From birthday to worship

Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday and this morning’s message at church started with a reminder to honor our parents.

But the main point in today's message was all about being fertile, not physically, of course, but spiritually. Isaiah 32:15 says till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field becomes forest. 

The forest. That is part of the bigger picture. It talks about abundance. It talks about growth. It talks about multiplication. And the secret to all these is being filled with the Holy Spirit. We may have failed, recently, to come together as a group but I myself, as a leader, should be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Audition. This afternoon was all about audition for the interest groups we have created (or revived), namely Dance and Drama. I am thankful I have Dimple and Rey with me on this. I was encouraged by their enthusiasm, particularly Rey’s enthusiasm. He has thought of coming up with a promotional video for the interest groups. He was eager to do it and I was not because considering my hectic schedule. But I think this is what it is all about, fueling them up and going an extra mile.

***

Trust. I think that young people should be trusted. Being young may mean failing but being trusted upon lifts them up. It builds their confidence. Who doesn't fail anyway? All of us fail, even adults. I feel like I have to tell them (adults) that they have to learn to trust young people. They have to learn to trust us that we will not fail them of their expectations of us.

***

It was nice to see Grace and her friend, Chimay, audition. The cell group members of Floresa, particularly, the dancers, also showed up. I just hope they will find their niche. Some wanted to try the Music group also. But, personally, I don't want to limit them. No one's a finished product, not even me. I'd like them to explore. And we are here to guide them. And as I guide them, I learn also.  

Shoes. One of the guys, I have noticed wore a very cool pair of shoes. It was counterfeit, I know, but it looks rad. I wanted to buy one.

But tonight’s word hit me. Luke 12:23.  It reminded me that life is more than food and clothes. I am a person who is addicted, I admit, to Tshirts. I am vain...sometimes. Ok. Not sometimes. In fact, this afternoon, when Mama and I went to the mall, I was so tempted to buy something (read: Tshirt) for myself. (Crazy. There was this shirt in the mall that is worth more than Php2,000. It looks really cool. And the cloth feels like it's rubberized. I wonder who'll buy it? Not me, that is for sure. I'd never spend as big as that just for a shirt. I got a Vans shirt only for a hundred bucks. It looks cool. It looks cool on me. Hehe.) But what kept me not to do it is the fact that it is her birthday (and not mine). And then, this verse came.

I have read the bible verse through the material given to me by Ps John. Finally, I got the material that I can use (together with other materials) for the cell groups and Values classes in high schools. It was given to me during the meeting we had with Ps John's team. I am excited about the plans we have with Ps John’s team. We're brewing up a 'youth revolution.'

***

Before Luke 12:13, God also spoke to me about worship in Luke 12:21. It is not about us. We should not be storing things for ourselves. We should be giving. Christianity is about giving. God himself gave His one and only Son. The verse talked about being rich toward God. The phrase toward God reminded me of worship. In Darlene’s book titled, Extravagant Worship, worship is defined as an active expression toward God. It is not for someone but it is for God.  Worship is about giving ourselves toward God. It should not be for us, for our pleasure. True worship is directed toward God. True worship is to please God.        

Unlock Greatness

THESE are the lines/statements that struck me during the week-long Unlock Greatness campaign together with our family from Celebration California:

September 25
"What do you do when you don't know what to do?" - Ps Randy Hand, Acquaintance Night

September 26
Love overkills. - We Are Young Campus Concert at Tagoloan Community College

September 27
"I look forward." - Ps Randy Hand, Leaders' Conference

September 28
"We are young, so let's set the world on fire, cause we can burn brighter than the sun." - Love Overkill Band, We Are Young Concert

September 29
"Don't be a fan of Jesus, be His follower. Only followers receive His power to change the world." - Ps Andrew Nava, Youth Conference

"Jesus is still a big deal these days." - Ps Jason Green, Youth Conference

October 1
Yesterday was for learning and tomorrow is a consequence of today. Maximize this day. - Jars of Clay

How big is victory

GOD, it seems, mocked me. Yes He did but in a good way.   

And He did it to me after feeling so burn out with all these work in church and in university and study for a licensure exam.

You see, for church, I have this primary mission to schedule seven mini concerts in seven local high schools and to fill in 5,000 seats for a concert. These are all happening next week. For university, in preparation for the department’s application as Center of Development, my boss has assigned me to a number of tasks, the last of which is to take a screen shot of the alumni page, and I have not done it yet as I am writing this part of the piece.    

I have tried to evade from a number of these must-dos like playing dodge ball at youth summer camp. Oops, sorry. That’s the truth. As much as I wanted to escape, I just can’t. I need to do them. I can’t most especially the preparation part for the licensure exam. And guess what, the exam is happening after the weeklong confabs and mini concerts. Great. (Straight face).

I have to pass the exam. Though the license does not really spell ‘future’ for me, but I have to because it will help me, in a way, realize my vision of being like Paul, a tent-making missionary. I want to go to Indonesia next year and teach English in an international school. And I can’t fail the exam because I do not want to disappoint my mother.

And what is it with her recently? She has become banal. As far as I can remember, for the past two weeks already and this week, in particular, her text messages are all but a reminder to pay my PhilHealth dues. She has incessantly done it and it’s getting into my nerves oftentimes.

But she has a point, I just realized it now. With all load on me, I am dead. I am because busy is an understatement.  

And so here I am, a dead man seated in a cushioned couch inside our pastor’s house. The soft cushion is a treat to my butt as the green-painted wall is to my stressed eyes. I have just arrived from a community college to personally hand the letter of request to the school president asking him to allow us to throw a campus mini concert despite the fact it is a short notice. I am hoping against hope that he will.

Rabbi was ironing his clothes behind where I was seated and the old lady next to me was reading a showbiz magazine with Piolo Pascual on the cover page. I could have been the one reading it but I was glad that I got something else in hand.

I continued to read the magazine that I borrowed from my pastor’s wife. I got it from her the day before and started to like it after noticing the layout, the color and the content of the first few pages.

I started to like it after one of its articles titled Music with a Purpose spoke to me. As a fledgling musician and as a youngster, it hit me. I like the direct quotations of the interviewee so much that even if I was inside a mobile jeepney on my way to a local daily to meet my students, I was still reading it. Intently. I was savouring his every word and it was prompting me to encode it in my cellphone verbatim and send it as a group message to my Timothy’s and co youth leaders.  

And today, God spoke to me through an article in the magazine. He has challenged me to put my heart in what I do and to give it my all. And this He did despite the fact that I have already drowned myself, it seems, in these overwhelming tasks.

Elisha, from what I have read, had told the king of Israel to strike continuously the Assyrian army. But the king did not. He struck the enemy only thrice. Then he stopped.

I remembered, as I was reading the story, how I am wobbly these days when I am on my feet. I have noticed of this dizziness. And who does not become dizzy when you’ve got seven schools to visit, 5,000 seats to fill in, heaps of pages to write on and to read? Sleep has become a luxury for me. I have burned my midnight candle one night after the other. And here comes God telling me to give it my all.  It was as if what I have done do not suffice.

Isn’t these enough? I asked. Don’t get me wrong. I am not fishing for compliment.

Clearly, the answer to my question is a big YES for the simple reason that He knows that there is more that I can do than what I have already done.

In the story, there was an opportunity for the king to defeat the enemy but his attitude determined the outcome. He could have struck Syria but the middle-of-the-road king did not. So he has not destroyed it.

   

Nobody wants defeat. Nobody wants to lose. Winning needs more than the best effort that one can give. It asks you to give your all.

I liked what I have read today. It challenged me not to be mediocre; to strive for excellence, not for men but for Him. God mocked me for my good and because He did, now I have an idea of how big the victory is ahead of me.