Kindergarten Classroom

Due to the many simultaneous activities after the worship service, the women’s Sunday school was assigned the kindergarten room. It has teeny-weeny chairs and tables and lots of colorful images on four walls. 

Methinks it's the perfect room for us.

It seems the Lord willed it, so we could all recognize and accept the fact that we are still in kindergarten level when it comes to intimately knowing the Bible. With every lesson, we learn more—not just facts, but messages we never heard before—and reflect more, which is vital for our spiritual growth. 

Within an hour or less, till the clock strikes 12 noon, we teach and learn from each other with joy. 

As born-again Christians, we already all know and believe in the ABCs: the good news. That’s what makes us kindred souls, fellow pilgrims in our journey towards the Promised land.

But why do we need to know more? This I ask myself Sunday after Sunday, and one photo captured it all.    

Because we should understand the beauty, the depth and breadth of God’s bottomless grace for sinful men. By knowing Him more, we are driven and empowered to share His magnificence to others. 

Below are stolen shots, except for the last two that we deliberately pose for to document our Sunday school day. 

Then the magic of technology makes the kindergarten doodads disappear and replaces them with information of the day’s lesson and activity—for posterity. 

 

This final photo foreshadows amazing things to come. In one or two more Sundays, at the rate we are progressing, we should be accelerated to the higher grade levels. 

What an exciting journey for the women of our village church! If you are within the area, please consider joining us. 

All photos by: Sis Ching

Are You in the Promised Land?

This was a question Pastor Popoy, our speaker in a church gathering for seniors, asked after he spoke of the Israelites’ 40-year journey in the wilderness. He looked at me, and specified my name. 

My knee-jerk reflex answer would have been “Yes!” But I hedged. I didn’t have the right words to explain why and I was afraid of being misunderstood. So I babbled about another part of the lesson. Whew!  

I told him later in confidence what my answer was. And he said, “I knew it. That was why I asked you.” 

To those who have put their faith in Jesus of course know that the Promised Land is heaven, where we will live forever someday as He promised. “The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26 NIV) 

While still on terra firma, however, the Promised Land is symbolic of a better place which we reach—after learning about humility, obedience, repentance, and dependence from our wilderness years. 

The Promised Land on earth is a womb where we have made a covenant of faithfulness with God so that we can live out our divine calling. It is where we are singularly focused on Him, using the talents he has entrusted to us for His glory.  

I believe that everyone who wants to reach the Promised Land in this mortal soil needs to be taken into the wilderness first to be sifted and taught the only thing we would ever need: Jesus. 

Like the Israelites, I wandered through the wilderness—and how! 

If I were to write all about those years, I’d end up with a weighty tome.  The wilderness is a life full of complaints, entitlements, failures, arrogance, bitterness, idol worship (fame, fortune, and every ego-boosting thing that the world offers), lack of trust in God, and stubborn hearts. 

In contrast, the Promised Land is where one is content, humbled, totally dependent on God, keeping in step with the Holy Spirit and not wanting more than our daily bread. 

And my earnest prayer is for grace to rein me in the Promised Land, and never let me stray to the wilderness. 

May I repeat Pastor Popoy’s question to friends who may be reading this?  Are you in the Promised Land? 

Philippine Book Festival 2023

Through all the years before the pandemic, I’d traipse around book fairs from the first day to the last. It didn’t matter if I had a scheduled book signing or book talk or not. I was there from opening time till closing time. The thrill of meeting kindred spirits, finding books and stockpiling them in my carry-all was immeasurable. 

But something happened. 

When the The Philippine Book Festival (PBF), held from June 2 to 4 at the World Trade Center,  was announced, my heart didn’t spin beyond control as it used to. I read the announcement cursorily. Next, I got a message from OMF Lit, publisher of many of my books, asking me what day would I be at the book fair for book signing.  I chose only one day—and just for the allotted hour.  

The ad for the book fair was sent to me immediately. 

By all standards, it is inviting. Although I promptly uploaded it to my FB page, my pulse idled at low RPM. 

Then came D-day. With my usual book-fair entourage—sons #1 and #3 and my sister Aie—I hied to the book fair after the worship service.  I stayed in the publisher’s booths signing books and chatting with readers (this was the only part of the whole scenario that perked me up) and not much else. 

The PBS was everything it was hyped to be: “a book experience and the biggest travelling book festival in the country that highlights Filipino books.” A joint project  of the National Book Development Board (NBDB),the National Library of the Philippines and other partner agencies, it was (the crowd was huge) a success.  Sons and Aie had a tall pile of purchases! 

I bought a few books, which I had intended to buy prior to the event, greeted the friends I bumped into, but I didn’t scour the area. I even forgot to take pictures. These photos were sent to me by friends:  

What happened? Age? Pandemic inertia at rest? Loss of interest/energy? Priority re-calibration? Effect of two Covid-19 infections? PTSD?

I can’t put a finger on it. But perhaps the reason/s can be found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:   

For everything there is a season,

    a time for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die.

    A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

    A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to cry and a time to laugh.

    A time to grieve and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

    A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

A time to search and a time to quit searching.

    A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend.

    A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate.

    A time for war and a time for peace.

End of the Road

What a sad, despairing idiom, I used to think whenever I heard it from my American friends (budding stage actors) after an abysmal audition for a role. "End of the road for me." I felt their pain and frustration. It was as though their career had come into a screeching halt. 

I had forgotten all about this idiom when I returned to the Philippines, because I don’t hear this (translation: wala nang pag-asa) at all.  Filipinos are generally optimistic, as reported in annual polls. Despite  difficulties, the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) read, “Forty-five percent of adult Filipinos believe their quality of life will improve in the year ahead . . . resulting in a net personal optimism score of ‘excellent’ . . .” 

Son #3, who went to Tuguegarao for a few days, inadvertently reminded me of this idiom when he sent us this photo and wrote, “End of the road [literally!]. Beyond it is the sea.”

Surprisingly, the idiom made me glad, not sad. 

As I prepare for the women’s Sunday school in church, which I help facilitate, I pore over the Bible with excitement, because it repeatedly assures me that the road never ends for someone who believes in the saving grace of Jesus.  

Isaiah 43:13 (NLT) reads, “From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.”

Jesus says in John 5:24, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life!” 

Failures are not the end of the road, as many still insist. And hope goes way beyond optimism (pag-asa) for a better life on earth. 

“ . . . we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." (2 Corinthians 4:18)

To those who put their faith in Jesus, there is no such thing—not even earthly death—as end of the road. 

Deo Volente

We may not be familiar with this Latin phrase, but many Christians use its English translation (“God willing” or “If the Lord wills”) to punctuate our statements about our future plans. 

“I will visit my son in the US this summer, God willing.” 

This phrase signifies our total dependence on God’s grace, even after we have done our planning. It emphasizes the fact that no plan will take off without God’s will. And because we utter it through our mouth, with our own voice, we remind ourselves that even if we have the money, the energy, and the time to go to the US this summer, we are absolutely powerless to carry out our plan.  

Likewise, this phrase is not only for us, but also for the unbelievers who hear us say it. They will discover our faith and if they question why we keep saying the phrase, then they are opening the door for us to explain the gift of salvation.   

James wrote in chapter 4, verses15-16, “What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’ Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.” 

We all have plans. But if we do not connect to the profound thought of Deo volente, we might be clinging stubbornly to what we can do by ourselves through our own smarts and skills—minus God.  

James warns us in verse 17, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” 

Saying “God willing” is one way we can reject sin and pursue righteousness by acknowledging and submitting to God’s plan for our lives.  Anything and everything hinges on the Lord. 

Why Not Gumamela?

Way below the popularity of the rose, orchids, and other flowers, the gumamela (hibiscus of the Mallow family), seems to be ignored as a gift on Valentine’s Day. It is rarely seen in a bouquet for weddings and other occasions, or as an accent in floral arrangements in public places. 

I ignored it, too, when I was growing up in the province. 

My playmates and I would rave over the scent of rosal, sampaguita, or ilang-ilang. Gumamela? Odorless, it occupied too many spaces—gardens, sidewalk, and fences of homes and buildings. It was so common that it became an ordinary sight, like grass and weeds. 

It wasn’t until the birth of the PINK Wednesday that the gumamela made its presence felt on the Net.  I googled PINK in nature for my Wednesday posts and out came all the PINK of everything—including gumamela—from all over the world! I was overwhelmed by how many varieties this unpopular flower has and how beautiful it actually each one is!

PINK Wednesday, for me, did not stop when Atty. Leni was not proclaimed the president of the Philippines by the Commission on Elections. The PINK things keep popping up on my screen.  

So last Wednesday, I finally gave gumamela the recognition it deserves—on center stage. 

The kind we have in our garden (left) is a combination of pale PINK and magenta.  The rest of the PINK ones are courtesy of the Net. Lovely, aren’t they all? 

And I was wrong about the gumamela not being used for bouquets. Here is a stunning one! In all its PINK splendor. 

 

Beyond PINK, there are hundreds more. These are just some of those I gathered. 

Gumamela is grace—special and extraordinary after all. 

Keturah

 Do you know a Keturah?  

It’s an unusual name. But if you’ve combed through the details of Abraham’s life, then you do. She is usually skipped over in discussions about great women in Bible, but looking closely, we can see why God chose her to produce lasting fruit. 

She was Abraham’s second wife, who bore him six sons. Compared to Sarah, Abraham’s first wife who birthed Isaac; and Hagar, the mother of Abraham’s first son, Ishmael; Keturah is relegated to the background, a minor prop in a stage play. 

Her name is mentioned only three times in the Bible. And yet, Keturah played a huge role through Abraham’s sunset years. 

Three years after Sarah’s death, and Isaac had taken for himself a wife, Abraham (aged 140), married Keturah. 

Their children are named—Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah—but we are not told why Abraham still married at such a late age. We can only surmise, based on what happens to widowers today, that Abraham was an empty-nester and needed company.  

In his declining years, Abraham was blessed with a woman’s care, a circle of six sons, who would become the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel, making Abraham “the father of many nations.” 

A single woman marrying a far older widower, Keturah gives us a glimpse of Abraham's last chapter on earth. Although we know nothing about her, the fact that God included her name in Scripture is noteworthy. 

This means that our relationships and the roles we play are important to God. Jesus assured His disciples, “You didn’t choose me; I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.” (John 15:16 NLT) 

Keturah produced lasting fruit as Abraham’s second wife, because God’s grace equipped her to do so.  

Photo credit

Choreography

A choreographer is key to any kind of dance—hip-hop, ballet, rock or just a background ensemble in a stage play and other events.  

He plans, composes, and arranges the sequence of steps and moves of dancers, making sure the steps go with the rhythm of sound or music. 

Without a choreographer, there would be chaos—each dancer would be doing his own thing to his own beat. A dancer therefore needs to train continually so he could perform with an ensemble that executes the choreographer’s concept.   

In the same vein, have we ever thought of God as our Choreographer? 

Life is actually a dance. We need to learn steps in sync with His Word, so that we can move to the rhythm of His will.  

We have missteps along the way, but if we continually train to perform His commands and know them by heart, we delight our Choreographer.  

What important steps do we need in our dance of life?   

“You must love the Lord your God and always obey his requirements, decrees, regulations, and commands.” (Deuteronomy 11:1 NLT) 

“Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.” (2 John 6) 

What training must we go through to internalize these steps?  

"Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25)

“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.” (Joshua 1:8) 

Like training in dance, we have to rehearse the steps and movements over and over again till they become a part of us.   

Thoughts to ponder: 

What is my level of intimacy with God’s Word? How is my regular reading of Scripture training me to do the steps God has demonstrated to me?