Tea Party-cum-Writing Worshop

I had barely breathed enough Philippine air—jet-lagged to the bone—when I rushed to facilitate what was dubbed as “Tea Party and Writing Workshop for a Children’s Cause,” less than 24 hours after flying in.  

It was a commitment I made before I left for the US, prior to finalizing my flight schedules. It couldn’t be canceled because about 40 attendees had already confirmed.

Strength, Lord, strength, was my recurrent plea.

Strength He gave me, generously. 

The event was to push-start the project of PCMN and OMF Lit to publish a devotional for adults who work with children. The day-long affair gathered a mixture of professors, grade school teachers, youth pastors, NGO volunteers for children’s projects, children’s book writers, and church VBS and Sunday school volunteers.

There was bottomless tea alright. It bred bottomless ideas and enthusiasm.

The idea is to come up with 365 daily devotions, with every writer contributing at least five. More than ever, there is a need to equip, affirm, and encourage workers for children because these are perilous times.

Many kids today are: abused and exploited (one in five have experienced violence in various forms); stressed and are digital natives; exposed to dangerous information on cyberspace; lacking in basic life skills and values. And many of them still don’t know Jesus.

This devotional is envisioned help advocates for children grow more sensitive to these little ones’ needs and be role models to them. 

A pipe dream?

Not with the Lord’s grace in empowering all contributing writers.

This devotional will be launched at the next Manila International Book Fair in 2018. If you are reading this and are itching to write, please join us. Our writing guidelines are on our FB page.

The tea party in photos:

 

Yes, I lasted the day, with enough strength to survive the two-hour, bumper-to-bumper traffic on our drive home.

Thank you, Lord.