The Only Party That Nobody Is Happy

I praise and thank God for once again He gave me the opportunity post a blog again.

Two weeks ago, I was reading Proverbs 20 and one of its verse made my smile. I guess I remembered something that made me think then agree.

As the way I picture the book of Proverbs, King Solomon was telling me the reality of his time, wherein the only different is the technology. In his book, he was making an advice to the reader that we must do the right thing or everything will be worthless.

I really wanted to post a blog right after I read Proverbs 20, however, been very busy with work and other things that I can't set my mind to focus. But Praise God in His time is perfect.

Before I met my wife, God allowed me to experienced two failed relationships.
I had my first girlfriend  when I was in college where our relationship lasted for four years. Then I had my second for five years. My first and I broke up because I fell out of love, I allowed my affection to be transferred with someone else.
I don't have regrets because  Romans 8:28 told me so.  I've learned from that mistake and it made me a better person as father and husband (as I know).

Proverbs 20:6 strikes me with a thought that "Men can be very expressive to someone they like but only God knows who they really love."

I asked two of my male friends on how they understand Proverbs 20:6, both have different opinions. We all have different interpretations but the way I God want me to see it, it is about unfaithfulness. 

There's a truth in the saying that "Men are polygamous by nature" but it is not an excuse when you're already belonged to someone. God gave us wisdom to know and do what is right and despise what is wrong.

"But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." - 1 Corinthians 7:9


To God Be The Glory.


Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow ...

 ~ If this post somehow helped or inspire you, please share your thoughts in the comment section ~

Thank You and God bless. 

My flesh is weak...

It really pains me whenever I give-in to temptation. I was like Adam hiding from God. I was ashamed of myself. I can't even pray to Him.The unbearable thought that God was angry with me and was afraid that anytime He can punish me. Just imagine, my conscience is taking its toll on me.

Whenever I am on that situation I always remember Matthew 26:41
Like what happened to Kind David when he fell to temptation and commit adultery to Bathsheba.
Even so, in Psalms 51, he didn't let the sin take over him instead we asked God for forgiveness and mercy.

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. - Psalms. 51:17

We know that our flesh is weak on worldly things. God also knows that,
which is why He told us "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation".

We were born sinners.
We grew up with sinners.
We live in a sinful world.
However, we cannot die not being born again.

To God be the glory..

Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow ...

 ~ If this post somehow helped or inspire you, please share your thoughts in the comment section ~

Thank You and God bless. 

The Garbled Message

The book of proverbs is one of my favorite books in the Bible.

It helps realized everything I need to realize and understand what's happening around me.
For me, it is simply the book of wisdom. 

As I was reading Proverbs 18, I remember a conversation with my wife. 
She shared to me what happened during the conference call that she attended in her office, involving three teams. Each team composed of one manager and two team members.

Before the meeting was formally started, one of the project managers (Franco) assigned his staff (Joey) to create minutes of the meeting (MOM) and send it after the call.

During that meeting, there was a point wherein Franco and Rhea's manager (Le) came to an intense discussion that they couldn't understand what they're saying. 

To cut the story short; the conference call ended, leaving leaving Rhea with one funny question in her mind.

How can Joey create a MOM with almost entire of the con call Franco and Le concurrently talking but in a different perspective?

I don't know if she was serious when she told me that question. 
However, I do have an answer for her question. :)

 

If I were Joey, I will put a garbled message in the MOM. Whoever will read and ask me about why there are unreadable characters in the MOM?  

I will just simply tell them that "..ah, that was the time when Franco and Le having an intense discussion that we can no longer understand what they're talking about..." 

Proverbs 18:13

 

The one who gives an answer before he listens?

that is his folly and his shame.

To God be the glory..

Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow ...

 ~ If this post somehow helped or inspire you, please share your thoughts in the comment section ~

Thank You and God bless. 

 

The Christian Wife

I thought that this blog was about my temptation (well, still is), which almost cost me to sin, but while I was thinking my blog title. I realized that there's a bigger picture and it was about the qualities of a Christian wife.

I believed that temptation is an urge that leads you to sin.
A momentarily right feeling then regret it later.
It is the certain point that you allowed your flesh to be weak.

It's been quite a while since I've posted by last blog.
I've been busy with so many things that I can't focus my mind to post one, not until three days ago.

As a father, I want to give the best for my family. I want to have a financial stability as early as possible.
Aside from being an employee, I do have a small business which I distribute sports apparels. It was a truly blessing and I praise and thank God for that.

Being a distributor, I do have some suppliers too. Upon receiving and inventoried my supplies, I noticed that the number of items declared in the delivery receipt are less than the number of actual items, and it costs more than P10,000.00.

This is not the first time it happened, but it was the first time I entertained the temptation.
I immediately segregated the excess items and plan not to declare it as an excess on the delivery.
Even though the whole delivery batch it is not paid yet but in my mind, I already thought of not reporting or even paying it. (So Bad)

There was an uneasy feeling inside of me so that night I told my wife about what happened.
Honestly, in my mind, I was expecting that she will back me up for what I'm about to do but praise God, she didn't.(The realization)

She told me that I couldn't do that, ...that its not me, ...that I shouldn't be entertaining that kind of idea.

After that, I felt ashamed of myself for what I did.

I'm so grateful for my wife for what she did to me. Praise God for giving me a Christian wife. I'm truly blessed having her in my life.

I realized that what had happened is a reminder of what and who He is in my life that I shouldn't worry for tomorrow. :)

Psalms 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
  he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
  He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
  I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
  your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
   You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
  all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

I may have not gained free P10,000+ amount of money at least I didn't lost my soul.
Lastly, He told me yesterday in Psalms 112:5 that I should conduct my business honestly. :)

To God be the glory..

Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow ...

 ~ If this post somehow helped or inspire you, please share your thoughts in the comment section ~

Thank You and God bless. 

God Answers Pray

My wife became born-again months before we got married. Her family, a devoted Roman Catholic by faith and religion. Just imagine how difficult for us telling to her mother that we want to get married to a Christian (Methodist) church. 

Now, I realized why Rhea doesn't want me to open the Bible in their home with her family.

To avoid any conflict, we got married in a Catholic church to honor her mother's request. 

We've been living with her parents now for two years and praise God we had no problem (as I know of).

Ever since we got married, we've been praying the burden of our hearts that we really want to open the Bible with them and have a very short devotion or Bible study (with no string attached).

It took us two years when God said to me: "Its time. You can now ask your mother in-law."

God never fails. He's the same yesterday, today and forever.
I recognized and acknowledged His goodness to me and to my family. Everything happened to me; it was all because of Him.

I think it was last April when Rhea asked her mom if we could have a Thanksgiving Celebration with a short exhortation, her mom said "Yes". However, it didn't happened on the scheduled date because of our schedule conflicts.

Month of May, this time I asked my mother-in-law if we could have a Thanksgiving celebration:

she said "Yes".
then I asked her "Is it Ok I will have a short exhortation/message?"
and she said "It's OK."  (the answer I have been waiting for)

Praise God!

Last Saturday just before lunch, my wife and I hosted our very first Thanksgiving celebration on God's goodness in my family it was held in my in-laws house. I have taken my passage for my short exhortation from the book of Genesis 4:1-5. "The story of the two brothers giving thanks to God. The proper and  Improper way. "

It was a short but meaningful message. We left them wanting more.
This was the first and praying will not be the last.

"It is not the food we prepared for everyone, but the food for the soul that we shared."

We shared the blessings through foods that we prepared and the message of God, His goodness to us.

To God be the glory..

Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow ...

 ~ If this post somehow helped or inspire you, please share your thoughts in the comment section ~

Thank You and God bless. 

Aren't you getting tired of asking the question Why?

In my journey to discover the Bible, I came across Psalms 73. It was yesterday, when God answered again (clearer) one of my challenged questions. 

"Why the wicked is wealthy?"

Even though it is no longer a big question for me since I'm already born again.

However, this time it is more understandable and verse 17 explained it clearly.

"till I entered the sanctuary of God, then understood their final destiny"

I will not dwell on the HOW? Instead, I'll speak of the Key. "The Sanctuary of God".

This calls for wisdom.


They said that there's no perfect church, and church will not bring us to heaven.
Whether this saying is true or not, the important is what we learn from the church and how we live it.

Do we still remember when we were kids, our elders (parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties, big brother & sister, etc. ) bring us to church?

Despite our tantrums, excuses, etc., they bring us to church. We might not know the reason then but now at least we know it is for our own good.

There is a hidden purpose why we go to church, as well as we bring our love ones to church.  Church is not only a community (religion), place of worship and refuge, family gathering, but most importantly we go to church because we are sinners who believed in God and needs to have salvation.

Going to church help us sustain our faith and in the process, we gain wisdom.

Wisdom tells us that we need to do the right thing and despise what is not. It enlightens us to understand and accept the reasons behind the question why. It inspire other people. Through this inspiration, we duplicate ourselves.

Our church plays a very important role in our lives. It contributes to the foundation of our spirituality, morality and reasoning.

So next time you ask why? Ask yourself, did my church helped to answer my questions?  :)


To God be the glory..

Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow ...

Are you forgetting something?

I know I will be successful because I have the Key and know how to use it.

I personally have a goal to pursue but if my Key doesn't fit to that, then I know it is not the best for me. 

I'm still in the process of opening each door available to me. Whatever door my Key opened, I will gladly receive and accept it.

We might have the same or different reasons, but we do have a common goal.  

Confused from what I'm saying? I'm talking about my goal, simply to be successful.

Successful  in? where?
I have my own plans but His will be done.

Recently, I was too busy working and doing overtime,
thinking where to invest our savings wherein I will not end up loosing my hard earned money, setting my priorities for my family, planning and arranging our business, watching tv series before I go to bed, etc.

With these things piling up in my mind, and I see to it that I still recognize God and listen to His voice reminding me to do what is right.  Even though sometimes I tend to ignore Him, which is why I always ask for His strength and wisdom to be upon me.

Just this morning He simply reminded me again not to forget him or else...

In case you didn't know, please read Psalms 50:22-23

"in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight " - Proverbs 3:6

To God be the glory..

Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow ...

 ~ If this post somehow helped or inspire you, please share your thoughts in the comment section ~

Thank You and God bless. 

My Amazing Story

This blog is already long overdue but there's nothing  long if it is worth sharing.  =)

Year 2012 was one of the best year of my life.
In this year, I had an opportunity to go to Korea (Seoul) for a business trip.

In the company I'm connected with; Korea is one of the largest clients we have.
For four years, I've been supporting one of their systems.
Praise God! I was given an opportunity to work with them personally.

Even though my business trip lasted only for almost two months, but my experience was priceless.

So here it goes...

my team

Four of us from our team were requested to go to Seoul to work to a new project.

July 21, Sunday afternoon when we arrived in Seoul via Incheon.

Exhausted from our trip, we just went directly to our apartment. Unpacked our things, dinner and rested because the next day is our first working day in Korea. 

Our Korean Team

Monday came and finally; I met almost everybody. For four years I've been talking to them, the people on the other side of the phone and email. =)

Although there is still language barrier but the communication is better. Since we're closely working, we can explain the problem and solution more understandable.

Every Saturday, me and my teammates would usually go out and visit some nearby places.

However, my first Saturday was unforgettable for me; I wake-up early and find a church (maybe this is the first thing Christians do whenever they're in a foreign land) where I can have my Sunday worship. (We stayed at Stay7 apartment mapo near Aeogae station Line 5.)

As I remember there were five churches near from Stay7, but I had only visited four of them because when I went to the fourth church, I said to myself "this is it".
It was Ahyun Methodist Church.

Ahyun Methodist Church

I grew up in a Methodist community, so I guess the worship service will not be new to me. =)
They have English service (11AM every Sunday) which the other three churches don't have.

When I went back to my apartment, I called my wife via Skype and told her about the good news that I found a Methodist church near at my place and they have English service. Yey!

She was very happy for me.

Next day (Sunday), I went to church early (around 10AM) just to observe and hoping to find if there's any Filipino attendee.

A female elder approached me (maybe she thought I'm a Korean) and talked to me (unfortunately I didn't understand every single word she said); I just replied to her "I'm here to attend AMEN English Service".

I guess she understands the keywords "English service, AMEN" so she called one of the youth, and introduce me to her.  This young lady (Just for myself only - I named her Grace  because I kept on forgetting her name) speaks English fluently; She accompanied me and introduced me to the people who are also early  for the English service. It was a meeting place for the English service attendees having fellowship 30mins to 1hr before the service starts.

They gave me a warm welcome as if I was their long lost member. =)

Praise God for He put me to church that I feel that I belong.

The service started led by Pastor Aric (English Service Pastor) with the praise and worship team led by Hyo Sik.

It was a Methodist traditional service and feels like I was back in Wesley UMC.

While I was listening to the praise and worship, I felt an urge that I need to join their team.

I have attended churches with praise & worship team, some of the different denominations but this is my first time I felt an urge to join.

The church English congregation was not as big as you can imagine (but the Korean service is more than you can imagine). I think that time we were only less 50 attendees.

It was like one big happy family. People are very close. =)

After the service, Chung Yee (I think he's the English service lay leader) approached me and introduced me to everyone.
He also invited to join their group (This group gather after the service where everyone can share their problems, thoughts, experiences, etc.)  As first timer, I was hesitant, though they were very hospitable.

I turned down their invitation instead I asked Chung Yee if it is  Ok to join their praise and worship team.
I told him that I can play guitar or bass.
He endorsed me to Hyo Sik, then she asked me to attend their practice on Saturday. Yey!

Saturday came, and I went to their practice.
I had a chance to meet everyone on the team and observed how they practice.

Praise and worship team is composed of Kevin on guitar, Hanna - piano and Hyo Sik the worship leader. Their practice lasted for about two hours.

Hats off to Hyo Sik for her patience and commitment to the responsibility she was called to do.

The next day, I was surprised when I came to church and most of the attendees approached me and giving their appreciation for they heard that I'll be joining their praise and worship team.
My heart was overwhelmed with gladness and the urge of being part of the team becomes stronger.

Then, I was able to join their lunch and group gathering right after the service.
.

Their group gathering is the exact activity that I want to have in Wesley before; wherein you can share and learned anything about life through sharing of different experiences.

Next Saturday, Hyo Sik came to practice with her acoustic guitar.  She told me that I could use it and bring it to my apartment, so I can practice more. (Wow! Praise God!) 

Kevin also told me that I could use his acoustic guitar every Sunday so that I will not be bringing Hyo Sik guitar every week. He'll just bring his electric guitar every Sunday, so we could have variation. (Wow! Praise God!)

I was so grateful and blessed because I haven't been playing guitar for quite sometime and now everything has been provided to me. Praise God!

After practice, I brought to my apartment Hyo Sik's guitar along with the music pieces for Sunday's line-up. Excited, I immediately pulled-out the guitar from its case and started playing. It was like my first taste of ice cream.  =)

After 15 minutes of playing the guitar, I suddenly paused and came to realize everything.
God opened my eyes and see the reason why I was sent to this place and why everything is falling to the right place and in the perfect time.

Tears flow and I really cry for God has fulfilled my prayers.

God really looked inside our hearts.
He knows that I longed to be in a praise and worship team like I was in Wesley UMC wherein I offer my skills to glorify Him.

Then I remember a conversation with my wife, she told me "I love seeing you with the band. I hope one day I can see you again on (stage/altar/pulpit), playing guitar giving praise to Him"
I cried more after that. Actually, I do get teary eyed whenever I remember these lines because I can still picture my wife telling these words to me.

That night, I called my wife and told her everything.
Again, she was very happy for me. She just wished that she could be there for me.

It was my third Sunday and I was very excited.
I went to church early so I could help the team prepare the instruments, materials and other equipment.

Just before the service started, pastor Allen gathered the team and prayed for us.

I was so nervous that my hands and legs were shaking even my voice was shaking.

It was my first time for a long time to be on the altar again for praise and worship.

It went well, I guess? =)

I was very happy, and everyone seems to be also. After service, pastor Allen shook my hand and thank me. Whew! Praise God!

I did my best to make most of my two remaining Sundays.

I have attended every activity that I can, and I tried to learn Korean songs (I can still remember some of the tunes). 

My wife had an opportunity to come over in my last week and stayed with for five days.
I brought her to the church and introduced her to everyone I know.
God allowed her to see me with the team singing praise and worship. Amen!

I miss all of you. Hope to see you again, soon. God bless.

God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. - Mark 11:24

And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. - Matthew 21:21

Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow...

To God be all the glory!!!

 ~ If this post somehow helped or inspire you, please share your thoughts in the comment section ~

Thank You and God bless. 

Disconnected?

Psalms 16:2

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

After reading this chapter, my eyes pause for a while and my brain grasp everything what I can think of about this verse.  This is my third attempt to create a blog for this verse. I hope I could finish it this time.

First, it was two weeks ago; It was about "What will happen to people who do good but do not believe in God?". Unfortunately, It didn't push through because I was destructed.

Second was two days ago; I wrote about... Oh! I forgot everything... I almost finish it... I need to shut down my laptop and didn't save the draft of my blog. :(

Now, (last hopefully) I thought about myself, and I think God doesn't want me to think of others but wants me to focus on myself and Psalms 16:2.

I realized that God keeps on reminding me that "apart from Him, I will have no-good thing." He stuck it to my brain that every time I'll use my laptop; I will remember that I need to finish my blog about Psalms 16:2.

Several weeks ago, many things happened. I got stressed from frustrations, disappointments, unmet expectations, questions only God knows what's the answer, etc. I have never forgotten God and in my thoughts, He keeps on telling me "talk to Me... Read the Bible... Pray."

The problem is with me (I got disconnected). I tend to ignore Him and continue whatever I was doing. It came to a point that I felt like God is near, but I'm very far from Him.  

As a result, I looked at every situation negatively.
In my condition, God is sad and the devil is smiling at me.

I praise and thank God for He did not give me up.
As you know, I'm an I.T., most of the time I'm in front of my computer; In every application, I'm working with, inside of me, there's a pop-up message that tells, "You are my Lord; apart from You, I have no-good thing.".

It works. Now, I'm putting myself together learned from another experienced.

Truly, Apart from Him, you will have no good thing. 

 So, Get Plugged!

Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow ...

To God be the glory!

 ~ If this post somehow helped or inspire you, please share your thoughts in the comment section ~

Thank You and God bless. 

A gentle reminder

My wife and I had a short Bible study while waiting for our son to wake up. We came across these verse as our reference.

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. - Lev. 19: 9-10

Just after I read these verses, lots of things came my mind and made me realized that I should stop doing it.

One is my eating habit and concerns my health. Second is my attitude towards the needy.

I really felt bad about it, which is why I asked my wife to keep me reminded. We made an agreement to handle these things and make sure it will be beneficial to everyone. 

With prayers and lots of effort, we know that we can make a difference.

Read your Bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow ...

To God be the glory!

 ~ If this post somehow helped or inspire you, please share your thoughts in the comment section ~

Thank You and God bless.