24-Hour Love Collage

Separated by time and space, exacerbated by the pandemic, my siblings and I have not seen each other for almost three years. We had to make do with group chats and photos sent via cyberspace. 

But nothing can take the place of face-to-face get-together—hugging, chatting, catching up, reminiscing, and doing everything together. 

We had that rare chance this month, but only for 24 hours.  My brother Earl and his wife, Tess, are on a short 13-day visit from Australia, so their schedule is tight.  

We were ecstatic when they said they would hop over to our place with four others—my sister, sis-in-law, and niece. Bliss. 

A blog is not enough to record all the wondrous things that happened. I made a collage of all our photos shared on the Net by whomever took them to document the love. 

But then, again, love cannot be recorded with words and images. Only our heart can, and only by grace.

John 15:12: "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."

Growing into a Goliath

Underdogs in different organizations (business, sports, politics, etc.) use what is called “David strategies” to overcome Goliaths—the biggies, leaders and favorites. 

This of course originated from the oft-told Bible story of David, the shepherd boy who slew the celebrated warrior, Goliath. The concept is simplistic: Goliath represents life’s giant problems around us, which we could conquer if, like David, we have God in our lives. God will do the fighting for us. 

I held on to this simple concept all my life—till now. 

Although I wholeheartedly believe that we cannot fight our own battles without God, I came upon a more profound lesson from David and Goliath. It is one of the many blessings of the pandemic, while worshiping at home, and listening to a pastor's message online. 

“Goliath is arrogant, full of Himself. Hailed as a great, undefeated warrior, he does evil in God’s sight,” he said from the pulpit. “When we have achieved fame and amassed riches in life, we think we are invincible in our 9’9” frame and—knowingly or unknowingly—we lord it over everyone smaller or less than us. In this state, we are Goliath; we do not need God.” 

The world’s view of success and how we achieve it make us grow into a Goliath. We pursue power and fortune as the world defines them. This thought occupies our being; we claim our successes as the products of our own strengths. We ignore the role of the Lord in our lives.    

“We need to fight the giant we have become," the pastor continued. "But on our own, we cannot. Without God, David could not have trounced Goliath. We need the Lord to curse the giant in us, the way He cursed the Israelites when they did evil in His land."  

This fight between the big warrior and the small shepherd foreshadowed the coming of Jesus. People expected our Savior to be a warrior who would crush the Romans. 

Instead, He took on the enemy of Israel (and the world): SIN. He defeated it in an unexpected way—by dying for our sins on the cross.

We face Goliath every day—externally (slave to the good things in life) and internally (slave to sin). But when we put our trust in Jesus, and totally depend on His grace unknown and beyond degree, we will know that our achievements are not about laurels, cash, and earthly glory. It’s about Jesus. Only Jesus.  

Photo credit 

A Celebratory Selfie

In Chicago, when I was young and restless, I aced my class in photography. I only had what we called a Brownie camera in those days, while my classmates had professional doodads.  

But my teacher always gave me an A+ for creativity in all assignments, because every single one was out-of-the-box.  Unfortunately, all those shots were part of my portfiolio which became school property. I misplaced the negatives and never got them reprinted. 

Today, photography is a different ballgame. Cameras now are part of our phones and selfies are as  natural as breathing.  

Born in the Jurassic period, I don’t take selfies. But one day this love month, I was in a celebratory mood. My sister messaged me that my “change of name” to my real name, Grace, has been approved by the powers-that-be. Finally I got rid of Mary Grace!  So I took a selfie of Grace to commemorate the breakthrough. 

As you can see, it’s anything but celebratory. How can a photographer angle a camera properly when the subject is herself? The lights, shadows, composition, distance—they could not be tamed. Where has “say cheese” gone? 

Nonetheless, no one can crush a cheerful spirit. I uploaded my non-celebratory, celebratory selfie to mark the special day. It got over 300 heart emojis.   

Just about the same time. I received a digital portrait of me from a friend.  I uploaded it also to my FB page, and it got over 300 emojis! This is his perception of me, wow, a far cry from my somber selfie, which is my reality. 

The only similarity between them is the  color PINK.  

Both perception and reality celebrate the day I am finally and legally the Grace I have always been. 

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverb 17:22 

Valentine's Day 2023

 "Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses." Proverbs 10:12 (NLT) 

"We love each other because he loved us first." 1 John 4:19 

Saying "Yes"

Our pastor was quite emphatic behind the pulpit that Sunday morning, “Heed God’s call every single time! Don’t ever miss an opportunity to tell His story.” He then enumerated familiar excuses of people in avoiding jobs for the Lord: 

In our women’s gathering after the service, we discussed a forthcoming event that needed a speaker. Nobody volunteered. So the president of our group said, “Grace was our speaker the last time, so can we have a volunteer?” 

“Blessie!” exclaimed a chorus of voices.

“Oh no, no, no!” she said. “I am not a good speaker.” 

Someone jokingly nudged her, “Remember the message half an hour ago? We need to heed every call from God. This is an opportunity for you to speak about Him.” 

Blessie blushed and said in a tiny voice, “I am sorry, Lord. If you are calling me, I will come.” 

We gave her a prolonged applause.  

When God asks us to do something out of our comfort zone, we become fearful. But we must always remember that every call from God is an opportunity to say, “yes,” trusting His wisdom and not our own.   

At the event, everyone was immensely blessed by Blessie's message, spoken with passion and conviction:  

By her example, let’s go back to His promise in Isaiah 41:10, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” 

May He continually give us power and joy so we can say “yes” to what He wants us to do, even if it is something out of our comfort zone. 

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This blog was written before the pandemic; I am re-uploading it in memory of Sis Blessie, who turned her back on her lucrative career as a metallurgical engineer to say "yes" to her role as a Pastor's wife—raising three daughters, who are all just as passionate in serving the Lord. 

Sis Blessie again said "yes" to the Lord on Tuesday this week when He called her home to join her husband and all those who faithfully served Him in this temporal place. Although we mourn her leaving us so soon, we rejoice because she is now in that perfect place where we shall worship God together again, someday. 

More importantly, she left us a lasting legacy of saying "yes" to the Lord whenever He calls.   

Three in One (Part 2)

Blogging about my first three-in-one grace, for which I am exceedingly grateful, is as gleeful as drinking it. 

My second one is not for me alone—but for the whole household, which includes Tony, sons #1 and #3, Attorney and Judge (our pet dogs), and Sammy, son #3’s weekday driver. 

Her name's Teresa.   

For almost three years now, since the Covid-19 lockdown, she has been a part of our family. She used to be a three-times-a-week-part-time househelp, but in March 2020, she had to stay in to avoid being infected while coming and going.  

Since we lost Ate Vi+ (our trusted househelp for eons, who always needed an assistant or two), we could no longer hire one as dependable as she was. So we had to make do with part-timers who came and went within weeks or months. 

Now this! 

Teresa is three Ate Vi-and-her-assistants rolled into one. There isn’t anything she can’t do. She is constantly moving—cleaning, gardening, sewing, re-arranging furniture, fixing leaking roofs, finding unused items and using them, serving us, caring for our dogs, cooking, etc. etc.

She is a spoiler too. She won’t allow Tony or me to help with her chores. As a mother, she constantly calls her children to make sure they are okay.    

In the beginning, she was insecure about her kitchen non-talent, but by watching the Net and chefs from all over the world, she has become an international chef herself. 

We hardly dine out these days as we were wont to do weekly, not because of virus fear, but because she can cook them all. She orders her ingredients from son #3 who sources them online.  

She is with us at a perfect time: when Tony can no longer navigate the kitchen and stairs as he used to; when JR has been assigned big responsibilities in the university where he is now dean; when JC transitioned our medical transcription (MT) school into online learning that requires his constant presence; and when I am stressed out over alien technology as the invited speaker for online book talks,  as our MT school’s English trainor, and as our church’s Sunday school facilitator for the women’s group—while writing.   

Teresa freed us from housework so we can focus on our new loads.  

I have always believed that the Lord makes us feel His love when we so thirst for it. In our case, as we slogged through the fearsome pandemic and the disorienting changes it brought to our lives, He sent us not one, but three angels in (mother) Teresa.