Monday, February 28, 2005

TONGUES, OR TAILS?

James 3: 5,6

5Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
6And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.


Japanese Proverb:

One reason the dog has so many friends: he wags his tail instead of his tongue.


I just wish that people will try to restrain not only their desires and appetites but their tongues as well. Especially if they belong to the Body of Christ. If you can’t say anything good about a person, just keep your mouth shut. Why take the negative side, if you can go the positive? It’s so easy to find something nice to say to a person than it is to malign, and it doesn’t cost anything. It would earn you smiles, and feelings of well-being. The tongue is so small, but so hard to tame. People with wagging tongues should be given tails instead.

Sunday, February 27, 2005

FICTION: A MIRROR OF REALITY?

A comment by a fellow Christian about a fictional novel we have both read has made me look deeply at some of the literatures my daughter has been reading. Some of her oldest books were a set of fairytales, some of which were made into famous movies by Walt Disney. To name a few, Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Hansel And Gretel and The Gingerbread Man. We see questionable values, spiritual and moral, in some of the adult reading materials on the bookstands today. But have we ever looked closely, if at all, at the seemingly innocuous nursery books we give our children? Snow White is a plot of a premeditated murder because of one person’s extreme vanity. Hansel and Gretel of irresponsible parenthood. Beauty and the Beast of a crime committed by the father and paid for by the daughter. I could name a lot more, most of them tackling the subject of greed, envy, vanity, murder, betrayal, etc., etc.

But in all of these, there is something good also. Love, sacrifice, the strength of human spirit, compassion. So we see a struggle of good and evil in mostly everything we read. And we see the same happening in real life. It is a theme that is as old as Adam and Eve. So who is imitating whom? Life imitating fiction? Or fiction imitating reality?

Take the movies- The Lord of the Rings, all three episodes was darkness versus light, temptation every step of the way, betrayal, hunger for power, but good triumphed in the end. The same thing for Starwars.

Even newspapers are interspersing their reports with fiction. A sex maniac of a congressman appears sparklingly clean in the newspapers, when everyone knows he has raped a couple of young girls. But he has paid a lot of money for good press, so there you are. It’s a mean world out there. The bottom line is only God’s Word is infallible. It is the truth, it doesn’t change, it’s reliable, and it has withstood the test of time. In everything we read, everything we see, we have to display a great amount of discernment in separating the chaff from the wheat. Not so, with God’s Word. We can count on it to be what it claims to be: THE WORD OF GOD.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

MY DAUGHTER & I

My daughter and I are the best of friends. We tell each other almost everything. And I think when I decided that I will treat her always as an equal, I made the right decision. Raising up teen-agers is a dangerous occupation:-D. Once you lose control, it’s the end for you. So, starting on equal footing is a good thing, in the sense that my teen-ager has to take responsibilities in maintaining a balance in our relationship. Granted, she’s only 16, and needs to learn a lot yet about life, but because I am a parent who is not a control-freak, she is not afraid to voice out her opinions, or to talk about her problems. This way, we have a chance to talk things out and more often than not, we arrive at a decision that is acceptable to both of us. Also, I have set certain parameters, and I made sure she understood them. She knows when something is out of bounds, but like any teen-ager, she would try to push me and won’t stop until I push back.

Trust is very important to me. She knows that and acts accordingly. The only time she ever attempted to defy me was when she was seven. She was in first grade, and the one cardinal rule that is to be kept at all cost, is that she doesn’t leave the school premises until someone from my family picks her up. But alas, like any kid just having a taste of freedom, she went off with her friends to a bookstore 3 blocks away from her school. And my sister, her biological mother, chanced upon her there. When my girl saw her, she started crying and didn’t stop until they got home. That was the last time she ever pulled anything like that.

When she started high school, I got her a mobile phone, and one of the new rules, was to call me up if there is something that will keep her in school past the time when she is supposed to be off, or if classes were shortened and she has to come home alone because the guy who drives her to and from school is not there yet.

I’m not saying that my way is the best way to treat a teen-ager. It works for me, but I don’t know if it will work with anyone else. And I’m not saying that my daughter is a perfect daughter. She isn’t. She could throw the mother of all tantrums and she would try to ride roughshod over me if I let her. But the most important thing in our relationship is trust and honesty. And this the foundation on which we have built not only a parent-child relationship, but friendship as well.

Monday, February 21, 2005

Saturday, February 19, 2005

HOT MAMMA , ANYONE?


I saw this funny joke on the net. With apologies to the unknown author, let me share it with you.

Morris, an 82 year-old man, went to the doctor to get a physical. A few days later the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman on his arm.

A couple of days later the doctor spoke to Morris and said, "You're really doing great, aren't you?"

Morris replied, "Just doing what you said, Doc: 'Get a hot mamma and be cheerful.'"

The doctor said, "I didn't say that. I said, 'You've got a heart murmur. Be careful.'"

Had a good laugh? So did I. But it asks for serious thinking. How many senior citizens do I know that are lonely, sick, and alone? Too many, it breaks my heart. There’s this old guy I know, just 65 years old. He’s always drunk. Day or night you’ll see him inebriated. He was abandoned by his wife and children many years ago because he is too poor, and didn’t have much education, so good paying jobs eluded him. He is just waiting to die, he told me. For him, life is so empty there is no sense in living. So he is slowly poisoning his system with alcohol.

Then there is this woman, 63 years old. Widowed, misunderstood by her children, and left alone by them most of the time. But she met this man, much younger than her; he must be between 45-50 years old. They fell in love and are now living together. You’ll never know the amount of flak she took for taking up with that man. But look at her now, looking younger than her 63 years, happy too, I think for she always wears a smile on her face.

How many times have we taken our elders for granted? Have we ever tried to think about the many sacrifices they have made for us? Now that we are grown up, do we tell them often how much we appreciate what they have done for us? Are we doing anything to make them feel loved and valued? Or are we driving them to ease the loneliness they feel in the only way they know how? Like alcohol or affection from other people, affection which we can give them because they deserve it?Let us give more attention to our elderly family members and make them happy and content and spare them the feeling of having outlived their usefulness to the family. They have done a lot for us, so let us return the favor.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

STREET FOOD



Being the daughter of a woman who has taken homemaking to a new level, street food has never gotten the chance to be present in my diet. My mom is a wonderful cook, and she frowns upon ill-cooked food, especially those that are sold in the streets, left open to dust, insects, pollution and what-have-you. I remember when I first went to school, my mom will be up early, preparing packed lunches for us, and sandwiches for mid-morning breaks. My siblings and I all get pocket money so that we can buy candies or ice cream for dessert, but she will never forget to remind us not to buy cooked food from the vendors dotting the streets on the way to school. So, I never had a chance to sample the gastronomic delight that I see displayed so temptingly in any street where there is no policeman to object.

Until I became a mother, myself. I can cook okay. If you have a mother like mine, it is a given that you will learn how. But it isn’t in me to make it my be-all and end-all. There are more important things in this life than slaving in front of the stove. I let my daughter eat at a hamburger joint during lunch breaks. It’s just around the corner from the Christian School she goes to, so I can't see any problem why she shouldn’t. The grandmother disapproves, of course. The cholesterol, salmonella from undercooked meat, the lack of fiber in the diet, was a daily mantra that is geared towards discouraging fast food lunches. But fast food has a very strong attraction for my daughter, and no one can stop her from her daily fix of hamburger and French fries. And adventurous girl that she is, she has also discovered the delights of street food, as I knew she would. She has discovered fish ball, squid ball, cheese stick, isaw, kwek-kwek, and a lot more. With great cunning, she will bring home this forbidden food for me behind her grandmother’s back. And that was when my impeccable taste for good food took a turn for the worst. I started to have cravings for kwek-kwek which is boiled quail eggs dipped in batter and then deep-fried, siomai, and kikiam. Mang Pete’s food stall became a favorite, and I usually gave my daughter extra money so that she can take home some of whatever I fancy at that given time.

What has made street food so popular? Possibly the fast-paced style of living today. If you didn’t have time to eat breakfast, you can just grab something to eat for a few pesos from a food stall on the way to the bus stop. Or maybe the sagging economy- street food is cheap. Or maybe the creativity of these small-time entrepreneurs- they can whip up dishes that are totally scrumptious despite their doubtful choice of ingredients. Like for example barbecued adidas (chicken feet marinated in a special blend of barbecue sauce), chicken intestine or “isaw”, pig’s blood, and internal organs of either pig or cow. Filipinos love to eat and are not averse to trying something new that will challenge the palate. Actually, the less innocuous ones have found their way to first-class restaurants and mall fast-food outlets like balut or boiled fertilized duck eggs, squid balls, fishballs and kikiam.

Whatever factors contributed to the popularity of street food, it is now serving a purpose. I can’t honestly say I like or even tasted some of them. But the way I see it, street food is here to stay.

FREEDOM

I became a Christian when I was still a student; I was very idealistic, very innocent. Here is something different, I thought. Something perfect, something wonderful. I thought the promised freedom that one can only find in Jesus was a simple thing. Clear-cut. I thought that it will make my life easier and more straightforward. How wrong I was.

As my faith matured, and I learned the principles by which a Christian’s faith is founded, I also learned that my own concept of freedom was at odds with what Jesus had in mind.I should have realized that freedom, with its accompanying responsibility, is even harder to handle than what I thought then were the shackles that kept me from the things I wanted to do.

Freedom, as Jesus intended, was freedom from the condemnation that is our lot if Jesus didn’t come and deliver us. Sin blinds us. It makes us self-centered, our needs and desires proclaiming it our master. But Jesus gives us hope, gives us strength to master the self that is hell-bent on leading us down the road to destruction. He frees us from the grasp of the enemy, and gives us a new insight into a better life that is centered on God.

Freedom in Jesus is a complicated thing. Instead of willfully following our instincts, it teaches us to deny ourselves. It is a life-long struggle, for from time to time, the self will try to reaffirm itself. It will try to follow its instincts to align itself with the goals of the world. But the spirit, regenerated and given authority over the flesh, will not cease to fight for supremacy to bring the whole being into the life that is governed by the will of God.

Freedom, anyone? It is the perfect, working version. Better than what this world has to offer. Take it now or regret it forever.

Monday, February 14, 2005

HEARTS

I just read the post from my Bible Study Group on the web. One of the guys had a sister-in-law who had a triple by-pass surgery and he was asking for prayers. That was yesterday. Just this morning, I had another post and she is on her way to recovery. Amazing what modern science can do. There was a time when people will laugh if you tell them that hearts can be “repaired”, but nowadays, heart surgery sounds just like another surgical procedure.

But how does one mend a broken heart? A heart that has been trampled, forsaken, messed up, betrayed? Don’t you just wish it’s as simple to find a cure for this malady? One simple stroke from a surgeon’s knife, and everything is well again? How come a person who had a triple by-pass can survive and live normally again, when a person with a broken heart has to walk like a walking wounded, or even like a zombie? Have you heard the saying that no one dies of a broken heart? True, not possible if what you're thinking is a literal death. But parts of a man whose heart has been broken dies a kind of death. The death of trust, the death of the ability to feel again, the death of hopes and dreams. The worst death of all.

So let us tread softly, lest we trample someone’s heart.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

GOOD MORNING, GOD!


Good morning, God. It’s 3 am, and I couldn’t sleep anymore. I woke up in full alert mode and I don’t know why. Did you wake me? Did you want something to tell me? Hmmm, I have just opened my devotional book, and I’m reading about depression, and suddenly, my friend Herman was in my mind. He needs a job, Lord, and I don’t know what the job situation is in Australia today. But it seems Herman is finding a hard time finding one. Can you please help him? He wrote me about being depressed and taking medications for it. The problem is being aggravated by his worries about not having a job, so I’m adding my prayers to his. And Edmond, this young guy from Ghana, he is such a sweet boy, I’m asking you to look out for him, please. He is a young Christian, still full of fire for the ministry. He has so many ideals, such high hopes, I’m praying that he will find the fulfillment he seeks for as a servant of The Most High. And that’s You, God.

Ain’t it funny? I was so tired last night I went to bed early. I was hoping I could sleep in today- no baby, no classes, and no worries. But You have a funny way of calling out to me. You seem to call me in the strangest places, and in ungodly hours. But, mind, I won’t have it any other way. You can call me anytime You want. You’re my very best friend and I’m available for You anytime You want me, okay? And I’m depending on You to be there for me. ALWAYS. Good morning, God. I love You.

Friday, February 11, 2005

FRIENDS:

What is a friend? According to the dictionary A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts; an acquaintance, person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade, one who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement. But each of us has his own definition of ”friend” that is more intimate, more clear-cut.

For me, a friend is a trusted companion, one who is not afraid to show me his or her real self, warts and all.

A friend is a person one can sit with quietly, not feeling that there is a necessity for words, because the silence is already a manifestation of the perfect accord that is ever present in the relationship.

A friend is someone who is willing to listen to you until you are talked out, but is not afraid to talk back and has no fear in pointing out the rights and wrongs of your stand.

A friend is someone you can be comfortable with, someone who wouldn’t mind if he sees you with your hair like a bird’s nest, or that you are wearing your oldest dressing gown shot with holes.

A friend is someone you wouldn’t mind seeing you emotionally naked.

A friend is someone you can count on to laugh at your corny jokes or share private ones with.

A friend is someone who sometimes leaves and stays away for a long time, but you still feel the warmth of his presence in spite of his absence.

A friend is someone who will stand by you when everyone else has walked away.

A friend is someone who will let you share his burdens.

A friend is someone willing to share your joys and sorrows, your failures and victories.

A friend is someone who will not be embarrassed to tell you that your slip is showing or that you have spinach between your teeth.

A friend is the first person you think of on special occasions.

A friend can be anyone – your parents, siblings, children, your lover, even your dog.

BE SURE TO TELL THEM OFTEN HOW MUCH YOU CHERISH THEIR FRIENDSHIP.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

HI-TECH?

Today, students spend longer time in school, have more subjects in their curriculum, and have more projects and extra-curricular activities. The school buildings are bigger, the rooms air-conditioned, the tuition sky-high. You would think better and more intelligent students will turn out from these schools. But take a close look. A lot of youngsters today couldn't do their math without the use of a calculator. They don’t even know that you can compute square roots minus the scientific calculator. They couldn't do their research works without the computer and internet connections. You see them with a lot of gizmos at their fingertips to do their school work. They can even text the network for thesaurus, current events, and watch a 30 -minute television news on phone video. But watch them panic when an important assignment is scheduled for submission and a power failure occurred just when the cell phone battery is empty.

When we enroll our children in school, we make sure that the school is of a standard acceptable to us. We check out their teaching standards, their computer lab, the rooms, the grounds, even the class population. We pay a lot of money so that they can use the school's online resources, and we investigate if their I.T. Instructor is any good.

But are we encouraging our children to be so technical and "cyber-dependent" and therefore helpless and lacking in resourcefulness? How are they going to cope without the hi-tech paraphernalia that is so essential to the students nowadays? Even when it comes to entertainment, they lean more on the latest that the tech world has to offer. There are not many students who like to read books. They prefer the television for entertainment, or watching DVD. Online games like Counterstrike and Ragnarok are also "in". Whatever happened to board games like scrabble and monopoly?

Maybe we should be encouraging our children to read books, to go camping, go on a nature trip or just tear them away from the computer once in a while. Let us make them aware that the brain didn’t go out of business at the advent of CPU. Technology has a lot of good things to offer. But so does the brain.

GOD’S WORD

The Word of God is the Christian’s manual on how to live a victorious life. But let us not forget that it does not belong solely to the believer. The unbeliever as well as God’s enemy can also use it to undermine the faith of the believer. The skeptic will be open and above-board when he tries to tear down the tenets by which the believer’s faith foundation is built upon. But the enemy, the father of all lies, will use it in order to mislead, sounding sympathetic, but slowly and underhandedly tearing down our confidence in it.

God’s Word is powerful. It turns everything we believe in upside down. It teaches us to turn the other cheek, when we would rather get our own back. It teaches us to serve, when we would rather be served. It exhorts us to be like children, when we would prefer to be grown up and all-knowing. It teaches us to put our faith, and our very lives, in the hands of a hero who was executed by the enemy.

It is inconceivable for a person to look at these truths and not wonder if there is logic in them. But for the Christian, who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God brings wisdom, and with wisdom, life. Let us be careful when we read the Scriptures. Let us not interpret with our own puny understanding, but let us be guided by the Spirit, that we may find the treasures that are hidden within.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Ever get up on the wrong side of the bed? Yikes. I seem to be doing that too often lately. Like my body was awake, but my mind is still with the sandman. Hey where are my slippers? Aww, my eyes feel gritty as if somebody poured sand on them in buckets. There are about a hundred things I should be doing and I must get a start real fast. Hey Jaybee, find me my reading glasses, will you please? Got to check my e-mail. Somebody, please be kind enough to bring me a cup of hot, strong coffee? I need to wake up some more here! Anybody seen my mobile? It’s ringing but I can’t seem to find it. Never mind. That will be Angge calling me to pick up her kid. Hey what the heck, this is going to be a long day, and I might as well spend the better part of it resting! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

LOVE

Have you ever been in love? Have you noticed how easy it is for this strange thing called love to take over our hearts and minds, shatter our concept of the person we are, and to bring forth an entirely new entity that we do not recognize as ourselves? We let it turn our well-ordered life topsy-turvy, buffeted by the whims of another, oblivious to rhyme or reason, all in the name of love. The one goal that is of utmost importance is to submerge one's self into the swirling vortex of feelings that now controls one's actions. Reasoning is at the lowest ebb, the objective is to please, no matter how irrational. Concentration is at a low, direction becomes a thing of the past. Where once the mind is clear and precise, the wise man has now been made a fool. Where once there was independence, now, to become one with the object of affection is the one consuming desire.

Love, do you really make the world go round, or are you just leading us around? You seem to have created chaos out of the order in our lives. And yet, without you, life will become a void. You have added color and dimension to our world. The once orderly and predictable existence we call life has become more exhilarating, more challenging. You are an enigma, but one we can’t do without.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

GOOD DAYS, BAD DAYS?

GOOD DAYS, BAD DAYS?


There are days when I get up in the morning with a happy feeling, knowing that God is in His Heaven and everything is right with the world. And then there are days when I am hesitant to get up, knowing that the day will be a struggle to get through. But one can’t stay in bed indefinitely, so on days like these, I have to drag my rebelling body out of it and psyche myself up to what lies ahead. A mean feat, if you ask me. And there’s a checklist of things I must not do to maintain a semblance of sanity.

First, I have to make sure I don’t read the morning paper. What with drug addiction and extreme poverty, all you read about is crime, crime, and crime. And criminals are getting really creative. They think of new ways to commit a crime day after day. They are also getting bolder and bolder and go on a crime spree in broad daylight. Whoever said that evil does its business in the dark must be revising his opinion fast.

Second, I mustn’t drink coffee. I’m nervous enough to set foot outside my door without the added stimulus of caffeine.

Third, I will not be within touching distance of my 2 year old great nephew. Gosh, the way he jumps all over me, you’d think he doesn’t have anything better to do with his young life other than make mine a penance.

Fourth, I must not take a peek at my billing statement, or else, I will be a wreck even before the day has begun.

Fifth, I must not open my door to beggars and salesmen. The beggars are so malevolent they swear at you when you give them bread instead of money. The salesmen are very persistent they eventually wear you down into buying a car wax when you don’t even have a car.

Sixth, I must not listen to my neighbor berating her husband for being a drunk, lazy, good-for-nothing, so and so. It depresses me a great deal because next thing you know, she will be at my door borrowing a kilo of rice to feed her children, plus, could I possibly loan her some money to buy some fish? And I must not remember that she still owes me money from last year.

With these precautions, I’m sure I’m gonna make it through the day….

I should be feeling desperate when the sun sets at last. Instead, the dominant feeling is a sense of extreme gratitude. Not that the day is over, but that I don’t have to commit a crime to put food on my table, that I manage to pay my bills on time even though I have to do some penny-pinching and a lot of juggling in my budget. That it is absolutely wonderful to have children in my family to bring me joy and laughter, that I don’t have to beg from door to door, nor con someone into buying something that he has no use for. And I thank God that I don’t have a couch and a lazy good for nothing husband on it.

Whatever made me think that this day is a bad day? Everyday is a good day. It’s just a matter of perspective. Do you get some bad days too? Try counting your blessings.