “moro-moro” but mostly it involves also some money like “tanching” (placing some coins inside a square line on the ground and trying to take them outside using another coin) or the “text” games (playing for small cards you can buy on the store). In order to sustain this playing habit, I normally put aside some of my daily school allowances or as a last resort, take a few coins from my father’s hanging pants and informed him later. Everyday was the same routine for me until one afternoon before New Year’s day. Because of the holiday vacation, I did not have any baon to spare and spend that time. My playmates were eagerly calling and waiting for me. Our father has not arrived home yet. The next thing I know, my hand was reaching down, instead, into my mother’s hand bag and got hold of a P10 bill. Nobody saw me and our mother would not notice it, in my thinking.
Or so I thought.
That same night, our mother did found out about it and all of us 4 brothers were made to stand side-by-side outdoor. One by one, our father and mother asked each one of us. My brothers denied and I lied. Our parents were angry when it was evident that no one is admitting the misdeed, so they made us stayed standing outside until the New Year festivities started. My 3 brothers were very upset since they were innocent and I ruined our New Year celebration that night because of my lie.
You think I would have learned after that.
Nope.
One time, I also lost a new wristwatch that my parents gave me but I was scared to admit that I lost it. So when my parents noticed that I am not wearing their gift, I pretended to look into my cabinet and appeared perplexed that it was not there anymore. In the end, my parents have mistakenly confronted my uncle who was temporarily staying with us that time. My uncle downheartedly left our house because of the false accusation, because of my lie.
These are just 2 vivid recollections of how my lies have hurt other people back then.
How I wish I can turn back the clock and rectify my sins but the harm was forever done.
I am grateful to our Lord for helping me to outgrow my childhood dishonesty. There was no flash-of-lightning or burning-bush incident when I started practicing honesty but only through step-by-step and moment-by-moment awareness of doing it. I am not perfectly honest until now. Sometimes, I still do fail, particularly with white lies that I assume wont hurt anyone (again).
But our God is patient with me so I will continue to improve myself.
In His time and by His grace, I know I will be.
What I haven’t learned from that game was how not telling the truth can also have serious consequences in my life and other people’s lives.
Looking back at my growing years, I can recall some first-hand experiences of how my dishonesty had deeply harmed others.Still back in grade-school, I spent many afternoon in our neighbor’s soiled backyard playing all common boy games – at times it involves only physical activity like the then-famous “tumbang-preso”, “harangang-taga”, or “moro-moro” but mostly it involves also some money like “tanching” (placing some coins inside a square line on the ground and trying to take them outside using another coin) or the “text” games (playing for small cards you can buy on the store). In order to sustain this playing habit, I normally put aside some of my daily school allowances or as a last resort, take a few coins from my father’s hanging pants and informed him later. Everyday was the same routine for me until one afternoon before New Year’s day. Because of the holiday vacation, I did not have any baon to spare and spend that time. My playmates were eagerly calling and waiting for me. Our father has not arrived home yet. The next thing I know, my hand was reaching down, instead, into my mother’s hand bag and got hold of a P10 bill. Nobody saw me and our mother would not notice it, in my thinking.
Or so I thought.
That same night, our mother did found out about it and all of us 4 brothers were made to stand side-by-side outdoor. One by one, our father and mother asked each one of us. My brothers denied and I lied. Our parents were angry when it was evident that no one is admitting the misdeed, so they made us stayed standing outside until the New Year festivities started. My 3 brothers were very upset since they were innocent and I ruined our New Year celebration that night because of my lie.
You think I would have learned after that.
Nope.
One time, I also lost a new wristwatch that my parents gave me but I was scared to admit that I lost it. So when my parents noticed that I am not wearing their gift, I pretended to look into my cabinet and appeared perplexed that it was not there anymore. In the end, my parents have mistakenly confronted my uncle who was temporarily staying with us that time. My uncle downheartedly left our house because of the false accusation, because of my lie.
These are just 2 vivid recollections of how my lies have hurt other people back then.
How I wish I can turn back the clock and rectify my sins but the harm was forever done.
I am grateful to our Lord for helping me to outgrow my childhood dishonesty. There was no flash-of-lightning or burning-bush incident when I started practicing honesty but only through step-by-step and moment-by-moment awareness of doing it. I am not perfectly honest until now. Sometimes, I still do fail, particularly with white lies that I assume wont hurt anyone (again).
But our God is patient with me so I will continue to improve myself.
In His time and by His grace, I know I will be.
Ezekiel: The Power of Prayer
My wife and I love kids.
I remember our old times, when we would gamely talk about how many children we would like to raise, highlighting the pros and cons that goes with each number, until reaching our solemn number 3.
Year 1999 and as mutually agreed, our first year of marriage was spent in knowing each other more and enthusiastically involving ourselves with the activities of the CFC ministry. Financially, we were starting also to make some savings for our future baby. During our second year, I grabbed a work opportunity abroad so we have to be separated for a few months. But we have earnestly planned to have our baby that year so my wife resigned from her job to be with me. Unfortunately, my stressful work required frequent traveling which means we were still often away from each other. Stress and space, simply put, has hindered us to achieve our goal that year. Throughout, we have the usual supportive advices and prayer intentions from family members and friends but we did not bother to dwell on it too much.
The following year, things were meant to be more awry. Our Swiss employer has negated to pay our 5-month backwages and over-time arrears. A few months later, the company filed for bankruptcy without a single-cent collected by us. Anxiety crept. We have land mortgages to fulfill and our savings are dwindling. Nevertheless, our longing for our first baby was stronger than ever and we continue to pray for His guidance. Our decision to stay in that foreign land despite the absence of a veritable source of income turned out to be the proverbial blessing-in-disguise. One of our former German client who grew fondness with the Filipino work attitude and efficiency has offered me a job in his firm. Less basics and benefits but nonetheless timely, my wife and I deduced. Less-traveling also gave us more time to concentrate on having our first baby. But it was not meant to be not this year again.
With a growing concern, we decided to seek medical help. A specialist in Hongkong found some curable polyps as the likely cause so my wife underwent 6 months of medication to fully-recover. Notwithstanding the medical expenses, we were in high-spirits waiting for the medication to be over. Hope and excitement abounds.
By the start of 2002, with all medical check-ups finally clearing both of us of any physical infirmity and with my job stable as ever, we expected nothing less than a Santos baby this year. But days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months and there was no baby conception to announce to our families and friends. We kept our faith and hope, with the back-thoughts that, maybe, we were meant to be without a child of our own after all. We comfort ourselves with the thought that adoption is another option.
We had another vacation to the Philippines before the year ended. That time my wife?s cousin doctor introduced us to his ob-gyne friend, Dra. Perez who is far different from all the doctors we have met. After her check-ups resulted in re-confirming that we were both fit and healthy now, she did prescribe neither further tests nor health enhancement medications. Her plain advice was to pray. “We have been doing that”, I silently re-affirmed to myself. What she added, however, struck us. “The prayer”, she calmly stressed, “is not just for any given time of the day but specifically before sharing the intimate moments with each other, believing in your hearts that God will bless your union with His child”.
On May 2003, my wife tearfully told me the news and I almost hit the ceiling jumping with joy. She was 2 months into motherhood. We knelt and expressed our deepest gratitude to our Lord above for He has answered our prayers.
On January 24, 2004, Matt Ezekiel was born.
Matt is the short name for Matthew, one of the four gospels of the New Testament.
Ezekiel was an Old Testament prophet called to foretell God’s faithfulness in the midst of trials, as well as in the fulfilment of His promises.
Only this time, our Zek, is the fulfillment of God’s promise to us.
I remember our old times, when we would gamely talk about how many children we would like to raise, highlighting the pros and cons that goes with each number, until reaching our solemn number 3.
Year 1999 and as mutually agreed, our first year of marriage was spent in knowing each other more and enthusiastically involving ourselves with the activities of the CFC ministry. Financially, we were starting also to make some savings for our future baby. During our second year, I grabbed a work opportunity abroad so we have to be separated for a few months. But we have earnestly planned to have our baby that year so my wife resigned from her job to be with me. Unfortunately, my stressful work required frequent traveling which means we were still often away from each other. Stress and space, simply put, has hindered us to achieve our goal that year. Throughout, we have the usual supportive advices and prayer intentions from family members and friends but we did not bother to dwell on it too much.
The following year, things were meant to be more awry. Our Swiss employer has negated to pay our 5-month backwages and over-time arrears. A few months later, the company filed for bankruptcy without a single-cent collected by us. Anxiety crept. We have land mortgages to fulfill and our savings are dwindling. Nevertheless, our longing for our first baby was stronger than ever and we continue to pray for His guidance. Our decision to stay in that foreign land despite the absence of a veritable source of income turned out to be the proverbial blessing-in-disguise. One of our former German client who grew fondness with the Filipino work attitude and efficiency has offered me a job in his firm. Less basics and benefits but nonetheless timely, my wife and I deduced. Less-traveling also gave us more time to concentrate on having our first baby. But it was not meant to be not this year again.
With a growing concern, we decided to seek medical help. A specialist in Hongkong found some curable polyps as the likely cause so my wife underwent 6 months of medication to fully-recover. Notwithstanding the medical expenses, we were in high-spirits waiting for the medication to be over. Hope and excitement abounds.
By the start of 2002, with all medical check-ups finally clearing both of us of any physical infirmity and with my job stable as ever, we expected nothing less than a Santos baby this year. But days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months and there was no baby conception to announce to our families and friends. We kept our faith and hope, with the back-thoughts that, maybe, we were meant to be without a child of our own after all. We comfort ourselves with the thought that adoption is another option.
We had another vacation to the Philippines before the year ended. That time my wife?s cousin doctor introduced us to his ob-gyne friend, Dra. Perez who is far different from all the doctors we have met. After her check-ups resulted in re-confirming that we were both fit and healthy now, she did prescribe neither further tests nor health enhancement medications. Her plain advice was to pray. “We have been doing that”, I silently re-affirmed to myself. What she added, however, struck us. “The prayer”, she calmly stressed, “is not just for any given time of the day but specifically before sharing the intimate moments with each other, believing in your hearts that God will bless your union with His child”.
On May 2003, my wife tearfully told me the news and I almost hit the ceiling jumping with joy. She was 2 months into motherhood. We knelt and expressed our deepest gratitude to our Lord above for He has answered our prayers.
On January 24, 2004, Matt Ezekiel was born.
Matt is the short name for Matthew, one of the four gospels of the New Testament.
Ezekiel was an Old Testament prophet called to foretell God’s faithfulness in the midst of trials, as well as in the fulfilment of His promises.
Only this time, our Zek, is the fulfillment of God’s promise to us.
Gabay at Pasasalamat
”Ang mga anak kong ito ang gagabay sa aming pagtanda”.
Thus says my Dad to his brothers while brushing his fingers through my thin brown hair. They were having one of their rare San-Mig session that week-end afternoon. It never made any sense to me though. I was about 7 years old then and all I care about was sitting with them, not to drink, but to eat the delicious pulutan our Mom cooked for them.
Now I am 34 years old, married and with a 2 year old son. Our Dad is 60 years old and our Mom is 2 years older than he is. We were a brood of 4 boys and undoubtedly were a handful during our growing years. It was never easy for our dad and mom during those trying times.
Early on in their marriage, they retired from their low salaried teaching jobs to try the business world.They tried making bags for local distribution for a while until the market was saturated.They tried the wooden furniture assembly and selling them until the sales became low.They managed to save and buy a store in the town market where they started their school supplies biz and it was good for a while.After some time, they included some children clothes and groceries on their retail to be more competitive.My father, realizing that the income was not stable enough, decided to go back to employment.Dad worked under the government’s Human Settlement ministry and NABCOR and worked his way up on the corporate ladder.He was already the procurement manager at the time his boss made a juicy once-in-a-lifetime offer to him to sign a dubious contract in exchange for VP promotion and monetary commissions.
He filed for his resignation instead.
He went back to his business ventures. He was into home-delivery of fresh fishes at one time until most customers have outstanding credits that the daily net was not enough for the next procurement.Then both Dad and Mom jumped into the real estate boom, which was short-lived.The catering and canteen business looked promising so they actively pursued it. This was by far the most financially rewarding one but was taking the toll on their not-getting-any-younger bodies. The 16-hour demand was too much but they know that they cannot let go of this business. My brothers and I were well into our respective colleges that time.
Needless to say, their diversified business ventures were never an excuse for them to forestall their services to our Lord. From the birth of renewal movements in the early 80?s and until now, they are actively involved in many church activities and organizations. Add the fact that our parents were always present in all our school programs and meetings. So I cannot help but wonder how they were able to squeeze more free time for our family outings, get-togethers and homework huddle.
All of their hard-work and perseverance paid off after all these years.We did not become rich but we were never in need. And all 4 of us were able to finish our college studies and pursue our own individual careers. All my brothers and I each have our own families.
Our Dad is now 60 years old and our Mom is 62 years old.They both have high blood pressure and are both diabetic but they still tend to their small sari-sari store in front of our house. They are doing this to keep themselves active, albeit not to earn money anymore.
I am now 34 years old and my Dad’s words years ago have not really sunk into me yet. I know it will come and I pray to God that all of us their children can be as loving and persevering to them during their sunset years as they were to us during our growing years.
”Salamat po, Dad and Mom, sa pag-gabay po ninyo sa aming paglaki”.
”Salamat po, Panginoon, sa magulang na inyong ipinagkaloob po sa amin”.
Thus says my Dad to his brothers while brushing his fingers through my thin brown hair. They were having one of their rare San-Mig session that week-end afternoon. It never made any sense to me though. I was about 7 years old then and all I care about was sitting with them, not to drink, but to eat the delicious pulutan our Mom cooked for them.
Now I am 34 years old, married and with a 2 year old son. Our Dad is 60 years old and our Mom is 2 years older than he is. We were a brood of 4 boys and undoubtedly were a handful during our growing years. It was never easy for our dad and mom during those trying times.
Early on in their marriage, they retired from their low salaried teaching jobs to try the business world.They tried making bags for local distribution for a while until the market was saturated.They tried the wooden furniture assembly and selling them until the sales became low.They managed to save and buy a store in the town market where they started their school supplies biz and it was good for a while.After some time, they included some children clothes and groceries on their retail to be more competitive.My father, realizing that the income was not stable enough, decided to go back to employment.Dad worked under the government’s Human Settlement ministry and NABCOR and worked his way up on the corporate ladder.He was already the procurement manager at the time his boss made a juicy once-in-a-lifetime offer to him to sign a dubious contract in exchange for VP promotion and monetary commissions.
He filed for his resignation instead.
He went back to his business ventures. He was into home-delivery of fresh fishes at one time until most customers have outstanding credits that the daily net was not enough for the next procurement.Then both Dad and Mom jumped into the real estate boom, which was short-lived.The catering and canteen business looked promising so they actively pursued it. This was by far the most financially rewarding one but was taking the toll on their not-getting-any-younger bodies. The 16-hour demand was too much but they know that they cannot let go of this business. My brothers and I were well into our respective colleges that time.
Needless to say, their diversified business ventures were never an excuse for them to forestall their services to our Lord. From the birth of renewal movements in the early 80?s and until now, they are actively involved in many church activities and organizations. Add the fact that our parents were always present in all our school programs and meetings. So I cannot help but wonder how they were able to squeeze more free time for our family outings, get-togethers and homework huddle.
All of their hard-work and perseverance paid off after all these years.We did not become rich but we were never in need. And all 4 of us were able to finish our college studies and pursue our own individual careers. All my brothers and I each have our own families.
Our Dad is now 60 years old and our Mom is 62 years old.They both have high blood pressure and are both diabetic but they still tend to their small sari-sari store in front of our house. They are doing this to keep themselves active, albeit not to earn money anymore.
I am now 34 years old and my Dad’s words years ago have not really sunk into me yet. I know it will come and I pray to God that all of us their children can be as loving and persevering to them during their sunset years as they were to us during our growing years.
”Salamat po, Dad and Mom, sa pag-gabay po ninyo sa aming paglaki”.
”Salamat po, Panginoon, sa magulang na inyong ipinagkaloob po sa amin”.
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