Opportunity and Change

    Kuya gary once showed us an illustration of the three major categories of lessons found in IVCF camps. He drew a picture of a man that’s one notch up from being a stick figure. The man had a heart drawn at the center of his chest. This was the Illustration of the three H’s: Head, Heart, and Hands.

    A balance should be made between the three, he said. IVCF, as well most evangelicals and bible-based churches today, have a knack for being "head-heavy".

"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." -1 Cor. 8:1b

    Too much knowledge is no guarantee that we will be better believers. It is not enough. Ang pangit tignan ng taong malaki (literally) ang ulo. Ika nga ni kuya bong: "Si ___, walang magkasyang sumbrero sa kanya."

"Hindi bumababa." Ito naman yung comment ni kuya mark nung camp, knowledge goes in to the head, but does not go down to the heart. It isn’t experienced by the person. However, it is not enough to have a big heart. As one of those who commented on JREV said, "we are looking for the experience of God rather than the God of experience."

    A big heart that keeps things to himself and does not seek to reach out, still lacks. What goes in and down, must go out. We must seek to apply all these things that we have learned and experienced. Share them to others if need be. Do good to others. However, doing in itself is also not enough. "Ang taong masyadong malaki ang kamay ay sang gorilla na walang balahibo."

"If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." -1 Cor. 13:3

    Still, hands alone are not enough. Everything should be integrated. With knowledge we learn. Letting it sink in changes us. Letting it out, changes others.

    In, down, and out. This is how God’s word changes the world.

Thermometer Misuse

    For two days, I’ve been feeling hot, yet the thermometer read normally. On the third, I decided to wait for more that a minute for equilibriation to occur. It read 38.6. Then, it made me wonder, "I may have been sick for the past two days and still continued with my  walk-bike daily routine." Well, I do praise God that nothing serious happened. To date, my once-in-five-years fever has lowered, but my mom recommends that I don’t go to class just yet…
I’ll just chain myself to bed, so as not to be a hypocrite. ^_^
——————————————————————————————-

Out of Focus

   
    In photography, focus is one of the most important elements of composition. As seen above, focusing solely on the spider made the rest of the "big picture" blurry and soft (if that was taken on a film camera, it would be much more indistinguishable.

    In life, there are things that take long to build, but could disappear at the blink of an eye. Crops ruined by typhoons; wealth that got lost in a scam or stock market crash; credibility, like the boy who cried wolf, and trust.

    So, what’s the connection between the last two paragraphs? Though it is necessary that things like credibility and trust be regained, preoccupation in that area of character alone, is like focusing on the spider, instead of getting the big picture. So, what is this "big picture" that we speak of? The Apostle Paul never put it more bluntly:

    "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made comfortable unto his death; If by any means i might attain unto the resurrection of the dead"
                                                                                                              -Philippians 3:10-1,1 KJV

  If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, then the big picture of this thing we call "character" is to be like Christ, everything else will follow. ^_^                                                                

    Mga pitong taon nang nakakaraan mula nang una kong marining ang salitang ‘yan. Nasa silid-aralan kami noon, tinatalakay ang Noli Me Tangere sa Filipino. Maya maya’y nagbigay ng tanong ang aming guro: "Magkano ka?" Nagtanong sya ng ilang mag-aaral, na may kanya-kanyang sagot. Matapos nito, sinabi nya na sa katagalang panahon na tinatanong nya ito sa mga bata, mayroon syang tatlong sagot na nagustuhan. "Top 3" baga. Dalawa sa iyon ay nabanggit ng mga kamag-aral ko, ngunit ang isa, ang pinaka gusto niya, ay hindi pa nababanggit ng kahit sino maliban dun sa batang natanong nya, ilang taon na ang nakaraan.

    Ang isa sa tatlong sagot na nagustuhan nya ay "piso", dahil madali daw abutin, wari ba’y sagot ng batang matulungin. Ang ikalawa  naman ay, "isang milyong piso", pagka’t walang magkatulad na nilalang, at ang halaga ng buhay ay higit pa sa pera. Ngunit ang sagot na nagustuhan ng aking guro ay isang sagot na hindi kinikita ng empleyado o nakukurakot ng mga masasamang loob. Liban pa doon, ang nagbigay ng sagot na ito ay isang musmos na bata. "Gapatak", ang sabi ng bata. "Gapatak ng dugo ni Kristo", na siyang inalay para sa ating mga kasalanan. Iyon ang kanyang halaga.

    Magkano ka? Ang halaga ng isang tao ay di makikita sa kayamanang taglay, kagandahan, kalakasan, kapangyarihan, talino o ano pa man. Pagka’t ang katotohana’y maging ang ating buhay ay hindi natin pag-aari. Kahit musmos na bata, alam yun…

     62 araw na ang nagdaan mula nang aking lathalain ang"SA LOOB".
Ano na ba ang nangyari sa mga bagay ngayong ang dating hinaharap ay sya nang nakaraan, o di kaya’y kasalukuyan?

• Hindi ako nakakuha ng bio 11, summer na lang
• Hindi rin ako natanggap sa EEE10
• Natanggap ako sa bio1 pero 18 units lang ako
• Di ko pa rin alam kung ano mangyayari sa DOST ko
• Hindi naman ako lumuluha ngayon, pero hindi ko rin masasabing ako’y masaya. Gayun pa man, ako ay nagagalak… ^_^

       Ikalawang Kabanata:

• Sa loob ng 8 oras, magkakaroon ako ng mahabang pagsusulit kung saan hindi ako handa.
• Sa loob ng ilang araw, madaragdagan ang nakasulat sa blog na ito.
• Sa loob ng limang linggo, sa Cebu na maghahanap-buhay ang tatay ko.
• Sa loob ng tatlong buwan, marahil ay kalahati na lang ng pamilya namin ang matitira sa Lungsod Quezon
• Sa loob ng maikling panahon, maraming pagbabagong mangyayari sa buhay ko…

"God is like the sun, you cannot look at it, but without it, you cannot look at anything else"… or something like that…