Psalm 103

1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,
    his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
    they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18 with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts.

19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
    and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the Lord, you his angels,
    you mighty ones who do his bidding,
    who obey his word.
21 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
    you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the Lord, all his works
    everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Growing Up

"Growing Up" - Run River North

Growing up child is just a matter of time
Forgiven all you've got so won't you dance under the sun
Growing old feels like your giving up your soul
And I'd rather give it freely to the ones that I call home

Fruitfulness and Death

"I want to leave with you, in the end, that very deep word that Jesus says about death: "It is for your good that I'm going, because unless I got I cannot send you my Spirit." That word has to be rediscovered.

Jesus, who died in his early thirties and who spoke about his death from the very beginning of his proclamation, is saying that his death is not the end but the beginning. It is not something to be afraid of, but something that opens a whole new world. Death is the place that allows him to send his love, his Spirit, his deepest self.

And somehow, preparing ourselves for our death, helping others prepare themselves for theirs, means that we realize that our spirits and theirs will touch generations yet to come. Yes, we have to die with Christ, but we will be raised with Christ so as to send the Spirit of Christ.

This morning's reading was from the book of Sirach, about those whom we have buried but who are here with us, continuing to send us their wisdom so we can live. Do we really believe that? It means that I will be around for generations because I keep sending my spirit, my spirit which is from God ans isn't going to die. In fact, that spirit was given to me, not just for these thirty or fifty or seventy years, but so that it can bear fruit long after my life on earth is over. It is precisely my vulnerability, my brokenness, and my death which allow me to be fruitful.

"Fruitful," not "successful." And therefore, the main question is not "How much can I still do?" although that's not unimportant. The main question is, "How can I make my life fruitful? How can my dying be not the end of fruitfulness but rather its fullest realization?"

Jesus lived that way, and we are called to live that way too.

Then we may be able, gently, to let people who are dying discover that they are going to bear fruit far into the future, beyond their lifetimes. I think that's good news. really good news!"

(Henri Nouwen, The Road to Peace)

En route

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. "

Jeremiah 29:13

"What does it really mean to seek God with ALL our heart?"

12 years to the day when I first came to the knowledge and acceptance of what Jesus has done for me, I am faced with this question.

Does it mean forsaking everything else? Leaving everything else behind? Forgetting all else? 

Is it enough to go off once inawhile to a quiet place and turn the world off for a few hours? How about a daily 30-minute 'quiet time'? Is that enough?

As our lives are defined by moments, I think back to those moments in time where I felt as if I have succeeded in being so close with my Savior. 

Images and memories rush back to me bringing with them feelings of joy and exuberance.

And yet a certain pain is felt in my heart, for those moments are nothing but that.

In the past, and yet forever with me as well.

As I sit here near the train station, watching people pass by, I am reminded by what the pastor said in his message yesterday. We are in transit. We are all making our way towards the ultimate end. That our life here on earth is not the end. That this is not the ultimate destination.

I suddenly become aware, that while most people may think that they are travelling alone, I know I am not. At least not for the past 12 years now. From the first moment of realizing who Jesus Christ really is, and what He has done for me, I know that I have enjoyed this journey through life so much more.

And while in the past 12 years there also have been a lot of times wherein I appeared to be traveling by myself, I cannot go back to those specific points in time. But, I am comforted by the fact that there is still a lifetime of journey ahead for me to take. And whether I am counting days, weeks, months or years before my journey ends, I am not afraid. For one less day, week, month or year would only bring me closer to where I am supposed to be: home.

Stay

You lead me like the dawning of the day
You lead me like April leads into May
You lead me like the stone You rolled away
You take my hand and we will run away

Just like a child I rest upon Your knee
Just like a song, Your love, it sings to me
Inside Your arms I find a symphony
You take my hand and we will run away

To the place where my fears have no voice at all
Only sound in my ear, the whisper of Your call
This moment is frozen
I'm not going anywhere
I'd linger forever
If only I could stay here

Remember all those years ago we met
All I recall are days of past regret
And You felt so far but I had never left
Just wanting You to take my hand and run

To the place where my fears have no voice at all
The only sound in my ear, the whisper of Your call
This moment is frozen
I'm not going anywhere
I'd linger forever
If only I could stay
If only I could stay

In the place where my fears have no voice at all
Only sound in my ear, the whisper
In the place where my fears have no voice at all
Only sound in my ear, the whisper
This moment is frozen
I'm not going anywhere
I'd linger forever
If only I could stay
If I could stay here

-Stay (Jimmy Needham feat. Lizi Bailey)

Guest-posting

Here's a guest-post I did for Awesome devotions:
Living in "God's House"
Do check it out.
--
In other news, I miss writing.
I hope writing missed me too.

Summer 2012

This is an update of E.P.I.C.* proportions.

I'm actually in the process of making an actual/formal newsletter, whilst I was making this blogpost, but decided to go with this one first as a draft of sorts for the actual newsletter.

Anyways, since my last post here, a lot of things have happened, and I am going to run down through a bunch of the more important stuff that went on in my life (in no particular order).

1. Lifebox Summer Class

One of the Pastors of Victory Christian Fellowship/Lifebox.

I got to attend (together with 2 of our church's youth leaders) this one-day summer class on Campus Ministry put together by Lifebox along with Historymakers (who were the ones that invited us.)
I learned so much that day not just about being a campus minister, but more importantly about what being a disciple really means.

2. Catching Fire Youth Camp

"Catching Fire: Ablaze for God's Glory" KBCF Youth Summer Camp 2012

So we had the youth camp (after 4 years since the last one we had), last April 25-27 in Antipolo.
2 weeks before the actual camp, it was decided (not by me) that we were to change venues; being we originally set it at a camp site in Pampanga, the leadership decided to change the venue, which would entail changing the ENTIRE program as well. Imagine the shock I got that day.

But God, in all his amazing-ness, came through! We were able to find a new venue, make an entirely different program, contact speakers, find campers, arrange logistics, etc.

Some of the Camp Staff.

Fireseeds. The Campers during the Banquet Night.

It was a crazy two weeks, but I know that even though I can't see yet actual results as to how this camp impacted the campers' lives, I know a definite investment has been made.

3. Great Balls of Fire!
This is actually still part of the camp update, but I figured I'd move this to another number just because God deserves another number of praise!

So, like I said, since we revamped the whole camp program two weeks before the actual camp date, we had to make do with a lot of us doing double/triple roles because of time and budget constraints.

I ended up taking over 2 session (message) slots in the program. One of my topics was this one, Great Balls of Fire, all about Developing Personal Vision and Decision Making.

Screencap taken from the movie "Adjustment Bureau". 

A "life map" example I used in my message.

I love talking about vision and all that entails it, so I was really pumped up and excited to try and share with them ideas that I know definitely changed my perspective in life.

4. The Principle of the Path

I recently tweeted that if ever I get a chance to live in the US, I would definitely choose to pick to live in Atlanta, Georgia. Just because most of my life and faith heroes come from Georgia (Louie Giglio, Tim Elmore, and Andy Stanley).

Anyways, I have been a huge fan of Andy Stanley's for a few years now; He is such a revolutionary communicator and visionary that even if i've heard a sermon of his from a few years back, I still remember a bunch of them.

Revolutionary book.

One of them being the "Destinations" series they had in North Point Community Church, which I believe was the basis for this book's existence. In a nutshell, the Principle of the Path goes: "Your direction, not your intention, determines your destination."

I'm not even halfway through the book since I have a lot of self-assessment stops I need to make along the way as I read this.

I kind of cheated a bit as I peeked at the end of the book, so forgive me. But that's where I found this amazing quotation that I also used in my message at camp:

Knowing doesn’t make the difference. Doing does. The decisions you make will determine the direction and the destination of your life. Choose wisely.

Revolutionary I tell you.

5. The Avengers

"Shawarma." A bonus scene only for the US release of the movie.

On the upside, we did get to see it some two weeks before they did.

I have been a fan of the franchise since the first Iron Man movie came out. I also saw all the other movies in an actual cinema and not just in Blue-ray: Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America.

I was so excited to for Summer 2012 to kick in after watching the end credits in Captain America last year, and I must say, the movie definitely did not disappoint.

Much buzz was given for this movie not just in the secular field, but even in the Christian blogosphere.
I know I definitely had a lot of a-ha moments reading what other Christians thought about this movie.
I also would want to contribute my two-cents to it.

I'd like to think that youth ministry is much like being a super hero. Don't get me wrong, my theology is still quite intact, and I acknowledge that the power definitely does not come from just us, but definitely comes from the ultimate source Jesus Christ, but hear me out.

I may not know much about the whole comics franchise, but in the movie, I know that the old saying 'United we stand, divided we fall' definitely spoke to me.

My favorite scene in the movie.

There is no "I" in "TEAM". (John Maxwell)

And from what I've been reading in leadership blogs, the bible, and through my personal experience, the youth ministry cannot simply be done alone. There's simply no room for a lone ranger in youth ministry.

Think about it, just like the superheroes in this movie, where each of them have their own skills and special abilities, a thriving youth ministry consists of differently-abled people binded together for the ultimate cause of connecting students and young people with the true source of power in this universe: Jesus. How cooler can that get?

6. The Incident

From an action movie, to some real life action. Well, almost.

Just this last Wednesday, I was going to church from my house and something happened.

For the full story, you can read it here on my facebook account.

In a nutshell, I almost got pickpocketed. My beloved pink aeropostale tote bag got slashed while I was riding the jeepney going to church. Thank God nothing drastic happened, I didn't lose anything, nor did I get hurt. I was even able to take a picture of the perpetrators (I have always wanted to use that word in an actual real life sentence haha)

My poor bag. Now a definite on the 25th Birthday gift wishlist: A new bag =)

That day, I was reading Psalms 27-32. And I was reminded of one of my favorite bible passages:

The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1-2)

And true enough that day, God has proven yet again just how much of a protector He is to me.

Thank you Lord!

I know there's still some time before summer officially ends, but the next part of summer will be concentrated on a different post: My 25th birthday. Yikes. Mixed emotions on that one. I'll update you all on how that will turn out. =)

How about you, how has your summer turned out so far?

*E.P.I.C. as defined by Tim Elmore (Experiential, Participatory, Image-rich, Connected)