Honestly, I don’t know the answer. But my experience with how God wrote ours could maybe speak for it.
On our FNL’s BEST QUESTION EVER series around January 2009
Its and company playing around after youth service.
Her first hang out at Bo’s Coffee Club Velez which then became our hub during the wedding preps.
I love what she’s eating. Grew up eating that during summer vacation. Now we don’t even know what it’s called.
That’s ITS right there on her first CDO trip which we all thought would be her last. We met on that Friday I preached and they came to just attend the youth service. They prayed for me and the team. Then we became friends. And the story went on until now… now, she’s beside me sleeping, being a great mom to our baby still preparing to come out from the womb.
THANK YOU JESUS for surprises!
Our Journey in BLOGS:
Credits to Mia Abad for the photos 
Please lang! This song has been playing in the cab this morning and it was not too good a choice to start my day. Haha!
Thinking about it, somehow it has some truth to it. But it really depends according to the person’s perspective towards LOVE. True, many people have committed suicide because of love kuno. Many people have suffered from depression because of it. Many failed in their midterm and or final exams because of LOVE. Many have resorted to illegal drugs and some, nag rugby nalang!
But can TOO MUCH LOVE KILL YOU?
As far as God’s Word is concerned, the only LOVE that killed was the love of God. It killed His own son, Jesus Christ. And this love that we’re talking about does not kill, rather it SAVES.
As one social worker said, “perspective changes your actions, actions change your results.”
LOVE CAN’T kill you, it saves you.
We went for an ultrasound yesterday. Its and I have been so excited to see the baby grow inside her womb. And at last, yesterday, we got to see our beloved baby… with heart beating.
Warning: Content is all about excitement. Sorry if it will turn out to be absurd in case it does.
This parenthood thing has made me ‘writeless’ lately. It seems as if everytime I attempt to write about our baby, Itsy’s pregnancy, our future parenthood, I run out of thoughts but… EXCITEMENT.
To be honest, all I want to write as of this time is that my wife and I are excited. I was and still am very excited since the time we found out that we’re pregnant. Of course only Its is physically pregnant. OB-Gynes don’t consider ‘tummy enlargement’ as pregnancy at all. That includes mine which by the way will be gone eventually. The nurse even said yesterday that they can’t give medical attention to mine. Two weeks ago, the OB even told us that we didn’t have a baby yet but just the baby’s shelter for the next nine months. So yesterday was really a great experience.
The Bible says in Psalm 127:3 (NKJV), “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”
Indeed, the fruit of the womb is a reward. I don’t know exactly how it can be exegetically explained. I tried to do hermeneutics with it but my excitement is just overflowing. I totally agree with what the psalmist said but I don’t know exactly why. Basta! When you reach this part, you will know the feeling… It’s exciting! It’s rewarding! It brings a sense of joy but still coming to completion in nine months. It’s joy unspeakable for me and my wife, really. And if you’re one of those who know why the Bible has it, I’d appreciate hearing it.
I’m not a fan of promises when it comes from people. But when it comes from God, I am sold out to every bit of it. Now when God told Jeremiah (1:5) that He knew the young man before he was formed in the womb, Its and I are also claiming this promise that applies to everyone God creates and created. So baby, if you get to read this when you’re able to, know that God has known you even before yesterday. Ugh I wanna cry! Naks! Pero seryoso, pwede na akong lumuha ng baha sapagkat ako’y napakasaya! (Full quirky Tagalog account of this experience to come out in ItoAngRebolusyon.wordpress.com)
Message to our baby: “Your mom and I are excited. ‘Excited’ is even an understatement.’ We can’t wait to see what God has in store for you. We will support you whatever you think you and God have talked about on your life. We love you!!! Please grow fast so we can hug you. But yea enjoy your time in your mom’s womb because we’re still saving up for your grand birthday. We will provide for you. We will be made rich. See you soon!”
Those moments when all your friends are already dating someone officially and you’re left… ALONE. Those times when you go out and see yourself the only person holding hands… WITH YOURSELF. Those instances when you imagine ending up with someone just because everyone else is taken and you’re left with no other choice.
Yes, those moments, those times, those instances were exactly the ones my friend Nono had in his single life. So while his love story with his wife will be depicted tonight in a Maalaala Mo Kaya episode, let me introduce you to him, the guy who fits the QUESTION, “IS WAITING FOR LOVE WORTH THE WAIT?” really well. I don’t usually watch this show and not even sure if we can watch it tonight. But just so your MMK viewing gets spiced up with a back story right directly from the ‘leading man’ himself, here’s his blog dated August 14 of the year 2008 about WAITING and his moments of LONELINESS.
I was in the rooftop talking to God one night. I don’t usually go there unless I have major issues I need to settle right away. That night was so special because that’s the third time God spoke to me with so much peace. I was asking Him about my future…what and how it would be. And finally, the question – “God, who am I going to marry”?
I was meditating on His word on Ecc 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time…” And He gave me a personal revelation.
As a single guy fighting for his convictions, I can’t help but think of my future and that includes my future family. There are two things I’m really excited about – to finally meet my wife and be a dad. God knows how thrilled I am every time I see dads carrying their first baby and the only thing I can say is “Dadating din ako dyan (I’ll get there someday).”
But of course the first challenge is – Who’s gonna be the Mommy? My greatest fear is to marry a woman that I don’t really love, let alone like…yung parang pilit dahil siya na lang yung nandiyan…labo ‘no?
But I know that God will give me the best and that would be the person I’m already considering. I was telling God “Lord, in order for that time to be beautiful and awesome, it has to be her… it’s definitely her or else it wouldn’t be beautiful at all!”
But God rebuked me right there.
God told me that, yes, it will be awesome, wonderful and very beautiful when that time comes. BUT He’s not talking about the specific person I have in mind but the TIME itself. My family, relationships with friends, finances, work etc… EVERY thing will be beautiful in His TIME – whether she’s the one or not. The object of His promise is about His TIME. I know that He will give me the desires of my heart but delighting in Him first will give me that assurance.
Let’s be honest, it’s really great and kilig factor if you’re considering someone na PERO walang sinabi yang feeling na yan kumpara sa mismong oras na tinakda ni God… yan ang promise niya so habang wala pa talaga, focus muna tayo sa iba pang magagandang bagay na gagawin ni Lord sa buhay natin.
Bago ako ikasal, marami pang fratman at atheists na tatanggap kay Hesus, pare… mas exciting yun.
So there you go, the man himself who’s now married to his one and only Joei. You can watch their non-fiction but fiction love story (you know how it is when it’s mainstream, writers add up to it to commercially romanticize the scenes) in MMK tonight portrayed by Sam Milby as Nono and wait lemme Google her up… Oh Jessie Mendiola as Joei.
Ma-inlove na tonight… But remember, it’s worth to wait.
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Back in college, I met friends from different walks of life. One of them was an atheist. And yes, that’s her on the right. She almost died along with her family in the flood. Her survival story in just a while.
Meet Chiong (Mary Ann Chiong). My atheist friend who always opposed my becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. She witnessed my troubled times and my wasted ones. When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, she was one of those who got surprised. Of course, in my early days as a Christian, I tried sharing to her about Jesus. She knew about the Man. She was skeptic. She was an atheist. But through time, I’ve learned that her background brought her to that. And came to a point when I matured and realized that the best thing I can do for her is to just pray for her to be open to Jesus Christ.
Through time, there was progress. After graduation, she updated me that she then believed in Gaia–mother earth. To me, it was good news. Because she’s starting to recognize a higher being, though not yet God. I invited her to church many times after that. She said that the only time she would go is when I preach the first time as I become full time in ministry. She didn’t go. She was in Zamboanga. I kept praying.
During the Sendong strike, she was one of those I thought about. Their house was just beside the river near Macasandig. I needed to check her wall. And there I was, in awe. God saved them… not just to have physical life… But for her to get back on her faith in God. I have been reading about flood stories that time. But this was the only story that brought me to tears. Now those of you who read one of my status updates would now understand.
That said, “There is destruction of humanity far worse than physical ones caused by calamities. Of the SOUL. My commitment to solve is for the latter. And each one of us could start with the self.”
I’m happy and was led to tears not because she’s alive… but because she’s back in her faith. Chiong, thanks for allowing me to post this in the blog. You were a great Vice President when I led the DevCom society. Now, you became less for the GREATER. We have God to thank for! Here’s her story.
Thanks to our neighbor who shouted, “Pangmata mo! Taas na ang tubig!” at around twelve midnight. In less than 10 minutes after I rouse my sister and parents water started to get into our house from all directions. For the first time in my life I panicked. I had a very bad feeling it’s not just an ordinary flood. I grabbed my wallet, my sister and our dog out of the house; I realized with horror that the knee-length water rose to almost my waistline in less than one minute; the current almost did me.
I was out of danger, for a while, when I noticed that my parents are still inside our house while water is engulfing it. I was screaming like mad at the thought that I could lost them at that moment. I felt so helpless, I know I would endanger my life if I will go back.
Thank God my father is a strong swimmer, it saved their lives. We stayed at the UCCP church nearby. And I thought we are all safe; their are around fifty of us. My heart was gripped with incoherent fear when I saw water, like a deja vu from our house earlier, coming from all over direction at the church. I saw my cousin grabbed his two sons to a nearby unfinished building, he is urging us to come with him. Without second thoughts we followed him.
I was carrying our dog while my mother holds my arm for support, the current was vicious. We thought the second story of the building would save us. It would. If it has stairs. Neighbors, relatives and friends improvised, we piled up tables to reach the second floor. Everything would have been alright, but my mother was paralyzed with fear. She can’t climb, she kept on telling us to save ourselves and leave her, I was aghast at the idea and pissed off at the same time. She should not think negatively. Everybody was on board except me, my mother and my father. The water continued to rise; the table will not hold much longer and the current is getting more vicious, carrying debris, cows, goats, dogs…people.
I saw my father being slowly engulfed by water, we would drown if we won’t do anything; we can’t get through the hole leading to the second floor, my mother was blocking it. In desperation I carried her and told her to step on my shoulders; uncles and cousins are ready for her. My father was the last person to board.
The water continued to rise. I almost wept in helplessness. In my mind, we will die that night. I stood there. Half-naked, shivering. It was the coldest night of my life as I watched in horror the rising water, I know it will engulf the second floor any minute. My sister can’t breath with panic, she’s pregnant and she kept saying her stomach hurts. I hate to think of her miscarrying. She called me, I told her not to panic, this is not the time to panic. I was startled by what she told me.
“Please pray for the water to stop rising, God always hear your prayers.”
And there I was, in the middle of the rain, shivering, praying. And very thankful that God heard our prayers; when everything else fails we will have nothing but faith.
Salamat sa mga pag-ampo. [Thanks for the prayers!]
Solomon said one time, “the duty of man is the fear of God.” We can plant trees. We can help physically. All these efforts are commendable and needed. I honor those people who do that. We know coz we’re about to do something to raise funds as well today in the benefit jamming session here in Tokyo. But we have to go back to the basics of life–that’s to honor God. Best way to explain it is in a fiction flood story I wrote here.
2012 makes me really wonder, what would heaven be like?
I won’t give any answer. But I’d like to imagine it this way.
Lights off. Eyes closed. (Oh open it coz you won’t be able to read this.)
And then you die.
After a while, you wake up again. You feel light. You’re in heaven. Then you remember getting into the club. When the loud music, in full decibels, welcomed you. This time it’s different. It’s all holy. It’s all white. All glorious. All joy-filled. No annoying 2nd hand smoke gettng into your nostrils. And the atmosphere tells you… “JUST DANCE!”
And the angels welcome you and they start rapping. “LEMME INTRODUCE YOU TO MY PARTY PEOPLE.” And the angels go welcome you. Whoohooo!!! “I’M IN HEAVEN! FOREVER YOUNG!”
Then the Majestic welcomes you. Oh it’s… GOD HIMSELF!
AYKALAMI! KA HANEP!
“LOOOOORD, I just can’t wait to be with You face to face!”
Then the Angel DJ shouts, EVERY ANGEL SHUFFLING.
Ta.ta.ta.ta..tut.ta.
Music fades in: “PARTY ROCKIN IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT… EVERY ANGEL JUST HAVE A GOOD TIME.”
### FIN ###
(in response to my wife’s blog about eternity)
Photo Credits: http://www.cute-wallpaper.com/preview.asp?id=2661
A Note written by my wife…
When was the last time you thought about eternity? About how beautiful heaven could be and how hell could be overly tormenting? Today, I choose to think about the eternal life.
As 2012 approaches, many of us have our thoughts so fixated on how we want the upcoming year to turn out best for us, how our future hopes and dreams could possibly come to pass, how much effort and amount of prayer we need only to twist God’s arms and make Him want to grant us all the stuff listed on our faith goals, and yes, not to forget, the other more desires of our hearts. The list goes on and on and on… Yes, it could and surely would go on and on and on…
2011 was a great year for me. Bitter sweet. Seeing one of my best friends go to missions, new friends, selling my car, traveling, character-building, and the best of it all was marriage. And as I continue to ponder on the great things God has done and the greater things He will do, my introspection began to wander into something BIGGER THAN 2012. No, not 2013 (that is, if the world doesn’t end in 2012.. haha!). Something more extensive than a New Year.
2012 will surely be a greater year. The seeds we planted and have sown in the past years will surely bear fruit – financial, emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual. We all will reap a harvest. Most of our prayer lists may even be granted with the right amount of faith and a little more patience in waiting. Yes, all are good. All will be good in 2012. But the questions are – “Are we sowing seeds for eternity? Are our minds so wrapped in small junctions that we forget to live for something better? Something greater? Something eternal? Are we sowing seeds for eternity?” or maybe “When was the last time you considered eternity? Eternal relationships?”
I refuse to get engrossed in making 2012 a better year than 2011. I believe that it is, and it will always be a better New Year every time. Nothing wrong with a New Year’s Resolution and all those new year stuff. I just believe that there are things worth sensationalizing than of that. Today, I choose to fix my eyes on the more essential things -things that will impact my eternity. Other people’s eternity. God has written everything for me as I trust Him in 2012 and in every New Year. All things will work out for the good, anyway. So, I’d rather choose eternity.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
After four years, it’s sad to hear that another tragic shooting happened in Virgina Tech University.
CBS News: 2 shot dead at Va. Tech; Gunman sought
It reminds me of my blog in 2007. It’s just really sad. Again, I throw the same ‘ending’ question, “what is it for us?”
More than 30 individuals killed. Dozens were injured. April 17, 2007, the day marks media hype on a recent bloodbath at Virginia Tech University.
It is disturbing! This is the kind of story that I would rather pray for than talk about it.
Sunday. My mom called. We talked about a lot of things, my plans, my calling to becoming a campus minister, our expenses at home, etc. Then she brought up this issue. She had a better angle of the darkly painted story.
After all those things took place, a reality was presented. Students can be as disturbed as the gunman mentally and emotionally.
After learning the lessons, a challenge is posed. Students need help.
After knowing the challenge, a response is needed. What is it for you?
Allow me to share my personal manifesto. For the past months I have been immersed to different types of young individuals. It includes the rich kids, the average youngsters, and those with low self-esteem due to their backgrounds. They’re all different but when you get to know them, they have a common denominator. They need guidance.
Walking on the city streets have been a hobby to me lately. I see people around and they commonly pitch this question: “Where are you connected now?” I always tell people the real score in my career and that I will be enrolling to a missions school so that after a year I can come back here and become an official campus minister. Most of their immediate facial expression suggest that they are happy yet surprised knowing my capacity to earn more money in the corporate world. Aware of that, I don’t get bothered with such perception since I am convinced of my calling.
Learning about the incident at Virginia Tech University convinced me even more of this calling. Students can be as disturbed as the gunman mentally and emotionally. Students need help. To have campus ministers fully committed to stand with students side by side would definitely mean something. To have campus ministers leading students to the better path would do posterity a favor. And to respond to my calling of becoming a campus minister would mean responding to the challenge of the darkly painted reality.
This reality can go darker; violence in campuses can go as far as this, even worse. The question remains: what is it for you?
(Personal Background: Job used to be a freelance online editor/writer but has given it up since he is developing his missions partnership until June in preparation for his schooling in Every Nation School of World Missions—one year equipping before he officially becomes a campus minister)
This was my personal description many years ago. Now I’ve been serving as a campus missionary with my wife. And then a similar tragedy happened again. Really such a sad news.
On the question, God does not directly allow violence. People choose to do it. It’s when they give in to the ‘SIN TEMPTER’ that they commit violence. Reminds me of the movie TO SAVE A LIFE. Praying for a STOP to all of these.
I’ve been getting used to saying “Hai” with the Japanese stress on ‘i’ lately to grocery counters/cashiers as my way of saying “thank you” to them. But I guess most of the time it doesn’t really matter to them. They’re just doing their jobs. And we don’t have a relationship so it could be no big deal to them.
It’s Thanksgiving Day in the US and even my fellow Filipinos seem to be taking part by tweeting and status updating THANK YOUs to people and to God. But why thank God?
I have countless number of reasons to thank God for. For one, I’m thankful for new Japanese-Filipino friends we’ve met here in Tokyo and the church here in Grace Tokyo. I thank God for such a loving & ‘oh so’ awesome wife I have now. I thank God for my tummy. Even when the doctor said it’s a sign of central obesity, it’s still an overly answered prayer (that I gain). I thank God for a better face (hahaha). I mean when I look at my photos like four years ago, I couldn’t even locate myself but I’d see a monster somewhere in the photo. I thank God!
The psalms have been an inspiration to me these past days. Reading the last few chapters, it puts me at a thankful position. Here’s a sample.
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for at his command they were created,
6 and he established them for ever and ever—
he issued a decree that will never pass away.Psalm 148:5,6 (NIV)
The psalmists are the best in giving thanks to God. They list down the reasons to thank God for. They rejoice as they praise. There must be something BEHIND it that’s beyond the reasons they enumerate. Their reasons, I suppose, are really not the reasons why they thank God. I think about it, I guess it’s their relationship with God that made them thank God for.
I say “thank you” to grocery cashiers but I don’t rejoice. It’s just automatic I guess–etiquette, manners, tradition, culture. It’s THANKSGIVING in the US. There may be millions of people today THANKING PEOPLE & THANKING GOD as part of tradition or culture. See, if we don’t have a relationship with God and we thank Him, it’s like thanking the cashier at Walmart or at Rustan’s or at Cham’s (Yes, I miss that reddish convenience store in CDO).
Now the resolution for this writing is simple: I thank God out of the abundance of my thankfulness that comes out of the experience of the God-Me relationship. Put it simply: I thank God because He loves me. It’s a God-Me, Me-God thing. Like we’re close.
We can thank God yes. But with the ocean of grace God gives us everyday, God deserves more than just thanksgiving. He wants some connection with us like the close encounter, bonding bonding stuff.
Well this is me. I thank God beyond the reason of physical transformation and the likes. I thank God for who He is. Who’s with me in this? haha
The Bible is very clear: Jesus loves the little children. But why?
Warning: this post is not giving the theological answer but rather a viewpoint as far as my personal experience with Jesus is concerned.
By now you may have read my blog about the cute little kids in Tokyo. Aren’t they just cute?! While writing that, I got reminded of the song I grew up with… Jesus Loves the Little Children. It got me thinking, “why does Jesus love the little children?”
I looked at that little girl and I figured, “because they listen very well to what is taught to them.” In this day and age, I bet not all children listen very well to their parents maybe because of the environment around them. But I would like to assume that naturally, kids listen to instructions very well. Perhaps it’s the humility in them. They have no reason to be arrogant or prideful just yet.
One time, the disciples asked Jesus, “who then is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”
This is how Jesus responded and I quote…
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Jesus had a high regard to children in his lifetime. He viewed their status as of lowly position–one that speaks of humility. In this JESUS-ME relationship we have with Jesus, humility is such a HUGE MATTER. I guess it’s even the very thing that holds us to that relationship. It’s the typical line… We are nothing. God is everything. PERIOD! Children, they don’t think of themselves as greater than anyone. They’re simply just enjoying simple stuffs like candies and lollipops and PSP. They don’t have to be SOMETHING/SOMEONE to be happy. They just want candies and they’re happy.
Not that God wants us to be like kids and just wait for candies to rain down. But that we be humble… ALWAYS. Because Jesus loves the little children. Now, can I qualify to be a cute little kid? Haha But seriously, after getting married, I’ve just been learning to listen more and follow God’s instructions. Kid as I want to be in God’s sight.
