Reminiscing Truths ⚓

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 (ESV)                     I have been pondering upon this thought since early last week when Hapi and I were choosing the hymns for the upcoming Sunday (yesterday). Abba has been preaching a mini-series on Christian Service for some Sundays now. When we were told that the sermon for yesterday would be about the personal application of Christian service, the  Take My Life and Let it Be  hymn immediately came to mind as a fitting hymn of preparation. I'm not sure whether the hymn had a similar scriptural reference, but it turned out to be really such an appropriate hymn to what the sermon discussed. The text was in Romans 12. This topic, of course, has already been preached several times before. It was highlighted in the mini-series on Biblical...

Today marks the last day of SGC’s stay at Intersekt. We have used the place for seven full years; years of witnessing God’s great goodness to such undeserving sinners as we are; years of seeing Him at work—up close and mightily. It was while we were in Intersekt that I personally transitioned from being an idealistic incoming college student to a more sober, calmer, and grace-reliant adult. That building has witnessed so many drastic changes—not just in my life, but in the life of the church as a whole. We were in that building when we’ve lost friends and loved ones; we were there when the Lord has so graciously added new friends and loved ones into the fold, too. Seven of the Youngles were able to stay at Intersekt for our last overnight there yesterday to pack things up and designate which box goes where. I was super privileged and blessed to have been able to come (thanks to Euma for picking me up AND taking me back to my place which is an hour drive away). It was an all-nighter kin...

     Luzon's ECQ Week 4 coincided with the 2020 Holy Week. Originally, the school calendar indicated Wednesday - Saturday of this week to have no classes. Since the quarantine, however, our principal announced that we would have the entire week off work and encouraged us to have our personal retreat and more time for family prayer. Have I told you how much I'm grateful for this school I work in? No? Let me say it then. I'm truly grateful for MGCNL community, in so many areas.  So I was able to spend more time reading (and watching) more materials this week. At this point, though, I'd like to highlight first how I've been selecting which materials to read/watch.         I understand that in a world where new knowledge would be only a few clicks away, many could be intoxicated, so to speak, with the "power" to know more. But knowledge puffs up. The same authors who have helped countless believers to arrive at a deeper, personal, and experiential ...

      Another week of ECQ flew by. It's funny how, during the first week, the hours seemed to stretch on forever despite the countless things I needed to do for work--online classes, conversion of regular classroom teaching materials to online class-friendly ones, etc. As the ECQ stretches on, however, I realized that my adjustment to this abnormal situation is not as drastic as the others'. Once I've come to think of my stay-at-home days as a replay of my homeschooling days (except for the fact that I'm the teacher now), things are easier to get used to. I've reverted to the same routine, and now we're "getting the hang of it." We also started having more Zoom watch parties, which of course are featured in this week's snippets. :) March 29, Sunday - Day 15       We watched this Sunday night, after our worship service, when the Youngles had a Zoom watch party. The American Gospel: Christ Alone is a documentary film that examines in det...

I recently reverted this whole blog to draft because I realized I couldn't keep the blog and  keep up with my work at the same time. But I just decided to put it up again for rare opportunities like this to give the deep web a glimpse of the kind of life I have. Not that anyone would really care to read, but. Hehe. A college friend recently did an IG series of #beautifulthingsIlove, a collection of appreciation posts for all the people that made 2019 his best year. I thought that I could dedicate an entry here with that theme as well. This year, my heart is so full. Not because I had everything I ever wanted--if anything, I have my earthly hopes deferred. But it was this 2019 that I get to see God at work--in my life, in the brethren's lives, in the church.  So here are my 2019 highlights, the people for whom I am forever grateful. (Sorry, I ran out of creative transitions.) Family.  This year's been tough on us, and we sure had some major "restructuring...

A friend once told me that I should write more often my life lessons so that when I look back at this point in the years to come, I’d gratefully say, “God’s glory.” And I realized he’s right. In my years of keeping journals and blogs, I have often reminisced and reread God’s mercy and revelations that refreshed my soul in ways more than one. So here I am, writing. Or rather, trying. The past year has been so full of lessons so drastic, deep, and life-altering. Every day offers new experiential knowledge of who God is and how insignificant I am before the Almighty Father. But also, things happen so fast, and these lessons have been spinning ever so swiftly around and about me that my writings couldn’t keep up with them. A month ago, I went up to Tagaytay on my own for three days to have time to pause, reflect and meditate on all the lessons and occurrences the Lord is impressing upon me. (I’ll be sharing my raw writings in a different post.) I thought 2017 was a rough year. Th...