Social Networking

How is social networking affecting your relationships? How has Facebook and Twitter affected your world? I've reconnected with old friends and met new ones ever since I opened an account in Facebook three years ago. As an author, social networking has also helped me promote my book Add Mo 'Ko as Friend: Your Link to Real Relationships. Recently, MAI (Media Associates International) and I talked about social networking and my book in an interview. Learn more about it here.

How about you? How are you connecting with people around the world? How are you using social networking to improve your life?

Smile...It's Holy Week!

Last Sunday’s message in church was “Why Holy Week Makes Me Smile”*. It was an intriguing title considering the traditional mood of many people during the Lenten season.

When my siblings and I were growing up, our elders admonished us not to be playful during this time—it’s not the season to be jolly. We were told God is dead every year during Holy Week. Jesus was crucified for the sins of men two thousand years ago, and every year we remember that sacrifice.

Before the advent of cable TV and Internet, we were left with no other forms of entertainment from Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday. Television shows were limited to movies like Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston or Jesus of Nazareth with the somber-looking Robert Powell. There’s also an airing of the traditional washing of the feet on Maundy Thursday and the local Passion Play called Senakulo on Good Friday. But we all celebrate come Easter because then we would have a barrage of TV shows to watch.

I also think that many of us are secretly unhappy during Holy Week because we have to give up a lot of things. We give up certain kinds of food and drinks. For a few weeks or a few days, we even give up watching TV or doing something that we enjoy or can not do without. I won’t be surprised if some of us would give up Facebooking at least for a day during this time.

Should we be unhappy during Holy Week? The preacher last Sunday gave four convincing reasons why Holy Week should make us happy. And the first of this is because Christ’s death and resurrection was a response of Jesus Christ to God the Father. It was God the Father’s plan to send Jesus to earth. Ephesians 5:12 says, “Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” God gave Jesus Christ to man. Jesus Christ gave Himself first to God and then to us.

Christ’s death and resurrection was also a redemption from the fallen state of man. Admit it, we have all missed God’s standard and have fallen away from Him. But  through Jesus’ death on the cross and triumphant resurrection, He has paid the price for our sins and has paved the way for us to be reconciled to God the Father.

His death and resurrection is also a rescue from filthiness. Galatians 1:4 says that Jesus “gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age”. There is hope for us if we long to escape the tragic cycle of  doing something wrong and awful, feeling sorry, promising not to do it again, only to find ourselves committing the same sin over and over. God truly forgives the repentant, and He gives power to change to those who yield to Him and desire to follow Him.

Aside from these three things, Christ’s death and resurrection also made possible a relationship with friends. We may never thought of Jesus as a friend, but He Himself said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He gave up His life for us! That’s His proof that He loves you and me and that He is extending His hand of fellowship to us.

In return, Jesus wants us to consider Him as our friend too. In the same breath, He told His disciples, “You are My friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14). And what is God’s command? Jesus summed it up this way: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:38-39).

In essence, God loves us and He wants us to love Him too. God is calling us to a love relationship, not merely to a religious ritual or a seasonal remembrance of His sacrificial love. Shouldn’t that make you smile?

*Message shared by Pastor Anthony John O. Munar

Writing...and Happy!

"Writing is a lonely job. Even if a writer socializes regularly, when he gets down to the real business of life, it is he and his typewriter or word processor. No one else is or can be involved in the matter." This quotable quote is attributed to author Isaac Asimov. Asimov also edited voluminous works, but he was more popularly known as a science fiction writer and professor of biochemistry. 

If you write not just as a hobby but as a vocation or a means of living like I do, you know this is true. Oftentimes, writers have to be alone to be able to think and write. Many times, the only sound I hear is the tap on my keyboard or the music from YouTube. Although I enjoy being by myself most of the time, there are moments when I still feel lonely when I write. Writers have to endure loneliness to serve readers some dose of happiness. 

Just this afternoon, I was beginning to feel it again while reading and getting ready to edit some files. To perk myself up, I tried to hum a familiar tune and reminded myself that I'm doing a good work (a pat in the back!) And then a thought came, "Maybe I feel lonely because I don't often get encouragement." Just then, an email arrived from one of those editors I'm mentoring for a curriculum project. She's done with her assigned work and she cared enough to send this note: Thanks for your gift of prayer and encouragement...for the gift of sharing your knowledge and skills...I learned a lot from you...

I stopped what I was doing and looked out of my window. I savored her message and uttered thanks to God. I realized God wanted to encourage me so she led that person to send that email at a time when I needed it most. Thank You, Lord. 

Now I can happily go back to writing and editing. 

Crazy Love

Love has been described as blind. One old song and a movie popularized the notion that “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing”. Many say that love makes the world go round. But how many people will agree that love is crazy, specifically, that God’s love for us is crazy and that our love for Him should be zealous as well?

Author and pastor Francis Chan makes such bold declaration in his book titled Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. CSM Publishing releases an unabridged audiobook version of Chan’s book in MP3 format. The audiobook is read by the author himself.

If you feel complacent, Chan will wake you up to the thought that we have an inaccurate view of God. He discusses man in relation to the greatness of God as reflected in the universe which He created. Because I find great pleasure in watching the sky at sunrise, sunset, and on starry nights, I was easily drawn to what Chan said. God is the wonderful Creator and He deserves to be the center of the universe. Chan calls us to admire and love God. He also leads us to discover what is wrong with our churches and with ourselves. He challenges us to look at the way we live in relation to God; then it’s up to us to change or stay the same. 

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God Audio CD by Francis Chan is released by CSM Publishing and is available at their bookstore. 

Friends and Memories

Aileen was my best friend in grade school. If my memory serves me right, we were classmates in Grade One or Grade Three. Like most little children, we spent time in school and in between we exchanged stories, giggled, played, and ate snacks during recess. One time, we even hid in the classroom closet to share stories. And when I was sick, I wrote a prayer to God asking, "God, I want to see Aileen."

After I finished Grade Three, I moved to another school and I haven't seen nor heard from her since then. But decades later, whenever I'm asked who my best friend was when I was in Grade One, I would easily recall her name. 

I'm sure you would agree that friends are God's gifts. God gave me an Aileen when I was very young and carefree. As I grew older, God sent Teresa, Gay, Betchy, Sorcky and many others. Then I met Marlon, Eric, Dong and several more. Louie, Cristy, Ranie and Anthony came along later on. If I mention all my gifts I might bore you because I know you're also eager to share your own list of precious gifts--your friends. 

True friends are gifts because they keep us company in our journey through life. They're there when we're happy and when we're sad. They're there to share with us the joy of winning and the pain of losing. By spending time with us in the seasons of our life, our friends create with us wonderful memories. Thank God for social networking sites, we can reconnect with out friends from the past, relive our times together and stay current with each other's status. But even if our best friend from Grade One or Grade Three doesn't have a
Facebook account, we can draw from our memory bank and recall our happy times. 

David Brenner once said, "Friends are the most important part of your life. Treasure the tears, treasure the laughter, but most importantly, treasure the memories." Thank God for our friends. Thank God for the memories. 

My latest book Add Mo 'Ko as Friend: Your Link to Real Relationships explores online and offline friendships. Get your copy from OMF Lit Book Shops and online store, PCBS, National Book Stores and anywhere inspirational books are sold in the Philippines. 

God's Wish List

Usually, at the beginning of the year or before our birthday, we draw up a wish list. This list could include things we want for ourselves or things we want to happen. The list may include an iPad2, a dream house, a trip to Batanes, putting up a restaurant, meeting a favorite celebrity, or maybe doing something crazy like bungee jumping. The more difficult it is to fulfill the list, the more intense we pray to God to make them come true. After all, with God nothing is impossible, right? If you want your wish list fulfilled, don't come to a fictional genie, but come to a real God who can make a nation in a day or who can make water come out of a rock in a desert. 

But do you know that God also has a wish list and only you can satisfy Him? A verse in the middle of the Bible says it this way, "How I wish my people would listen to Me; how I wish they would obey Me!"* Sure, God is delighted to hear our prayers but He will be pleased as well if He sees us seeking not only His blessings but seeking Him with all our hearts! This verse seems to tell me that God wants to be heard, that He wants to tell me things--maybe things like His good plans for me, His promises (that will not be broken), advice for a project I'm working on, and yes, I will not rule out even a  rebuke or a command. I suspect that most of the time we're scared to hear from God because we think of Him as a stern figure. But the truth is, God is a  loving Heavenly Father who wants the best for each one of us. He wants us to obey Him because what He's telling us to do is the best for us even when we think it's not. 

It's difficult to find time to read God's love letter--the Bible--or to be sensitive to an impression from Him. What's more difficult is to obey Him. But  I believe if we are at least willing, He will give us the grace to do so. 

Will you fulfill God's wish list? Will you do what you feel He wants you to do this year?

      

*Psalm 81:3 Good News Translation

Dealing with Delays

"It is important to grasp that when unfruitfulness, delays, and time are against you, you must keep doing the things God has already given you to do."

I felt a pinch in my heart when I read that line from Frank Damazio's book, Delays All Leaders Must Contend With. I was convicted. I have been impatient because of a recent delay in my life and I have been tempted to think negatively of others who are causing the delay. I felt neglected and unimportant. 

Haven't we all felt bypassed, ignored, neglected, abused, and as a result, unimportant and insignificant just because things are not happening to us the way we want them to happen? We waited, we stood firm,  we kept our part of the bargain, yet the other party didn't even move or give a hint, or send an apology. The greater danger is not in being annoyed with the other person and turning your back on the person or on the project, but take note, it is in getting angry with God. 

If we will be honest, we have been angry with God over something at least one time in our life, haven't we? We have been hurt by unanswered prayers and unmet expectations and naturally, we long for an explanation. Sometimes, the reply doesn't come too soon. Just like what happened to the couple Zacharias and Elizabeth who "were doing all the right things in the right way with a righteous motive" (p.132). They were both righteous before God yet God still hasn't heard their prayer for a child. Elizabeth was already too old to bear a child but instead of getting angry at God, both she and old Zacharias kept serving faithfully in the Lord's temple as priests. They kept  doing the routines while bearing the pain of being childless until one day, God sent an angel to proclaim the coming of a heavenly gift--the birth of their son John the Baptist. 

Delays are part of life. But they do serve a purpose. By the time I finished reading the chapter, my eyes were clouded with tears but my heart was cleansed by an understanding of God's purpose. My heart is ready again to trust God and His perfect timing. 

Delays All Leaders Must Contend With: Understanding God's Timing and Faithfulness  by Frank Damazio is published locally by Church Strengthening Ministry.