Tuesday, July 29, 2008

love, love, love.....

I will greet this day with love in my heart.
And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and I will be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet i will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.

I will encourage my friends and they will become brothers. Always I will dig for reasons to applaud; never will I scratch for excuses to gossip. When I am tempted to criticize i will bite on my tongue; when I am moved to praise I will shout from the roofs.

Is it not so that birds, the wind, the sea and all nature speaks with the music of praise for their creator? Cannot I speak with the same music to his children? Henceforth I will remember this secret and it will change my life...

I will love the ambitious for they can inspire me; I will love the failures for they can teach me. I will love the kings for they are but human; I will love the meek for they are divine. I will love the rich for they are yet lonely; I will love the poor for they are so many. I will love the young for the faith they hold; I will love the old for the wisdom they share. I will love the beautiful for their eyes of sadness; I will love the ugly for their souls of peace.

I will love myself. For when I do i will zealously inspect all things which enter my body, my mind, my soul, and my heart. Never will I overindulge the requests of my flesh, rather I will cherish my body with cleanliness and moderation. Never will I allow my mind to be attracted to evil and despair, rather I will uplift it with the knowledge and wisdom of the ages. Never will I allow my soul to become complacent and satisfied, rather I will feed it with meditation and prayer. Never will I allow my heart to become small and bitter, rather I will share it and it will grow and warm the earth.

I will greet this day with love, and i will succeed. ( - Og Mandino )

And most of all, i will love the Lord with all my heart, mind and soul. Because He is worthy of all praise and adoration and all the love in the world....

Thursday, July 17, 2008

feeling good :)

the frogs at the vacant lot next to our house won`t stop croaking. It had been for the past 3 days in a row. Hubby said it will go on until there`s still typhoon coming.... one frog`s voice stand out among the rest....parang "baka" ang tunog niya. So loud. If it will continue to croak, its heralding that the worst of typhoons are not over yet. (sabi daw ng matatanda...??)

its been so uncomfortable, with the rains coming almost everyday.. Everything is wet and messy. Much more can`t accomplish much around here. The news said seventeen more typhoons will be passing before this year will end. I pray wala munang lalaking bagyo, haha.

But my world suddenly brightened today! The sun finally came out of its hiding place shedding its warm over us, giving warmth to my heart. Somehow it made me smile. Let it be just for now....Typhoon can come tomorrow. I need this break, can`t you see?

I realized i needed to smile more often....:-) Perhaps it was the chat with my sister that did it!! I just have to smile, with all the things that we`ve talked about....it was an endless "success" topic...

i could do with it over and over again.... hahayyy...

Friday, July 11, 2008

one faithful saint...

If you have visited our church, you probably heard of Bro. Milo. Who doesn`t know him? He`s one faithful saint.
God has given him to us a sort of inspiration, a pillar of strenght not only to every member in particular but the whole congregation.. To HCJC, he is very precious, a priceless gem. I will relate why...

He has invested much of his time for our church. He is a full time worker for a very long time. As far as i could remember, from the time he came and got baptized. He`s a soul-winner, had brought souls into the kingdom of God.

Never missed one single service......except when he was sick and too weak to get out of bed. But he`s seldom sick.. He resides in cavite, a province next to manila. It would take one-hour travel from that place to Manila( kung walang traffic). For most of us, to walk and take a hike that far just to be able to attend church is unthinkable when commuters are just within reach. But not with him. He has done the hiking couple of times whenever his pocket were empty of funds.... limang oras lang naman ang paglalakad para makarating sa church. So if the Bible study service will begin at 8 in the evening, he will start walking at one o`clock in the afternoon and still arrive in church way ahead of everybody. No one has ever done that but him....all for the love of the Lord!

He`s an example of how it is to serve God. His faithfulness brought blessings to his family. Who could think that a man "jobless" in the eyes of the world, could send all three of his children to school and now graduated to be professionals. He has a mass communication graduate for a daughter, an electrical engineer for a son and another teacher daughter... God blessed him with all the things that all parents wishes for their children. He has won all his family members to the Lord who are all faithfully serving
God with the best of their capacity.....

He`s one example of a christian who has given his all, i mean "all" and trusting the Lord for his life, tomorrow and future.
Are there many of his kind?

Now, as i write this, he is absent for the first time for overnight prayer. He is in a hospital undergoing series of tests. The doctor found a lump in his colon and try to figure out if its a malignant one. He had not been feeling so well the past couple of weeks, but mind you,during these times he is still present in all of our services.... It`s lonely not having him with us now as we gather together for prayer.....Normally, he is always the first man to arrive and the last one to leave in the morning...

We pray that nothing bad and unusual will come out of his test... nothing serious, i should say...

Bro. Milo, we are all with you in prayer. We will whisper your name in our deepest plea.
We still need you, HCJC need you.....you know that, and God does know how much we do!!