I Do

He was thin, dark and shy.

She was slender, petite and friendly.

He was nursing a rejected heart.

She was a nursing student with an open heart.

He caught a glimpse of her gorgeous smile.

She pretended he was far by a mile (at least that's how he felt then).

He found himself visiting her in the days that followed.

She cordially accepted his friendship, meek and mellow.

Their friendship and love, as the years went by, blossomed and grew.

Finally after eight years, they were married as they exchanged "I do".

Yes, that pretty much sums up how I met my one and only ex-girlfriend and now the mother of my beautiful and wonderful kids. Those eight years of getting to know each other's best and promising sides while deepening and enriching our spiritual lives has become our strong marital foundation.

Now that we are on our 15th year as husband and wife, what a colorful and memorable journey it has been so far! We have been through a lot of mostly grace-filled ups as well as a couple of challenging downs that included one life-changing and heart-breaking loss. We have lived mostly overseas and met great friends with similar interests in life, love and living. But now that we are back in our motherland, we are now making some adjustments after our long hiatus. Our eldest who was home-schooled ever since, has to bear the brunt of my at-times impatient teacher-parenting, while my wife undertakes the daily grinds of the house up-keeping and the delicate and stressful art of home-making.

Once I asked myself what would I be now if I haven't met my wife.

By God's grace and mercy, I do believe that I'd still be a striving-to-be-a-good person mainly due to the consequential upbringing of our parents. And just like most of everyone, I would still be in pursuit of a meaningful life in whatever direction I would feel the Lord is leading me into. I would be fine, I guess.

But God has no plans for a "fine" life for me. He is not interested with me just getting on with my life. He meant for me to be able to reach my full potential. He has planned great things for me ever since.

Indeed, with my wife by my side and our ever-growing kids, I am becoming a better person, a better husband and a better father as time goes on. I am far from being perfect but the journey with her makes it all worthwhile and worth remembering. She always give me her understanding and support when I am struggling. She constantly prays for our family's safety and well being. She is my best friend and a true confidant of my innermost fears and frailties and my co-conspirator in my achievements and successes.  

In my lifetime, immeasurable and profound joy will always be with me because my ever-loving wife is with me.

Happy anniversary, honey!

Cheers for more, much more, forevermore years!  

 I love you!

Yes, it's you ...

You're the one in my life I've known

From the start that it's you I'd spend forever with

So please hold on with me...

You know so well that we can't last a day

Without each other

You're all I have and you're all that's there

To keep me goin'.*

-Side A band (with a slight lyric revision from my side)

Blindness

Blindness is defined as the state of being sightless. A blind individual is unable to see. In a strict sense the word "blindness" denotes the inability of a person to distinguish darkness from bright light in either eye. (definition from www.medicinenet.com)

When Jesus healed the blind man from birth, He answered the blind belief of the people and inadvertently exposed the other kind of blindness among the Jewish religious authorities of that time.

The disciples asked Jesus if it was the blind man's fault or his parent's sin that caused his infirmity. But the Lord dismissed both old beliefs and emphasized that it is in accordance to God' plan so that "the works of God might be made visible through him". He then proceeded to heal the man.

The man, subsequently brought to the Pharisees, testified before them how he was healed. But the Pharisees, blinded by their lofty pride and position in the community has rejected the miracle by accusing Jesus a sinner for not keeping the Sabbath and the blind man for false declaration that he was born blind. Except for a few, Jesus has always been a threat to their self-righteousness and tightly-held-yet-misplaced authority that they failed to see the very fulfilment of the prophecies that their ancestors have foretold. They failed to recognize and understand His preaching and miracles of love right in front of their eyes!

In our present times, the world has also offered us a lot of blinding lights to spend our lives. There is fame. There is money. There is power. The endless pursuits of these vanities have sadly side-stepped a lot of people's true purpose and calling in life which is to love God and love others.

Hopefully, in this time of Lent, may we unplug ourselves from the temporal blindness offered by the world and set our sight towards a more meaningful and worthwhile lives. May we distinguish the Lord's light in whatever life-situation we are into and avoid the alluring darkness that can make us blind.

'Di nalalayo sa 'yo ang tunay na mundo

Marami sa ami'y nabubuhay nang tulad mo

'Di makita, 'di madinig, minsa'y nauutal

Patungo sa hinahangad na buhay na banal.

-Freddie Aguilar

God bless. 

Face Our Fears

“But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” – Matthew 17:7

We all know that fear is a natural feeling to be afraid or worried of (something or someone), or to expect or worry about (something bad or unpleasant). We fear pain and accident, sickness and death and unemployment or lose of good financial standing. We are afraid of bad people who can cause undue physical, psychological, social and even spiritual harm to us or our loved ones.

But it is somewhat quizzical to note that during the Lord’s transfiguration on the high mountain (Matthew 17:1-9), the three witnessing disciples – James, Peter and John, were prostrated in fear after hearing God the Father’s voice. It happened just as Peter, feeling good that they are seeing Moses and Elijah conversing with Jesus after “His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as light”, was proposing to build up tents for them to stay there.

So can fear come out even from something good?

I believe so.

And as far as I can remember, I have been guilty of this a couple of times.

Graduating in college was good, nevertheless I was worried how fast I can find work. Finding work was good, yet I was anxious how I will be compensated and how to fit into the workplace. Getting promoted was good, but I was uneasy if I was up to the task. Receiving my first job offer abroad was good, however I was troubled how I would adapt to the different culture and weather.

The presence of fear despite the good things in our life exposes the lack or little faith in us.

So what is the antidote for our littleness of faith?

We must let Jesus come to us and be genuinely touched by His words that He is the potter and we are clay in His loving hand (Jeremiah 17:7). He will always mould us into something unique, great and wonderful. A potted clay must still undergo the swirling, twirling and trimming during shape formation, the drying and heating during hardening and glazing or painting for the final stage. Only after the culmination of our lives will we (and others) be able to completely view and appreciate how beautiful He always meant us to be.

There will often be a what-is-next-fear in our lives but if we truly seek and cling to our Lord’s promise, we can do rise up to face our fears.   

God bless.