40

Wow.

I am all smiles today because I just turned 40 years old.

And what amazing years it has been for me.

If I were to look back at each quarter of my 40-year life and select out my top 3 highlights, it should be these.

Years 0-10

1. I was born (yep, otherwise my 40 years in existence would have been totally moot) through my loving parents who guided and provided for me and my siblings through all these years.

2. I was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic religion which my parents have piously imparted through their devotions and integrity in both their public and personal lives.

3. I was untouchable, not because I was a toughie, but on the contrary, I was a sickly, asthmatically thin dark boy who shuffles from bed-rest to hospital wards with all kinds of ailments easily finding refuge in my weak body. This is why even the most despicable bully around would take pity on me.

Years 11-20

1. I entered the seminary for 3 years. On the first 2 years, I never had the inclination to pursue priesthood and instead willingly did or participated in unmeritorious activities, yet I was not expelled. On my 3rd year, I thought I felt the vocation only to be "regent-out" by the end of that school-year. I made a few half-hearted attempts to go back to no avail (Thank you, Lord for not choosing this vocation for me). Nevertheless, the training and experience there has been a good foundation for my present beliefs and thinking. And the friendship I established with some fellow seminarians have withstood the test of time.

2. I got involved and learned about a lot of adolescent stuffs and activities like - writing articles, reading books, playing table tennis (in 3 years of representing our class, I made 2 quick elimination round exits and managed a semi-final trip on my last), shooting hoops in basketball (I never made it to any varsity team though) and guitar playing (with our eventual garage band touring, well, inside the garage).

3. After 3 failed attempts to court 2 girls (yes, I was denied twice by the same girl, aaargh), I met Menchie and charmed my way (sorry, my article so my own interpretation of events ha ha)to her heart and we started dating when I was 19 years old and she was 16 years old (yes, I was guilty of brain washing a minor but for a very honorable intention, in my defense).

Years 21-30

1. My wife and I started our respective professional careers.

2. After 8 years of nurturing and enriching our relationship, we finally tied the unbreakable knot on April 11,1999. Oh, I will never forget the sweetest look and "yes" from my wife as we declare our solemn marital vows.

3. The first opportunity to work outside the country came and I took it with high-hopes that my wife and I can start our family in China.

Years 31-40

1. My wife and I were blessed with our first son Zek after 4 years of waiting. Our daughter Maia closely followed only to be abruptly taken back to heaven after just 22 months of her young life (it was our single most devastating and painful moment of our family life). Our youngest Aim is nearly 7 months old to this day.

2. As inspired by very good Catholic writers Fr. Jerry Orbos and Bro. Bo Sanchez, God's calling for me to use His given talent of writing to spread His message of love started. And so 4 years ago saw the birth of my blogging in "People, Places and Praises" that kept me writing my reflections and musings about God's personal messages in all the wonderful people I meet, in all the places and events that I continue to witness and be part of.

3. I enjoy every moment with my family (yes, including both ups and downs because as Rick Warren beautifully puts it, life is like travelling on a railroad track - one side representing good experiences and the other bad moments yet both essential to make the travel in this so called life).

Thank you, Lord, for the forty meaningful years of my life.

Thank you, Lord, for loving me all these years despite my iniquities and frailties.

Looking forward, my goals for the next 10 years shall be, but not limited to:

1. I will keep an open and obedient heart to God's prodding no matter how illogical it may seem, as long as it will serve His divine purpose for my family.

2. I will keep my family together no matter what.

3. I will grow my financial literacy to make a few sound investments that hopefully will grow so that my family can remain good stewards of His blessings to benefit others in need.

4. I will become a semi-vegetarian (means zero pork and beef already) to compensate for my lack of physical activity.

5. I will continue to write for God's glory.

Surely 40 years is not the age for the dreaded and cynically termed mid-life crisis but it is the beginning of great things and abundant blessings yet to come.

Here I am, Lord.

Purify my heart and intentions.

Lead me always so that I may be able to lead others to you as well.

PS

Just for fun, I googled-up some significant biblical events relating to the number forty and the results were:

- Before the temptation of Christ, Jesus fasted for "forty days and forty nights" in the Judean desert.

- Forty days was the period from the resurrection of Jesus to His ascension.

- In modern Christian practice, Lent consists of the 40 days preceding Easter.

- In the Old Testament, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights in the great flood in which all land living being perished except those on Noah's ark.

It's a good company of number 40's to be with. :)

Fixing Time

It’s winter time again in China!

As usual, a lot of things inside our flat will change with the season. All warm clothes are out of the cabinet. Thick quilts and comforters are pulled-out from their boxes. Fan heater is on stand-by mode. And water heater is activated.

However, our water heater has a leak so I tried to device some ways to remedy it.

Remedy No.1: I put a pail under the leak! (This is the classic easy but lazy solution that I thought of. My bad)

Result: The pail easily gets full and I must pour it empty once too often

Remedy No.2: I tried to stop the leak by tying a cloth and plastic wrap around it. (My alternative choice in the absence of an elastic rubber band)

Result: The leak breaks into smaller water spurts that my pail can not even catch. The walls and floors became wet.

Remedy No. 3: I just tried to close the water valve after every use.

Result: Several times we were ready to take our shower and realized that the water valve was still closed so we had to open it again. It's an inconvenient way of losing time.

And so, after several days of watching in silent amazement at my "creative" ideas to solve this problem, my ever-forebearing and loving wife ( Thank God for her ) requested me to call the flat owner. Immediately he came, removed the defective valve and changed it with a brand new one – problem totally solved in a half hour.

Advent season has arrived.

It is 4 weeks of pre-Christmas spiritual preparation for the coming birth of our Lord.

Or in a more layman’s term – it’s fixing time!

Our brokenness.

Our weakness.

Our failings, our faults, our flaws.

Our sinfulness.

Actually, like the broken water valve, we can also find several excuses to dodge the inevitable fixing.

We can deny (“I am fine.”)

We can procrastinate (“I will do this some other time.”)

We can give-up (“I am not forgivable.”)

But the plain truths remain – everybody commits sin, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow and everyone is “fixable”.

We need repentance.

We need confession.

We need to do it now.

We need to call upon Him into our lives and let Him fix our lives, once again, for the nth time.

Be assured that He doesn’t mind doing this, no matter what apprehensions we have, because He only has unconditional love for each one of us.

As one robot character in an animation movie for kids said, “Why be you when you can be new?”. This year’s Advent season is now calling us, inviting us to be “new” in God’s eyes.

May we all have new and refreshed hearts come Christmas time.

God bless.

Semper Fi

My father, being born around the end-time of the Second World war, is a self-confessed war history buff. In fact, our eldest sibling's name came from a re-knowned general from the first World War. A lot of my early childhood memories included browsing through the pages of his thick World War 2 book looking at those pictures of brave men in uniform, either bloodied or dead, who fought bravely to defend their inalienable right to freedom and independence.

My father's interests in war-time history inevitably rubbed on me as well since I have always been fascinated with war movies, both ancient and modern. Even biblical accounts of fighting (who can ever forget Moses vs Pharaoh showdown or the David vs Goliath one on one battle), were well-worth of my free time as an adolescent. Of the modern military people, the US Marines have always topped my list of "cool" dudes. For me, they are, despite their limited financial budget, the most disciplined, well-trained, highly flexible and strike-anywhere men who knows how to make use of whatever resources are available at their disposal.

In 1883, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) adopted their Semper Fidelis as new motto which is Latin for "always faithful". It guided Marines to remain faithful to the mission at hand, to each other, to the Corps and to their country under any circumstances. Living out their awareness of their motto day by day has made this more than just a team slogan of sorts - it has become their brotherhood and their way of life. In times of armed conflict, a Marine will never leave a wounded comrade behind.

In this times where war has evolved from just mere armed conflicts, our world is constantly battling wars brought about by the devil's destructive warfare of wrath, greed, lust, pride, envy, sloth and gluttony. The uncertainties in the world economy today are undoubtedly attributed to corporate and individual greed. The age of terrorism came from the deep hatred of extremists against the influence of the West. Lust for power and money has corrupted a lot of world leaders. And with apathy on the increase (I still can't believe a 2-year old hit-and-run victim bloodied and fatally lying on the street was just "passed-by" by the 18 people who saw her.) from ordinary people like us, there are signs that are arguably turning the tides in favor of the evil one.

This is why we Christians are more being called to sign-up for a lifetime of service to counter-attack whatever advances the enemy is seemingly gaining. What we personally lack to fight against his dark forces, God's promise of aid by the Holy Spirit by giving us wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord will suffice. For Catholics in particular, it is in living up to our Baptismal and Confirmatory vows that we can fulfill our Christian obligations to defend our faith.

CCC 1285 states that "Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments of Christian initiation," whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed."

Sounds like a tall order considering our own struggles and weaknesses?

Not really.

Time and time again, God has shown to us that He can use the "weakest link" among us to be His staunchest and most successful ally. We have all the biblical characters to attest to God's mysterious ways of recruiting defenders of His kingdom on earth and the communion of saints (whether canonized or not) to look up to and emulate. All He actually requires from us is that we remain faithful despite the disheartening and discouraging sights around us. All He actually expects from us is that we do not let a fellow human be left behind as we journey towards our destiny with Him.

Semper fidelis Deo. Caritas hominibus.

Always faithful to God. Charity to mankind.

This should be our stronghold personal motto.

Better yet, it should be our way of life.