Today I walked home after getting of the FX and running an errand at the store. With the P15 I saved I bought a P10 supot of nilagang mais and enjoyed it along the 1.8 kilometer walk home. My left foot, still sore from the gout I’ve been treating, still made it a bit difficult for me to up the pace, but it made for a leisurely walk. I also took a different route than the usual, allowing me to see something different.
Capitol Homes looked so much greener after the weeks of raining, the trees and shrubbery bursting with green and accents of yellow, brown, red, orange, and so many other colors. The variety of plants and trees made for very interesting contrast. I am no tree specialist nor flora afficionado, and so I will not be able to tell one name from the other. In fact, I will not even try figuring them out. One thing – they sure looked lovely today. To me, at least.
Why, you may ask, am I suddenly turning softy praising the appeal of the environment, knowing that I am more comfortable with steel and the sky? For the sake of leaving you some crumbs of truth that I realized during that walk home.
Ten pesos is no small thing unless you want to eat some steamed corn and all (I mean all) your money has been allocated for the month, sans, you guessed it – the corn. But then you realize that our heavenly Father will scour the universe to provide for those he truly loves, in order for us to enjoy a simple treat.
The Fifteen pesos I saved from taking the tricycle is a small thing compared to the twenty minutes I spent of the road home. Here is what I gained:
- Twenty minutes of small talk (but oh so intimate) with God. I enjoyed him so much together with his treat of nilagang mais.
- A reminder that faith isn’t about seeing how or where you ask for will come from. This was because of all the pretty houses I passed by, causing me to wonder how or when I could provide one like that for my wife and kids. But God tells me “won’t you let me take care of that?” and so I tell him, “ok, I believe you. That’s enough.”
- I saw (compared to “I read”) what the Bible meant when Jesus talked about “the lilies of the field”. Of how indeed Solomon’s fashion could not come close to how those trees and plants today looked. If those trees looked majestic, man, God will never leave us in a sorry state.
When I consider and weigh the payoff, I would say I got a good deal on the P15 peso savings. Simple things. But more profound and valuable in return.
For you, this I say: don’t take these small, simple joys for granted. Sweat the small stuff.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
The Pack
You dont have to go with the pack. Sometimes you can, sometimes you must, but only because you decide so. No matter how strong the outside suggestions are, you will ultimately be the one who decides what you will do.
It will be very difficult standing on your own in the midst of all the voices around you telling you to go a certain direction, even more difficult when everybody else (the pack) is already going there. You will be unpopular. You will feel alone. But you won't be.
We have trained you to listen to what is right. We have taught you not to accept anything with understanding. We have taught you where to base your judgements on, where to anchor your values on, taught you to choose what is right.
The pack generally decides on the basis of what feels right. You know that there are more important considerations than just what you feel. You have been taught to base your decisions on established moral standards. You have seen us use those standards. You have witnessed how we have tried to live according to those standards. Those standards are based on God's Word - the Bible. It shows us how to tell what is right and what is wrong. It helps us to know. I tell you this because time will come when you will have doubts about the credibility of the Bible. This is because of outside influences,and not because you have not seen it to be true. The pack has a different set of values than what you have been taught. Prominent and even authoritative members of the pack will be up front with you and tell you that what you have based your lives upon is no longer in style. you can hear them, but i am confident that you will know what the truth is. You have known enough of it to prove its reliability; how time after time the promises God has given, he has kept. We may not have been perfect in keeping ours (although we know that you know we tried, and continue to do so) but God has an unbroken track record in keeping his word. You know that. You've seen it yourselves how he's done that in our family.
The pack will try its darned best to get you to go along with them, but remember - you don't have to.
You will need courage to stand alone when the time comes.
It will be very difficult standing on your own in the midst of all the voices around you telling you to go a certain direction, even more difficult when everybody else (the pack) is already going there. You will be unpopular. You will feel alone. But you won't be.
We have trained you to listen to what is right. We have taught you not to accept anything with understanding. We have taught you where to base your judgements on, where to anchor your values on, taught you to choose what is right.
The pack generally decides on the basis of what feels right. You know that there are more important considerations than just what you feel. You have been taught to base your decisions on established moral standards. You have seen us use those standards. You have witnessed how we have tried to live according to those standards. Those standards are based on God's Word - the Bible. It shows us how to tell what is right and what is wrong. It helps us to know. I tell you this because time will come when you will have doubts about the credibility of the Bible. This is because of outside influences,and not because you have not seen it to be true. The pack has a different set of values than what you have been taught. Prominent and even authoritative members of the pack will be up front with you and tell you that what you have based your lives upon is no longer in style. you can hear them, but i am confident that you will know what the truth is. You have known enough of it to prove its reliability; how time after time the promises God has given, he has kept. We may not have been perfect in keeping ours (although we know that you know we tried, and continue to do so) but God has an unbroken track record in keeping his word. You know that. You've seen it yourselves how he's done that in our family.
The pack will try its darned best to get you to go along with them, but remember - you don't have to.
You will need courage to stand alone when the time comes.
Sunday, June 27, 2004
One Among Many
It seems that for the longest time I've been meaning to get a journal up and running, but somehow I can't get myself to go to a bookstore to get a journal, well dang, my pens at home don't write as well as i want it. But since working at Teletech,the need to start one that's honest to goodness has been really very urgent. That explains why i am trying to start this blog.
I've been in teletech since June 7, after resigning from PBS on June 1. Marami nang nangyari kaya mabuti na rin na at least dito maitatala ko sa mga girls how my journey has been. And yes, while in a way this is a journey alone, it really isn't. This journey began from the mind of him who planned this for me, and every day is an unraveling of that plan, often to my surprise (recently, fortunately, pleasantly). Today is another chapter, which unfortunately, will have to be continued as my trainer is due to arrive real soon.
But it's nice to get started. One reason for this journal is a greek proverb I first heard from Pastor Butch Conde during our Tuesday night study:
'A society grows great when old people plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.'
This (among so many other significant stuff that has affected me profoundly from those tuesday nights) has been a driving motivation for me to leave something for my children to pick up somewhere down the line (I am, after all, not getting any younger). I am concerned that what the world has to offer to my children's generation is a big plastic pack of chinese ampaw - doesn't matter if its the peanut covered ones or the puffed rice covered ones. Lots of nice sweet stuff on the outside, but inside you find nothing of the pleasant stuff you had when you first bit into it. I want my kids to have a good future, and like the Meridian's mission, I have to build it now.
To start, they have to get one thing settled - God first. Yes, I know its not popular nowadays. Well, heck, it never was (people would rather put themselves first)but that is how I want my kids to anchor their lives on. The first step to that I believe is to have the same thing in operation in myself first - and it is. I will not ask of my children what I cannot or have not done so myself. The goals - Master, Mission, Mate have been planted in their hearts and minds (and I pray that they remember it even if they are far from my presence)
I am grateful for this first step - one among many.
I've been in teletech since June 7, after resigning from PBS on June 1. Marami nang nangyari kaya mabuti na rin na at least dito maitatala ko sa mga girls how my journey has been. And yes, while in a way this is a journey alone, it really isn't. This journey began from the mind of him who planned this for me, and every day is an unraveling of that plan, often to my surprise (recently, fortunately, pleasantly). Today is another chapter, which unfortunately, will have to be continued as my trainer is due to arrive real soon.
But it's nice to get started. One reason for this journal is a greek proverb I first heard from Pastor Butch Conde during our Tuesday night study:
'A society grows great when old people plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.'
This (among so many other significant stuff that has affected me profoundly from those tuesday nights) has been a driving motivation for me to leave something for my children to pick up somewhere down the line (I am, after all, not getting any younger). I am concerned that what the world has to offer to my children's generation is a big plastic pack of chinese ampaw - doesn't matter if its the peanut covered ones or the puffed rice covered ones. Lots of nice sweet stuff on the outside, but inside you find nothing of the pleasant stuff you had when you first bit into it. I want my kids to have a good future, and like the Meridian's mission, I have to build it now.
To start, they have to get one thing settled - God first. Yes, I know its not popular nowadays. Well, heck, it never was (people would rather put themselves first)but that is how I want my kids to anchor their lives on. The first step to that I believe is to have the same thing in operation in myself first - and it is. I will not ask of my children what I cannot or have not done so myself. The goals - Master, Mission, Mate have been planted in their hearts and minds (and I pray that they remember it even if they are far from my presence)
I am grateful for this first step - one among many.
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