Standard of Giving

Frequently asked questions on tithing and rarely given answers: 

Q: Do you tithe?

A: Yes.

Q: Where does it say in the New Testament that we should tithe?

Storytime Sunday

What are you doing this afternoon?

Here's an invitation for all kids to come and listen to the story of a great flood in Mateo's town—and how great grace flooded our little hero instead.

Mateo, the puppet, and I will be there to welcome you and listen to the story as well. Please bring all your friends so we can have a noisy chat while I sign your books. If you wish, I can also let you in on my about-to-be-released new book.

It'll be fun!

A Plea for PWD

It must have been something I ate which rendered my total being totally useless in the last two days. I was a Person With Disability (PWD). 

I missed an important event that I looked forward to for one whole year (gown all pressed), missed writing my column for a magazine, missed reading my daily Bible, missed my appetite, missed my computer, and missed my humor.

There was this constant sick feeling at the gate of my tummy, aggravated when I so much as moved vertically. So I had to lie flat, except for those hurried trips to and from the bathroom. Only by grace, sent through a kindly doctor name Perry, a solicitous Ate Vi, and a supportive family, was I able to pull through this energy-sapping ailment perilously close to life-threatening dehydration.

Junior Moment

I just had a junior moment.

Huh? How can that be possible when you're a senior, Mom! My sons are most likely saying in their minds.

Before I speak of that embarrassing episode, let me just say that I've been having senior moments for as long as I can remember. A senior moment is defined as, “A momentary lapse in memory, particularly one experienced by a senior citizen.”

Half truth. Senior moments are not the sole domain of older people; my young sons forget their cellphones, shades, people's names, and other details as often as I do.

Boredom Buster

Does waiting still infuriate and frustrate you?

Try crossword puzzles.

You are probably saying, "Not again?!"

I have rhapsodized solving crosswords ad infinitum in my past blogs and here comes another one. (Next to Adrian, my one and only grandson, crossword puzzles come next in the number and frequency of my posts.)

One Direction

"Lola, I need a new book!" were the first words that Trista, a grandniece, said when I hugged her, not having seen her for over a year. "I have finished reading all the books you gave me!"

"Oh, I need to keep writing faster then," I said. "I have to keep pace with you."

Bird Watching

One of the greatest pleasures of walking at dawn is watching the birds wake up with the  morning light and make their first flight for the day. They sing and hover over me; they perch on electric and telephone wires in a row; then they fly and chirp around again.

Alas, in my neighborhood, I see only birds of one kind. These are the same ones that constantly visit our garden and sometimes, one or two mysteriously make their way into our house.

As soon as this one flew in, we let it fly back out. I don't even know what it's called. In my dialect, we call it billit balay (house birds). 

Let Go, Let God

Here's what I do when something honorable becomes so popular and people start trivializing it: I stop listening.

This was what happened to the song Let God, Let Go by DeWayne Woods after the record was launched in 2007. It hit the top of the charts and won multiple awards. Pretty soon, thousands of images of the title crammed the Net and everyone had everything to say about it—from left to right, and back.

Does God Have a Sense of Humor?

Everyday you meet one or two (the number is not very big) people who can make you laugh with the way they say a word or a phrase.  There is usually one in a group. Wish there were more of these picker-uppers!  
 
Many of my favorite public speakers are those with a sense of humor. They have an uncanny ability to make the audience ROFL (Roll On the Floor Laughing) and therefore hold their interest.